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A restored, functional 1916 Detroit Electric brougham was on display last week alongside a Tesla Roadster and several late-model EV conversions at a Michigan event last week, AnnArbor.com reports. The exhibition marked National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day.

The 94-year-old “grandfatherly visitor conferred special dignity at the National Alternative Fuel Vehicle Day celebration at Washtenaw Community College last week,” according to the article by Ronald Ahrens.

Detroit Electric brougham circa 1917
(source: WikiMedia Commons)

“Detroit Electric cars sold for $1,925 to $2,495, very much in the Cadillac range,” writes Ahrens. “Nearly all of them carried brougham bodies. A brougham was a light horse-drawn carriage with enclosed body work, with that term adapted to automobiles. The Detroit Electric brougham was among the automotive industry’s first closed cars. A wooden structure supported aluminum skin…”

The article describes the restoration of the car by its current owner, Jack Beatty of Ann Arbor, and what it’s like to ride in it.

“To operate the controls, Beatty sits to the left in the back seat. With his right hand he grasps the long tiller lever for steering. And with his left, he takes the electric motor’s control lever, which determines five different speed settings…”

For more about this interesting and historic electric vehicle, read the complete story at AnnArbor.com.

Additional background on Detroit Electric’s pioneering electric vehicles is available at WikiPedia, here.