Period RACE CAR Images to Relieve some of the Stress

[AHa]

Another one

 

[AHa]

1902 Wolseley

 

 

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Edited June 15, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Edited June 21, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Nyberg

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Studebaker

 

Edited June 15, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

[AHa]

Colby

 

[AHa]

Mercer

 

 

 

Edited June 17, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

[Lee Stohr]

On 6/13/2020 at 4:29 AM, AHa said:

Where are the parts to Christie's racer today? It is amazing to me and doesn't sound realistic that Bill Harrah had an opportunity to acquire one of the great race cars of the early days and passed over it to take home a few parts. These stories of how these cars survived, or not, is amazing in themselves. If true, it is such a tragedy that parts of Christie's race car survived till 1995, only to be destroyed.

 

More info: John Walter Christie died in Falls Church Virginia in 1944 but during his early racing days, he lived in New York. I assume the barn the car was placed in was in New York. So when Harrah came calling in the 1950s, it is possible Harrah did not know the parts were from the Christie car and by 1995 all memory of the barn once belonging to John Walter Christie was lost to history. It is doubtful Harrah actually came to New York to see what he was buying. My understanding is he had people watching out for interesting pieces all over. The cost of shipping parts may have prohibited all the parts from being shipped to Reno.

Hi, just saw this Christie discussion. I hope I'm replying in the right place here.  There may have been a Christie in a barn on Long Island somewhere but I have never heard that it existed in 1995.  Christie built at least 7 cars.  His final race car, later driven by Barney Oldfield, is being recreated by Jim Bartel in Michigan.  The project isn't a secret, and Jim will likely post about it next year as it progresses. I am just a part of the team effort. The Barney Oldfield Christie was confirmed scrapped in Chicago in 1919.

[AHa]

[AHa]

Lee,

 

I appreciate your jumping in here. I've been dying to let this story out of the bag but didn't think it was my story to tell. Would you mind to post a picture of the Christie that is being reproduced here? Could you post a couple of your design pictures and maybe one of the castings?

[Lee Stohr]

17 minutes ago, AHa said:

Lee,

 

I appreciate your jumping in here. I've been dying to let this story out of the bag but didn't think it was my story to tell. Would you mind to post a picture of the Christie that is being reproduced here? Could you post a couple of your design pictures and maybe one of the castings?

 

This is the Christie that is being reproduced.  One of the major parts that is complete are the giant cylinder castings, 7.5" bore and 7" stroke!  As I said, Jim will be telling the story in the future, I'm just one member of the project team. Jim is very, very busy at the moment organizing a vintage racing event to be held at Road America in July. 

[AHa]

Lee,

 

Did Jim start with anything? Is the story of Bill Harrah buying parts of one car true to your knowledge?

[wayne sheldon]

1 hour ago, AHa said:

 

 

I love that photo! One of my hundred or so favorites.

Frank Kulick sitting behind the wheel of one of the "Ford Specials" built by Henry Ford in the years 1910 to '12. I have probably read who is sitting next to Frank, but do not recall offhand. There were about five or six (might have been seven, nobody knows for certain) "Ford Specials" built in those less than three years. One of them was immediately sent to France to the Ford representative there (Monsieur Depasse), and raced, then wrecked, rebuilt and raced some more.

They were all built with special engines with differing displacements to qualify for different racing classifications. Ford made some attempt to disguise the engines and give the illusion that these were model Ts like you could buy that were being raced. One of the engines actually had a displacement lower than the standard model T had. All the others had displacements considerably higher. The racer that beat the Blitzen Benz has (if I recall correctly) a displacement of about 400 cubic inches and required a long V radiator. A lot of era photos of that car exist, including several on the ice of the Great Lakes. The car itself is still in the Henry Ford collection (I understand not currently on display).

Historic details on these cars are somewhat lacking, although Rob Heyen has been researching them for a few years now, and written a few articles about them. He also has and has restored one of the very few remaining original "special" engines and a few more original pieces into a complete and accurately restored era racing car.

 

 

One person killed on a test run (I don't recall the name, I believe it was the mechanician), The car was unable to start the race a few days later, but believe it or not, was rebuilt and racing in about two months!

If you can zoom in close and examine the engine (I don't know if this post will cooperate or not?), you can see that this is clearly NOT a standard model T engine! One evening a couple years ago, I spent a full half hour zoomed in looking at the details in this one photo!

 

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)

[Lee Stohr]

This particular Christie was documented scrapped in period, so no parts exist. Fortunately the Automobile magazine did a lengthy story on the car in 1909, including two drawings and much description of the parts of the car, including dimensions.  And we have collected 100 photos of the car.  It will be a very accurate re-creation.  If there is a part of the car where we lack information, we look at how Christie did it on his previous cars.  I have the Tredwell Christie photo Collection and Christie's adopted son's papers.  Regarding Harrah buying Christie parts, I have never heard of it.

[wayne sheldon]

I forgot to mention (could have done an "edit", but?).

Notice the wheels. All the "Specials" were set up for quick changes for different races. The gasoline tank could be large as shown in this and most photos, or replaced with a much smaller tank for short hill climbs to reduce weight a few extra pounds. The car may have only one, or two seats depending on whether a mechanician would be riding or not. A set of wire wheels was available for any of the cars, actually in two different tire sizes I have read. Interestingly, quite a few pictures show a "special" with a mix of wood and wire wheels. I have seen pictures showing two wood on one side, and two wires on the other. Also in several photos, only the right front wheel is wood, the other three are wire. I do not know the reason for this, but have read several speculations. One being that the right front had the speedometer drive on it. In some races, that was not necessary, and most photos showing a right front wire wheel do not have the speedometer drive gear on the wheel. So if they wanted to read the speedometer, they may have run the wood wheel there? Pure speculation.

 

 

Also, I wanted to add this photo of Henri Depasse running up France's most famous automobile hill climb road. If I recall correctly, this may have been just before the car was crashed I believe about a month later.

 

 

 

[wayne sheldon]

Another detail to notice. On the wooden spoke right front wheel? It has a valve stem, and six bolts through the rim and felly similar to many cars before 1910. Tire construction had improved in those few years making such bolt-downs for the tires unnecessary for general use. However, the extreme speeds and side-roll stresses on turns made it still a serious consideration on these "Special" racing cars. Only about two years before the first above photo was taken of Frank behind the wheel, Frank Kulick very narrowly escaped death when test driving the last of the six cylinder early Ford racing cars before a planned race rolled a rear tire off the rim and went through a fence and over a berm outside the fence. This was the famous story of Henry Ford "borrowing" a model K touring car and trashing the back of the body in order to transport his friend to the nearest hospital in time to have his life saved. No ambulance was kept available in those days for simple test drives and none were nearby. Frank Kulick walked with a limp for the rest of his long life.

[AHa]

Over on the HAMB site, there is a thread containing dirt track race cars from the early days. Most of the cars appear to use a model T chassis but not T motors. I believe one chassis had a straight 8 Buick motor in it. You would think the frame would collapse under the weight but the car had obviously been run ragged and was still going. I wanted to post some of those pictures here but haven't been able to find the thread again. The location was either midwest America or Australia. Does anybody know this thread?

[rcr]

 

8 minutes ago, rcr said:

Quote

This is Ann Sheridan most likely from the 1939 Indianapolis Speedway film

 

 

[rcr]

1911 Bergdoll

 

[AHa]

1911 Bergdoll,  Hershey 2018

 

[AHa]

Edited June 20, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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[AHa]

Edited June 21, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

 

Can anybody identify this car? Identifying features are the hood rolls to the outside of the frame to match the bottom edge of the radiator. The rear springs are outriggor 3/4 eliptic, it has a step up in the frame rear, and it appears to have a molded steering wheel with reliefs on the back of the spider, along with a tall slender radiator neck. The rear hubs are considerably larger than the front. There appears to be a word in script at the top of the radiator. Can any enlarge and refine the name?

 

 

I believe I have identified this car from the name on the top front of the radiator. I believe the name is, Casey, written in script going up on the right. F. A. Casey Co. of Bellerica, Massachusetts, operated a garage between 1901 and 1914 and built a few cars during that time. I enlarged the picture and printed it to frame. That's when I was able to read the name.

(Sorry guys, this picture didn't load the first time.)

Edited August 1, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[kfle]

Bill Endicott in his 1910 Cole 30 winning a Vanderbilt cup sweeps race 

Edited June 24, 2020 by kfle (see edit history)

[kfle]

early racing crash 

[AHa]

1910 National

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8

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1904 8 cylinder Buffum Greyhound

Edited June 27, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Bete Noir

Edited June 25, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Pugeot

Edited June 25, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

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Joan Cuneo and Knox Race Car

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

Joan Cuneo was an amazing historic figure. The things she did, when almost no women would consider such feats, were astounding. The cars she owned and drove, the races she competed in! And such a lady as well.

[AHa]

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