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1917 Maxwell


hddennis

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I ran across a 1917 Maxwell chassis on ePray last night and what caught my eye was the owners claim that this was a 40 HP car that would out perform Model T's and because of this would make an excellent speedster. I wrote asking where his HP figures came from and was told the motor looked like a Model A, 1917 HP figures were always inaccurate and since the A was 40 HP then the Maxwell must be as well!

Figures and period data I quoted fell on deaf ears so I told him I thought he was doing the potential new owner a great injustice as Maxwell's of this period are NOT performance cars by any stretch of the imagination.

I just hate to see a novice jump into a project car based on distortion. Any comments? Any body know how to get the factory HP figures?

Howard Dennis

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Thanks John, that's what I found too. I originally read somewhere that during this Model 25's introduction the # 25 was an optimistic rating of the horsepower. As you know 40 Hp during this period was very respectable and I didn't want a newbie buying something only to be disappointed in the car's drivability when finished.

Thanks for the help, Howard

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Guest richentee

As a sidenote, I would hazard a guess that the 21 HP is an SAE calculated HP, based upon the number of cylinders and the bore, not a brake HP at either the rear end or flywheel. 21 HP being a 4 cylinder engine with a 3 5/8" bore. The formula is HP = (D²N)/2.5: D=bore, N=# cylinders

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  • 3 weeks later...

I couldn't resist commenting on this thread.

The modified 1915 Maxwell in the attached photos outperformed the Model Ts. This car was built and raced by Dick Saunders in the early 1920s in the Charlton, Massachusetts area. The Maxwell was so much faster than the other cars (mostly Ts) that it was required to start many races after the other cars rolled off. The apparent weak link in the Maxwell was the rear axle. This was eventually replaced with a different rear axle.

The first photo shows the Maxwell at speed. Lots of mods even visible in the grainy photo. You can see what appears to be the Maxwell in the background of the second photo running down one of the competitors driving the number 13 car at the Sturbridge Fairgrounds. The Maxwell won that race and several others.

Peter Tacy

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Edited by vintageride (see edit history)
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Peter Tacy, thanks for adding this. Do you have any other details of this car or it's origins? the reason I started this thread is as I said stock Maxwell model 25's are not known for their performance figures, 21 horsepower 186 cubic inch 4 cylinder with 2 main bearings is not a great base to start modifying into a race car.

With the success you say this Maxwell achieved I wonder if it isn't based on one of the factory race cars that carried special purpose made 300 cubic inch 4 cylinder SOHC engines designed by Ray Harroun.

Howard Dennis

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That would be quite a pedigree.

Two main bearings. Yikes.

So far I have four photos of the Maxwell. A friend of ours ran across one of the trophies from 1922. Mr. Saunders talked about this car frequently, but never mentioned that detail. There was no mention of the engine or car being specially prepared other than what he did. At the time Mr. Saunders worked in Worcester at one of Alvin T. Fuller’s Packard Dealers. So he may have had access to more tools than the average racer. Mr. Saunders would have known what to look for in racing bits, but he would have been limited to the means of a 22 or 23 year old man.

As far as the level of the competitors, one was described as a well prepared and financed Model T. Of course, that could mean quite a few things in terms of body, chassis, and powertrain improvements. There were so many options for the Model T.

These races were run on local horse tracks. You can see the proximity of the spectators to the cars.

Peter Tacy

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