125 years ago in 1902

Taken directly from the pages of The Youngstown Vindicator:

“Fredonia made a wonderful record in the Great Reliability Race. Won first prize. Peculiar decision deprived it of possession of the President’s Cup.

“Than the Fredonia, the product of Youngstown brains and mechanical skill, there is not an automobile superior to the a of endurance and reliability manufactured in all this broad land.

This is a broad statement to make, but it is sustained and justified by the great record made by the Fredonia in the recent reliability race from New York to Boston and return, a distance of nearly 500 miles given under the auspices of the New York Automobile Club.

“Starting in a field of 82 machines, including representatives of every manufacturing concern in this and many of the foreign countries, the Fredonia finished with a record superior to that of every one of its competitors. Had the awards been made without deviation from the conditions laid down by the club to govern the race at the time entries were solicited, the Fredonia would have been presented with the President’s Cup, a handsome gold emblem, offered as a prize for the machine making the best record.

“Unfortunately, however, the awards were not made according to the original conditions announced to govern the contest. One of these was to the effect that the machines that came nearest to making the exact time allowed for covering the distance from one control to another should receive a merit mark. After the race had been finished, the committee on awards announced its intention of disregarding this condition. This action will be understood when it is stated that of the sixteen machines that finished with ‘perfect’ records, a number of them were entered and driven by rich, influential members of the club. With the exception of time made, a number of these gentlemen made records equal to that scored by the Fredonia. The ladder had far and away the best of every one of them in the matter of time made, however, and should have been declared the winner.

“The Fredonia registered at every one of the controls within thirty-five seconds of the required time, and covered the entire distance – 492 miles – without a mishap of any kind. There was no other machine within minutes of this record and under the original conditions the Fredonia is entitled to the first award. After the race was over, however, the committee decided to place all machines that finished within ten minutes of the time required on the same footing, everything else being equal, and instead of awarding the Cup and placing the name of each of the winners on it, give each of them a gold medal and retain the cup.

“The record made by the Fredonia machine is one that every citizen of Youngstown should be proud of. It is less than a year ago that the Fredonia company entered the list of automobile manufacturers. It went into the race without a reputation of any sort, was practically unknown to automobilists outside of this locality and was hardly given a thought in connection with winning a prize.”

• Compiled from the Youngstown Vindicator by Traci Manning, Mahoning Valley Historical Society curator of education.