1925 Cole Brouette Sedan - Important Car! CCCA Full Classic!

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1925 Cole Brouette Model 890 Sedan by Willoughby Offered as a buy-it-now. Make us an offer!

This car was the personal chauffeur driven car of Mrs. J.J. Cole, wife of the company founder- J.J. Cole. It later became the personal car of Mrs. Joseph Jacob Cole, the daughter-in-law of the founder and was used by her until sometime in the 30's when it was retired and stored in the basement of the Cole Motor Car building. In the late 40's it was used by her son, Joseph James Cole.
In May of 1956 the car was in the basement of the Cole Plant when the basement was flooded by an overflow of the adjacent Pogues Run Creek. Probably as a result of the flood damage-the dash and instruments were replaced using a dash panel from a mid 30's car.
In 1992 title passed to Cole family members Frank and Patricia Owings Jr., and in August of 1997 notice was received from the Indiana State Historic Preservation Office that the Cole Brouette and the JJ Cole residence at 4909 N Meridian St had been entered in the National Register of Historic Places.
The seller acquired the car from the Cole family in 1997, and embarked on a sensitive restoration of the car to insure its continued mechanical, structural, and cosmetic preservation. The car runs and drives without fault, and has an honesty rarely seen in cars from this era.
The Classic Car Club of America accepted this car as a Full Classic in November 22, 2012.
This is an important piece of Indianapolis Automotive history.

We have many more photographs of this car, please click on any image to be taken to our full-size image list!
The Cole Motor Car Company was founded in June 1909 by Joseph Jarrett Cole, who was born near Connersville, IN in 1869. After graduation from the Richmond Business College, he accumulated significant experience in the horse drawn carriage industry including manufacturing, advertising, and sales. The first Cole Vehicles were 2 cylinder and of the high wheel variety. In 1910, the series 30 cars were introduced in 4 body styles. these were completely modern cars that often won in racing circuits of the day. Th success of these resulted in rapid increases of production and variety of offerings. in 1913 a 6 cylinder engine was added and in 1915 Cole introduced its 346 Cu In V8 Engine-which rapidly displaced the 4 and 6 cylinder engines also being offered.
Although the Cole cars were company designed J. J. Cole believed the best components could be obtained from specialist producers in their respective fields. Therefore many of the Cole Components were manufactured by the best known names in the industry such as Delco, Stromberg, Johnson, Schebler, Timken, Columbia, Spicer, Gemmer, Stewart, Houk, and Firestone. The Cole designed motors were all manufactured by Northway Division of General Motors. Thus Cole liked to call their car "The Standardized Car".
Cole body configurations were always currently stylish. The Springfield Convertible hard top body was featured in 19i6-18 and the cutting edge Aero 8 Styling was introduced in 1918 along with pioneering use of balloon tires. In 1920 Cole incorporated bodies supplied by custom body builders Rubay and Willoughby.
J.J. Cole's experience in advertising was a prominent part of the Cole sales program, and in 1924 Cole paced the Indianapolis 500. He was never interested in the lower priced auto market. in 1919, Cole production was second only to Cadillac among America's Higher priced makers.
In the depressed economy after WWI luxury car sales declined. Rather than orient to smaller lower priced vehicles, J.J. Cole elected to liquidate the company rather than jeopardize his personal fortune. the last Cole vehicles were made in 1925. The Cole plant still stands on East Washington St in Indianapolis.
Of the 40,717 Coles Manufactured, 75 are known to remain. Our Ebay Policies:
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