The Stanley Mountain Wagon was born of F.O.

Stanley’s sabbatical to Colorado following his affliction with tuberculosis in 1881.

By 1903, he had taken up residence in Estes Park, the gateway to the Rocky Mountains, to take advantage of the dry air.

He would spend much of the rest of his life there.

Estes Park was, then as now, a tourist destination with hotels and resorts.

By 1907, the Loveland-Estes Park Transportation Company began operating a fleet of Model F Stanley steamers from the railhead at Loveland.

The Model F, however, carried only five passengers.

F.O., a stickler for efficiency, conceived the idea of a larger vehicle, propelled by a 30-horsepower engine similar to that of the 1906 Stanley speed record car at Ormond Beach.

In the fall of 1907, F.O.

returned to Massachusetts and saw to the construction of the first Model Z Mountain Wagon, an open, nine-passenger vehicle on a long, 118-inch wheelbase.

The rear axle was given lower, 1.75:1 gears to cope with the ste...