Компания E. R. Thomas: Пионеры американского автопрома и победители гонки Нью-Йорк – Париж 1908 года.

American car manufacturer

E. R. Thomas Motor Company was a manufacturer of motorized bicycles, motorized tricycles, motorcycles, and automobiles in Buffalo, New York between 1900 and 1919.

In 1896, Edwin Ross Thomas (1850–1936) of Buffalo, New York began selling gasoline engine kits for propelling ordinary bicycles. After forming the Thomas Motor Company, he began selling complete motor assisted bicycles under the name Thomas Auto Bi. The Auto Bi is generally considered to be the first production motorized bicycle made in the United States. By 1903, the company was the largest manufacturer of single cylinder, air cooled engines. and the first to do so in the winter with George Schuster the first automobile driver to ever make the transcontinental winter crossing of the US. Finishing in 169 days was a remarkable feat, considering the lack of roads and services in 1908. Schuster, the driver, was the only member of the Thomas crew to go the full distance. The Flyer survived and was restored to the exact condition it entered Paris on that day by William F. Harrah. It is now on exhibit at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, Nevada. The Germans arrived in Paris on July 26, 1908. The American Flyer arrived at the edge of the city on July 30, and initially was not allowed into Paris by police because it had a broken headlamp. A passerby offered the team a bicycle light. With no tools to remove the light, they simply strapped the bike on the Thomas Flyer so they could enter Paris and finish the race. It was later discovered the Protos took some shortcuts on its path and was penalized, so the American team that actually arrived second was declared the official winner of the epic race. The 1965 Warner Brothers movie The Great Race is inspired by the 1908 New York to Paris race and the hero's car, the Leslie Special, is documented to be inspired by the Thomas flyer.