Our 1909 Cartercar Model H Touring is a proud survivor of this short-lived but fascinating marque. This car is proof of how daring inventors shaped the future of driving. When you walk through the Collection, pause at this red touring car, spot the friction-drive lever, and imagine the thrill of being behind the wheel of a car that promised “a thousand speeds.”
With only about two dozen Cartercars known to exist today, this Model H is a rare treasure. Wherever it goes, it turns heads and sparks conversations, a true Brass Era standout.
Company History
Byron Carter wasn’t content to follow the crowd. As superintendent of the Jackson Automobile Company in Jackson, Michigan, he invented a revolutionary friction-drive transmission, but his colleagues refused to adopt it. Undeterred, Carter struck out on his own, launching the Motorcar Company across town. Soon after, he headed to Detroit in search of backers, renamed the firm after himself, and introduced the world to the Cartercar.
When it debuted in 1906, the Cartercar promised drivers:
“No clutch to slip… no gears to strip… no universal joints to break… no shaft drive to twist… no bevel gears to wear and howl… no noise to annoy.”
At its heart was a brilliantly simple transmission, two disks running at right angles. Move the driven disk across the face of the driving disk and you instantly change the ratio. Slide it past center, and you had reverse. This meant near-infinite ratios, which earned the Cartercar its famous tagline: “The Car of a Thousand Speeds.”
Drivers loved the idea. Sales grew steadily, reaching 325 cars by 1908.
That same year, fate intervened. Byron Carter fell ill with pneumonia and passed away, cutting short his visionary leadership. Still, his invention caught the eye of William C. Durant, founder of General Motors. In October 1909, Durant acquired Cartercar, convinced friction drive was the future. But when Durant was ousted from GM in 1910, Cartercar lost its champion. By the time he returned, the brand had already vanished, its Pontiac factory converted to build Oaklands instead.
