1912 Brush Runabout Liberty

The Brush Runabout was a lightweight car built on a wooden chassis with iron cross-members. The engine was a water-cooled one cylinder unit. Headlamps were gas-powered.

The designer was Alanson Partridge Brush, who also designed the first Oakland car as well as a one cylinder Cadillac engine. He designed his engines to run counter-clockwise to avoid the many injuries caused by right-handed people starting clockwise running engines.

A Brush Runabout like this was used by Francis Birtles to become the first person to drive across the Australian continent from west to east. That must have been one uncomfortable ride!