Skene (automobile)

The Skene was an American automobile manufactured from 1900 to 1901. A twin-cylinder 5-hp steam car, it was built in Lewiston, Maine.^[1]

Skene
Skene Steamer from advertisement
Overview
Type	Steam car
Manufacturer	Skene American Automobile Company
Production	1900–1901
Designer	James W. Skene

History

J. W. Skene Cycle Company of Lewiston finished its first steam carriage in 1900. R. H. B. Warburton of Springfield, Massachusetts helped Skene organize, with a capital stock of $500,000, the Skene American Automobile Company. Company headquarters were in Springfield, the factory remained in Maine.^[1][2]

The Skene was a simple steam buggy with a 5-hp double-acting two-cylinder engine and had a boiler with a working pressure of 160 pounds. The gasoline and water tanks were sufficient for a 25-mile run. All parts of the Skene were built in the Lewiston plant, a fact in which the Skene company took pride.^[1] Prices ran from a Model 1 Steam Stanhope at $750 (equivalent to $28,347 in 2024) to a Model 5 Canopy Steam Surrey at $1,300, equivalent to $49,135 in 2024.^[1]

By January 1901, Skene had a production run of twenty cars, and Warburton arranged a large display at the Philadelphia Automobile Show that month. This didn’t work out as planned.^[3] As The Motor Age magazine put it, "a miscalculation on the part of the railroad officials tied up four Skene machines somewhere between Springfield and Philadelphia, and a space big enough to comfortably exhibit half a dozen vehicles looked bare with but one."^[1]

Later in 1901, Skene reported 125 vehicles under construction but the partners’ money ran out. Sometime that spring the Skene American Automobile Company was attached for $5,000 by creditors. James Skene subsequently became a Rambler dealer, and spent the rest of his life in the automobile business in Maine.^[1]

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  Skene Steamer advertisement in 1900 Black Cat magazine
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  Skene advertisement in the Feb 1901 Saturday Evening Post