Conservating/restoring Northern Silent 1904

There is one Northern Silent automobile (made by Northern MFG Co. in U.S.A) at Tampere museum in Tampere, Finland (Europe!). It is in original shape, mostly I think. Some parts are missing and some reparations have been made since 1904. The conservation/restoration has started in january this year. We know only something about its history and therefore there are some "black holes" in the technics. <P>Do You have any knowledge about the structure of this vehicle, any technical drawings etc.? I'm grateful for even the smallest tip!

The Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942 has a photo of a 1904 and a 1905 Silent Northern, as well as a brief history. A single cylinder car was shown in AACA as recently as 1991. Is yours a one or two cylinder version? If it is a one cylinder we might be able to locate the owner of that car to get more information.

Now we have found some new facts about our Northern Silent! <BR>First the answer: there is only one cylinder on the engine. There is no engine number left because of repair the during 1910s. But we found the chassis number NMFGCO B280 on the top of the angle ironframe. On the piston rod there is a part or a casting number 7086. Do these numbers help You? Also there is a number 6-04 on every roller bearings in the wheel hubs. And that's the date of manufacture of the bearing, isn't it!<P>What kind of a carburettor it was used originally? Is there any pictures of that? Some oilseal adjusters on the crankcase and a drip feed oiler are missing, too. And the water pump looks like a self-made version to me. <BR>How about the ignition? We have no sign of a magneto or anything left. Should it be under the front seat? There is an empty box there...<P>The history of the car before 1908 is unknown. The car was bought used at an auction (not specified yet) in Finland by the donators father. It would be wonderful to find the missing links!<P>And now a question to everybody: is it necessary to restore a 100-years-old car to working order? Or does it lose it's soul by standing still?

Good question and one for which there will certainly be different opinions. If a 100 year old car is in very good condition or has a remarkable historic significance, it could be argued that to leave it alone would be best, but protect it from further deterioration. If it is missing a lot of parts, you should attempt to replace them with authentic parts so that it can at least look like a complete car. Now that I've said that, my personal preferrence is that the car should be restored to running condition. There is nothing quite like seeing and hearing a wonderful car like the Silent, or any other very early car actually operating.<P>As I mentioned in previous reply, in 1991 a 1904 single cylinder Northern was shown in an AACA National Meet in Florida. I will contact the AACA Headquarters tomorrow to find his address and phone number. Will call him to find out if he still owns the car and is willing to help and if he has email.<P>I don't want to put this information on the forum, so please give me your email, or better yet register for the forum (it is free) and put your email on the registration form.

Hi,

I am in the final stages of doing a frame-off restoration on my great-great grandfathers Northern, Commonly called the Silent Runabout, or just Runabout. I too am in search of a water pump. Any ideas? The few people I knew of that have owned Northerns have all passed away. I got a name of a guy in California, but have not gotten a call back. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

Dave.

RM sold a 1904 Northern at Hershey last year. Not many of these early cars had water pumps. Was that in the original design?

Phil

Hi Phil,

Not sure. It has a water tank & is water cooled, so I would assume there was a water pump. Could I be wrong in my assumption?

Dave

Many early water cooled cars (Model T Ford, Maxwell) used a thermosyphon system which has no pump. Don't know about Northerns, but the literature ought to help.

Hei!

David Lockett from Surrey England used to own same year Northern Silent. He also visited Tampere museum and made plan to restore the car. At that moment the museum was not so eager to the job. I also found a dentist living in Toronto who had proper type of lubricator. He asked 200 dollars but the museum did not have the money. At the moment we thought it would have been quite easy to restore the Northern because the car was in very good original shape.

Best wishes from Turku, FinlandJuha Kaitanen

Turku, Finland

Send me a PM and I will give you the owners name of the Northern sold at Hershey. It was a nice car with low miles. I hauled it home for the new owner. He had it for sale not too long ago. Ed