1912 Firestone-Columbus Model 68-D Raceabout
Offered by RM Auctions | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 10-11, 2013
Firestone-Columbus was a make of automobile built in – you guessed it – Columbus, Ohio, from 1907 through 1915. It’s interesting how the company built a weird variety of cars over its short lifespan.
The Columbus Buggy Company began by building electric cars (as Columbus) before turning to high-wheelers for early dirt roads. The Firestone-Columbus name came in 1907 and was named for company president, Clinton Firestone. It was a more traditional car and you could have just about any bodystyle on one of their chassis.
In 1911, the company entered its product in a new little 500-miler in Indianapolis with driver Lee Frayer (and Eddie Rickenbacker as co-driver). The “Red Wing Special,” as it was known, finished 13th. The car offered here was not a race car back in the day. It uses a 3.6-liter straight-four making a sporty 32 horsepower.
This was discovered in the early 1990s and restoration was undertaken but it was restored to resemble the Red Wing Special that competed in the inaugural Indy 500. This car has a longer wheelbase than the race car and is road usable. The body is basic and looks like an early race car. Only seven or eight Firestone-Columbuses (Colombi?) are known to exist. This one could bring between $100,000-$125,000. Click here for more info and here for more from this sale.
Update: Mysteriously disappeared from Auction catalog.
Update II: Sold, RM Auctions Motor City 2014, $79,750.