Car 1, Day 1, Run 1. On Muni’s first day of operation, December 28, 1912, Car No. 1 is piloted by Mayor 'Sunny Jim' Rolph, outbound on its very first run on Geary at Jones. Car No. 1 near the end of its first life, painted in the green and cream Muni Wings livery, headed outbound on the C-line on Geary at Polk, around 1950.

When the San Francisco Municipal Railway opened on Geary Street in 1912, urban transit systems were privately-owned, often as part of electric utilities. Muni’s first ten trolleys were built in San Francisco for $7,700 each. Originally, their end sections had no side windows, but the fog soon changed that. The first ten cars ran nearly unchanged for almost forty years, with cane seats and maple interior trim. Their usual haunt was the original F-line, which followed much of today’s 30-Stockton, north from Market past Union Square, through the Stockton Tunnel (first built for streetcars for the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition), Chinatown, and North Beach to the Marina. Car No. 1 "retired" in 1951. Its mates were scrapped, but it was rescued for planned static display in a museum. Muni then restored and ran the car as part of its own 50th anniversary in 1962, to the great delight of all who saw it. Since then, it has reigned proudly as the queen of Muni’s rail fleet.