White Motor Company

The White Motor Company was started by Thomas White in Massachusetts in the 1870s as a sewing machine company. In 1876, White moved to Cleveland, OH, where he added bicycles to his line of products. His sons developed a steam car and a small truck in 1899. They turned to gasoline engines, and then to truck manufacturing entirely, which they kept up during most of the twentieth century.

This 1911 ad for the gasoline-powered White coupe suggests to women that the White offers the luxury and comfort of an electric without the electric’s limited power and range, while being so easy to crank that even a child can do it.