1903 Mathieu?
That's close enough as it is a Mathieu (a 9hp), but made in 1902 (in Belgium). Another point to you.
Thanks for the point! Sometimes I do things backwards--respond to a puzzle instantly and then search for the solution to see whether or not my guess was correct. In this case I got lucky and was only off by a year.
By the way, I learned something new during my search. It seems this car was marketed in another country under an entirely different brand name. I'm not yet sure whether the cars were being produced in that country under license, or if they were simply imported and rebranded, but either way, keep an eye out, because I might use the licensed/rebranded car as the subject of a future puzzle.
