Rare car to identify

[Pilgrim65]

Live in Cyprus for half the year and saw this at a private collection museum 

I know there are many experts on this a forum , and I thought might tax their expertise and memory 😊

Edited July 11, 2021 by Pilgrim65
Forgot photo (see edit history)

[John_S_in_Penna]

Didn't the museum know what they had,

or give any identification on a plaque?

[1937hd45]

Crestmobile with a de Dion engine. 

[Pilgrim65]

 

There was a plaque kept it out of photo for a bit of fun .

However , Well done , thought with only 175 produced would be difficult to recognise , took a couple hours though .

Edited July 11, 2021 by Pilgrim65
Text (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

I recognized it right away! Of course, having a good friend that owned one fifty years ago helped. I actually never did get to see his Crestmobile in person. He was a somewhat private man, and I never did go to his house. But I saw many of his other cars and followed him on tours many times. And at club meetings, they would often have 'share the pictures' nights with pictures from past tours, and I saw many good photos of his Crestmobile. Interesting little cars. 

[wayne sheldon]

Just a short story about Charley's Crestmobile.

The club in those days was for any cars manufactured 1934 or earlier. Once a year, they held a 'Friendship Rally' as an invitational to any antique automobile owners and clubs wanting to attend. The 'show' was a huge all afternoon picnic, with various clubs showing up as a group, and other individuals clustered around. Usually, even then, the attendance was in the hundreds of cars. Clubs and people would sometimes put on small shows or demonstrations. A couple times, in the early and mid 1960s, Charley with his Crestmobile, and another club member with his 1899 Osen & Hunt (sometimes listed as a Hunt & Osen) would as the two oldest cars in attendance hold a race! This race was filmed several times, and the films were shown at club meetings for years thereafter. I joined that club in 1967, and attended the Friendship Rally almost every year for a number of years. But the last time they held the 'race', was about two years before I joined. So all of it I ever got to see was the movies and photographs.

Charley and the O&H owner have both been gone for many years now. I do not know what became of Charley's Crestmobile. The O&H is in a historic museum in San Jose California. It is the last of those cars, manufactured in San Jose, known to survive.

[Bloo]

5 minutes ago, wayne sheldon said:

The club in those days was for any cars manufactured 1934 or earlier.

 

Which club? Was this AACA?

 

[wayne sheldon]

It was called the 'Mid Peninsula Old Time Auto Club'. It was a really great group in those days. Unfortunately, some years later, they decided to become more 'inclusive' of later cars. They upped the year cutoff a bit, then a bunch more.  In about one year's time, the tours went from model Ts and an EMF, several four cylinder Chevrolets and Oldsmobiles, Reos, often twenty or thirty (often more than forty!) cars meandering wonderful backroads, became a bunch of '50s cars zipping down the freeways to get somewhere to spend an hour or two. Practically none of the cars that used to go on their tours could come even close to keeping up (even my 1929 Reo didn't want to go that fast for that long!). Within a couple years, most of the older membership switched to other clubs including a couple HCCA regional groups. I had some family health issues, and except for the Friendship Rally, I dropped out also. When my situation improved a bit, I went to HCCA and model T clubs myself. A number of former members of the MPOTAC also formed a nickel age touring club, with very strict limitations to prevent future members from advancing the age limit. Although I haven't been able to be active for several years now (family health issues again), I still keep in touch with that old nickel age group. Now under a new name, and under the HCCA umbrella.

 

Seeing what happened with that club, has made me very cautious of opening up clubs to a wider range of cars and years. I will say, that I am quite pleased with how well the AACA and the VMCCA have managed to become more inclusive, without totally losing the earlier cars. Both of those national clubs have continued to have many tours and subgroups focused on the earlier cars.

[nzcarnerd]

7 hp may be optimistic? 

 

There was one here in NZ that ran in many long runs - at 12 mph.  Here it is in 1965 at the Haast Rally, the first international event held in NZ - 

 

 

 

 

[John_S_in_Penna]

4 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

Just a short story about Charley's Crestmobile...the two oldest cars in attendance hold a race!

 

2 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

It was called the 'Mid Peninsula Old Time Auto Club'.

 

Thank you, Wayne, for the accounts of old car clubs

and the earliest cars they had.  For anyone who entered

the hobby later, they tell an interesting story.  Even I've seen

changes in the last 20 years.  From other accounts, I have known

that 1910's and 1920's models, now languishing in museums and

in dusty garages, were once the popular focus and were shown

and driven regularly.

 

Your postings above, expanded, would make an interesting

newsletter story that tells of hobby activities in the 1960's.

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by John_S_in_Penna (see edit history)