AHa

I would still vote for nickel or chrome plated oval head slotted wood spaced down the center line of the trim. You have gone to great lengths to produce a period correct body and you are doing a great job, why modernize it now? When countersunk in, the screws are going to look good and like they belong there.

Layden, can you confirm the car is a Stutz? If it is, the running board brackets have been placed closer together.

I don't believe the car is a stutz; Stutz used full floating rear axles.

The car appears to have a 3/4 floating rear end from the size of the hubcap as opposed to the full floating of the Locomobiles, Mercers, etc. Also, the frame is flat; there is no kickup at the rear for the rear axle.

This picture is from the A L Riker family photo album. I can see the two running board brackets are close together toward the center of the car, the dash board/ toe board is sloped toward the front of the car, and the front of the rear spring is outside the frame and the frame hangs off the spring in an underslung design. What is it? I found another image of this car through google images. It was used in the 1915 silent film American Aristocracy but I am no closer to identifying it.

I confess I have no knowledge of a Locomobile frame. I can see the front of the rear spring is outside the frame and the front of the spring is underslung design, where the spring is above the shackle point. The girl stands at the point in the frame where an offset would occur if the frame widens at the back of the hood. The rear hubcap looks like a 3/4 floating hubcap but the larger diameter could be painted or obscured. The car has a sloping dash board. The running board brackets are close together as in roadster form. I would guess it had removable fenders. This is not the forum for this and I fear we have hijacked the thread but Mr Google says the white speedster was used in the 1915 silent film American Aristocracy. I have found another picture of the car and as soon as I figure out how to load it, will post it.

Ak, what are your reasons for this determination?

Surely someone on here has a way to digitize this photo. I am suspicious that this might be a Mercer. I noticed the rear hubcap appears small but because of the quality of the picture, it may be illusion. The front and rear spring shackles are configured like the Mercer and the running board brackets appear right. It is said Mercers were standardized early on but this is myth. You could put any motor you wanted in the early cars and they made at least two six cylinder cars. They were highly customizable in the beginning. If the Riker family wanted a sports car and money was no object, well, you get the jist.

Do we know what make of car this is? I believe Locomobiles have full floating rear axles. This car doesn't seem to.

I would dare say most people have no idea what a whole Cameron looks like much less individual parts. Any pictures you could share of what you are looking for would go a long ways toward finding. I may have a garage full of Cameron parts and am oblivious.

The problem with this is Locomobile was a custom car, but I don't know, were bodies custom in these years? The two restored examples above, shared here purely for upholstery examples, have very different front seats. Of the three pictures I have posted, all three have different front seats. Is there a way to know what is correct and is there such a thing as correct for Locomobile? In the original picture posted above, the seats look to be divided at the back with no center divider coming to the front while the seats on the olive green car are connected in the middle with no center divider and the white car has a short divider coming maybe half way to the front. The arm rests are all treated differently. It would be my opinion there would be no springs in the back rest or sides of the seat and that these areas are merely packed, most likely with cotton batting. If you look closely, the upholstery is very thin. The seat cushion most likely has springs. I believe the original picture and the white car shows a pillow top sewn into the seat top. These seat cushions would be sewn up. The olive car has no pillow top design and the leather may be stretched over a plywood frame. I'm thinking this would be a feature of a custom car builder. I remember seeing a picture of a similar year Loco that is showing its age and more detail may be gleaned from these pictures.

Do we know, would the upholstery be the same?

So, I'm thinking this is another toy tonneau. It is labeled 1909. I'm sorry, I don't know the models.

Al, I believe this is a model 40 but it shows the same interior of the other car and more detail. Does this help?

This is getting very exciting! Does this mean the steering column is nearly finished? Are we ready to polish it up and wrap it and put it up on the shelf until the frame gets done?

Al, Those are not valve stems. In the early years tire slippage was a major concern. If the tire slips on the rim it will disrupt the valve stem and all the air will escape from the tire. Very common cause of flats both back then and today. Those contraptions are meant to lock the tire and tube together on the rim so no slippage can occur. Many period pictures reveal they were popular in the day.

Al, Yes, Firestone wheels typically have a heavier spoke and the felloe is square. Baker wheels have a thinner spoke and rounded off felloe. One difference between the number 1 loco racer and the number 16 was old 16 had the firestone style wheel while the number 1 car had baker style. I say, style, because I cannot say that firestone never made wheels in a baker style and vice versa. Bakers were made in the larger sizes, 28, 29."

Al, the wheels on the 1909-10 model I appear to be Bakers. They had the felloe rounded over between the spokes like that. Other makes may have had the same treatment. What is the difference between a model L and a model I?

Al, I found the picture in my attachments folder but it will not reload into this window. The car is setting in front of a dealership building and there was some discussion that the building still exists.

Al, I don't know if it would help, but some time back I posted a period picture of I believe a touring car in the snow with the Vanderbilt cup radiator ornament. It showed pretty good detail of the interior.

WOW, all I can say is, WOW!!!!!! Are those edges merely hammered over?

So I probably asked this before and was told also, but how is this timer/distributor driven? I would think it would have to be shaft driven off the motor. Just how many miles was this car driven, and through how many types of terrain, and I can't remember any complaints about the timer. It is just that it is remarkable that the timer was mounted to the dash of the car with the car flexing every which away and the timer never missing a beat or failing. It doesn't even seem to be good engineering practice to place the timer so far from the motor and mounted to a completely different surface, yet it worked and worked brilliantly.

Thanks for reposting this. It is a remarkable story. I know I've asked before and been told but what is the box on the dash with the contraption turning inside?

In my opinion this is not four wheel steer. There is no way for the rear wheels to pivot. It does appear someone has begun a restoration. The rear spring carriage appears to have been powder coated, new springs appear in the spring carriage, and the original bolts have been replaced with modern. If a proper restoration is to be undertook, this all needs to be reversed, otherwise the chassis looks modern, not 1900. Original high head bolts can be bought from Restoration Supply but my question would be who began this work? If the rest of the car could be located, you'd be way ahead. It may be in the guys basement or the garage where the work was being performed. I would check with the guy that brought it in to see if there is not more to the story. This is typical with early cars. The thinking is to improve them with modern components but they are ruined instead. In a case such as this, the transmission and rear differential are probably Brennan as well. In the early days, a company such as Brennan supplied all the parts to build a car. Anyone could buy the parts and build their own car, or buy a chassis and put their own body on it.

Another thing I would suggest would be to digitize the picture and isolate the car and do a google image search. It has a very unique suspension. There is an online database of early cars by year and you could look through that for something similar but I'm thinking this is a one off car.