spoon throttle

Hello Speedster enthusiasts,

I don't know how many of you are building speedsters or have completed projects, but I am building a 1914 Overland speedster myself and have been replicating parts as necessary. The car originally had a spoon throttle mounted on the outside of the cowl.

We have made patterns based on the original Overland blue prints and I am getting ready to cast these parts. The parts will be cast in brass along with the firewall bracket and accelerator linkages. They could be easy adapted for other applications and are beautifully designed by Overland. If you might have any interest in having this for your project let me know. We will be casting at least one extra set for now.

How about posting a pic??

Here are a couple of shots of the patterns we are are using to cast the parts. We have the molds done ready for the wax. I will post progress shots as they develop.

Also a picture of me two years ago packing my basket case to ship home.

Whatdya mean basket case? It isn't even rusty! A little paint, a little bondo...

Actually your are correct. Sometime back in the early seventies someone took the entire car apart and started to paint and restore the chassis. My guess is that the fellow passed or lost interest in the car. It then changed hands and sat in a barn till 2012 when I purchased it. It had set in the barn on a dirt floor so long that small parts that had been put in 1 pound coffee cans had the bottoms rotted and gone. It has been very challenging to go through the thousands of loose parts, nuts and bolts to figure out what I have and don't have. Its like an automobile CSI case. The goal is have it back on the road for its 100th birthday. Maybe this fall, but I think I can do it.

Looks like you're doing a great job so far....keep us posted. So this really is a barn find car. Good thing those parts started out in tin cans. I hate to think what they would look like if they had sat on the dirt floor for all those years.

Nice project, 79Speedster! where did you find that trunk? Looks like a nice unit, and fits the overall porportions of your car. What are the rough dimensions for that?

Did you do the sheetmetal fab? Very nice lines - hope you post pics of the progress.

Thanks Steve. Overland produced 48,000 cars in '14 and was the second largest manufacture with Ford being #1. The '14 Overland speedster was a one year factory car with a production of 48 to 50 cars. They really didn't have records showing that but that is the general thought. I only know of one factory car known to exist but there may be another one or two. Over the years there have been maybe twenty reproduced speedsters. Attached is a really correct car in MI and also the factory ad for the car

As with most of the factory cars, the proportions are right. Some people have described the Overland as the poor mans Mercer because of its looks. Obviously there is no comparison, but it does have a great look. Its a 114" wheel base car and shares fenders, running boards and splash aprons with the roadster.

The trunk is actually one that I made out of wood. The original was speedster specific and would be near impossible to find. We built it off of the factory plans. The beautiful thing is all of the factory prints are available for every part.

As I move forward I'll post more photos.

Mark

factory ad.pdf

Mark, great back story. What a bonus having access to factory prints. Maybe not a Mercer but quite a special car in its own right. Pretty interesting that Stutz & Mercer generally get the credit as the first "sports or muscle" type cars but it does make one wonder how many other producers built speedsters. While not really in the same class, the T Torpedos were pretty sporty if not sporting.

Please keep us posted on your progress!