Wyoming Man Michael Pannell Adds Antique Carriage to Collection

“I just saw it and thought it was really nice. I’d not restored a carriage before, so I thought I ought to try it.”

Michael Pannell has added an antique horse-drawn vehicle to his collection this week, cowboystatedaily.com reported. The opportunity to buy the brougham-style carriage in Windsor, Colorado, proved too intriguing to pass up, Pannell said.

The more than a century-old piece joins a collection of historic railcars, buses, wagon carts, and railroad-associated stock at his workshop located in an old Atlas missile silo outside of Cheyenne near Carpenter. Through his nonprofit, High Plains Railroad Preservation, Pannell works on ambitious projects that include a 113-year-old Union Pacific boxcar.

The carriage was initially purchased at a 2021 auction in Denver, according to cowboystatedaily.com. A man who knew the history of the piece has died, leaving Pannell to hope he can track down more information about it.

The curtain and plush interior of the buggy lead Pannell to think it was built for a woman, cowboystatedaily.com reported. Comments on a social media post suggested that the vehicle might have European origins.

A search of the carriage for a date, maker, or other model information has turned up nothing so far, since Pannell just brought the buggy to his shop on Thursday.

“All we know is that it’s a brown carriage,” he said. “It has half a top. They reckon that it was built for a woman just because of the plush interior and that kind of thing.”

Pannell believes the single-horse vehicle was probably made in the 1890s, cowboystatedaily.com reported.

The carriage appears to have original rubber around its spoked tires, while a hand brake on the right-hand side of the driver’s seat is missing linkages and rear wheel brake shoes. Pannell hopes to find or replicate the shoes as part of his restoration, and the hubs and wheels might need to go to a specialist.

The original interior has been attacked by mice and needs restoration, and Pannell has not yet decided how far to go in bringing it back to turn-of-the-20th-century glory, cowboystatedaily.com reported. He also has not decided whether the vehicle will roll down a parade route or remain a static display.

“I kind of envisage maybe taking it to a show here and there or something if people want to see it,” he said. “Other than that, it’ll just stay here for the time being until we decide how far we want to go with it.”

Originally developed in England, brougham-style carriages featured a design lacking any connecting pole between the front and rear axles, which provided a lowered floor for simpler access, cowboystatedaily.com reported.

Among Pannell’s additional historical holdings are a rare 1949 GMC Union Pacific passenger bus—representing one of only two known survivors—and the 113-year-old boxcar originating from Chalk Bluff Road that still displays signatures from workers. He has previously worked for other entities restoring vintage train cars for Arvada, Colorado, and Union Station in Ogden, Utah.

“The (carriage) is just a new thing for us that I thought we’d try out and see how it goes,” he said.