[TenTec] A piece of radio history, sort of

[dukeshifi]

To all who wondered how the founder of the ARRL made his money…

From Hyman, a magazine dedicated to car collectors:

> After serving the Union Army with honors in the Civil War, Col. Albert Augustus Pope established a business that would eventually grow into America’s first automobile manufacturing conglomerate. Pope’s business began with a scheme to manufacture patented products for other companies, which proved to be quite lucrative. The firm’s initial foray into wheeled transportation came with the bicycle craze of the late 1800s. Col. Pope capitalized on the popularity of cycling first through a deal to import bicycles from England, then by using his manufacturing prowess to produce bikes for many different brands. The American Bicycle Company encompassed over 40 different brand names, including their flagship Columbia nameplate, which still exists today.
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> Pope was quick to react when the bike craze faded and the horseless carriage emerged. His engineers experimented with a petrol-powered motorcar prior the turn of the century, then settled on an electric as their first production automobile, first sold under the trusted Columbia brand name. In 1897, Pope Manufacturing Company established a motor vehicle division, placing Hiram Percy Maxim at the helm. In 1899, a New York financier by the name of William Whitney bought out the Electric Vehicle Company and approached Col. Pope with a proposed merger. The two reached an agreement, and the Columbia Automobile Company was born. Pope later added the Waverley electric to his portfolio as a series of mergers, takeovers, and name changes saw Columbia change hands several times. The firm soldiered on, offering a series of high-quality, upmarket electric and gasoline vehicles for their wealthy clientele. In 1910, the company became part of Benjamin Briscoe’s United States Motor, itself an attempt to emulate Billy Durant’s mighty General Motors Corporation. Unfortunately, in September 1912 US Motors failed, taking the Columbia Automobile Company down with it.