franklomax Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Greetings all, I found this abandoned car when hiking an obscure canyon in Death Valley NP. I was wondering if someone could please help me identify it. I'm including some pictures and close-ups of serial numbers found on the vehicle. Thank you in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklomax Posted May 29, 2018 Author Share Posted May 29, 2018 Also, here are some close-up pictures of the vehicle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Can't help with the ID but your pictures are excellent! I'm sure someone here will be able to identify it. Always makes you wonder what story comes with this type of abandoned car. Where did it start from and how did it end up in such a remote location? Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lump Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Your excellent photo of the top of the engine ought to help someone look up the engine with a head-gasket drawing in a gasket catalog. Thanks for the great photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grimy Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 That's such a w-i-d-e cylinder head--can it be a T-head Stutz? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Mellor NJ Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 You might get some help on The Old Motor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 It's been identified as a circa 1919 Briscoe. Amazing how little rust occurs in certain areas of the West, there's nothing there that wouldn't clean up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Surface rust only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklomax Posted May 29, 2018 Author Share Posted May 29, 2018 Wow, trimacar ,that's amazing that someone was able to figure out what it was. Thank you so much for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 29, 2018 Share Posted May 29, 2018 Sorta like this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m-mman Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Death Valley - one of the driest places in the world. As a side note if it is within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park it will have to stay exactly where it is. All items within a national park are protected and may not be removed or molested. Scotty's castle has on display an original 1917(?) Packard touring that was originally used at the ranch and a 'pile' of junkers out back in a dump area. As I remember the newest was a 1950-53 Cadillac CDV. Way back when it was too expensive to remove them, so they were left where they fell. Today they are protected historical artifacts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39BuickEight Posted May 30, 2018 Share Posted May 30, 2018 Looks like, in 100 more years, erosion might bury it completely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curti Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 On 5/29/2018 at 5:44 AM, trimacar said: It's been identified as a circa 1919 Briscoe. Amazing how little rust occurs in certain areas of the West, there's nothing there that wouldn't clean up. David, you say it has been identified. Does that mean that someone else has taken pictures of this car and it has been ID'd previously? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trimacar Posted May 31, 2018 Share Posted May 31, 2018 1 hour ago, Curti said: David, you say it has been identified. Does that mean that someone else has taken pictures of this car and it has been ID'd previously? No, on the Model T forum someone had pictures of a 1919 Briscoe and everything, including stamped serial number locations, matched up perfectly. In fact, the serial number of the found car was within about 20 numbers of the pictures found....there's really no doubt it's a Briscoe.... Here's a link to the MTFCA discussion. On a side note, just talked to a good friend who was out West about 10 years ago, and saw tons of old cars abandoned, mainly in Idaho....lots of good parts, but we understand now that a scrap drive has cleaned up a lot of them so they're lost.... http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/822076/869402.html?1527706953 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklomax Posted May 31, 2018 Author Share Posted May 31, 2018 This is my recently published report that fully documents the discovery. I'm really grateful that everyone helped solve the mystery. http://www.panamintcity.com/tuckimountain/telephonecanyon.html 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drwatson Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 The Serial Number Book by Grace Brigham places Briscoe Serial #27213 as a "1918." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklomax Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 Thank you for tracking down that information. I will adjust the report so that it says 1918 instead of 1917. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
franklomax Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 I suppose this additional information means the auction car was mislabeled as a 1917 when it is actually a 1918 as well. Great find! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Saxton Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 A clue might be the gear change arrangements, which indicates to me that the gearbox is part of the rear axle assembly. Apart from Stutz, (which it is obviously not), the most common car to use a transaxle was Overland. It is not like any Overland engine that I have seen. A good reference to identify on such mechanical idiosyncrasies is January (show) issues of MoToR. You might be able to get library access to various years. The only one I have is January 1921. The transaxle detail of Briscoe may show up there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Henderson Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 MoToR Specification Tables covering 1918 and following years to 1924 state "own-3" for the transmission make and number of speeds, and "own" for the rear axle make. Since this was in table format it probably doesn't necessarily negate it being transaxle. The gear ratio given was 4.23. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 2 hours ago, Dave Henderson said: The gear ratio given was 4.23. Um, which vehicle are you discussing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Henderson Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 1918 Briscoe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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