78 years after this photo was taken, as of this writing, this car is in essentially the same condition, and in the same family.

Earle Eckel had this car repainted in 1951.
This picture appears to be from well before that time.
These days the car has received another attractive paint job and has been exported to England.

In 1948, Leonard Colpitts of Ballard Vale, MA, advertised this very early car.
It was completely restored, and in view of its significance he asked the then-astronomical figure of $2800.
In 2012, the car looked very much like this picture.
Today its location is unknown.

Cecil Holman and Albert Averill bought this car in Maine in 1940.
Here's a picture of it as found, still wearing its 1913 Maine license plate.
The car has been restored, is still in Maine, and the plate is still with it.
(Serial number is probably 541.)

On Nov. 24, 1943, wire services carried this photo with a fanciful story of baseball Hall-of-Famer Joe Gordon and his wife still driving the car around Eugene, OR.  Joe was home from his berth with the Yankees to announce his plan to enlist.
The driving part of the story seems unlikely, given the condition of the right front tire.
However, the car went on to survive the WWII scrap drives, and today is completely restored and operational in California.
It's one of the very few short-wheelbase cars still in operation.
It still looks like this, but with fresh paint in the yellow color that was found as original paint.
The early Oregon 2147 plate remains with the car.

Clarence Marshall purchased this car in 1944.
Here it is as found - perhaps previous owner John Weibley is the seat.
78 years later, as of this writing, the car remains in the same collection.

In 1947, this car was living in Maryland, suffering the indignity of a false front (and reduced seating) apparently meant to evoke a gas car..
Later, a tree fell on the garage, and in 1957, Dave Ault bough the smashed remains.
He had a new body built, but integrated the crosspiecs that carries the body number, 392.  Bob Mead finished the restoration.
The car sold at auction in 2017.

In 1941, Stanley Ellis wrote a charming article about the rediscovery of this little red car.
It still had all the original tools and supplies with it.
With fuel and water added, it operated immediately.
This photo is one of a group taken by Rod Blood, including a shot of those carefully-preserved tools and supplies.
81 years later, the car is on display in the Talahassee Antique Car Museum, with the same paint, showing the same monogram.

A youthful Ed Battison pilots his early tiller-steer car at the 1948 Charlemont steam car meet.
The following year he would drive this car to the top of Mt. Washington, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of F. O. & Flora Stanley's famous climb.
This car was restored some years ago to a high standard and won its class at Pebble Beach in 1997.
It now resides in New Hampshire.
(See also #5239.)

Walter Gregory found this car in Wilmington, Mass. in 1936, bearing a 1908 license plate.  By 1941, he had restored it and was driving it around the  streets of Quincy, Mass.  By 1961, it was in the Harmon Elliott collection, and it formed part of the first exhibit when the Sterling Elliott Museum opened in Stuart, Florida that year.  
In September 1902, Sterling Elliott owned a Stanley - this may be that same car.

This well-known photo shows, left to right, Carlton F. Stanley, F. O. Stanley, and Fred Marriott.
It was taken in September of 1939, when Fred drove it around Newton in preparation for the VMCCA meet at Framingham.
It now resides in the Owls Head Transportation Museum.

Clinton Atkinson was perhaps the first true steam car hobbyist.
He had an "antique" tiller-steer Stanley in about 1910.
By the 1920s, he was collecting Stanleys and Whites, and kept them and ran them for decades.
The picture on the left is from 1919, when this Model K was only 11 years old.  
    This may be the earliest known picture of any currently existing Stanley.
Atkinson sold the car to Paul Bourdon, himself a significant collector in the 1940s, where the photo on the right was taken.
In the early 1940s, Bourdon sold the car to James Melton, who took it to Fred Marriott's shop for reconditioning,
    where George Monreau did much of the work.
Melton wanted it to be delivered, so Monreau simply drove it the 150+ miles from Newton to Weston, CT - trouble-free.
By 1944, it looked like the bottom photo.
Melton proudly displayed this car for many years in his museum in Hypoloxo, FL, printing thousands of postcards of it in different poses.
Then it travelled to Petit Jean Mountain, AR with much of the rest of  Melton's collection, to form the basis of the Rockefeller Collection.
It continued on to Harrah's collection, then passed through the stewardship of Brent Campbell to its current home in New Hampshire,
    where it continues to live up to the Stanleys' original catalog performance claims.
With its remarkable combination of desirable model, original body, and accompanying original engine,
    this is one of the most interesting Stanleys remaining.
See also Atkinson's #6524.

Ralph Van Dine was one of a trio of well-known Stanley hunters in the '30s and '40s.
Here he is in a terrific original car, in a picture that appears to be advertising it for sale.
Joe Van Sciver bought it from him, and owned it by 1948, so this picture predates that year.
It was painted a startling shade of green, apparently by Van Sciver, and spent many years in a Florida museum.
Today it is in Connecticut.

Early collector Glenn Gould began his antique car career by restoring this Model E2, acquired from a relative.
The car remains in his collection, housed at the Wells Auto Museum.

Frank B. Ewing, of Rapid City, SD, bought this Model R in 1927.
By the 1930s, he was using it as a service car for his auto repair business, the plank bumper used to push inoperative vehicles.
A friend of Smith Hempstone Oliver snapped this picture at that time.
By 1959, Ewing had refreshed the car, painting it, removing the bumper, and re-mounting the gas lights.
Today it resides in CT, serving as the pattern for many Model R re-creations.

Californian Art Twohy, one of the founders of the Horseless Carriage Club of America, had this photo in his files.
Research on its license plate number revealed the car to be #5131.
As early as 1954, it had made its way to the LA County Museum.
Carrying a different windshield today, the car is in a Nebraska museum, where it has resided for nearly 50 years.

This car was owned by Universal Studios for many years.
They put it to work in "Summer Holiday", starring Mickey Rooney, in 1948.
It also appeared in "The Vanishing Virginian".
Its current California owner has kept it in the spotlight by allowing it to be disassembled on-screen in "Seabiscuit".

Renowned Stanley hunter Mervin Allatt located this fine original car and brokered it to T. Clarence Marshall in 1945.
Marshall had it restored by Hyde Ballard & Dick French.
Here's Tom Marshall with the car on the 1947 Glidden Tour.
It was restored again in 1998 by Charlie Johnson, and remains in the Marshall Collection today.

This 8x10 glossy was taken at James Melton's first location in Norwalk, CT, before the collection moved to grander quarters in Florida.
Showing the car as Melton restored it, it's the original of the photo appearing in a souvenir book published about 1946.
Notice the pilot tank from a Model 735.
Today the car resides in the Smithsonian, although it is not displayed.

Melton also acquired and restored this nice 4-passenger touring car, painting it in the curious light/dark paint scheme that he used on #3719.
Tom Marshall recalls that when his father purchased from Melton it in the early '50s, it still had the canvas windshield shown here.
This photo is from a set of small images sold as a souvenir from Melton's Norwalk location in the '40s.
After passing through several other hands, its current owner performed a careful restoration and the car is still active today.

Dan Findlay has done a superb job of tracing this car's history into the distant past.
Here it is in 1949, participating in a parade marking the opening of the Pacific Northwest Exposition.

This is one of the rare Stanleys which was actually imported into England when new.
It's shown here on the cover of the premier steam car publication of the 1940s.
Today it remains in the same family.

Eccentric steam aficionado Oscar D. York, of Wolfeboro, NH, fitted Ray Stanley's second personal special roadster
    with a coal burner (and a roof and windshield) and used it for transportation during World War II.
Restored by Glenn Gould, and for years under the stewardship of Brent Campbell, the Special once more has its original appearance and performance.

Leonard Taylor is absolutely howling around the Silverstone track in 1949 - note the position of the throttle lever.
Apparently he had removed the rear of the body, as this car today carries a touring car body with English front doors and windshield.

On the far left of this photo, taken at the 1940 Raceland meet of the VMCCA, is Cameron Bradley's Model 63, recently acquired from J. D. Bean..
The car ended up in Henry Austin Clark's Long Island Automotive Museum for many years, posing for one of Austie's well-known postcards.
After surviving intact for many years, it had much of its factory-delivered content discarded in the '80s - body, engine, original-sized boiler, brakes.
Today it is in a Michigan museum.

This was steam fanatic James Melton's favorite Stanley.  He took it to many steam meets and was regularly photographed in the car.
A very photogenic Melton and wife appear in this 1944 photo - note the wartime fuel rationing sticker on the windshield.
The car went to the Winthrop Rockefeller Museum when that entity purchased most of Melton's collection after he fell on hard times.
Today it continues to be driven regularly in Illinois.

Henry C. Wing, Sr., was a vigorous early collector of Stanleys and other antiques, as was his son Henry C. Wing, Jr.
Here's Wing, Sr. at a 1945 or 1946 meet of the VMCCA at Greenfield.
Today this car is part of the collection in the Seal Cove Auto Museum.

Paul Bourdon was one of the earliest Stanley enthusiasts, beginning his first search for one in 1930.
A few years later, he found this car.  
Soon he had fitted a 20hp boiler and burner, requiring some frame modification but resulting in a very satisfactory highway car.
In 1939, with the car wearing this license plate, he drove it from his Vermont home to the 1939 World's Fai in New York,
    in the company of his wife, brother Bob and his wife, and a fifth person.
He drove the return trip, between three and four hundred miles, in one day, only needing stops for fuel and water.
Today the car remains in the family, on its original-specification frame, but still carrying a larger-than-standard boiler.

This very early photo of this smart Model 63, taken in front of the arbor behind T. Clarence Marshall's home,
    is labeled on the rear, in his handwriting, "Prize Winner Kennett Sw. Penna Hobby Show. Sept 7-8,1945"
Marshall purchased it in 1944.
In 1980, it was traded to its present owner in Delaware in return for paint work on other Marshall Collection cars.

Elmer Norbury began appearing in the Horseless Carriage Club Gazette in California meets in 1949.
The car gradually made its way east, including a sojourn with the ubiquitous Carl Amsley,
    before arriving at its final home in The Collection On Palmetto.

Pioneering steam car hobbyist Clinton Atkinson located this rare and magnificent Model 87 as a young man.
Here it wears a 1920 New Hampshire license plate and supports a relaxed Atkinson on the running board.
Later owned and restored by Paul Bourdon, it was purchased in 1950 by T. Clarence Marshall.
It has travelled cross-country several times.  It remains in the Marshall Collection, and is operated regularly.
See also Atkinson's #4161.

In 1940, T Clarence Marshall became interested in finding a Stanley to enjoy.
Just a few miles from his house lay this car, in the hands of its original owner, to whom Marshall had sold the car new as a Stanley dealer.
Its purchase and refurbishment began a tradition of Stanley collection and knowledge sharing which remains unbroken over 80 years later.
Still in the Marshall Collection, having been housed no further than a 5-mile radius since it was new in 1913,
    this car is today one of the workhorses of the Friends of Auburn Heights Preserve.
It is in constant use all summer long, giving rides on the grounds, driving to nearby shows, and serving as the collection's ambassador on steam tours.
We see it here in 1941 at a show on the grounds of the Yorklyn Gun Club.

George Monreau worked on Stanley repair & restoration for many years, in association with Fred Marriott.
He also owned several Stanleys; here he is in "McGee", one of his favorites, at the 1947 Raceland meet of the VMCCA.
A very similar car, #6923, also owned by Monreau, went to early west coast collector Herb Royston, but eventually returned to the east.
Later owned by Monreau's grandson Brent Campbell, this car now resides in Washington state.

One of Henry C. Wing's many Stanleys is shown here at the VMCCA's 1948 Raceland meet.
The electric headlights remained on the car for many years during Ralph Van Dine's ownership.
Today the car, fully restored again and with authentic headlights and a distinctive color, lives and drives in New Jersey.

This image appeared in the March 1945 Horseless Carriage Gazette.  Ray Nelson and Charles Petzold owned the car jointly at that time.  Nelson eventually attained sole ownership of the car.  It gained universal fame as the subject of a Pennzoil service reminder postcard in the 1950s - dozens of copies of it are available continuously on eBay.  That color picture shows a red car with unusual white undercarriage.  The car still wears that paint today.

Unaware at this moment that Japanese war planes had just bombed Pearl Harbor,
    a delighted Frank Gardner gets his new Stanley, just purchased from Paul Bourdon, into position for loading.
Frank is on the left, Paul Bourdon in the center, and Paul's brother Robert is on the right.
Stored during the war, the car was driven briefly in 1946, then Gardner upgraded to the 20hp #6520.
This car then passed through some other hands in quick succession, landing in the Swigart Museum in 1950.
It has acquired very few additional miles in the last 70+ years.

Henry C. Wing, Jr. found this car about 1940 in a local junk yard..  a feat never more to be repeated, I'm sure.
He restored it beautifully, as shown in this picture dated 1943.
Today it is in California.

The LA Daily News ran an article with this photo in 1944.
Newt Brown, pictured, was running this car on kerosene with blithe unconcern for rationing.
(Kerosene actually was rationed during the war, but not as stringently as gasoline.)
He fitted a condenser and a smokestack, but the remaining lines of the 606 are unmistakable.
Dean Spencer restored the car in 1956, and "Sssteamer" Pat Farrell drove the socks off of it for years in Washington state and points east.

In the center of this photo from the first steam car meet at Charlemont, MA in 1948, is Henry C. Wing, Sr.'s remarkable Model 710.
(On the right is Stanley Ellis's #7781, and partially hidden behind Wing's car is Tom Marshall's #7742.)
This is one of only four 20hp cars to survive from the 1914 model year.
It is still driven today, on the roads of Michigan.

This photo is labeled "Jen & Violet in Stanley / Dec. 1942".
In an odd twist, legendary Stanley broker Mervin Allatt appears to have had this car brokered to him, in 1936.
And by no less than the American Steam Automobile Co., the business manifestation of steam designer Thomas Derr.
Allatt clearly wanted this car for his own use, and went on to register it in NJ in 1937, '40, and '42.
He appears to have painted it during that time, as the 1937 registration describes the car as green,
    and the 1940 registration says blue.
After a fresh restoration in Washington state, the car went to Maine in 2011, to Canada in 2021, and then immediately to New York..

By the time Tom Marshall returned from military service in 1945, his father, T. Clarence Marshall, had assembled a significant collection of Stanleys.
Tom was as fascinated as the rest of us, and acquired this car from Donald Randall.
It is actually mentioned in George Woodbury's book, The Story of a Stanley Steamer, driven by "Professor Coates"'s wife.
Here Tom is driving it at the very first steam car meet, at Charlemont, MA in 1948, with T. C. just behind him in #6889.
Tom put many miles on the car driving to meets and tours in the '40s and '50s.
Still in the Marshall Collection, it is driven regularly in support of the educational mission of the Friends of Auburn Heights.

This may be the earliest known photo of one of the most photographed Stanleys of all.
Earle Eckel had already had this car for 17 years by the time of this shot, taken at the 1935 Philadelphia Antique Auto Derby,
    one of the formative events of the Antique Automobile Club of America.
He modified the wheels for the heavier tires shown here, and at some point,
    replaced the 1914 engine and rear end with components from a Model 735.
This combination took him down the road tens of thousands of miles, touring and driving to meets all over the eastern half of the US.
His expertise, sharing, and presence everywhere, made him (along with T. Clarence Marshall) one of the "Deans of Steam."
Presently residing in Massachusetts, and still wearing its condensing underpinnings,
    the car is now receiving some TLC from Don Bourdon and Brent Campbell.

Here's Battison in his well turned-out 607 as the war drew to a close.
The VMCCA logo on the hood survived into Stanley Ellis's ownership and is visible in Ellis's book Smogless Days.
This car presently lives in Illinois and is driven regularly and energetically.

T. C. Marshall purchased the only 5-seat Mountain Wagon from George Monreau in 1946.
Son Tom drove it home to Delaware from Massachusetts.
It was just the first of many long trips and tours for this largest of Stanleys.
An unknown bystander snapped this photo of the car on the 1948 Glidden Tour.
Having had the pleasure of driving this wonderfuil car, I can attest that it is graceful, well-mannered, and powerful.
    It doesn't feel like a large vehicle at all.
After 76 years, it remains in the Marshall Collection, and you can come take a ride in it the first Sunday afternoon of every summer month.

Mervin Allatt covered many miles of many back roads of many states,
    in his search for Stanleys during the days they could still be found regularly in barns.
He picked up lots of cars himself, and he brokered many more.
In this case, he was almost a miracle worker.
Leroy Benge's father had a Model 720 which he bought new from T. Clarence Marshall in 1915.
Benge was a good friend of T. C.'s, and in the mid-1940s, watching the Marshall Collection grow, he though he'd like to have a car, too.
He asked Allatt to find him one just like his dad's.
Now, Model 720 is one of the rarest Stanleys; only a few were made during the 1915 transition  year to the condenser.
Allatt found a Model 720, to order, one of possibly only two remaining, and Benge drove it for many years.
Here he is on the 1949 Glidden Tour.
This car is today in California.

In 1940, Sherriff Jesse Z. Feese, of Alma, NB, added this Mountain Wagon to his steam car collection, which already included 2 Whites.
James Melton became aware of it, and pestered Feese about it for several years, finally purchasing the car in 1944.
Melton restored the car and sold it in 1952 to T. Clarence Marshall.
It passed numerous other hands and presently resides in Michigan, recently receiving a thorough restoration.

Wealthy dilettante Fred E Lewis II purchased this car as a chassis. 
The frame shows evidence of being fitted with two boilers.
In 1918, Lewis registered it in Connecticut as a 3-passenger Model 826.
In 1919, he registered it in California as a truck.
In 1922, C M Moore registered it as a truck.  He used it in his welding business, as pictured above, and retired it around 1928.
Somewhere along the line it received this truck body and a condenser.
But the deeply-billed front fenders and the low step for rear seat passengers, features of the 1916 Mountain Wagon, are still visible.
Moore kept it, and restored it in the late '50s with this same body and condenser.
Pat Farrell bought it in 1998, created a new 12-passenger body, and restored the car beautifully to 1916 Mountain Wagon specifications.
It's now part of the stable at Stanley Steamer Tours.