Walter Stumpe bought this Economy Motor Buggy Model B new as a 26-year-old bookkeeper.
This buggy-like car is very rare, the Economy company only lasting two years. We have only located two other cars of this very model.
Clarence Stumpe found the car when he was hired to clean out a shed behind the Walter “Banker” Stumpe house on Fifth Street. He was to haul everything to the dump, including the car. He asked if he could keep it and Walter gave it to him.
Clarence got it running and drove it in parades for many years as “Washington’s oldest car.” This was not quite true, but Clarence did not know the year it was built and made the assumption of "about" 1905. Recent research has proven it was manufactured in 1908.
His daughter, Ruth Stumpe Tofle, donated the car to the museum in 2020. It's now a museum exhibit. It had formerly been housed in the Firehouse Museum.