Should the 1894 Duryea stay in the US ?

[Joris]

Without any doubt the most important carfind of 2002 is one of the five prototype Duryea's (the only surviving of this series) that emerged at last Pebble Beach. Chances are that this car will leave the US for a foreign buyer. Is that OK to you? See for full info today's feature at PreWarCar.com

Enjoy your weekend, Joris

[Peter Gariepy]

Joris,

I'm confused. Is it an entire car? do you have photos of it? At what price did it bid to at Pebble Beach?

I'm a big fan of the Duryea story and would love to hear more!

Peter

[Guest J446]

Christie's 8/18/2002 Lot 66 Unsold. Described on their web site.

[Guest]

The description of the engine, with 2 pairs of opposed pistons per cylinder connected by bellcranks to a common crankshaft {such a mechanism being at the time so unusual that it was called the "Scotch Motion"} sounds eerily similar the Arrol-Johnston motor manufactured in Scotland from the 1890's to about 1906 which powered horseless carriages as well as conventional looking passenger cars, one of which won the 1905 Isle of Man tourist trophy, beating a Rolls Royce.

I was unaware that any American Manufacturer used this style of engine, where can I find out more about this 1894 Duryea?

[Peter J.Heizmann]

Ironic about the Duryea in the sense tomorrow is the annual Duryea Days Show sponsored by the Pottstown (PA) Region, in conjunction with the Boyertown (PA) Museum of Historical Vehicles.

Charles Duryea had his early days of manufacturing in Reading, PA. Like most carriage-to-motorized folks of the day, he tried and failed. Finanial backing, from memory, was also a major factor.

By any means, I am not an authoritative source of information compared to many on the forum, or, hobby for that matter.

Duryea used to test drive his earliest examples up the Dave Moon Coined serpentine hill in Reading, PA. (Dave resided at the base of this route years ago.) It has been named "Duryea Drive" as long as I have graced this earth. Two S.C.C.A. (sports car) Hill Climbs are held on this route every Summer.

For more concise and accurate info, contact: www.boyertownmuseum.org They have at least one Duryea in their collection. The Berks County Historical Society also has a Duryea.

Hate to edit a post twice, however, I forgot to mention that the AACA Library and Research Center should be the first choice for technical information.

Hope this helps somehow.

Regards, Peter J.

[Peter Gariepy]

Anyone have clue how i can find the car on christies?

Peter

[Joris]

At the bottom of this page you find earlier writings a photo and the link to Christie's:

PreWarCar Previous Features

[1937hd45]

I'd like the car to stay in the U.S.A. and it should be in a museum in its unrestored condition. Howerver, I can't muster up as much interest as I did when there was a chance of loosing "Old 16" a few years ago. "Old 16" the 1906 Locomobile, first American built race car to win an International race, The Vanderbuilt Cup in 1908, was a real milestone. The Duryea is a "factory"experimental, that didn't have that big an impact in comparison. I'm thankful the the Ford Museum is the new caretaker of "Old 16".

[Guest]

It all sounds very fascinating as new discoveries frequently are, but what exactly is the provenance? is there any documentation of the period to support this assertion and how exactly was the determination made to attribute it to the Duryeas and again, where can I find the info on the vehicle, the auction listing tells me nothing.

[Peter Gariepy]

anyone have a clue what the duryea bid to although it was a no-sale?

Peter

[Joris]

The Duryea started at $ 200,000 without evoking a next bid.

Here is the car:

And here is Christie's lot description: The oldest known surviving fully manufactured pre-production Duryea

1894 DURYEA

Not numbered

Faded green painted woodwork with beige seat cushion and back

Engine: twin cylinder, four pistons, horizontally opposed, free-head; Gearbox: bevel gear transmission with two speeds forward and reverse; chain drive to differential on rear axle; Suspension: front by fully elliptic transverse leaf spring, rear by fully elliptic leaf springs; Brake: contracting brake on differential. Central Ackerman-type steering.

Without doubt the Duryea Brothers, J. Frank Duryea and Charles E. Duryea, are considered to be the founders of the American automobile industry. Their first automobile was created in 1893 utilizing a Smiths carriage with a Duryea engine mounted on the rear axle and this is now on display in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. On Thanksgiving Day in November 1895 a Duryea, built by the Duryea Motor Wagon Company (incorporated in 1895), 'won' the first officially recognized American motor race which was organized by the Times-Herald newspaper in Chicago. The Duryea brothers established the first automobile factory in the US in 1896 in Springfield, Massachusetts. In the same year the very first London to Brighton run to commemorate Emancipation Day was held in November and was won by a Duryea pitted against Europe's elite.

This Duryea has recently been unearthed and authenticated by a number of leading automotive historians and authorities to be an 1894 model which must be one of the five known prototypes built by the Duryeas. Unlike the car in the Smithsonian, this Duryea appears to have been built from scratch as a gasoline-powered motor vehicle and a large body of evidence indicates this was in fact predominantly the work of James Frank Duryea.

This car, considered now to be Duryea's oldest known surviving fully manufactured pre-production vehicle remains untainted by the ravages of time. The recent discovery of this historically significant American automobile might even reshape our conception of the evolution of automobile production and innovation. Duryea changed the way cars would be made by incorporating on this vehicle such revolutionary inventions as a differential rear end, disengaging hand crank, three-speed bevel gear transmission and many more. This car is a time capsule in its wonderful state of preservation. From what appears to be the original paintwork, to the pencil drawing by Duryea himself of the patented differential drawn on the underside of the floorboard, this vehicle encapsulates the essence of American ingenuity at the inception of automotive technology.

This unaltered prototype must also be one of the five known Duryeas to have been built prior to the first thirteen 1896 production cars (see A Popular History of American Invention, Volume 1, page 153). In this vehicle one can see the progression of their innovation from the 1893 vehicle, which lacked many of the sophistications of this automobile. In addition, this car also outlines the continuing modifications being made to the Duryea concept, as evidenced by the pencil sketches made on the underside of the floorboard. The sketches were discovered when the current owner noticed a few pencil marks partially concealed by the horizontally mounted radiator. Upon closer examination, the word "flywheel" was found. That the vehicle had never been disassembled or altered was verified by Leroy D. Cole, President of the Automotive Historians Society, Robert Casey, Curator of the Henry Ford Museum, David White, archivist of the Kettering's Institute, and Randy Mason, past curator of Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI. After confirming this, the current owner made the decision to remove the floorboard. The procedure was documented and videotaped, and executed in the presence of several witnesses including Leroy Cole, Vernon Gleasman, Donald C. Lacy, a certified forensic document examiner, and several others. Upon close examination, and with substantial scientific certainty, three words and the oldest known drawing of an automotive differential were discovered and confirmed to be in the handwriting of James Frank Duryea.

The innovations don't stop with the differential. Upon examination of the running gear, it is readily apparent that the engineering capabilities of the Duryeas were extraordinary. The engine is a work of art. The copper water-jacket was fabricated from heavy sheet, with flush rivets counter-sunk and almost touching each other, fitted around open cylinders in a fashion that would not leak. The engine has twin horizontal cylinders of three inch bore approximately two feet long (headless) with a piston at the end of each cylinder (four pistons). The pistons move toward each other, compressing a large volume of air/fuel mixture. Ignition takes place between the pistons in one cylinder, while the adjoining cylinder is exhausting its charge. The crankshaft rides under the cylinder and perpendicular to the axis of the cylinders and works the pistons by a type of bell crank system. This does not allow for splash or pressure oiling; instead, hollow connecting rods with an oil screw, as in the first Duryea engine, were utilized. Oil cups for the cylinders needed to be filled before each outing. The unseen beauty of this system is that, by the pistons going toward each other, there is no overriding moment of inertia that ultimately shook other cars apart. This was a very advanced concept.

The bronze bevel gear transmission would be a challenge to describe, more complex and fascinating than the engine itself. There are two forward speeds and one reverse. It has internal clutches which are lever actuated. It is known from correspondence that Frank Duryea considered the belt drive transmission used in the production models, which, after all, had to be built to a price, a step backwards from the bevel gear transmission utilized in this vehicle. The transmission shaft has a chain drive to the rear sprocket which would seem common except that while it appears to be one live straight axle, it is actually two axles within a tube. The sprocket is a mystery because we cannot see how it allows the wheels to differentiate, but by lifting the rear of the vehicle and turning one wheel, the other wheel will rotate in the opposite direction. One has only to slide beneath this vehicle to come under its spell.

How did this horseless carriage survive all these years unchanged? It was purchased in 1937 and kept until very recently by a man of vision and a sense of history, a unique individual named Vernon Gleasman. No one at that time saw profit or prestige in owning an old car and it was not purchased for those reasons, but for the inventiveness that this vehicle displayed. The rear differential in this vehicle is a Duryea patent that is still in common use today, as is the axle within a tubular housing. Ironically, Mr. Gleasman is the inventor of the Torsen (torque sensing) mechanical limited slip differential used in millions of cars today. He is also the holder of some 200 other patents. Mr. Gleasman proved to be a worthy owner and a wise steward of this one of a kind treasure.

To sum up, we can quote the late Richard P. Scharchburg in his book Carriages Without Horses - J. Frank Duryea and the Birth of the American Automobile Industry: And from the aspect of ordinary lifestyles, that pioneer Duryea automobile activity at Springfield over 100 years ago ushered in the modern, motorized age characterized by a civilization of such rapid and easy movement that nearly all the material aspects of existence have since undergone decided change. History is always the result of multiple causes, instead of any single cause. Yet of all the myriad influences which have made our civilization what it is today, the automobile - for everyday use by everybody - is surely the most dynamic, compelling force on any list of artifacts that have altered our way of life. The automobile took up where the canals, the railroad, and the steamship left off, and has carried steel, machines, and motors into new fields and higher standards.

This is, in our opinion, a hugely important cornerstone, an early American automobile discovery that fills the gap between the 1893 Smithsonian Duryea and the 1896 production model produced by the Duryeas and ensconced in the Henry Ford Museum.

For more you can email me at : info@prewarcar.com

regards Jors

[Guest]

And for those who di'dn't find it, the plee of Rick Carey Rick's homepage 'This was the most fascinating lot offered at the four Monterey auctions this year. For its time it is amazingly advanced even if crude in execution. Its condition and originality is simply astounding. I spent nearly an hour of all-too-scarce time peering into its innards to decipher its operation and talking with its owner who gladly provided further explanations.

For those who don't have access to the extensive catalog description, this has been identified by several experts as an interim model between the prototype (in the Smithsonian Institution) and the first series of production cars. It is remarkable in many respects, not least in the pencil drawing of the differential and rear axle on the underside of a floorboard with notes in J. Frank Duryea's hand.

It had been owned since 1937 by Vernon Gleasman, inventor of the Torsen differential, and carefully stored without publicity by him since.

It abounds in remarkably ingenious attributes. The engine is an side-by-side two-cylinder with 2 pistons in each cylinder compressing the fuel-air mixture between them and driving the crankshaft located under the cylinder pair through bellcranks and connecting rods. The engine has camshaft operated intake and exhaust valves. The transmission is planetary. Drive is through a series of belts and chains to a differential (which hasn't been disassembled for examination yet) and rear axle housed in a tube. There is a hand-operated fuel pump for starting and an engine-driven pumped water cooling system. The rear suspension consists of a pair of semi-elliptical leaf springs on each side while the front axle is suspended by a pair of transversely-mounted semi-elliptical leaf springs.

The originality, completeness and condition of this artifact is all but unbelievable. But, after carefully disassembling, cleaning, polishing and lubricating the engine, the consignor started it up ... on the second turn of the side-mounted crank!

Its significance was, unfortunately, lost on the bidders at Christie's Pebble Beach auction. There were no bidders. It is, after all, nothing but a display piece, too important, original and fragile ever to be used and really even too fragile in its amazing originality to be moved about for display. It would, however, be the hands-down winner of any 'originality class'. There is simply nothing in the world to challenge it.

How original is it? The owner said when he worked on it he placed sheets of brilliant white Masonite under it and caught -- and replaced -- every fragment of dried grass, dirt and twigs. Having crawled under it for a better view of the Duryea drawing I can attest to his thoroughness ... the horizontal finned radiator tubes are retained in one corner by a loop of rope, shimmed with an old, old piece of tree twig!

The owner purchased it from Mr. Gleasman, now ninety-something, at the suggestion of Gleasman's family so it didn't end up falling victim to the whim of some estate tax bureaucrat when Gleasman eventually passes away. He is in awe of the car, and will make sure it ends up in a good and appreciative home. This does, however, point out one of the real advantages of auctions. Visitors to Christie's at Pebble Beach were able to approach, slide under, and peer into this historical artifact with a freedom and accessibility which no museum could afford to allow. The Duryea will eventually end up roped off or behind glass in some curated display, its remarkable and innovative mechanism invisible. Ideally, someone should build a replica that would comprehensively duplicate its configuration and operation without endangering the original. by Rick carey: These earliest automobiles display an originality of thought and a refreshing creativity in solving problems that had never before been encountered in ingenious ways. There was at that time no 'right way' of building an automobile so each pioneer approached problems like engine design, cooling, carburetion, suspension, gearing and a myriad of others with an absolutely clean slate. The solutions they developed are refreshing in their originality and creativity and are becoming more appreciated by new generations of car collectors whose more recent outbursts of creativity and originality have given us microprocessors, bio-engineering and the Internet.

By the way, I seriously doubt that the owner of the Duryea would let it leave the US, money or not. If he does, he should be shot.'

Rick Carey

[Guest]

This still doesn't tell me anything, it all sounds like a carefully orchestrated blurb, just who are these "experts" who seem to think so highly of this vehicle and please, what actual proof is there which would confirm this?

[Guest]

Read the CV of one of the experts at RickCarey.com . He is contributor to AutoWeek, Victory Lane, Car Collector, etc. More info wanted? Please let me know at info@prewarcar.com Regards Joris

[Dave@Moon]

$200K and no takers? Should've been described as a unique starting point for a hot rod!

If there's no one at an automotive auction interested in a vehicle like this, what are the rest of those people doing there? This car (if authentic) should be the centerpiece of <span style="font-style: italic">any</span> U.S. automotive museum.

I'd bet that the current owner could get an appraisal (legitimately) that'd make it possible to donate the car to any museum (say one in or around Hershey, PA?? ) and realize at least $200K from the arrangement.

Anybody have any ideas?

[Guest J446]

The 200M bid was probably on behalf of the owner trying to get things started. There may have been no real bids. The IRS would IMHO be unlikely to accept a high valuation in light of this non sale.

[R W Burgess]

Gentlemen!, I was so fascinated with the picture of the 1894 Duryea in this post, that I contacted "Christie's" asking permission for the release needed to write an article on the subject in my local regional newsletter. I got permission for everything except the image, which reverted to the owner, Mr. Vernon Gleasman, since the car did not sell. Does anyone here know how to reach this gentleman or how to contact him? Wayne

[Joris]

Dear R.W. Burgess, More on the Duryea is now to be seen at the new site wwww.DuryeaAuto.com . You can contact the owner there also, I am sure he will grant you the use of photos. You may mention my name.

regards Joris Bergsma PreWarCar.com

[Guest]

There is a Vernon Gleasman listed in Yahoo People Search in Pittsford, NY with an address and a phone number. Thought it unfare to Mr. Gleasman to post details. You can use this URL for the search. http://people.yahoo.com/

[R W Burgess]

Thank you, guys. I'm working hard on this to make our club proud. I appreciate all the help. Wayne

[Guest]

Before you call Mr. Gleasman, please keep in mind that he is 92 or older... AND he is not the current owner.

Joris

[Guest BruceW]

I used the contact link on the www.DuryeaAuto.com and received an email from a Mr. Dan Colombo that indicates he is the current owner of the 1894 Duryea.