The 1899 Waverley Stanhope Phaeton is an outstanding example of an original pioneer Indiana automobile. Especially popular with physicians, the Stanhope was designed with elegant lines. It has a large graceful body supported by a beautifully detailed chassis. This Waverley reportedly was first owned by John Garrett of Baltimore, a U. S. Ambassador to Italy. No earlier Waverley Electric Phaeton of this pioneer era is known to exist. The Indiana Bicycle Company, which produced the vehicle in Indianapolis, extolled the virtues of its electric vehicles. The 1899 catalog said, “The use of steam, gas, compressed air, and electricity, as motive power have all been tried with varying degrees of success, but for pleasure and light business travel, electricity, the most subtle, adaptable and elastic force known to modern engineers, has, beyond doubt, proved the ideal agent for carriage propulsion.”
