Tens of thousands of people from around the world came to the Exposition from 1915-1916 and rode around Balboa Park in one of Clyde Osborn’s Electriquettes.
Clyde Osborn will never be listed among the titans of the automobile industry. Rather, he is one of the countless indefatigable American optimists who had a dream to build an automobile and then acted upon it.
His dream was the Electriquette, a two-passenger, battery-run electric car that was built for the event. With a body entirely made of wicker, it looked like a lounge chair on wheels. Rides cost a dollar apiece, and the battery ran eight hours before needing a boost.
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
![]()
(via Electriquette Motor Cart Co.)
Clyde Osborn will never be listed among the titans of the automobile industry. Rather, he is one of the countless indefatigable American optimists who had a dream to build an automobile and then acted upon it.
His dream was the Electriquette, a two-passenger, battery-run electric car that was built for the event. With a body entirely made of wicker, it looked like a lounge chair on wheels. Rides cost a dollar apiece, and the battery ran eight hours before needing a boost.
A San Diego attorney who owned the Fritchie electric car dealership in town, Osborn produced about 200 Electriquettes that did everything that was asked of them. After the event he abandoned electric car manufacturing and returning to lawyering.
However, the Electriquettes were not forgotten. They were even featured in a silent film from the Keystone Film Company, starring Fatty Arbuckle.
They were one of the most popular attractions of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park but after the event ended they disappeared. No one knows what happened to them.
However, the Electriquettes were not forgotten. They were even featured in a silent film from the Keystone Film Company, starring Fatty Arbuckle.
They were one of the most popular attractions of the Panama-California Exposition in Balboa Park but after the event ended they disappeared. No one knows what happened to them.
(via Electriquette Motor Cart Co.)