Friday 20th November 1908

The first Velie automobile was taken for its inaugural test drive in Moline, Illinois – the car, known as ‘Old Maud’ still exists. Velie Motors Corporation produced automobiles from 1908 to 1928.Velie advertisement s bragged they “produce every important part” and were not simply assemblers, a lesson Ford had taught. However, Velie’s first car was assembled from suppliers’ components. Velie had sold more than 1000 cars by 1910. Beginning in 1911, Velie introduced a truck line, and began making a proprietary four-cylinder engine, though parts continued to come from suppliers.The 1911 Velie 40 had a 5473 cc four-cylinder L-head four-cycle gasoline engine, fired by Splitdorf magneto, producing 40 hp (30 kW), mated to a Brown-Lipe sliding-gear transmission with three forward and one reverse speed). It was a four-seater with hickory artillery wheels, shod in the customer’s choice of Hartford or Firestone tires. It was priced at US$1800, which compared against US$1500 for the Colt Runabout and US$1600 for the Oakland 40,but well below even American’s lowest-price model, at US$4250 (its highest was US$5250).Velie’s Royal Sedan body was one of the first cars designed with a raked “A” pillar, which gave its windshield a significant angle from the top to the base. According to the Official Velie Register, world wide 230 Velies are known to exist.