Phaeton (carriage) most impressive phaeton was the English four-wheeled high flyer. The mail and spider phaetons were more conservatively constructed. The mail phaeton was used chiefly to carry passengers with luggage and was named for its construction, using "mail" springs originally designed for use on mail coaches. The spider phaeton, of American origin and made for gentlemen drivers, was a high and lightly constructed carriage with a covered seat in front and a footman's seat behind. Fashionable phaetons used at horse shows included the Stanhope, typically having a high seat and closed back, and the Tilbury, a two-wheeled carriage with an elaborate
Herdic Phaeton Company Herdic Phaeton Company The Herdic Phaeton Company was a late 19th Century horse drawn stagecoach company in Washington, D.C. It started operations in December 1879, taking over for a horse-drawn chariot company that had operated unsuccessfully for three years. The company took its name from the chariot's designer Peter H. Herdic of Wilmington, Delaware. They ran plushy upholstered carriages from 22nd and G Streets NW along G Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to the Navy Yard competing directly with the Washington and Georgetown streetcars. The company was more successful than the chariot company and continued to expand until 1887. Lines were