Period RACE CAR Images to Relieve some of the Stress

[AHa]

Here is one for my Buick friends. The picture is labeled J.O. Morgan, Buick Special. I don't know anymore. Nice hood treatment.

Edited August 5, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

Just for fun, here is a 1918 Buick 6.

 

 

The provenance is questionable but still fun to look at. Durant's racing fun was curtailed when the bankers took over GM so it's not a factory car as purported but it certainly could be any dealer's attempt or any owner's. Oh, by the way, it's an import car to England, hence the right hand drive.

Edited August 5, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

Here is a National stuck in a ditch. National did a very good job of marketing their race cars to the public. There seems to be more pictures of National race cars than any other brand of car.

 

Edited August 5, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

Howdy Wilcox and The Grey Fox race car.

It seems a lot of race cars were given a nickname. So far we've had the widow-maker.

Edited March 25, 2021 by AHa (see edit history)

[Layden B]

This is the Delling, only one built. Picture is mis-labeled, it is not a German car. Buildings in the background are the Mercer factory where it was built as an experimental.

[nzcarnerd]

On 8/3/2020 at 2:32 AM, AHa said:

Here is the 1911 National that was raced in the 1911 Indy. Brian exercises the car regularly.

This is the 1912 Packard.

 

This is the 1916 National

These are the cars Wayne is talking about above.

 

 

I wonder if the National is this one. It visited New Zealand for our NZ Vintage Car Club 50th Anniversary Rally in 1996.  Owned in Canada at the time.

 

 

[nzcarnerd]

6 hours ago, AHa said:

Just for fun, here is a 1918 Buick 6.

 

 

The provenance is questionable but still fun to look at. Durant's racing fun was curtailed when the bankers took over GM so it's not a factory car as purported but it certainly could be any dealer's attempt or any owner's. Oh, by the way, it's an import car to England, hence the right hand drive.

 

 

Brings to mind this one I shot at Arcata in northern California in 1978 when I was touring the US. I happened upon an AACA tour that was just packing up.  Apologies for the photo quality. The only one I took of that particular car. 

 

 

 

 

[AHa]

So sad. This is a rare three window coupe.

[AHa]

 

 

[AHa]

There were very few 1932 3 window coupes produced by Ford. It seems there are twice as many today.

 

[AHa]

Here is an original picture of the Darracq to go with the modern picture posted earlier in this thread.

I believe this may be Louis Chevrolet in it.

Edited August 6, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

Here is another one for my Buick friends.

[AHa]

I posted this picture before but today I have some history. This car belonged to Martin Gold, of Phoenix, Arizona. The picture was taken about 1940, as the car rested behind Mr Gold's house. It survived till the early fifties, when Mr Gold's two daughters sold the house with the car still in the backyard. Where is it now? It was shown in some very early HCCA events by Mr Gold's grandson.

[AHa]

[AHa]

 

 

[AHa]

Here's another National picture.

[AHa]

Marmon

[AHa]

This car was named the "Wasp" I guess because of the pointed tail.

Edited August 12, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

This was real auto racing! It's called "Wearing the Track."

Edited August 12, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

Now, this is racing!

[AHa]

 

This is not an official period race car but rather a thesis project of an artist. He created the car using period parts as an art project as a static display, it is however a vehicle that is usable as is and is another example of the use of a belly tank on a race car as the body of the car. The car was for sale at the taking of this picture. That front axle don't look too safe but I've seen worse.

Edited August 10, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

[AHa]

This is the 1905 Locomobile. It was commissioned by Harold Thomas of Chicago Illinois. This car has the drilled seat and the gas tank under the rear of the car.

[AHa]

This is one of the 1906 Locomobiles. In 1906 Locomobile built two identical race cars. In the 1908 Vanderbilt cup race this car carried the number 1 and came in second while the other car carried the number 16 and won the race.

 

Above is the sister car, numbered 16 in the 1908 Vanderbilt cup. The other difference between the two cars is the color. One was painted white while the other car, old 16, was painted grey.

[AHa]

1913 Russo-Balt

This is how the Russians went racing.

[AHa]

[AHa]

[AHa]

 

 

 

 

[George Cole]

[George Cole]

[George Cole]

[George Cole]

[Fossil]

5 hours ago, George Cole said:

Great photo. 

I wonder if those wooden spokes survived this abuse? The tie rod sure didn't. 

[Ozstatman]

32 minutes ago, Fossil said:

I wonder if those wooden spokes survived this abuse? The tie rod sure didn't. 

Think the tie rod is OK, it follows the dip in the front cross member. While what could be the the crank handle is held stationary by a pair of "stays" which are at awkward angles and attached to the front frame horns.

[wayne sheldon]

Wood spoke wheels are a lot tougher and more resilient than most people will ever believe! About 45 years ago, I was very fortunate to be involved in one of the best ever vintage racing reenactments in the past half century.One weekend every summer for four years, a half dozen or more model T racing cars got together and put on quite a show. Over an hour in the morning, and again in the afternoon both Saturday and Sunday. Cars ranged from basic T speedsters on up to full overhead valve racing cars (I was just a kid and had one of the slowest cars). the track was an over half mile dirt track usually used for modern high power sprint cars. The track record for a modern sprint car was barely under 27 seconds! The faster model Ts were running in the 37 down to 32 seconds. When I say the "track record", that means the fastest of the fast! The fastest model Ts were running equal to many of the modern sprint cars!

The wheels used on the model Ts were about evenly split. One third steel disc wheels, one third wire wheels, and one third wooden spoke wheels. In four years, believe it or not, the wooden wheels had fewer failures than either the disc or wire wheels did! One wire wheel folded, two broke hubs, in the four years. The worst were the steel disc wheels, several broken axles and broken hubs. Wooden wheels had a couple interesting incidents. One collided with a car who's wire wheel broke. The collision caused the king pin to break and the wheel came off. The wooden wheel was not damaged. Another wooden wheel broke the steel hub (probably a defective hub?). A replacement hub had the wheel repaired and racing again a couple hours later. The only wooden wheel to actually break spokes in those four years, had collapsed the tie rod causing the front wheels to splay out and hit the wall! Damage was minor, and it was the collision with the wall that broke the wheel, not the abuse from the track.

 

Of course, all antique automobile wheels need to be inspected often, and well maintained. Wooden spoke wheels more so than wire or disc wheels. Wooden wheels are susceptible to aging, shrinkage, and splitting of the wooden spokes. A loose wooden wheel will eat itself alive if driven on more than a very small amount. However, as long as they are known to be in reasonably good condition, and tight, I love wooden wheels and have no fear of their reliability. I also check them often for any signs of developing age troubles.

[AHa]

I would like to know if any of Apperson's Big Dicks survived or parts thereof. I understand 15 were made and produced and sold though pictures of the car aren't plentiful.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by AHa (see edit history)

[AHa]

[AHa]

Turns out this is the Apperson Big Dick George Robertson wrapped around this pole. He and his mechanic survived with minor injuries and the car was repaired and raced again. This was the factory car though and it was plagued with bad luck.

 

Here's the car after they pulled it off the pole. A little blacksmith work and it was off again.

This is George's account of the accident.

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

[AHa]

Here is an Apperson Jack Rabbit. It was nothing to sneeze at, rated at 50 Hp and guaranteed to do 75 mph.

[wayne sheldon]

AHa, THAT is an incredible story! And whoever wrote it wrote it very well.

It is amazing some of the wrecks that people survived. In that case, they surely were thrown out a fraction of a second before the car was hairpin bent. This is an excellent example of why I would never willingly put seat belts in my model T speedster or racing car. I would no more want seat belts in such a car than I would want to be tied onto a motorcycle!