Locomobile

That 727 torque flite was a D good tranny. Ron

Early tail lamp. Many states like New York passed laws requiring them around 1905.

Steaming lamp for a boat. What we call a stern lamp today.

That's a bicycle lamp. A lot of those still work.

Bob hope said the Edsel looked like an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon. I never really understood the joke until I seen the two of them sitting side by side at a car show a few years ago. That was an astute observation and probably deterred a lot of Edsel shoppers. Ron

Yes we fired it up and drove it on the initial assembly. Ran really well

Hi Al, How did Locomobile and Conrad compare? The Locomobile was a much more highly polished vehicle, most likely more reliable as it was more refined due to the much higher production numbers. They set many records. First car up Mt Washington, first to drive from Buffalo to New York city 500 miles and many others. All the metal parts were Nickle plated, causing Rudyard Kipling to label them "The Nickel plated fraud" apparently he wasn't fond of the little steamer. Their problems: Too lightly built and easily damaged on the very early rough roads with tree stumps in them. The bodies broke down as the engine and boiler were simply mounted on wood crossmembers. If one looks at the early body it resembles a crate, and I wonder if that is where the slang term for early cars came from "Crate". The Conrads were less polished and from what I can tell more crudely built, but they were built stronger. And heavier. The one feature that made them far superior to the Locomobile was the angle iron subfframe (as pictured) inside the body that the boiler and engine mounted on. This strongly supported that mounting and also supported the wood body along its length to prevent it failing in the middle like Locomobile and others did. There was far less nickle plating and more painted parts. Their problems: Likely less refined as Lars alludes to about fire flaring up the side and scaring the occupants, the burner was likely a poor design and not enough time had been spent resolving issues, and it may have been operator poorly trained as well. The burner is one of the most problematic and critical aspects of these early steam cars. The steering geometry on the Conrads is unusual too and some of the components like the knuckles are too lightly built. If I had to pick one to show off : Locomobile Pick one to drive and rely on: Conrad. The Denmark Conrad is in their transportation museum and I am pals with the curators, we have never discussed the history of this vehicle only many of it's features. I will ask them about it. They have been very helpful with our restoration and we are grateful for that. Ron

Lars, You are very welcome and I am very happy I could help with your project. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I would like to thank you for sharing additional information about the history of these early Norway vehicles. I enjoy reading any of this early history involving actual steam car usage at that time. If you have any other information about them, I would enjoy reading about it. I will provide a little more info about Conrads in my response to Al as follows. Ron

Conrad logo

Unfortunately, investors and consumers are two different groups.

No I hadn't seen that. To date, even today, Chrysler runs much as it has for years. The Daimler and Fiat merger never really changed much of anything for the people that worked there. Michigan will probably feel the biggest changes. I'm surprised Fiat or Daimler didn't do something similar from the initial buyout. They've had workforce issues for a while, including vehicles being stolen off of the assembly line and taken to a chopshop. This stealing cars off the line has happened numerous times, it doesn't look like it in the video but this is a really dangerous area where this plant is at. Ron

That is totally understandable and this singular message they are putting out is very irresponsible on their part. Absolutely it's going to deter buyers who are not sure of what they are buying into. Is this a ''soon to be discontinued'' product or not?

Yep, just ask Smuckers, Fudruckers or Orville Reddenbacher

I plan on buying a new truck in the next few years. It will be another Silverado, I know it's not the coolest thing I could buy, but I try to invest in my community and country whenever possible. There is nothing any better, any cheaper. And I've had excellent service out of the one I have now, and it has good resale value that was one of the main reasons I bought GM product. My vehicle before was a f150 , nice truck, good shape dependable low miles, well cared for, I literally wound up giving it away I sold it so cheap.

Al, there are only two model 70 Conrad's one in Denmark, one in Ohio and the one model 65 that I'm working on that I know of. Our meets are very small. 😁 There is allegedly one in the UK, but if the pictures I seen are of the same car, it's doubtful. And I tried to contact the guy and never received a response. It looks as though it's on Locomobile or Grout chassis running gear. Ohio model 70. Conrad mystery car and may be somewhat similar to the Lars mystery car. The pic is labeled Conrad Steamer

Yes they have assembly plants here but they are headquartered elsewhere. They buy very little from US Suppliers. All of their tooling is made elsewhere. Every dollar they take in, leaves our shores and only a small fraction in operating costs makes it's way back here. They have no unionization to deal with. They are not equal. They provide non union jobs to the locals and that is it. Fiat like Daimler has left Chrysler pretty much intact to operate as an American company. Same union, similar supply chain.

They, Ford and Chrysler are either loyal to the US and workers or stupid. If they only cared about profits they could off shored the whole shebang many years ago like so many other American companies did. They could have told the UAW adios and still sold cars here under their brand and made a fortune doing so. However, they stayed here through bankruptcies, strikes, lawsuits, fines, expensive employee buyouts etc. For what? That's why it irks me a bit when I see people speaking poorly about them. They provide millions of jobs and quality of life throughout the entire country and North America. Without those three automakers, the USA and North America would be a much different place right now. Their commerce is woven all through our economy.

Are those two hands to symbolize the taxpayers?

Hello, I agree the small stanhope is likely a Locomobile, there is nothing in the pic to indicate otherwise. Pic#2 is definitely a 1902 ish Conrad Surrey. This old clipping from 1902 announces it's introduction. Your #2 pic of the same vehicle on drivers side displays about five distinctively Conrad features. Pic #3 is a different surrey, but I think it is a Conrad as well. The draglink going up the right side to the right front steering knuckle, the L-shaped handles on the sight glass, Supporting the tiller shaft with the step, the squarish swivel joint for the tiller handle are all Conrad features. The front of the body looks to be a Locomobile Stanhope B design. I'll stick with it is a Conrad as well, possible early 1903. Here is a Model 70 Conrad in Denmark: Cool old pictures, thanks for sharing. Ron

If you play that record backwards it indeed says that and if you keep listening it says ''GM is next''.. Conspiracy theorists, ya have to love them, how else would we learn about Project Northwoods, Chemtrails and Bigfoot?

Ahh ok, sorry bout that. Ya know, upside down the white inside the m looks like pi and the g looks like a 6 or pi 6 or 3 6's.... 666.. Ok, I'll stop 😁

Unless they bought it back, they don't even own that logo or ''the Ford script'' as it's called. To prevent bankruptcy back in '09, that is one of the things Mullaley hocked.

I don't know what your personal experience is with GM, but mine is I purchased a new Silverado in 2011. Absolutely wonderful vehicle, drives, handles great, 4wd 5700 pounds and gets a legit 20 mpg on the highway. 96,000 miles and other than change oil, a battery and finally a set of new tires, I've had no issues with it. Always starts, doesn't burn or leak oil, runs just as good and strong as the day I bought it. I've known other people that bought them and had the same experience. Don't let the GM electric car cheerleaders fool you, their gas engine vehicles aren't going away. Their internal combustion light truck sales were up 5% last quarter. And I seriously doubt anyone builds a better vehicle. I've owned a Toyota and a Honda, neither was as reliable as this Chevy truck. True story.

Wayne, that is fascinating history. Seems to me this angle iron does have some markings. The joints are black Smith hammered and riveted. The serial number on the chassisis 149. I'm assuming their production numbers were somewhere around a thousand. They were a different type of company, being far away in Buffalo from the epicenter of anything automobile around Boston, Bridgeport etc. They made most of their own parts and even sold parts to upstarts and DIY builders. There are two other steamers that were built with Conrad parts, the Neff steamer, there is one in a museum over in Canada right across from buffalo and a Coffin steamer in a museum in Michigan. I'm about 99% sure on the Coffin. Conrad built delivery trucks and gas engine cars in 1903 and dropped he steamers. they went under in August of 1903. Ransom Olds was kicking everyone's rear with his brilliant little "explosion motor" design. He built steam cars as well, but I don't think he ever tried to market them. I wish I could help you identifying your engine, I know very little about early gas cars. There were so many people trying to capitalize on the exploding car market, there were many that only produced a few cars as you wrote. Even the picture I posted above with the man and woman he even tried his hand at it. Funny story about that picture above, I was researching Locomobile and ran across it and the story from the Brisbane historical society in Australia, they were calling it a Locomobile and the guy that was driving it copied it and started building and selling steamers in Australia, but it was a fruitless endeavor for him. But it's clearly not a Locomobile and I'm 99% certain it is a 1902 Conrad Model 60 or 65. The draglink runs up the right side to the front right side steering knuckle, the 01 I'm working on the draglink ran from the right side to the left side knuckle. Of the two other known Conrad survivors they are both 02 model 70's. One is in Denmark in a museum, and the other is in Ohio in a museum. The model 70 is a larger car, a dos-a-dos. two bench seats back to back. must have been a warm ride for the people in the back seat. Thanks, Ron

I used 16D spikes (large nails) and rotated them on the sander and tapered them. Then just brazed them in, cut off the excess and blend. Someone told me the FAA specified that type of joint for some tubular airframes or maybe all? versus electronic welding. This is how I do that joint for electronic welding: Ron