Question about the Octoauto

[FunkyGrip2000]

Just speaking hypothetically, if someone built an Octoauto from a 1910 model Overland, would it be considered original? Or still just a replica?

 

I'm not even sure if we even have enough info to build an Octoauto... looking at old Octoauto topics on here someone was trying to find out how the suspension worked and couldn't find anything.

 

 

[Joe in Canada]

Is the Overland all there and restorable?

[John_S_in_Penna]

Reeves was the company that built the 8-wheeled Octoauto,

and later, reducing the wheels to six, the Sextoauto.

Something built today to resemble it closely might

be interesting--especially if it was a very close recreation

following the original design.  The car must have had

some interesting steering mechanism. 

 

I don't think a distant simulation or a crude approximation 

would get ardent car collectors especially excited,

but you could take it to local fairs and gather quite a crowd.

 

Would an Overland be close to the original Reeves?

To answer your question, nothing built today would be

original.  And if it wasn't accurate, it would be a novelty,

but not a replica.  You sound like you may be

inclined and inspired at least to ponder the project!

 

You can read about Reeves in the Automobile Quarterly of

Winter 1968. 

Edited July 1, 2017 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)

[1937hd45]

I was told the original is still out there some were, building a clone may be a fun hobby, just don't try to pass off a new build as anything real. Bob

[R Walling]

 If you search Googel, you will find several repros of the Octoauto.

[capngrog]

What's an Octoauto and why would somebody want one?  Does the Octoauto have anything to do with the Octomom?

 

Cheers,

Grog

[FunkyGrip2000]

Thanks for your responses guys. I going to assume making a replica of Reeve's Octoauto is impossible without more info on how the front four wheels turned. Hopefully someday we'll find out how it worked.

[FunkyGrip2000]

Hey capngrog, 

 

Here's how you find out what an Octoauto is: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Octoauto

 

And nope, nothing to do with an Octomom.

[John_S_in_Penna]

On 7/1/2017 at 1:58 PM, 1937hd45 said:

I was told the original is still out there some were, building a clone may be a fun hobby, just don't try to pass off a new build as anything real. Bob

 

The Winter 1968 issue of Automobile Quarterly

stated that one Reeves car exists (and pictures it),

but that Reeves is an ordinary 4-wheel vehicle.

 

Of course, that may not be the last word, since

other things may have come to light since then.

However, I've not heard of any Sextoautos or Octoautos extant,

and if they did exist, their distinctiveness would tend to make 

them well known in the hobby.

[Steve Moskowitz]

So far no one has proven that a Octoauto exists. There was a large collection of Overland parts that were purported to be the Reeves located in Indiana.  However, no one ever found to my knowledge any of the parts in that collection that would have identified that they were unique to the Octoauto. 

[JACK M]

Interesting.

What would the advantages be ? 

[John_S_in_Penna]

On 7/2/2017 at 1:06 PM, FunkyGrip2000 said:

Thanks for your responses guys. I going to assume making a replica of Reeve's Octoauto is impossible without more info on how the front four wheels turned. Hopefully someday we'll find out how it worked.

 

From that issue of Automobile Quarterly:

 

"Relying on the original set of rear wheels to provide the

power, he devised a complicated steering mechanism

to control the other six wheels simultaneously, although

each pair responded differently.  When the wheels attached

to the front axle were turned at an angle of twenty degrees,

for example, the two wheels on the secondary front axle

assumed only a ten-degree angle in the same direction;

and the two wheels on the secondary rear axle turned 

ten degrees in the opposite direction.   This same principle

would be used in later years, with a special 'tillerman' operating

the rear wheels, in order to make it possible for the elongated

hook-and-ladder trucks of all fire-fighting departments to

negotiate right-angle turns safely at city intersections."

 

The advantage claimed for the car was a softer ride:

Tire pressure could be halved.  The article says that the car,

indeed, had superior riding qualities--though it had a 180-inch

wheelbase.

[emjay]

A quick thought about two axle steering leads me to think it may not be that difficult.  The Ackerman arms and tie rods would define the action of each wheel.  Then moving each tie rod the same amount would yield an appropriate angle for each wheel.  A diagonal link from the left end of one tie rod to the right end of the other should do the trick.  Or have I oversimplified it?

[1937hd45]

MACK used the basic idea. Bob

 

[capngrog]

O.K., now I understand the appeal of an octoauto.

 

 

It would be just the thing for rush hour traffic here in Paisley.

 

It could be yours, cuz it's for sale on ebay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1988-m985-8x8-/322588315955?hash=item4b1bc31133:g:VsQAAOSwvPRZZUfV&vxp=mtr

 

Cheers,

Grog

 

[wayne sheldon]

Well, i am not an expert on this, but I have read several articles, both modern day (if you consider the '60s as modern day) and a few original era publications.

First, someone correct me if I am wrong, but as I recall from a couple articles I read about fifty years ago, the Reeves Octoauto, and its sibling Sextoauto never got beyond a marketing effort. Two cars were built. One on an Overland chassis, one using a Stutz chassis. The cars were reconfigured a few times, eventually being returned to their original forms, and sold as unremarkable used cars. The likelihood of a survivor is rather small.

I recall that back in the '60s, Bill Harrah, in many of his cars and parts wanted advertising included both brass era Overland and early Stutz parts were particularly wanted. I thought at the time that it was odd that he was interested in almost any chassis remains of early '10s Overland cars (after all, being a fairly common car, complete cars were not that difficult to get). Until I wondered if what he was looking for was that one chassis with a few extra holes in the frame, in the proper locations of course. I have over the years known several people with early '10s Overland cars. I have heard several stories of Bill Harrah and his huge amount of early Overland cars and parts. I suspect that many people in the Overland community have been secretly looking for "that one". 

A long time friend of mine has a '13 Stutz touring car that used to be part of Bill Harrah's collection. It is a beautiful car that I have ridden in a couple times. One can only wonder.

[Ivan Saxton]

Reeves did subsequently produce a much more useful invention, which was a stepless variable ratio V-belt drive.   As the axial distance between the two pulleys was varied, the ratio varied according to the radius at which the wide V-belt gripped the spring-loaded variable pulley.   I picked up a couple of different ones which did not carry his name at a machinery auction once, but I do not think the power rating is huge.  I have never tried to use either.

On the tandem rear axles, it is unlikely he would have had steering unless on a lazy axle at the very back.  The advantage would likely have been only for tyre makers.