trimacar Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Hi- I've run across an all original 1913 Cartercar touring. I know that these cars were a little unusual, with friction drive. Does anyone have experience owning and/or driving one, and if so, could you give me your impressions. Speed, ease of driving, ease of maintenance, and such. thanks..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Contact Frank Hurley in the HCCA.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted December 5, 2009 Author Share Posted December 5, 2009 OK thanks--- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 A relative of my friend Bill Quiett used to sell them and Bill has two of them. One is a 1913 and one is a 1914. You can PM me for his phone number and email address. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seldenguy Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Dave -- Anything of that vintage and being original would be a joy to own.That being said if the car is complete mechanically and could be made to run and function is a bonus. While they are friction drive and I believe this was a high maintenance point with them all,today there are many more durable matierals to face the driving wheel with. Mentioned earlier that Frank Hurley has one, whom would be a better person to visit with. He is very helpful! --Good luck --- Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keiser31 Posted December 5, 2009 Share Posted December 5, 2009 Here are my friend's cars...both totally original cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted December 6, 2009 Author Share Posted December 6, 2009 Here's the 1913 that I found, owner says that it is original paint, though it looks like primer. Top is ragged. Priced in mid teens. I don't have room for it, investigating for a friend who's looking for a brass-era car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 There was some discussion on this brand of car here before. It seems the friction drive mechanism was reliable and worked well. Similar drive systems are used in snow blowers and in industrial applications.The friction wheel was of pressed paper. The material is still available and the wheel can be relined for not too much money although this is rarely necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Shaw Posted December 6, 2009 Share Posted December 6, 2009 Rusty is right. Frank Hurley's CarterCar is an older 2 cylinder car that easily outruns model Ts. I believe he put new friction paper on it many years ago and has no problems. He really enjoys passing everybody on hills because he just moves the drive wheel closer to the middle of the friction wheel and does not have to shift to get more torque.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gossjh Posted December 8, 2009 Share Posted December 8, 2009 Hi all,I'm a Cartercar owner of the same vintage as Frank's ( 1907). I've had two different cars. The 2 cylinder cars are all good. I'm told some of the smaller four cylinder cars have issues due to GM bought Cartercar and tried to combine parts with other cars with out enough input with the Cartercar engineers. The Cartercar engineers kept control of the larger cars engineering. The issues that I have heard of on the smaller fours is frame flex and thrust bearing wear. I'm sure they can be made right. The 2 cylinder cars work well in all weather dispite what you might hear about water being an issue. They are smooth and effortless to drive once you work the bugs out. Good luck.Joe Goss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted December 8, 2009 Author Share Posted December 8, 2009 Hi- yes, that was the response from one of my buddies who fools with a lot of early cars, that in the rain you can't drive it, glad to hear that's not true! The car that I found is in the process of being purchased by a friend of mine. He went yesterday to look at it and made a deal It runs, but a lot of the mechanism needs some TLC to make it drivable, just kinda hard to move things since it's been sitting so long. Thanks for all the information. David Coco Winchester Va. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clincher Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 I had a Cartercar back in the Sunny Long Ago, 1960 -1961. It was a Two-Cylinder Model E, 1907 or 1908, Engine Number 490. I drove it a lot, the engine was quite lively, and the friction drive transmission worked wonderfully well, very smooth and easy to handle. It had an "Artz Body" with folding rear tonneau and could be readily converted from Runabout to Five-passenger Touring Car. Thinking back, it was surely one of my favourites, and I wonder if it's still around? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Nancy DeWitt Posted December 9, 2009 Share Posted December 9, 2009 Great thread, and what a find, trimacar! We have a freshly restored 1907 Cartercar Model A touring in our museum, displayed with a mirror under it so folks can see the friction wheel. We plan to drive it when it warms back up here in Fairbanks (about a zillion months from now), so it sounds like we need to touch base with Frank and gossjh. I think we're still looking for a manual, in case anyone has a copy. Feel free to email me at projects@fdifairbanks.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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