BUY THIS CAR!!! Fifty-sixth in a series of classic vehicles, captured 9/21/08, at the beautiful Palos Verdes Concours d'Elegance, held annually at the beautiful Trump National Golf Club on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula in overpopulated Southern California. For more information on this event, see my posting for 9/28/08. The Owen Magnetic was a brand of luxury automobile manufactured between 1915 and 1922, and was notable for its use of an electromagnetic transmission. The manufacture of the car was sponsored by R.M. Owen & Company of New York, New York. The car was built in New York City in 1915, Cleveland, Ohio between 1916 and 1919 and finally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1920 and 1921. While the cars were powered by a six-cylinder engine, power for the wheels was based upon the same electromagnetic principle that turned the propeller of the battleship, U.S.S. New Mexico. Automobile author Henry B. Lent described the drive mechanism thus: The drive mechanism had no direct connection between the engine and the rear wheels. Instead of a flywheel, a generator and a horseshoe-shaped magnet were attached to the rear of the engine's crank shaft. On the forward end of the car's drive shaft was an electric motor with an armature fitted into an air space inside the whirling magnet. Electrical current, transmitted by the engine's generator and magnet attached to the armature of the electrical motor, provided the energy to turn the drive shaft and propel the engine's rear wheels. Speed for the car was controlled by a small lever adjacent to the steering wheel. The first Owen Magnetic was introduced at the 1915 New York auto show when Justus B. Entz's electric transmission was fitted to the Owen automobile. Walter C. Baker, of Cleveland Ohio, owned the patents on the Entz transmission thus each of the 250 Owen Magnetic automobile produced in New York were built under license. The car became as famous as the company's clientele which included Enrico Caruso and John McCormack. Owen Magnetics were advertised as "The Car of a Thousand Speeds." Source: Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia Better viewed full size. Thankx for the visit, and have a serendipitous Sunday.