NORTH KINGSTOWN Keith Bailey’s firebrick red 1910 Oakland Model 24 Runabout with black convertible top and brass trim is a delight to the eyes.

Which is just as well, as it has just come out of restoration to the tune of $95,000.

“I wish it wasn’t true,” he said laughing, but added admiringly, “Look at the thing. People on the road give me the thumbs up and flash their lights.”

Indeed, to his knowledge there are only two 1910 Oakland Runabouts in the world — his and one in Australia.

Bailey acquired the Oakland after his brother, Paul Bailey, who owned Chrysler-Dodge, Ford and Isuzu dealerships in East Greenwich and North Kingstown, passed away in 2001. After four years in the Marines, Bailey worked eight years managing his brother’s used car division.

Bailey left in 1986 and worked as a consultant for his brother while earning a private pilot’s license. Following Paul Bailey’s death, his dealerships were consolidated and Keith and Paul’s sister, Maureen, subsequently took over the Chrysler-Dodge dealership on Ten Rod Road in North Kingstown.

Bailey, 53 and married to Debbie with daughters Dominique, 13, and Michelle, 11, said his father, Ernest, purchased the Oakland in New York in 1950. His brother had taken it over after their father’s death, but hadn’t used it in years.

“He had been storing it here, there and everywhere,” Bailey said. “I had to find someone to restore it.”

After making calls across the country, he said he found Steve Bono of M & S Auto Restoration in Bouckville, N.Y., about 100 miles west of Albany.

Bono picked the car up about five years ago.

“When he took the car, a good portion of it was in cardboard boxes,” Bailey said.

Oakland Motor Car Co. was formed in Pontiac (Oakland County), Mich., in 1907 by Edward P. Murphy whose Pontiac Buggy Co. had been making horse-drawn carriages since 1893.

Indeed, Bailey’s two-seater convertible is little more than a buggy on four large wagon wheels with a 4-cylinder engine providing 30 horsepower.

“From the rear it looks like a buggy,” said Bailey, pointing out the shape of the body in addition to the wooden wheels and springs.

In 1909, Murphy sold half of Oakland to William Durant, who had formed General Motors just the year before. When Murphy died a few months later, Durant bought the rest of the company and named it the Oakland Motors Division of GM.

Under Alfred P. Sloan, GM established its “ladder of success” pricing structure in which its models were ranked from Chevrolet through Oakland, Oldsmobile and Buick to Cadillac.

In the mid-1920s, GM decided to fill price gaps with additional brands (in italics): Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oakland, Oldsmobile, Viking, Marquette, Buick, LaSalle and Cadillac.

However, the Pontiac cars proved strong sellers and GM dropped the Oakland brand in 1931. The Pontiac brand lived on until April of this year when it was dropped prior to GM declaring bankruptcy earlier this month.

Four more of the brands were dropped over the years: Marquette (1930), Viking (1931), LaSalle (1940) and Oldsmobile (2004).

One of the distinguishing features of Bailey’s Oakland is that it is a right-hand drive car. A number of early automobile companies built right-hand cars in the belief that it was easier for the driver to judge how close the vehicle was to the curb — or ditch.

But by the mid-teens, left-hand drive, which allows drivers to judge how close they are to oncoming traffic, had become the industry standard.

The three pedals of the floor are arranged in a clutch-accelerator-brake configuration instead of the clutch-brake-accelerator order of modern cars with a standard shift. The car has three forward gears and reverse.

The steering column has two additional controls, the throttle and the spark advance, which alters the strength of the spark.

Bailey said the car is capable of “50 tops, but I drive it 30 to 35 miles per hour,” adding that it gets less than 10 miles to the gallon.

He said it also consumes about a pint of oil every 70 miles or so and showed the small pump that injects fresh oil through the engine.

He said the horsehair seats had been restored in the “tuck and roll” tradition by a Mennonite company that still makes horse-drawn buggies. Conservative Mennonite denominations, like the Amish, eschew cars and modern technology.

But it is very much a brass-era automobile. The crank handle hangs off the front of the engine, although Bailey has had an electric starter added to the car.

And out front, brass acetylene headlights complement kerosene running lights next to the driver and passenger. In addition, the Oakland logo is angled in brass across the grille, which is itself framed in brass as is the split windscreen.

And in the rear, the antique license plate says it all with a simple “1910.”

Auto Biography is a new feature that tells an interesting story about a car and its driver. If you think you have a newsworthy story to tell about your car, write to Auto Biography, Features Department, The Providence Journal, 75 Fountain St. Providence RI 02902 or e-mail projocars@projo.com. Be sure to put “Auto Biography” in the subject field.

The car doesn’t have to be a classic or expensive, but it should be somehow unique. The driver must be willing to be interviewed by a reporter about what makes this car special and to be photographed with the car.

pelsworth@projo.com