Colonel Albert Augustus Pope established his manufacturing empire in the aftermath of the Civil War, his first major product line being bicycles.

Pope's first venture into the field of powered transport occurred in the late 1890s with the electrically powered Columbia, though a few gasoline-powered cars were made also, the first of which appeared around 1899.

That same year Pope merged his motor manufacturing interests with those of the Electric Vehicle Company to form the Columbia Automobile Company.

Hiram P Maxim was responsible for designing the first Columbias, his place as chief engineer being taken in the early 1900s by Frederick A Law.

Electrically powered models continued to make up the bulk of Columbia production – in 1904 there were 37 listed as opposed to only two gasoline cars: a 12/14hp twin-cylinder and 30/35hp four.

Gradually, the market for electric cars contracted and gasoline models took over.

In 1911 there were only two of the former in Columbia's range while t...