The American Steam Car was built by Thomas S. Derr, a former faculty member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Derr, while specializing in modifications and improvements of the Stanley boiler and servicing and rebuilding Stanley cars, marketed a number of cars under the American Steam Car emblem. These used basic Hudson components, chassis and bodies. The condenser emblem and hubcaps , however, carried the American name.1

American Steam Automobile Company, Thomas Derr, Name Plate

American Steram Automobile Company Name Plate.

American Steam Automobile Company Brochure, ca: 1925 - 1930, p. 1 American Steam Automobile Company Brochure, ca: 1925 - 1930, p. 2 American Steam Automobile Company Brochure, ca: 1925 - 1930, p. 3 American Steam Automobile Company Brochure, ca: 1925 - 1930, p. 4

American Steram Automobile Company Brochure, undated, but probalby mid to late 1920s.

The collection of papers below includes a letter from Thomas Derr to a Mr. Atkinson along with a series of receipts for the storage and repair of a 1918 Stanley. Derr included a flyer for his new book, The Modern Steam Car and Its Background.

American Steam Automobile Comany, Letter from Derr to Atkinson 1932 June American Steam Automobile Company, Invoie from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoie from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company, Invoice from Derr to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Comany, Derr signed flyer for book to Atkinson American Steam Automobile Company letter, December 6, 1943

This December 6, 1943 letter from Thomas Derr to an unidentified recipient shows a shaky signature.

[1]Georgano, G. N., Encyclopedia of American Automobile, (New York, E. P. Dutton & Co., 1968), p. 18.