It was initially a three-wheel horseless carriage, propelled by an internal combustion gasoline engine; it was later developed into a four-wheel automobile with a gearless transmission, and mass-produced during the first part of the twentieth century.

John William Lambert built the United States' first gasoline internal combustion engine automobile, according to a five-year study by L. Scott Bailey (an automobile historian, editor, and publisher) which found substantial evidence to enter the claim on Lambert's behalf.

[citation needed] In that year he moved to Anderson, Indiana, and incorporated the Lambert Gas and Gasoline Engine Company.

[18] He experimented further with drive-train technology, and devised the Lambert friction gearing disk drive transmission, which became a key feature on all of his future automobiles.

[citation needed] The three-wheel gasoline buggy design from 1891 was eventually modified and developed into the four wheel Union automobile, which was first sold in 1902.

He realized that, for automobile manufacturing to be profitable, cars had to be mass-produced in high numbers to enable economies of scale.

The company designed its own bodyworks and vehicle motors; sometimes these parts were made to order by third parties and manufactured to Buckeye's specifications.