The Pope-Hartford was the longest-lived of the five makes of car to bear the name of Col. Albert Augustus Pope, and the only one made in the Pope Manufacturing Co.’s headquarter town of Hartford. A prototype single-cylinder car was built in the summer of 1903, and went into production the following year. Larger models appeared quickly. A 16 HP twin came in 1905 and a 20/25 HP in 1906, while by 1908, when 393 cars were made, only 4-cylinder cars were listed, the 25 HP Model R and 30 HP Model M. It was the most expensive of the Pope group of cars, apart from some models of the Pope-Toledo which was discontinued in 1909. 1912 was Pope-Hartford’s best year, with 712 cars made, but they were in receivership the following year, probably brought about by offering too many models, 18 in a three-chassis range, which could not be justified by the volume of sales. The Pope-Hartford had a good reputation for quality, but was one of many similar expensive cars. The 60 HP six was dropped for 1914, when the only offering was the 40 HP four, and the receivers sold off the Hartford property before the end of the year.
