1905 Stanley Runabout Model CX 1908 Stanley Model EX

General History

In 1906, the Stanleys developed their strongest power plant ever, using a 4½-inch x 6½-inch engine and a 30-inch-diameter boiler. That same year, this power plant drove their streamlined racer to a world land speed record of 127.66 MPH. By 1907, the same power plant, with a somewhat smaller boiler, was installed in a very light three-passenger vehicle, creating one of the very first muscle cars. The catalog termed it a “semi-racer,” and only 26 were built.

Our Model’s History

The 1907 Stanley Semi-Racer Model K in our collection is not the first one to be owned by the Marshalls. In July 1910, T. Clarence Marshall bought a used Model K and owned it for three years. That vehicle was later broken up and the parts were thrown in the back corner of a machine shop in Avondale, Pennsylvania. In 1945, Hyde Ballard, a personal friend and an active member of the Antique Automobile Club of America, gathered up what he could find and used many of the original parts to rebuild the car. Tom Marshall then acquired and restored the Model K in 1986, and it has been in our collection to this day.