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Guest Nancy DeWitt

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All,

I don't think this is a Kissel. Close!. If you blow up the picture and examine the radiator, it looks to be shaped differently at the top, almost like a Revere or a Daniels. Kissel Gold Bug bodies were taller, and the hoods had air vents. My guess would be a Revere custom with home made fenders.

RON HAUSMANN P.E.

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All,

I don't think this is a Kissel. Close!. If you blow up the picture and examine the radiator, it looks to be shaped differently at the top, almost like a Revere or a Daniels. Kissel Gold Bug bodies were taller, and the hoods had air vents. My guess would be a Revere custom with home made fenders.

RON HAUSMANN P.E.

You would certainly be the one to say Kissel or not. I was thinking Daniels, too, but could not find a similar model.

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All,

Spent some time digging into old Revere pictures on the web, and Revere used the same hinged front lights on many of their cars as are shown on this mystery car. So to me, the headlights and radiator define this car as a Revere. however, the body behind the cowl may be custom. Revere only made 165 cars of all models in their history and ceased in 1922, so its possible that somebody took a Revere chassis and made this sleek, home made speedster from it later in 1928. Reveres used "Rochester Duesenberg" racing engines in them, so its likely people would speedster them.

Ron Hausmann P.E.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Dave,

I have only seen one Revere in person, and it had a running Rochester-Duesenberg engine. Big impressive sounding. Almost bought it. A Touring. The radiator shell is a huge hunk of cast aluminum, shaped similarly to that of a Kissel, but more steep and slopes rearward a bit. There are NO known Revere Speedsters that survive. In fact, there are only a couple tourings known. Too bad.

RON HAUSMANN P.E.

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Revere is most probable, because according to Fred Roe, they made cars from 1917 till 1926. There had been estimates of total numbers ranging from a couple of hundred to two thousand. At the end they offered a Continental six. In November 1921, when Richelieu claimed their cars had been tested for three years, Fred said everything in their catalogue except the name was identical to that of Revere. There were likely less than 50 Richelieus built.

Revere originally intended to use Genuine Duesenberg engines, but when these apparently became unavailable after first samples, Revere were able to continue production using a variant designed by their chief engineer Adolph Monson. First type used gear and inclined shaft drive for the high-mounted camshaft which worked the horizontal valves through vertical rockers much shorter than the original 14 inch "walking beams". Later these Revere-Monsen engines were again

re-engineered for chain drive instead of gears.

Now photographs of cars can be deceptive. This one is taken from a low frontal aspect, and could be deceptive in making the front wheels look more like 25" than 23" that you would expect. Larger wheels could indicate an earlier car with whatever engine, and you just cannot see enough in any side photo that that might reveal whether a Duesenberg engine is there. It does seem that the driver is a person of small stature.

I have a couple of letters from Roy Monson in around late 1960s. He had his own Revere, which had run an astronomical mileage, and a spare Rochester Duesenberg engine. He drew a good sketch of the missing plate below the oil pump, so I could make one for my Roamer Duesenberg. I had looked without success in an area where one of the Canberra Veteran Car Club told me he had seen and left a Revere with its engine partly broken for scrap metal. Roy indicated that he had been responsible for shipping/dispatch of finished cars. He said he could not remember any car sent to Australia, though he clearly remembered shipping one to King Alfonso of Spain. Roy had his own museum in Hot Springs Arkansas; and when that was closed and he was gone, someone persuaded a visitor from north coast of New South Wales to buy the Revere, of which he had no understanding. He put it in the car corrall at Hershey with a price on it to maybe save him the cost of shipping it home. He would have been much better off with the Revere than the 30s open 540K Mercedes Benz that he did import. He lost the Mercedes and was charged a massive penalty when Customs officers found the documentation of his actual purchase in the glovebox of the car.

Harrah's Collection catalogue of 1966 lists a "Revere model M racer". Possibly that indicates a high camshaft Monson designed engine. I did not see it there in 1980; and I was told that their 1920 Roamer Duesenberg had been sold to the man in LA who owned "Cars of the Stars".

It is likely that all the foundry patterns for Rochester Duesenberg engines still existed into the early 1960s. When John Boyle was given his 1925 Mercer Six Raceabout by his father and uncle in 1957, he enquired of the company that had made Rochester Trego and Duesenberg engines, to find if parts were available for his car. He was offered all the foundry patterns at no cost. unfortunately John saw no usefulness in those at the time, and they are lost.

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