Do any survive? 1911 Reeves Octoauto

[edinmass]

Yup......lots, including four G4’s.

 

 

[keiser31]

Then there's this....hahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[mike6024]

 

I suppose that has a king size water bed in it.

 

[Graham Man]

The Pullman double spring suspension arrangement was for one thing, a smoother riding car, this is what the roads looked like in 1912.  Chains were normal equipment just to get around.  Like to see any of todays SUV make it through that mud.  Can you imagine the ruts once it was dry?

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

2 hours ago, Graham Man said:

Can you imagine the ruts once it was dry?

 

My dad grew up in cattle country during the depression. The roads were still very much like that even then. He often told how the thing that ruined tires more than anything else, was when the mud dried and hardened and tires still had little choice but to slip into the ruts. The hard dried clay soil would scrape along the sidewalls of the tires, and it would be the sidewalls that wore out long before the tread was even half gone.

[Graham Man]

The 1920 Motor Transport Corps convoy left Washington, D.C. on 14 June 1920 and followed the Bankhead Highway to San Diego, California, where it arrived on 2 October. A smaller expedition than the first, the second convoy consisted of 50 vehicles, 32 officers, and 160 enlisted men under Col John F. Franklin. A rate of 45–60 miles per day was initially estimated, commensurate with that of the first convoy.

The convoy's trip proceeded smoothly as far as Atlanta. However, as it moved west into Tennessee, its progress slowed. Detours became necessary due to flooding and the crossing of the "black gumbo" of the Mississippi River proved very problematic. Despite high hopes, the Southern United States proved to be the worst part of the trip. The convoy encountered almost impassable sands between Maricopa and Wellton, Arizona.

Like the first convoy, at every stop the expedition was met by local celebrations and dances. After 111 days and an average rate of less than 30 miles per day, the convoy reached the West Coast where an officer's banquet was given in San Diego. After its arrival in San Diego, the convoy then went north to Los Angeles and was broken up, its equipment distributed to California's public services as part of a program to make use of war surplus.^[21]

The officers of the expedition became convinced by their experience that the maintenance of a national highway system should be the province of the federal government, as supported by the Townsend Bill.^[13] However, despite the widespread friendly greetings received by the convoys across the nation, neither generated enough public support to ensure passage of the Townsend Bill, which failed and was replaced by the Federal Highway Act of 1921. Both the 1919 and 1920 convoys are identified on the Zero Milestone on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Graham Man (see edit history)

[KURTRUK]

I have a Mea Culpa here.  When I occasionally see the name Octoauto pop up in car-related situations,  I have been ASSuming it was a car I saw depicted in one of Tad Burness' weekly hand-drawn Auto Album feature that used to appear in newspapers.  Now I know it's not.  The car---which now I guess I don't know the name of---had the typical four wheels, but then had four "Wheelie" wheels that would lower to the ground and allow the car to move sideways to easily park against the curb.  Anyone else remember THAT car?  It was a teens or twenties car.  And I'm NOT referring to the more recent car seen here and on Youtube with the full-sized wheel that lowered from the rear of the car to also aid in parking.

My Mom used to clip and save the Auto Albums.  But if I ask, she'll probably want to send them all home with me (she's in that late stage of life).

Edited August 22, 2021 by KURTRUK (see edit history)

[Terry Harper]

2 hours ago, KURTRUK said:

I have a Mea Culpa here.  When I occasionally see the name Octoauto pop up in car-related situations,  I have been ASSuming it was a car I saw depicted in one of Tad Burness' weekly hand-drawn Auto Album feature that used to appear in newspapers.  Now I know it's not.  The car---which now I guess I don't know the name of---had the typical four wheels, but then had four "Wheelie" wheels that would lower to the ground and allow the car to move sideways to easily park against the curb.  Anyone else remember THAT car?  It was a teens or twenties car.  And I'm NOT referring to the more recent car seen here and on Youtube with the full-sized wheel that lowered from the rear of the car to also aid in parking.

My Mom used to clip and save the Auto Albums.  But if I ask, she'll probably want to send them all home with me (she's in that late stage of life).

 

Tad Burness... Yes! I have two of his books - "Cars of the Early Twenties" and "Cars of the Early Thirties" The majority of the artwork is advertising illustrations from various manufactures but there are a couple of Tad's drawings.

[wmsue]

Here's a reprint of an article that originally appeared in The Horseless Carriage on April 5, 1911.

Interesting article that answers some of the prior questions.

It states that the original Overland was put back into it's original state and sold. A Stutz Sextoauto was created also but it was later returned to original and sold.

Wish we had some body or frame numbers for this car.......it might still be out there.

 

This reprint appeared in the WOKR Starter magazine in 1979.

 

Bill

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by wmsue (see edit history)

[mike6024]

Interesting. The very rear axle steered too, as well as both front axles.

[wayne sheldon]

The Reeves eight and six wheel cars have always fascinated me. In the past sixty years (since I was about ten!) I have read numerous articles and countless minor descriptions or mentions in various books. In the end? The Reeves automobiles are little more than footnotes of oddities. Reeves' real contributions to automotive manufacturing are somewhat more important, even if less interesting.

I have been trying to stay out of the discussions of "who had the real remains of one of the cars only a couple decades ago" because I really don't enjoy "I am right and you are wrong" debates where most 'facts' are actually in dispute.

It was recorded way back in the day that both cars were returned to their original state and sold as common used cars. I saw and read parts of that article above somewhere about forty years ago. (I don't recall where?) Is it possible, that someone knowing what one of them was bought one and kept it? It must be possible. So, maybe parts of one of them do still exist and are known to their current owners?

I have stated on previous threads about William Harrah's long ongoing search for early 1910s Overland and 1913 Stutz cars and parts. This after he had more of both those cars than he could have needed more for either of them. I know that rumors about the existence of one of the cars were floating around the hobby long before I got into it. Was Harrah trying to flush them out? Or did he believe the historic record that returned them into the used car market, and was simply fishing in the hopes of finding a 'telltale' chassis? A lot of extra holes had to have been drilled into that frame!

 

Certainly, anyone with enough means, could replicate one of them. Enough photos and technical information exists that one could be almost exactly duplicated. Harrah certainly could have done that if he had wanted to. However Harrah was a dedicated antique automobile collector and historian. He wanted the real thing! Or at least a significant part of it.

 

We may never know the final answer.

[Larry Schramm]

On 8/22/2021 at 8:45 AM, Graham Man said:

The 1920 Motor Transport Corps convoy left Washington, D.C. on 14 June 1920 and followed the Bankhead Highway to San Diego, California, where it arrived on 2 October. A smaller expedition than the first, the second convoy consisted of 50 vehicles, 32 officers, and 160 enlisted men under Col John F. Franklin. A rate of 45–60 miles per day was initially estimated, commensurate with that of the first convoy.

The convoy's trip proceeded smoothly as far as Atlanta. However, as it moved west into Tennessee, its progress slowed. Detours became necessary due to flooding and the crossing of the "black gumbo" of the Mississippi River proved very problematic. Despite high hopes, the Southern United States proved to be the worst part of the trip. The convoy encountered almost impassable sands between Maricopa and Wellton, Arizona.

Like the first convoy, at every stop the expedition was met by local celebrations and dances. After 111 days and an average rate of less than 30 miles per day, the convoy reached the West Coast where an officer's banquet was given in San Diego. After its arrival in San Diego, the convoy then went north to Los Angeles and was broken up, its equipment distributed to California's public services as part of a program to make use of war surplus.^[21]

The officers of the expedition became convinced by their experience that the maintenance of a national highway system should be the province of the federal government, as supported by the Townsend Bill.^[13] However, despite the widespread friendly greetings received by the convoys across the nation, neither generated enough public support to ensure passage of the Townsend Bill, which failed and was replaced by the Federal Highway Act of 1921. Both the 1919 and 1920 convoys are identified on the Zero Milestone on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

I believe that it was this trip that a young West Point Graduate, Dwight D Eisenhower was on this trip.  I am sure that his leadership as president helped to get the interstate highway which is named after him completed.

[Graham Man]

Interesting; according the Horseless Age Article both cars were returned to their original 4 wheel configuration and sold. 

 

So NO there were no survivors...unless both cars are with us today in 4 wheel arrangement?

[JGarland1212]

I happen to know for a fact that there is at least one, possibly two, still in existence as I personally saw it disassembled on a shelf just a couple years ago.  

[Steve Moskowitz]

On 9/29/2019 at 10:14 AM, Steve Moskowitz said:

I am pretty confident that these rumors are baseless.  Most of them came from the fact that there were so many project Overland cars around at one time.  There was a huge treasure trove of parts in Indiana that were supposed to contain the remnants of the Octoauto.  Nowhere in this stash was a single part that would have been exclusive to the Octoauto.  I know as I was a buyer along with a close friend who inspected the parts.  Lots of Overland stuff but no eureka moment unfortunately.  

This is what I wrote a couple of years ago.  While ANYTHING is possible I still think it unlikely as it would be a very desirable car to own and a great novelty. You would think that the owner(s) would have tested the market to sell it by now. The folks that told me they had the Octoauto never could provide any parts that were unique to the car.  So I really have to question whether a disassembled car on a shelf was anything more than an Overland.  There have been a lot of hobbyists who have chased down the rumor of the Reeves car existing and everyone has come up empty handed.  It would be great if one was around.  It sure would be a big hit at a show!

 

For the sake of history, I hope the above poster can shed more light on his find.  In this case, I'd love to eat my words!

 

[Studeous]

On 8/22/2021 at 7:45 AM, Graham Man said:

The 1920 Motor Transport Corps convoy left Washington, D.C. on 14 June 1920 and followed the Bankhead Highway to San Diego, California, where it arrived on 2 October. A smaller expedition than the first, the second convoy consisted of 50 vehicles, 32 officers, and 160 enlisted men under Col John F. Franklin. A rate of 45–60 miles per day was initially estimated, commensurate with that of the first convoy.

The convoy's trip proceeded smoothly as far as Atlanta. However, as it moved west into Tennessee, its progress slowed. Detours became necessary due to flooding and the crossing of the "black gumbo" of the Mississippi River proved very problematic. Despite high hopes, the Southern United States proved to be the worst part of the trip. The convoy encountered almost impassable sands between Maricopa and Wellton, Arizona.

Like the first convoy, at every stop the expedition was met by local celebrations and dances. After 111 days and an average rate of less than 30 miles per day, the convoy reached the West Coast where an officer's banquet was given in San Diego. After its arrival in San Diego, the convoy then went north to Los Angeles and was broken up, its equipment distributed to California's public services as part of a program to make use of war surplus.^[21]

The officers of the expedition became convinced by their experience that the maintenance of a national highway system should be the province of the federal government, as supported by the Townsend Bill.^[13] However, despite the widespread friendly greetings received by the convoys across the nation, neither generated enough public support to ensure passage of the Townsend Bill, which failed and was replaced by the Federal Highway Act of 1921. Both the 1919 and 1920 convoys are identified on the Zero Milestone on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C.

 

 

 

 

[8E45E]

Here is an 'octoauto' you can still buy today:

 

[f.f.jones]

The Eliica KAZ features front twin steer as did the Reeves Octoauto but is reported not to have the sophistication of the rear wheel steering that the Reeves Octoauto pioneered. The reasoning behind using the “octoauto” wheel arrangement for the Eliica KAZ is much the same as followed by Milton Reeves back in 1910: to provide the best possible ride quality and also to ensure safety in the event of a tire failure. The Eliica KAZ designers have also wanted to use smaller diameter wheels and tires to lower the vehicles aerodynamic profile. The car features gull-wing doors and seats eight people