Imagine inventing not just a product, but an industry, and then imagine the disappointment of failing to harvest the benefits of your enormous achievement. So, it was with the Duryea brothers, J. Frank and Charles E. The two brothers were, arguably at least, the first Americans to build a successful automobile, and there is less argument that they were the first to incorporate an American industry for the expressed goal of building automobiles for sale to the public. Further, Frank drove a car they planned and built to victory in the first automobile race ever held in America. Yet, when all is said and done, the two brothers are but an vague footnote in the history of the auto industry they created.
Head by ambition
Though, if the Duryeas are a footnote, it is certainly a widely colorful, varied, and, ultimately tragic footnote. The brothers Read more . . .