Chicago [5]

The Chicago Electric was an automobile produced by the Chicago Electric Motor Company, based in Chicago, Illinois. It was a fairly typical electric car of its era, offered mostly in closed body styles, though a cabrio-roadster was included in the 1915 range.

Its broughams were marketed as "front drive" and "rear drive" versions, though these terms referred to seating arrangements rather than actual drivetrain differences. In the front-drive model, the driver sat in one of the front seats with the controls, while in the rear-drive brougham, the driver was positioned in the rear, looking over the shoulders of passengers seated in front. A distinctive feature of the car's design was a domed roof section above the door, intended to make entry easier for passengers wearing high hats, a styling detail also seen on some Pierce-Arrow models of the period.

One notable example of the marque appeared at the 1914 Chicago Automobile Show: a brougham elaborately decorated with brocade and silk, and adorned with the crossed keys of St. Peter worked in gold thread. Its doors bore the Papal Crest, as the vehicle was intended as a gift from a group of Catholic laymen in Chicago to Pope Pius X. However, there is no record of the car ever arriving at the Vatican, leaving its ultimate fate unknown.