A few of G. Whitney Snyder’s antique autos used to be displayed in the Freight House mall at Station Square. Now twenty or more can be viewed at the new
Snyder Gallery in the Frick Car and Carriage Museum. When visitors enter, they are greeted by attendants knowledgeable about cars, carriages, grooms, Golden Era customs for dress and outings, and the Frick family. Because of attendants and literature posted on walls, a visit here is a great learning experience.
Snyder, an avid collector all his life, specialized in Brass Era autos, those made before
1914. He bought them before other folks began to collect them and before they were valuable--while they were still in mint conditon! At the entrance is Howard Heinz’s shiny red 1898 Panhard, probably the first car in Pittsburgh.
Heinz was a friend and neighbor of Frick in their Point Breeze neighborhood, and a photo on the wall shows the two of them out for a drive together. To the left in the hallway where Heinz’s car is displayed, two films play constantly, and one is the award-winning
Pittsburgh and the Automobile. The other is a short film Stanley Steamer.
Moving forward into the large gallery, antique car lovers find their heaven.
History buffs should enjoy the display too, and should especially appreciate the history of Pittsburgh and the auto inscribed on the walls. Finely crafted cars were made in
Pittsburgh until Henry Ford made them affordable for the middle class. In 1911, the Penn Motor Company produced the Penn 30 Touring Car.
The Standard Steel Car Company, a builder of railroad cars, got into the act, and so did the American Austin Car Company in nearby Butler. After that, autos had to be mass-manufactured to keep up with increasing demand, and the question of the day was which city would get Ford’s plant: Pittsburgh, Detroit, or a few others? The reason Pittsburgh didn’t become Car City may surprise you, but you should be able to guess. Yes, all the city’s workers were fully employed in other industries—such as steel!
Henry Clay Frick’s car, one of them, was this 1914 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Touring
Car, part of the collection of the Frick Art and Historical Center.
Frick saved everything, and all his carriages are here in the other room. His daughter’s car, a 1931 Lincoln model K, is one of the youngest autos in the gallery. (It originally cost $4,600.) A 1909 Keystone Sixty-Six Roadster made in
Pennsylvania is a shiny number with loads of brass ($2,250).
In both the car and the carriage galleries, I enjoyed literature that recalls the outgoing life created by new wealth in an age when optimism was at its peak in America. One display recounts "The Car in Pittsburgh 1876-1929." Whether by car or by carriage, craftsmanship and style were important to folks when they decided to go "stepping out."