American Steam Automobile Co.
Thomas S. Derr
Newton, Mass.
American Steam Car 1929 – ca: 1931
American Steam Automobile Co., West Newton, MA
The American Steam Car was built by Thomas S. Derr, a former faculty member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Derr, while specializing in modifications and improvements of the Stanley boiler and servicing and rebuilding Stanley cars, marketed a number of cars under the American Steam Car emblem. These used basic Hudson components, chassis and bodies. The condenser emblem and hubcaps , however, carried the American name.[1]
[1] Georgano, G. N., Encyclopedia of American Automobile, (New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1968), p. 18.
This name plate was apparently never used. Its car number and boiler number areas are unstamped.
This collection of papers includes a letter from Thomas Derr to a Mr. Atkinson along with a series of receipts for the storage and repair of a 1918 Stanley. Derr included a flyer for his new book, The Modern Steam Car and Its Background.
