Photos of Mercer Raceabout

[Moxis]

Hello, I am a retired electronics engineer living in Finland. My hobby is car model building. A few years ago I was building a very detailed 1/6 scale model of a Bugatti 35 all from scratch. Now that I am searching new project, I would like to build a model of 1912 Mercier Raceabout in the same 1/6 scale including as much details as possible.
This is why I am searching companies or individuals to be able to help me to find  detail photographs of this wonderful car.
If you are not able to help me, I would be very glad if you could inform me where to ask further.

[1935Packard]

There are excellent detailed pictures of such a car here: 

https://revsinstitute.org/the-collection/1912-mercer-raceabout/

[Moxis]

Thank you 1935Packard! Good quality pictures indeed. Those are very valuable for model building, but still I would like to have closeups of different parts of the vehicle to disclose the smallest details.

[JACK M]

Show us a couple pics of the Bugatti 35.

[RansomEli]

I may be able to help. About 2 years ago I visited the Pertersen Auto Museum in Los Angeles. They had on display an all-original, never restored 1913 Mercer Raceabout.  It was behind ropes, so I couldn't get real close, but I did take 70 pictures of the car (I want to build a similar raceabout body for my own speedster).  

 

You can access these photos via the link below. They are on my Google Drive. I made the photos public so you (or anyone else) can download them. 

 

I'll keep the link public for a couple of weeks.

 

Hope this is useful.

 

The link:

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zWMHjL0Vlkqt_2USnQvCjhUx4gkVayHO?usp=sharing

 

[keiser31]

Found this Mercer in San Diego....

[1937hd45]

Sounds like a great project, there are lots of period photos on the net, this is one of my favorites. Visit The Old Motor website, the webmaster maintains several originals. Bob 

Edited January 2, 2021 by 1937hd45 (see edit history)

[nickelroadster]

I am sure that there arre a lot of people on this sight that would love to see some pictures of your models.  We never get too many pictures.

[Moxis]

Thanks a lot guys, now we are getting there! As some of you wanted here are a couple of pictures of my Bugatti model.

[John E. Guitar]

Hudson Miniatures made a balsa model kit of a Mercer Raceabout in the 1950s. Attached are the plans if you don't already have them. The car is shown as a 1911 but I think it is based on Jack Fetterolf's 1913 car shown in this thread here:

 

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/21/?tab=comments#comment-2015924

 

There is some footage of a Mercer in this film of the 1954 Anglo-American Vintage Car Rally. It's referred to as a 1921 but I think it should be a 1912:

 

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Benoit (see edit history)

[John E. Guitar]

The files are too big to post in one hit.

[John E. Guitar]

[John E. Guitar]

These drawings are from this website:

 

http://www.theoldtimers.ru/?page_id=673&lang=en

 

http://www.theoldtimers.ru/?page_id=581&lang=en

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Benoit (see edit history)

[Moxis]

Beautiful drawings, thank you very much Benoit!

[Moxis]

And special thanks to RansomEli for your wonderful closeups. I downloaded your 70+ pictures into my hard disk so that now I can really start building the model!

[A. Ballard 35R]

You might keep in mind that a spotlight was not correct for that year raceabout.

[RansomEli]

Moxis,

 

Good luck with the build. Keep us posted with photos of your progress.

 

As a sidenote, I have not been able to find the proper color of yellow for the 1913 Mercer. No one has (or is willing to share) a paint code.  I have been told there is considerable disagreement amongst Mercer experts as to the exact shade of yellow. 

 

If you find something, let us know.

[LI_BENTLEY]

I noticed two of the cars have the gas tank for the head lights mounted property with the outlet valve at the top, one car has it at the bottom incorrect.  The little things will make your model better.  Also check out the side lights, two cars are the same the other is different, they all may be wrong?  When cars are restored the brass gets upgraded or changed sometimes.  

[1937hd45]

One of my favorites has the lamps painted black. Bob 

[MikeC5]

Your Bugatti 35 model is wonderfully detailed.  How long did it take you to build?  

[nickelroadster]

I will bet that you could be pretty good at fabricating old car parts if you wanted!

[A. Ballard 35R]

7 hours ago, RansomEli said:

Moxis,

 

Good luck with the build. Keep us posted with photos of your progress.

 

As a sidenote, I have not been able to find the proper color of yellow for the 1913 Mercer. No one has (or is willing to share) a paint code.  I have been told there is considerable disagreement amongst Mercer experts as to the exact shade of yellow. 

 

If you find something, let us know.

 

Actually, you are probably being generous to call it yellow since it was closer to a not very pretty orange.

[Laughing Coyote]

19 hours ago, Moxis said:

Thanks a lot guys, now we are getting there! As some of you wanted here are a couple of pictures of my Bugatti model.

You should hop over to the "our cars and restoration projects" section and check out the posts on the Construction of the Continental II model 1:12 scale.  I'm sure you and Roger would get a long. 

[Moxis]

# MikeC5, thank you! I didn't count the hours but roughly it took about 3 years to build the model. Not full time but during the free time.

 

# nickelroaster, in fact I have informed model builders in my country that I might be able to help them to fabricate parts for their models. Until today there has not been very much interest.

To fabricate full size parts is too much for my humble premises and machines.

 

# A. Ballard 35R, I have issued some build blogs at some other forums. I think this is more concentrating to full size cars. My intention is to start a blog of the Mercer too, if I ever am ready to start the build.

 

# Laughing Coyote, good hint, I must check it out!

[Joe in Canada]

A fellow from Ontario Canada name is Michael Longfield has a Pebble Beach quality restored one in his collection. He is on this forum occasionally and an extremely nice family and may be able to help. 

[Moxis]

Thank you Joe! I try to contact him.

[Joe in Canada]

Sorry it is a 1913 Mercer photo is from Cobble Beach 2018 if I remember the last time I was in his old shop 7/8 years ago he may have had another early unrestored original Mercer sitting. Getting old and fogy I guess. Click on the picture. 

https://www.cobblebeachconcours.com/gallery-2018-winners#&gid=1961291692&pid=4

Edited January 4, 2021 by Joe in Canada (see edit history)

[Moxis]

Beautiful car in beautiful atmosphere. Thank you Joe. BTW I contacted Mr Longfield by email. Let's see if I get answer from him.

[John E. Guitar]

Some more detail here:

 

https://simeonemuseum.org/collection/1913-mercer-raceabout/

[1937hd45]

 

 

That is one of the finest T head MERCER Raceabouts, lived here it town until about 1962.

 

Bob 

[Moxis]

Very nice car indeed. It could be beautiful target for modelling. If only it would be possible to get more photos of her. Not only outside, but also underneath to see the details of frame, axles, suspension, gearbox, engine etc.

[lump]

Moxis, a few years ago at the SEMA show, Coker Tire had a Mercer tribute car in their booth. Corky Coker told me that his crew built it. They may have detailed drawings and/or specs that they used to build the car, and may be willing to take some photos for you. They are easy to find online. 

[AHa]

I hate to resurrect this old thread but an online search for early Mercer photos only shows one photo of a car that might be considered yellow. The rest are all painted dark colors. The picture is in the Detroit public library collection.

[Angelfish]

I don't know if the Raceabout and the Runabout used different colors, but I have seen this 1913 Runabout in person and it's a very nice shade of pale yellow.

 

[AHa]

Conventional wisdom says all Mercers were painted yellow; Period photography contradicts conventional wisdom. Of the raceabouts and runabouts existing today, about half are yellow.

[wayne sheldon]

"Conventional wisdom" is generally not wise.

I look at and study as many era photos as almost anybody. But I have never made a study of Mercer specifically. I noticed many years ago that most era photos of Mercer Raceabouts were not light colors. Black and white photography isn't great for determining colors on cars. Different film types and emulsions had different reactions to various colors. A medium red car may show up as a light gray, or full blown black depending on the process used. But something like a light yellow will nearly always be between a near white or light gray in a B&W era photo.

I never made a list, or tracked given marques to see what the tendency for colors was. However, off the cuff, I would guess from the dozens of era photos of Mercers that I have looked at, that less than a quarter of them were yellow to white. 

Unfortunately, in this hobby I and we love, over the three quarters of a century it has been active, hobbyists have followed a few too many fads. Popular incorrect colors have been among the worst of the fads. At least the one thing is that the color a car was painted when restored isn't set in stone. A car can be re-restored again, and colors can be changed.

When I was just getting into this hobby, I saw a number of cars being restored in really wrong colors. I saw other things like too many classic era cars with too many lights on the front. That was one of the things that got me started early at looking closely at era photographs. I wanted to know what looked right and what didn't. Black and white photography shows a lot of details, however true colors are not among the details shown. They do however give a good overview of the lightness or brightness of given cars.

In the 1910s, and into the mid 1920s, there just were not a lot of cars painted in anything considered a light color. Of course there were exceptions. And I could name a dozen of them. Buick "white streak" series cars from a bit before 1910 to about 1912 are one of the most common near white cars of that era. If you see an era photo of a bunch of cars of about 1910, and one or two of the cars appear to be white? Even bet the white cars are Buicks. Both the Mercer Raceabout and the Stutz Bearcat did build some cars in yellow or white. However most era photos they seem to be darker colors. Personally, I think the ones I like the best are dark red.

 

I will admit to a few too many white wall tires on a couple of my antique cars. But mostly, I like for them to look like they were ripped out of an original era photograph. A few after-market accessories, yes. But not too many. But that is just me.

[West Peterson]

To emphasize what Wayne has said about period photos disguising true colors (let alone hues), it is known that the 1920 Indy 500 pace car was a bright yellow. Here's a photo of it. 

[wayne sheldon]

Beautiful Marmon roadster! Might be a bit surprising that a bright yellow car could look that dark, even in a B&W photo. However the sun is shining from the far side of the car, with shadows showing on the near side. Such lighting would account for some of the darkening of the "color". Is that Barney at the wheel?

Thanks for sharing that great photo!

[Lee H]

Early orthochromatic film didn’t register the red side of the spectrum very well, so reds, yellows, etc. often appear very dark.

[AHa]

You guys know you sound like the story of the emperor who had no clothes don't you? "Don't trust your lying eyes, that car is not black as it appears; it is actually white." If this is the case, the car that appears yellow in a period photo is actually black.

 

Early photography not withstanding, only half the existing cars are yellow. Sure, some have been repainted but the paint showing underneath is not yellow either. The car in the Simeone certainly appears to have always been grey.