A group of Steam cars stopped by the workshop yesterday

[kfle]

Yesterday, I had a group of 8 Steamers on their tour stop by the workshop for a coffee stop and tour of the Cole Motor Car collection.  It was a great time and a real joy for my son and I to see all of those steamers in action!  A great group of people as well.

 

 

[Terry Harper]

Always have had a soft spot for steam! Wonderful!

[1937hd45]

I hope the steam cars keep on touring we lost the three major steam car guys in the last ten years. Bob 

[alsancle]

49 minutes ago, 1937hd45 said:

I hope the steam cars keep on touring we lost the three major steam car guys in the last ten years. Bob 

 

Bob,  I'm on the look out for an interesting condensing car!  

[padgett]

Speaking of steam cars, anyone remember "Learium" ?

 

I would think an '04 Stanley would make a great London-Brighton car.

[alsancle]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

Speaking of steam cars, anyone remember "Learium" ?

 

I would think an '04 Stanley would make a great London-Brighton car.

I think they pretty much proved that water was better than Learium?  The Lear steam Indy car was featured on my Classic Car not too long ago?

[wayne sheldon]

2 hours ago, padgett said:

I would think an '04 Stanley would make a great London-Brighton car.

 

Last night I was looking through the entry list for the upcoming London to Brighton Run. The list is very short this year (usually in the hundreds by now!). However I noticed three 1904 Stanleys listed! I know a few have made the run in years past, but do not recall a year with that many before.

[edinmass]

3 hours ago, alsancle said:

 

Bob,  I'm on the look out for an interesting condensing car!  

 

 

I'm not working on it.......

[edinmass]

Back in the late 60's and early 70's a dozen steam cars were a somewhat common sight in Massachusetts..........the tours are what got me interested in cars.......nice to see a handful out and about.

[padgett]

I remember a 70s Grand Prix with a steam engine when was at the Delco experimental lab.

[alsancle]

 

[John Kelso]

Have done London to Brighton twice in steam cars a 1904 Grout and a 1901 Locomobile. An early Stanley would

handle it with no problem.

[edinmass]

The Grout was built just up the road from me, and there were several frames that ran them from the small town they were built in back in the 70's. One was still in town ten years ago........Orange Mass.

[ojh]

I remember back in the 70's? a guy drove his Stanley as the daily driver in McLean, Virgina.  it was a common sight to see it parked on Main Street, he may have been a local realtor.  It caught fire and everywhere you'd go in town there was a donation jug so he could fix it and drive it again.  The whole community took pride in it, I moved away from the immediate area and never got to see it running again, I expect it does.

[pkhammer]

I know of one, maybe two steam cars that may come up for sale soon here in the Virginia. I can't say a whole lot more about them just yet but I am hoping to help get them listed here when the time comes.

[alsancle]

15 minutes ago, pkhammer said:

I know of one, maybe two steam cars that may come up for sale soon here in the Virginia. I can't say a whole lot more about them just yet but I am hoping to help get them listed here when the time comes.

condensing cars?

[pkhammer]

Early 20's Stanleys. I don't have much info at this point but hope to have plenty more soon.

[John Kelso]

If they are 20's they are condenser cars. IMO not as exciting as a non condensing car

[John Kelso]

The man in Mclean, Va. was most likely Jim Keith

[Locomobile]

20 hours ago, ojh said:

I remember back in the 70's? a guy drove his Stanley as the daily driver in McLean, Virgina.  it was a common sight to see it parked on Main Street, he may have been a local realtor.  It caught fire and everywhere you'd go in town there was a donation jug so he could fix it and drive it again.

That has been the demise of many steam cars. It's typically a broken fuel line. Many of these used copper tubing or brass pipe for fuel lines, copper and brass can work harden and fracture very quickly and why it is illegal for use as fuel and brake lines per DOT regulations.

 

On my steamers I use high pressure braided fuel lines throughout. McMaster Carr has it and the fittings, a little pricy and not period correct, but it's cheaper than losing the car. The same thing they use on race cars etc. The very early vehicles with pressurized fuel tanks are the most dangerous with a broken line, White used a pressurized tank as well but Roland added a metering disc with a small orifice in the tank fittings, limiting the flow in the event of a line breakage. Stanley used and patented the small fuel and air accumulator system, but it's doubtful they invented it, the 1904 Mason model C vertical twin chain drive was fitted with an engine driven fuel pump.

 

-Ron

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, JAK said:

If they are 20's they are condenser cars. IMO not as exciting as a non condensing car

 

That seems to be consensus with most steam guys.     For me,  a 30 HP boiler,  upgraded reproduction block, and all the other upgrades would hopefully make a condenser car with an interesting body perform well enough.

 

 

[ojh]

5 hours ago, JAK said:

The man in Mclean, Va. was most likely Jim Keith

I remember it was bright red, does that sound right?  He was friendly as hell, always happy and smiling.  I crawled under it one time for a looksee and was taken by the amount of brass piping all polished and appreciated why the operators were called engineers.  

[John Kelso]

Yes that was Jim, it was a 1911 Model 71 most likely

I remember an old friend would ask someone who started to talk Stanley's with him " You

got a running Stanley or a talking Stanley"  Haven't heard that in a long time, still makes me smile

[JamesR]

Fantastic! But hearing that whistle from a car is a little like hearing a cat bark or a dog meow. 😄 What a treat. Thanks for posting.

[Restorer32]

Once rode in a 1910 White Steamer with no wood on the steering wheel, just the spokes.  Some of you may remember the driver Wil Markey who tried to prove to me that the car had a theoretically unlimited top speed.  We caught fire 3 times in 5 miles.  I was never so happy as when we ran out of water and had to park the car.

[alsancle]

2 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

Once rode in a 1910 White Steamer with no wood on the steering wheel, just the spokes.  Some of you may remember the driver Wil Markey who tried to prove to me that the car had a theoretically unlimited top speed.  We caught fire 3 times in 5 miles.  I was never so happy as when we ran out of water and had to park the car.

 

Everyone has probably seen Howard Hughes in one of the biographical movies with his Doble going 100 and something miles an hour.  He had modified the limits so that his steam generator was putting out 1000 plus psi.    Theortically the more PSI the faster you will go but there are real practical limits to how much you can generate and how fast the engine can actually turn.

 

This is a good video that Bill Besler (who bought out Doble) put together with the E14 Doble.

 

 

Edited October 14, 2020 by alsancle (see edit history)

[A. Ballard 35R]

For a good idea of the Doble, look at Jay Leno's video on the Howard Hughes car that was in the Nethercutt collection and have fun learning about Leno's description of the previous "restoration".

[alsancle]

Anybody interested in steam cars should buy Jim Crank's Doble book.