This 1902 White Model B Steam car , S/N 340 has history back to the origins of the antique car hobby in the 1930’s, with giant name owners including George Whitney, Lindley Bothwell,  and D. Cameron Peck.  It has been meticulously researched and obsessively and thoroughly restored, with a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance trophy in the 2014 “Early Steam Car” class with a second place trophy!

There are thought to be only 10 complete 1901/1902 White model B Steamers extant, with another 3 partially complete cars.  That’s extremely rare indeed!

The provenance of this car is stellar.  George Whitney, one of the earliest collectors of antique cars amassed a 70 car collection near San Francisco in the 1930’s and 1940’s.  He sold a batch of 52 cars to another prolific and pioneering collector Lindley Bothwell in 1943. The Bothwells did some work on the car, and then sold it to the legendary D. Cameron Peck, a Chicago collector. D. Cameron Peck owned it from 1950 to 1952, when under pressure from his family, he auctioned off the entire collection.  Morris P. Frost owned it from 1952 to 1955, then sold it to Scribner executive  G. McKay Shieffelin ( The Grandson of Charles Scribner II of publishing fame).  The sale was effected by an auction run by another legendary hobbyist, Henry Austin Clark.  The auction description in 1955:  “This is a very beautiful example of the early White steamer. The property of Morris Frost, who has become a Stanley nut, and is bored with a White that needs nothing. New boiler and everything. This is a real cream puff. Bring money.”  G. McKay Shieffelin owned the car for the longest time of any known owner, from 1955 to 1985.

Bernard Levine, a steam enthusiast, owned it from 1985 to 1990, when Allen Blazick – another multi-steam car owner – bought the car.  By this time the car needed some mechanical refreshing, so the Blazicks sold it to the current owner in 2009, at which point the total restoration commenced!

This 1902 White Model B Stanhope is the end result of a total mechanical and cosmetic restoration done to the highest standard, resulting in a car that looks and steams like it did when it was new in 1902!

Many more details are available at http://www.vaultcars.com

The Vault Classic Cars

Steve Snyder