No-one was more surprised than twin brothers Francis E. and Freeland O.

Stanley when John Brisbane Walker, owner and editor of ‘Cosmopolitan’ magazine arrived at their works in 1899 announcing that he had come to buy a half interest in their automobile business.

F.

O.

Stanley is famously quoted as saying: “We told him we didn’t know as we had an automobile business, and we certainly did not want a partner; that we had difficulty enough in getting along with each other, and we did not want to increase our trouble by taking in a third party.” J.

B.

Walker’s offer was rebuffed and just two months later, in April 1899, Walker appeared again offering to buy Stanley brothers’ entire business.

The Stanley brothers, reluctant sellers, fixed a ludicrous price of $250,000 which they felt Walker could not possibly match but, to their surprise, Walker clinched the deal leaving the Stanleys with a substantial capital profit.

The deal included the factory, all its tooling and equipment, work...