The Duryea Motor Wagon Company, established in 1895 in Springfield, Massachusetts, was the first American firm to build gasoline automobiles.

[2] Banking on the idea that future racing successes would propel their market share, the brothers entered two vehicles in Britain's London to Brighton Veteran Car Run.

Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, it was not uncommon for residents to see him motoring a brand new automobile from City Park out to Mount Penn, using the switchback road as a final test of durability and refinement.

By March 1902, after overcoming difficulties procuring factory space, and a devastating flood of the Schuylkill River, Duryea was manufacturing one three-wheel, three-cylinder, gasoline-powered automobile each week.

Manufactured in a garage at 32 Carpenter St., the Buggyaut was an inexpensive auto with large wheels designed for rural markets and unpaved roads.

To make the car affordable, Duryea introduced a simple body design, mounted on the side bars of the chassis, in usual buggy fashion, that made the Buggyaut light and easy riding.

With financing from Keyser Fry of Reading, he created the Duryea GEM, a cross between an automobile and a motorcycle, with a newly designed engine and suspension.