The 1912 Mercer Raceabout
With its bright yellow body, exposed seats, and minimal protection from the weather, the 1912 Mercer Raceabout at Heritage Museums & Gardens makes its purpose clear. This was a car designed around the experience of driving, with little separating its occupants from the road.
Manufactured in Trenton, New Jersey, the Raceabout earned a reputation for speed and handling. Mercer guaranteed that it could reach seventy miles per hour without modification, an extraordinary promise in the early automobile era. Its four-cylinder engine produced fifty-eight horsepower.
Its sporting reputation extended to competition. Mercers won five of the six races they entered in 1911, helping establish the company among America’s early performance-car manufacturers. Rivalry with the Stutz Bearcat added to its appeal among enthusiastic motorists.
The open layout remains one of its most striking features. Two individual seats sit behind the long hood, with narrow running boards alongside them. The arrangement places the driver and passenger close to the machinery and fully exposed to their surroundings.
Priced at $2,500 when new, the Raceabout offered this experience to a relatively affluent buyer. Preserved in Sandwich, it represents an early chapter in the history of the American sports car, when speed and responsive handling were becoming selling points in their own right.
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