Such very old vehicles present special challenges to today's collectors. Replacement parts must nearly always be handmade and basic documentation such as Wiring Diagram s and Specification Sheet s are often nonexistent. The huge variety of companies and technologies represented during this formative period is also a complicating factor—it has been estimated that there were well over 1,000 manufacturers in the U.S. Alone .
Neverthess, an active collector community exists for these vehicles, which when well restored can be extremely valuable. The very, very rare original-condition survivor can be even more so.
The early Ford Model T is an example of a Brass Era car for the mass market, and the early European Hispano-Suiza models are fairly typical of expensive models of the time.
The gold-tone trim which is occasionally added to modern luxury Sedan s is a reference back to autodom's great Age of Brass.
EXAMPLES
In January, 1904 , ''Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly'' magazine cataloged the entire range of automobiles available to the mass market in the United States . This list included the following manufacturers:
