Winton Bullet (1901)

At turn of the 20th century, automobile racing was used for vehicle testing and sales promotions. Even way back them, “What won on Sunday sold on Monday’. The wealthy gentlemen of the period would pay up to $18000 for a sports car so that they could compete in local races.

Only four of these cars were produced from 1901 to 1904 by the Winton Motor Carriage Company.

The Winton Bullet is one of the most important American race cars of the period The Bullet in these photos is completely original.

This 1901 Winton Bullet was purchased by Lars Anderson which he used to compete in the first ever Massachusetts Auto Club Race in 1901. The car was powered by a 2-cylinder opposed gas motor capable of 40HP and a top speed around 70 MPH.

The car’s nickname was ‘Buckeye’.

There is a reason that so many of the vintage cars from the 1900’s had white tires. White is the natural colour of rubber. BF Goodrich was the first tire company to begin using carbon in their tire compound. The carbon was resulted in a more durable tire that that had increased tread wear and was less prone to punctures.