DOBLE
Abner Doble’s father, also Abner, made tools for Californian gold prospectors and his son made small hydro-electric machines for isolated farms and communities. He was born in 1890 or 95 depending on source, studied engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1910 (which seems to confirm the 1890 birthdate) and in 1912 he constructed a vestigial steam car prototype with the water tube boiler from a White steam car. He visited the car-making Stanley brothers but was unimpressed, deciding that the future lay with very expensive, sophisticated high-performance steam cars. He produced five A types with twin-cylinder, double-acting single-expansion engines mounted horizontally on the rear axle with water tube boilers and condensers. He retained one for development and sold the rest for $4,000 each.
His wealthy father provided half a million dollars to set up Abner Doble Motor Vehicle Co at Waltham, Mass in 1914 but very few B types were produced so Doble took his
