What is it Pt. 2

[190bear]

It is rather obvious I don't know what I am doing so I'll try again.

 

Can anyone tell me what I have? I picked it up at an auction a few years back. The other guy didn't bid again like I thought he would and I became the proud owner. It is a high wheeler that is now powered by a B&S engine. The wheels have steel rims with a tread design on the rear. Rack and pinion steering, single drive chain on left side, planetary gear set up with external band for second gear. Some kind kit originally?

 

[1937hd45]

Some features are very nice and look well made, others, not so much. Some more photos of the front axle and steering would help tell if it was a wagon or motorcar of some type. Good find!. Bob 

Edited November 10, 2020 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

See my answer in part one. It took me well over an hour to type as I got interrupted, again, and again.

[capngrog]

Including the Original Post, there are only three posts in "Part1".  Why is there a "Part 2"?

 

Just wonderin'.

 

Cheers,

Grog

[190bear]

Thanks for the input. I was moving the "Thing" when I took those pictures. I'll get more in a few days. I think it is a kit of some kind. The front axle is a steel tube with linkage behind. It has leaf springs front and rear with a traverse in the rear also. The bed, seat and riser, plus one frame rail have been added on. But even info on kits would be interesting. More pictures coming 

[190bear]

I screwed up the post 1. The pictures overlapped the text.. Part 2 is just a couple of posts above and is the same, just cleaned up

[wayne sheldon]

The problem is that they do not stay together, it is now several threads below. 

So, I will copy and paste my post from that thread:

 

 

Hard to tell. Better pictures of the front axle and steering would help. 

When the antique automobile and horseless carriage hobby was just beginning, in the mid 1930s, and on into about 1960, a lot of people just didn't 'get' what it was all about. What it was 'about', was preserving our automotive heritage by collecting, restoring, and driving real 'antique' automobiles. Many people that wanted to join in on the fun, decided to build their own using old horse drawn carriages and whatever else they could scrounge up. It should seem odd to us today, that back in those decades, when so many of the real things hid in barns and garages waiting to be found, that people would go to the trouble of building something themselves. But the sad truth is, they simply didn't know better. There were even articles in magazines like "Mechanics Illustrated" telling how to build them.

Untold hundreds of these things were built in the late '30s into the '60s. Over the fifty years now I have been in this hobby, and wanting a really early car? I have personally looked at more than a dozen of these later made-up cars. And probably at least three times that many I have seen pictures of in hobby magazines and the internet. The really sad thing is, a lot of people invested so much of their own being into the story of great uncle so-and-so's wonderful car and all the silly stories he told about it. I have met several of those people. Some in tears after a bunch of different knowledgeable hobbyists informed them that their family's heritage was all a lie. Another poor fellow had kept the family's heritage 1903 car in his living room for almost 25 years! It was made about half out of model T Ford parts from the 1920s. (Pretty tough to have been built in 1903 if it was manufactured in 1925!)

 

Usually, so many pieces are so obviously way too modern, that the judgement is almost instantaneous. Usually, the front axle is one of the big tipoffs. Your 'thing' does have some early items on it. Maybe that means something, maybe it doesn't. There are some details about your front axle that suggest at least a possibility that this may not have been a horse drawn carriage before. On the other hand, it also may suggest that it is parts of two horse drawn carriages. Maybe someone had access to a bunch of old junk, and put it together to make his toy. Other details, like the seat riser and some of the steering, is clearly too new to be a real horseless carriage. But, maybe someone changed those thing in later years? Most likely, it is a made up thing, by someone that happened to have a few early pieces and used them. Most likely, it was never a real early horseless carriage. 

I would appreciate seeing better pictures of the front axle and steering. Also the rear axle and chain drive. 

 

In the people are funny for whatever it is worth department? I once met a fellow that when confronted with the fact that his great grand something ancestor's car was powered by a late '30s Briggs and Stratton engine quite indignantly replied that his great grand something had invented the engine himself, and that Briggs and Stratton owed his family millions of dollars in unpaid royalties! He seemed to absolutely believe it! How do you reason with a person that?

 

I will also copy and paste oldford's post:

 

oldford

• Senior Member
•  
• Members
•  157
• 1,288 posts
• Location: Hudson, NY

•  

Posted 9 hours ago

Looks home made to me... The seat is the typical buggy seat sold for use by the Amish.

 

Frank

 

 

Now you can just let part one drop out of sight, and add new information and pictures here so as not cause further confusion.

[Guest]

Whether it is an original automobile or not, It is history, and a nice thing to show others.

 It would be a hit at many a show.

 

 For now, let's just call it a study of early craftsmanship.

🛠️🔎

 

[8E45E]

2 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Hard to tell. Better pictures of the front axle and steering would help. 

When the antique automobile and horseless carriage hobby was just beginning, in the mid 1930s, and on into about 1960, a lot of people just didn't 'get' what it was all about. What it was 'about', was preserving our automotive heritage by collecting, restoring, and driving real 'antique' automobiles. Many people that wanted to join in on the fun, decided to build their own using old horse drawn carriages and whatever else they could scrounge up. It should seem odd to us today, that back in those decades, when so many of the real things hid in barns and garages waiting to be found, that people would go to the trouble of building something themselves. But the sad truth is, they simply didn't know better. There were even articles in magazines like "Mechanics Illustrated" telling how to build them.

Untold hundreds of these things were built in the late '30s into the '60s. Over the fifty years now I have been in this hobby, and wanting a really early car? I have personally looked at more than a dozen of these later made-up cars. And probably at least three times that many I have seen pictures of in hobby magazines and the internet. The really sad thing is, a lot of people invested so much of their own being into the story of great uncle so-and-so's wonderful car and all the silly stories he told about it. I have met several of those people. Some in tears after a bunch of different knowledgeable hobbyists informed them that their family's heritage was all a lie. Another poor fellow had kept the family's heritage 1903 car in his living room for almost 25 years! It was made about half out of model T Ford parts from the 1920s. (Pretty tough to have been built in 1903 if it was manufactured in 1925!)

 

Usually, so many pieces are so obviously way too modern, that the judgement is almost instantaneous. Usually, the front axle is one of the big tipoffs. Your 'thing' does have some early items on it. Maybe that means something, maybe it doesn't. There are some details about your front axle that suggest at least a possibility that this may not have been a horse drawn carriage before. On the other hand, it also may suggest that it is parts of two horse drawn carriages. Maybe someone had access to a bunch of old junk, and put it together to make his toy. Other details, like the seat riser and some of the steering, is clearly too new to be a real horseless carriage. But, maybe someone changed those thing in later years? Most likely, it is a made up thing, by someone that happened to have a few early pieces and used them. Most likely, it was never a real early horseless carriage. 

I would appreciate seeing better pictures of the front axle and steering. Also the rear axle and chain drive. 

The saying, "Its worth more in parts" couldn't apply MORE to these 'creations'.

 

Craig