Another great post Tom. And contraption it is! Just looking at it raises all kinds of questions. My first suspicion is that this vehicle looks a lot better today than it did when it left the factory. It appears that it was intended for two passengers, one in the seat at the front and the second in the bicycle seat behind it with the handle bars. The plaque on the bicycle said that it set a speed record of 40 mph but looking at the gearing, there's no way that bike could be ridden at 40 mph for a whole hour , so the record must be for the front powered vehicle. That must have been a real hoot to stay in that thing, in either seat for an hour at that speed. The contraption looks like it was controlled, both the motor and the steering from the back seat. There's a set of pedals there that may have been used to start the gas engine. And another puzzlement is that the bike being towed has tires with tread but the vehicle doing the towing has bald tires. Must have added to the thrill of going 40 miles an hour on a dirt track.

Again, very interesting contraption. I made this comment on another posting that may apply here. "Everybody has a great idea that won't work" Maybe that's why they buried it.

This beautiful contraption is an 1899 Orient Autogo Quadricycle. Only 3 of these are known to exist worldwide. The engine is a 2 1/4 HP DE Dion-Bouton. It was made in France and purchased by an American who later became an importer of the Orient cycles and the Dion-Bouton engines to the U.S. A subsequent owner, for unknown reasons, buried it in his yard where it remained for over 50 years. It was in 2005 when that man's son-in-law exhumed it and had it restored to the impeccable condition as you see it now.