Lambert Legacy
The invention of the first gasoline automobile, six generations later
On a summer weekend in a small Ohio town, a bright red 1908 Lambert Roadster rumbles down Main Street. At the wheel of the crank-start car is Hinsdale resident Jen Lambert, accompanied by her daughters, Evelyn and Eden, and her Uncle Billy – three generations connected by one remarkable family story.
John W. Lambert
For Jen, the annual pilgrimage to Ohio City for the Lambert Days Festival & Parade is more than a nostalgic tradition. It is a responsibility, a celebration, and a living tribute to her great-great-grandfather, John William Lambert – the man many historians credit with building America’s first gasoline-powered automobile.
“Since my father passed, it’s my responsibility to get the car there,” Jen says. “I know where I’ll be every third weekend in July for the rest of my life.”
The sense of legacy runs deep in the Lambert family.
John W. Lambert is credited by many sources with creating America’s first gasoline-powered automobile in 1891.
Long before Henry Ford revolutionized American manufacturing by introducing the assembly line which allowed for mass-production of automobiles, John W. Lambert was already experimenting with gasoline-powered transportation in rural Ohio. In 1891, Lambert drove his three-wheeled, horseless carriage down the streets of Ohio City. This was two years before the Duryea brothers’ first successful automobile in 1893, and several years before Ford built his first car in 1896.
“My great-great-grandfather lived in a unique time in history where the invention of a gas-powered automobile was revolutionary,” says Jen. “His other known inventions included the carburetor, and he earned recognition in his time as the Father of the friction-drive transmission, which also revolutionized the automotive industry.”
John Lambert earned more than 600 patents related to gasoline engines and automobiles, and his ambitions grew into a large manufacturing business. At its peak, the Lambert Automobile Company employed more than 1,000 workers in a facility in Anderson, Ind., producing thousands of cars and trucks annually. Over the years, Lambert also owned the local grain elevator, an implement store, the town’s opera house, the town hall, jail, and a lumber company. The family business expanded to include additional factories in Ohio and California and produced a wide range of materials, including fire engines, trucks, gasoline engines, and farm tractors.
John W. Lambert’s grandson, William Lambert (Jen’s grandfather), stands beside a restored yellow Lambert Roadster. This car was later gifted to William’s son Bill.
“John Lambert was a true entrepreneur. Inventing and manufacturing the Lambert automobile was only one of his business ventures,” Jen says. That entrepreneurial spirit continues to shape her life today.
Jen grew up in Dayton, Ohio, surrounded by family stories of innovation and business ownership.
After graduating from Ohio State, she owned & renovated her own rental properties and entered the higher-ed publishing world, a role that brought her to Chicago periodically. It didn’t take long for her to realize where she wanted to build her own future.
“I just knew Chicago was where I wanted to be,” she says.
Jen has spent decades building businesses of her own. She now owns commercial real estate properties in Hinsdale and Downers Grove and operates building service companies, like Skyward Building Maintenance, which was just sold to private equity. Her latest venture is Lot Lynx Services, an exterior-focused building services company, which is currently working with the Village of Hinsdale on an infrastructure project to install public Tesla EV charging stations.
This intersection of Jen’s entrepreneurial ancestry and automotive innovation is close at heart.
“I’d love to know what my great-great-grandfather would think about today’s technology like EV and self-driving cars,” Jen says.
With very few Lambert cars known to still exist today, the family is deeply proud of their two heirlooms. Jen’s grandfather, William Lambert, purchased two Lambert automobiles for his two sons: a red Roadster for Jen’s late father, Steve, and a yellow touring one for her Uncle Billy.
“I had the yellow four-seater for over 30 years, and I took it to the Ohio City Lambert Festival for many of those years,” says Bill, the patriarch of the Lambert family. He also grew up in Dayton, Ohio, where he practiced law and owned commercial real estate for 18 years. He lives in Indianapolis, where he continued the family’s entrepreneurial spirit by purchasing a large pool company. He is now retired – and so is his yellow Lambert, which is displayed at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis.
Jen’s red 1908 Roadster was inherited from her late father, Steve, who owned the family business, Lambert Manufacturing, and commercial real estate as well. This car was featured on the cover of a 1960 issue of Antique Automobile magazine. In the accompanying article, the well-respected automotive historian L. Scott Bailey carefully documented John Lambert’s legacy following five years of dedicated research.
The family has worked carefully to preserve the Lambert history.
“For me, the memories over the years are a series of images that build a tapestry of the past,” says Bill. “It is great to see Jen taking such an interest in the car and in serving as the family historian.”
“All of us Lamberts have little pieces of archives,” Jen adds. “I inherited cabinets full of newspaper clippings, books, cassettes, and VHS tapes of interviews with relatives who knew John and other family members.”
Jen’s daughters, Evelyn (15) and Eden (14), have both learned to drive the 2-cylinder crank-start Lambert.
Pictured during Lambert Days Festival years ago, Jen’s late father Steve, proudly shared the family’s automotive legacy with his granddaughters, Evelyn and Eden
Getting the Lambert Roadster ready for its annual moment in the summer spotlight requires unique effort.
The car gets an annual tune-up by Bob Lederer, an antique car enthusiast, collector, and owner of Coachcraft & Precision Services in Elk Grove Village. The car is then transported to Ohio on a trailer that was custom-built to carefully haul it.
The costs and time to preserve the Lambert Roadster are not insignificant, but to Jen and her family, the efforts are priceless in connecting her to her family’s history and preserving these memories for generations to come.
These efforts are rewarded as the Lambert Days Festival and Parade transforms the tiny town of Ohio City into a celebration of American invention and ingenuity. The event is also a reminder that sometimes innovation and entrepreneurship take shape in family businesses and communities far outside the spotlight.
“John Lambert’s story really is a fun all-American story that people love to hear,” says Jen.
More than 130 years later, that story is still driving forward.
Left: Hinsdale resident Jen Lambert poses with the family’s 1908 Lambert Roadster, one of the few surviving Lambert automobiles still in operation today.
Photo by Victor Hilitski
Right: This bright red 1908 Roadster was a gift from William Lambert to his son Steve (Jen’s father). Jen inherited the treasured family heirloom following his passing in 2022.
