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1913 Mercer Raceabout 35J


phoenix

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I agree Greg, they look civil, but weren't they set-up pictures before the race. They certainly wouldn't drive with white shirts and ties, would they?

"<span style="font-weight: bold">Sorry, but I dont think I have a single 1968 Plymouth 4door photo in all of my books and magazines...</span>"

Good, one Bo and Luke Duke lover on the forum is entirely enough. <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Wayne

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<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I agree Greg, they look civil, but weren't they set-up pictures before the race. They certainly wouldn't drive with white shirts and ties, would they?

Wayne </div></div>'

White shirt and tie was standard fair into the late 1920's, many pit crew members dressed the same way. The 1950s had Indy 500 drivers racing in T shirts and crash helmets. grin.gif

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Guest stude8

Greg,

The early images you posted are great, I have spent many a Sunday at the Elgin Public Library going through their microfilm files of local newspaper reports on the road races. Occasionally there were photos but a newsprint image after going through microfilming is almost worthless to view let alone copy. The lap by lap blow by blow narration is interesting to read but even that after you pay a dime to photcopy it is almost illegible.

Last summer I did get a short ride in the Mercer T45 race car from the Bolton ? collection at Milwaukee and that engine had a lot of grunt, you could probably pull a 6 bottom plow in hard ground with it.

Thanks for sharing the early images, you should publish the PDF files if there are no copyright matters to deal with. Stude8

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Guest BillP

This is one of the best threads in a long time! Great topic, great photos!

Thanks Phoenix.... get that thing (whatever it is) running!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Again! I finally made the trip with the camera, and brought back some digital photos! They're all a bit big to post here, so I've downsized a few, and if anyone wants the rest just let me know.

After getting the car out from storage, and wedging my head into every nook and crany I could find, Neither my dad or I could find a chassis number! confused.gif

We did find other numbers though, and one Chevrolet insignia on the bellhousing. confused.gif The chassis and driveline all mate together perfectly, no cuts, grinds or welds. All the chassis rivets are untouched. All the casting numbers on the engine, gearbox and diff all seem to be of similar sequence and casting style, so to our limited knowledge it's a Chevrolet of some sort, dressed up to look half like a Mercer to fool the untrained eye. It had us going! Every book or article we have ever found has led us to believe it was a Mercer Raceabout, but now with the information you guys have given us, and alot closer inspection, we have no idea what it is! Half Mercer, half Chevrolet, which would explain the "mercrolet" badge on the radiator.

After all the confused looks and scratched heads, we decided to clean the plugs, top up the fluids, charge the 6 volt battery in the floor, fill and prime the fuel system, and nudge the crank handle. Off she went. We spent the rest of the day driving her around, and checking the operation of the fuel, brakes, steering, oiling etc. We had a ball driving around in a car that somebody put alot of effort into modifying.

Pity it's not a Mercer, but we still dont know what it used to be! grin.gif

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