History
Mr. Witt completed the first prototype in 1914 and filed his patent for the car design in 1915. G.C. Kuhlman Car Company then delivered 130 cars of this design to Cleveland in 1915 and 1916. From this point the design was licensed to a number of cities that needed large capacity trolleys. Production continued until the availability of the PCC streetcar in the mid 1930s.
Peter Witt cars were also built in Italy and used in several Italian cities, including Milan, where 200 out of 502 originally built Ventotto (‘twenty-eight’) vehicles (introduced in 1928) are still in use up to this day. Additionally eleven ex-Milan cars can be seen today on the streets of San Francisco, where they operate on the F Market & Wharves streetcar line.
Besides their continued use in day-to-day service in Milan and San Francisco, Peter Witt cars have been preserved in several locations. Gomaco Trolley Company, a US streetcar renovation specialist, has bought 70 ex-Milan cars which it is offering to museums and heritage streetcar operators.
Read more about this topic: Peter Witt Streetcar
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—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
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