As today’s roads fill with hybrid and electric vehicles, automotive history reminds us that many modern ideas first appeared more than a century ago. The early 1900s marked a period of bold experimentation, when engineers explored electric, gasoline, and hybrid powertrains with few rules and limitless creativity. Long before modern EVs and regenerative braking, innovators searched for new ways to propel the automobile.

One of the most ambitious ideas came from electrical engineer Justus B. Entz, a former Thomas Edison employee. Entz developed an electric drive transmission that eliminated a direct mechanical connection between the engine and rear axle. Instead, the gasoline engine acted as a generator, powering an electric motor that drove the wheels, an approach strikingly similar to modern diesel-electric systems. This design provided smooth, gearless operation, electrical braking, and regenerative charging, concepts that still define advanced vehicle technology today.

By 1915, Entz’s invention entered production as the Owen Magnetic, developed by Raymond and Ralph Owen with support from Baker Electric and Rausch & Lang. Marketed as “The Car of a Thousand Speeds,” the Owen Magnetic offered seamless acceleration without a clutch or traditional gearbox. Its complexity and high cost limited sales, but its engineering placed it decades ahead of its time.

This 1917 Owen Magnetic M-25 Touring stands as one of only a handful of known survivors. Beneath its refined, conventional appearance lies one of the most innovative drivetrains of the Brass Era. Powered by a Continental six-cylinder engine and finished with period details such as a distinctive V-shaped radiator and wire wheels, the car demonstrates how early engineers blended electric and internal combustion technology long before it became mainstream.

Today, the Owen Magnetic serves as a powerful reminder that the future of mobility often begins in the past, and that some of yesterday’s most radical ideas remain relevant more than 100 years later.