[Illustration: DURYEA AUTOMOBILE BUILT BY J. F. AND C. E. DURYEA 1893 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM CAT. #307,199 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION SEPT. 1960 A. A. BALUNEK]
Now Frank could give demonstration rides with the motor carriage, hoping to encourage more investors to back future work. Cautious Mr. Markham finally got his ride, though Frank had to assure him that the engine of the brakeless vehicle would hold them back on any hill they would descend. The carriage on which he had spent so many hours was to see little use after that. Its total mileage is probably less than a hundred miles. Little additional work is known to have been performed on the carriage after January 1894; there is, however, a letter[37] Frank sent his brother on January 19 which tells of contemplated muffler improvements. Another message was dispatched to Charles on March 22, mentioning the good performance of the phaeton on Harrison Avenue hill.[38] This was possibly the last run of the machine, for no further references have been discovered.
Frank spent the months of February and March in preparing drawings, some of which accompanied their first patent application,[39] while others were to be used in the construction of an improved, 2-cylinder carriage. Work on the new machine started in April. The old phaeton, in the absence of used-car lots, was put into storage in the Bemis barn.[40] Later, on the formation of the Duryea Motor Wagon Company in 1895, it was removed to the barn of D. A. Reed, treasurer of the company.[41] There it remained until 1920, when it was obtained by Inglis M. Uppercu and presented to the U.S. National Museum.
[1] S. H. OLIVER, _Automobiles and Motorcycles in the U.S. National Museum_ (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 213, Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1957), p. 24.
[2] G. R. DOYLE, _The World's Automobiles_ (London: Temple Press Limited, 1959), p. 67.
[3] Recorded interview with Frank Duryea in the U.S. National Museum, November 9, 1956.
[4] Charles Duryea's statement to _Springfield Daily Republican_, April 14, 1937.
[5] FRANK DURYEA, _America's First Automobile_ (Springfield, Mass.: Donald Macaulay, 1942), p. 4.
[6] Letter from Charles Duryea to Alfred Reeves, March 25, 1920; copy in Museum files.