In 1924, America’s largest steam-powered car maker, Stanley Motor Carriage, breathed its last: the internal combustion engine had finally taken hold. Yet that same year, Doble Car launched what was arguably the most advanced steam-powered car in history…and perhaps the best car of its time.

Quiet as a breeze on the road. Faster than Lincolns, Cadillacs or other Packards. A 160,000 km warranty on the engine.

In the mid-1920s, the Doble E was arguably the best and finest American car of its day.

But it was steam powered. To call it a locomotive on tires would be an affront: from the outside, nothing fundamentally distinguished it from its competitors.

Abner Doble was born in 1890 into a family that was as wealthy as it was fond of technology. His grandfather had founded a tool factory for California gold diggers, which his father had expanded to manufacture water wheels.

Young Abner was still attending high school when, together with his younger brother John, he reassembled an old steam car, in which they installed an engine of their own design.

Admitted in 1910 to the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), he quickly lost interest in his studies to open a small experimental workshop in a nearby town, where he tackled the design of a steam car according to his wishes.

Assisted once again by his brother John, himself a brilliant technician, Abner Doble assembled a first vehicle, then a second.

This Model B was hardly a prototype, but its performance already earned it rave reviews in the trade press: it sped from 0 to 100 km/h in 15 seconds, “remarkable acceleration”, wrote The Automobile magazine in 1914 .

Abner Doble undertook a long tour at the wheel that took him to Detroit, where he went in search of investors.

It was in the capital of the gasoline car that the two brothers developed their C model in 1916, under the Doble-Detroit brand. The prototype was shown at the major New York Auto Show in January 1917. Articles discussing its performance generated more than 5,000 orders and deposits from across the United States. In September 1917, a lease was signed in Detroit for the rental of a 52,000 ft⁠2 (4830 m⁠2) factory. The factory was to be launched the following spring, but the company suddenly collapsed, when barely ten cars had been assembled.

Abner Doble will use the pretext of the shortage of steel caused by the First World War, but the technical problems of the car and disagreements between the two brothers on the paternity of his innovations are more likely to be in question.

They return sheepishly to California, where John dies of cancer in 1921, just 28 years old. Five months later, Abner and his other brothers William and Warren founded Doble Steam Motors and soon opened a factory in the San Francisco area. Within two years, the siblings and their employees built a new prototype, the Model D, and then an even better version, the formidable Model E.

How it works? We are in the Business section and not in the Auto section, so we will not dwell on the subject or under the vehicle. Let’s just remember that the steam produced in a boiler is brought under pressure into an engine where it drives pistons.

The Doble brothers replaced the problematic two-cylinder engine of the previous models with a new four-cylinder engine, in which the steam exerted its pressure in both directions, both going and returning the piston.

No need for a gearbox or clutch pedal. The power of the pressurized steam was instantly released using a small wheel placed in the center of the steering wheel.

Ignition has rarely been better named than for a steam car: you had to strike a match to start Stanley steam automobiles. Dozens of minutes could pass before the pressure was sufficient to move the vehicle. For his part, Doble’s car sped off less than 40 seconds after the ignition key activated the burner’s electric igniter.

Burner fuel, usually kerosene, burned more completely than fuel from an internal combustion engine, resulting in fewer polluting emissions.

With a custom-built body, the beast’s weight approached an elephantine total of 5,500 lb (2,495 kg).

The Doble E could nevertheless hold an average consumption of 19 L/100 km, an excellent performance for a car of this weight and of this era. Thanks to an ingenious condenser system, the car could travel 1500 km on its 4 L reserve of water.

Abner Doble was an incurable perfectionist, alas.

Each new car assembled brought improvements over the previous one, which in no way favored mass production. Unfortunately, this perfectionism did not extend to financial matters. In 1924, dubious stock sales caught the attention of the authorities. Abner Doble was cleared for technicalities, but his company’s reputation was stained.

Virtually handcrafted by mechanical masters, a bodied Doble E could fetch the astronomical price of US$18,000.

Shunned by wary investors and impecunious buyers, hit by the Great Depression, Doble Steam Motors closed its doors for good in 1931.

It is estimated that around 50 Doble Es were built, many of which are still running today.

Abner Doble died in 1961. Until his last breath, it is said, he maintained that the steam car was as good as, if not better than, the gasoline car.