America's longest-lived and most successful air-cooled automobile, the Franklin was the work of engineer John Wilkinson, whose innovative design, produced in prototype form for the New York Automobile Company, was taken up by Syracuse-based die-casting manufacturer Herbert H Franklin.

Franklin's company sold its first car - a runabout - in June 1902 and a dozen more before the year's end.

In an age when the customary power unit for such a vehicle was a water-cooled single, Wilkinson's 1.7-litre, air-cooled 'four' was highly unusual.

The Franklin's other advanced features included overhead valves (inlets mechanically operated from 1905), throttle speed control, float-type carburettor, two-speed planetary transmission and full-elliptic springing.

The engine was mounted transversely in the wooden chassis at first, before moving to the conventional up-front position in 1905, fan cooling being introduced at the same time on most models.

Truly innovative, Franklin was among the first to...