American Civil War veteran Colonel Albert Pope had created his bicycle-building empire in the 1880s and it was a natural progression to enter the automobile business, first with Columbia electric vehicles from 1897, followed by five other Pope makes, the best known of which are probably the Pope-Hartford and the Pope-Toledo – the names reflecting the location of their factories and made by the Pope Manufacturing Co.

and the Pope Motor Co.

respectively.

Also made by the Manufacturing Co., at a factory in Hagerstown, Maryland, was the Pope-Tribune, a small car that took cues from European marques.

It was introduced early in 1904 and production continued for two years, with steady developments to the specification.

The initial examples had a 6hp engine with a water-cooled cylinder-head and an air-cooled barrel, rear-mounted gearbox, braking only on the transmission, and a De Dion-style 'coal-scuttle' engine cover.

Towards the end of the year a fully water-cooled larger engine became...