1910 Simplex 50HP Toy Tonneau by Holbrook

Simplex has long held a reputation as the ultimate American sports car of its era. With examples being owned by just about every important collector as long as the hobby has existed, Simplex enjoys a status few other automobiles can rival. Representative of one of the most exciting periods of automotive history the Simplex fully deserves its reputation as one of the world's greatest cars.

The origins of the Simplex brand are in the Smith and Mabley Manufacturing Co. of New York. S&M was the American importer for the unrivaled Mercedes brand as well as FIAT, and CGV. With a desire to avoid the huge import tariffs that made already expensive foreign cars almost unsalable, S&M moved to produce C.G.V. cars in America. The C.G.V. exercise was a failure and S&M set about to build its own car based heavily on the Mercedes-Simplex. Producing a fine automobile using the Mercedes as a pattern, the S&M Simplex of 1904 proved moderately successful though still prohibitively expensive.

The S&M operation changed hands and a new plan was conceived. A more powerful and refined version of the S&M would be developed again along Mercedes lines but with a larger engine. The new model, now called just Simplex, would be powered by a T-head four cylinder with an ALAM rating of 50hp. At 600ci it was one of the largest four cylinder engines ever to power a production automobile. The massive new motor was fitted to a robust dual-chain-drive chassis with a four-speed selective transaxle.

The brutish motor combined with a superb chassis and four tall gears resulted in a performance machine with few rivals. The Simplex proved successful on the track and became the plaything of the ultra-wealthy in America. The 50hp would prove a success with nearly 250 examples produced over its nearly decade long production run - not bad for a chassis costing nearly $6,000 in 1910.

Simplex's performance would immediately cement its reputation as a sporting icon; no car exuded strength, speed and masculinity more than the Simplex. Some would argue a Mercer Raceabout was the superior sports machine, but the reality is that they are machines of a different era and at half the engine capacity and with shaft drive, the Mercer does not have the features that define this more primitive era.

Simplex's mythic reputation would continue into the first days of the collector era. When the hobby began to take shape in the 1930s the Simplex again was the most desired marque. Early collectors dreamed of finding one of these great machines languishing in a barn, and Simplex cars would become prized members of some of the major early American collections. George Waterman, Henry Austin Clark, Edgar Roy, Sam Bailey and Briggs Cunningham were a few of the pioneering collectors who owned and extensively used these automobiles.

Descriptions & pictures by bonhams & conceptcarz