thumb|upright=1.35|1903 [[Oldsmobile Curved Dash on the 2009 London to Brighton Veteran Car Run]]
A runabout is a car body style popular in the 1910s, based on the horse-drawn runabout carriage.
It was popular in North America from 1900 to about 1915. It was a light, basic style with no windshield, top, or doors and a single row of seats. Runabouts eventually became indistinguishable from roadsters and the term fell out of use in the United States. The approach has evolved into the modern "city car".
Origin
Runabouts originated as a type of horse and carriage body.
In 1881, Rufus Meade Stivers produced runabout bodies using a patent held by Joseph Tilton. Stivers, a blacksmith and wheelwright, produced the runabouts in his carriage manufactory on East 31st Street, Manhattan, established in 1851.
thumb|A horse-drawn runabout owned by [[Caroline Rose Foster|Caroline Foster, on display in Fosterfields Living Historical Farm]]
According to The Carriage Journal,<blockquote>The special feature of the runabout was that the body was hung low by using cranked axles, and the side-bars were attached to legs at the top of the crank. The original runabout was made without a top, and, besides hanging low which made for steadiness, it was roomy and comfortable.