I Accidentally Found What Might be the Rarest Car in the World

"Xedicon" (Xedicon) 01/05/2016 at 13:41 • Filed to: None

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Greetings fellow gearheads! For a long time I’ve been wanting to create an article for Oppo but until recently I never felt like I came across something worthwhile - until now. Here’s a hint...

A while back my wife and I headed out in search of a Santa to equip with our baby daughter and snaps some adorable pics. On our way we discovered that the targeted Santa was unavailable on Saturdays; a real bummer because it was Saturday. While lamenting this problem we passed a sign in front of the Plymouth Historical Museum in Plymouth MI proclaiming both a Santa and free admission! Excited by the discovery we promptly went out to lunch, and then came back for some Santa Time.

The museum has two levels with Santa parked up top so of course that came first. A Santa Stop and some personal belongings of Abraham Lincoln later (yes that Abe Lincoln) it was time to visit the lower level, and this is where things got very interesting.

Stuffed all the way in the very very back of the lower level sat a car. I knew they had a car and I always figured it was some run of the mill early Ford but I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Powerfully wrong. So wrong my wrongness gets its own paragraph. I feel shame.

You see, back in the early 1900s there were a heck of a lot of automakers, a whole bunch of which nobody has ever heard of and didn’t last very long. One of these was Alter Automobile which ran from 1914 to 1917, open to close right in Plymouth MI. They started out making a Touring model (four seats) and later added a Roadster model (two seats). Depending on who you talk to the company made anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 cars but no matter which end you subscribe to that already makes anything they produced very rare. Fun fact is that the original building for Alter Automobile is still in use today.

Despite the spread on how many cars were made, every source of information I could find all agree that only one Alter remains in existence and there it was right in front of me. Cooped up in a tiny museum basement sits a 1915 Alter Touring, in all original condition. THE remaining Alter, the 100 year old exceptionally well preserved Alter complete with a Do Not Touch sign and finger smears on the left front fender.

Given how long ago Alter was formed, the very short time they were in production, and the 100+ years between the manufacture of this car and today with it being the sole survivor - I honestly may have been looking at the rarest car in the world, only discovered because we needed some Santa pics.

The moral of this story is that Santa is awesome! Actually that might not be it. Here are some pics of the car; I apologize for the terrible nature of these pictures but the space is tiny and cramped and not very well lit.

Takuro Spirit > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 13:48

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Wow. And I thought the Kissels made in the town I spent my teens in were rare.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kissel_Mo…

Advertised as “KisselKar,” of the 35,000 automobiles the company produced, only 150 are known to exist today. The Wisconsin Automotive Museum of Hartford has several of these remaining cars on display. The most famous car was one the company donated to Hollywood actress Anita King for her transcontinental trip in 1915 that marked the first-ever such trip by a female driving alone. The most popular Kissel model was the 1919 thru 1927 Speedster , nicknamed the Gold Bug . The two passenger (sometimes four-passenger) Gold Bug was owned by famous personalities of the time such as actor Fatty Arbuckle and aviator Amelia Earhart . [8] Beginning in 1927, Kissel also produced the sporty White Eagle Speedster .

Xedicon > Takuro Spirit 01/05/2016 at 13:50

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This is still some neat info! It’s amazing how many auto makers were around in the early 1900’s - even companies that had nothing to do with cars were making them. Like Maxwell House and Remmington, nuts!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 13:57

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My favorite brass age automaker is probably Adams Farwell. Also down to just one remaining, but it runs!

Xedicon > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 01/05/2016 at 14:03

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I hadn’t heard of them, will Google Fu!

MultiplaOrgasms > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 14:04

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Given the sheer number of forgotten car manufacturers in those days, can there even be such a thing as a rarest car in the world?

Pictured: an early Falcon CA6

Falcon Automobilwerke made cars from 1921-1926 and their production facility was bought by Röhr Auto AG that year. The only known surviving part of a Falcon automobile is a radiator grille. How’s that for rarity?

Xedicon > MultiplaOrgasms 01/05/2016 at 14:11

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Sadly a radiator grille isn’t a whole car, thus Falcon’s are not rare but extinct. Bummer too as that car looks like a good time!

Justin Hughes > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 14:19

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Nice! My local brand was the Bay State Automobile , also not as rare.

Xedicon > Justin Hughes 01/05/2016 at 14:35

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Ha I used to live in Marlborough! Had no idea there guys were in that area then!

Chariotoflove > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 14:45

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That is so cool. Thanks for sharing. I hope you got some great Santa pics too. Too bad they couldn’t be in the Alter.

Xedicon > Chariotoflove 01/05/2016 at 14:47

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Thank you!

Nick Has an Exocet > Xedicon 01/05/2016 at 21:02

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I thought the rarest car in the world was a BMW without an asshat at the wheel. Proven wrong. Thanks.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Xedicon 01/06/2016 at 02:43

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this Toyota AA would be a close second. only found in Russia not long ago. only genuine in existence , Toyota had an AA recreated for themselves , now lives in a museum in the Netherlands

Xedicon > pip bip - choose Corrour 01/06/2016 at 08:15

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Love it!

Nauraushaun > Xedicon 01/06/2016 at 21:19

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We should rate these old cars in how unloved they are.

For example: it’s possible that there’s not a single person left in the world who cares about this car. It’s possible that it’s only on display because it’s old and interesting and nobody would buy it, so the owner has nothing better to do with it.

The amount of people left who would have worked for this company could be 0. There may even be 0 people left who can remember having ridden in a Alter.

Xedicon > Nauraushaun 01/07/2016 at 08:10

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An interesting thought!

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Xedicon 01/07/2016 at 15:13

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Alt means old, auf Deutsch. Fitting.