ROCHESTER (AP) — America’s first gasoline-powered car was built in 1893. And Henry Ford started manufacturing the Model T in 1908.

In between — at a time when horses still dominated the roads — a car was built that now, 103 years later, sits in a garage in northwest Rochester.

The car is a Maxwell, made in 1907.

“Today, nobody’s ever heard of a Maxwell,” said its owner, John Reynolds. “When I’ve taken it out, people say, ‘Oh, is that a Model T?”’

Maxwell automobiles carved a niche in American history, living up to the company’s motto — “Perfectly Simple, Simply Perfect.” About 20,000 of them were sold in 1910, and 60,000 by 1914.

The first woman to go coast-to-coast in a car drove a Maxwell, which could go about 20 mph.

And the car had looks — Jack Benny famously appeared in his for many years, including on his TV show in the 1950s.

The last Maxwell was built in 1925 when the company was acquired by Walter Chrysler, who had recently formed the Chrysler Corp.

Reynolds’ father, Richard Reynolds, a longtime Methodist Hospital administrator, bought the family’s Maxwell in the late 1950s. Before he died in 2008, he asked that the car be given to his grandson Thomas Reynolds, who lives in the Twin Cities.

So John Reynolds, who is 51, decided to let people in the Rochester area get a look at it before it leaves town. He did so by contacting the local newspaper.

“A friend of mine saw it sitting in a corner of my garage,” Reynolds said. “He said, ’My father-in-law loves this stuff. Could he come over and look at it?”’

Richard Reynolds himself doesn’t care much about old cars, he said, even though he worked as an auto mechanic for many years.

But in some ways, the Maxwell intrigues him. He noted the three pedals on the floor — the accelerator, the brake, and a third one that engages the muffler, a feature needed so that the car’s engine wouldn’t spook the horses on city streets.

The lubrication system, too, is interesting to him. The oil tank is mounted on the dash, and the oil drips onto the car’s two cylinders by way of an IV tube.

But the headlight system seems to be his favorite. The headlights could be lighted either by kerosene, or by way of carbide pellets, which becomes acetylene gas when water is dripped on them.

“You were sitting on a bomb,” he said, laughing. “This is way pre-OSHA.”

Reynolds plans to work on the Maxwell with his son, perhaps restoring it to its original luster. The car, having been built during the so-called Brass Era, contains a large amount of brass.

And the car’s value?

To Reynolds, it’s an afterthought.

“I have no idea,” he said. “I suppose if you found the right guy, it’s probably priceless.”