History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

1917 RACE DRIVER LOUIS DISBROW SPECIAL /ROADSTER CAR​

2-seater LOUIS DISBROW SPECIAL is not a race car but is guaranteed to do 90mph and can also be driven in the city at 8mph in high gear.​

The Director of the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum just recently looked at the only know Disbrow for a decendent of Louis Disbrow. It was built as an assembled car in Cleveland and it is now in pieces in a barn/shed I believe in Medina, Ohio.

 

Fey Brothers' Second Car Built in 1898
First Car was built like a tricycle in 1896

Fey Brothers' Third Car 1900

Fey Brothers' fourth and final completed automobile built Fey Logo on the side, 1904

the story of Lincoln Fey. Against the wishes of his father and above the taunts of neighbors, he produced one of the state's first automobiles in his family barn. Years later, he recalled the experience in a written memoir.

Fey: Since early boyhood I was troubled with asthma, which made it difficult to ride behind horses. This gave me the idea that horse-drawn vehicles should not be the only way to travel. It seemed queer that the railroad trains had to have steel rails on which to travel. Why couldn't a vehicle be constructed to travel on the road?

I became more and more interested in the idea and found myself spending most of my spare time in the doorway of the Fox and Ferry machine shop in Northfield, watching their machine and moldings operations carefully. I decided right then and there that it was possible to build a gasoline-driven vehicle. ​

Lincoln Fey probably never even saw a picture of an automobile before he began drawing up plans for his first model. Americans lagged far behind the Europeans in developing the automobile. But by the late 1880s, bicycle improvements like pneumatic tires, wire wheels and chain-drive systems convinced many people that horseless transportation had a future.

Forest: The bicycle gave people the opportunity to move around on their on independently. They liked that. ​

Jim Forest edited Northern Lights, a newsletter published by the Antique Automobile Club of Minnesota.

Forest: Bicycle was hugely popular. At the end of the century, everyone just had to have one. Well, they were ready then for something to follow that - a device that would go on its own power. ​

At first, automobile production was concentrated in Michigan. In 1896, the same year Lincoln Fey got started in Northfield, Henry Ford produced his first automobile in Detroit, Michigan. R. E. Olds finished his first car in Lansing one year earlier. But in frontier states like Minnesota, the new machines were a tough sell.

Forest: At first, automobiles were relatively expensive, and it was looked upon as a rich man's sport. No practical use, because there weren't any good roads, in the east, the roads were better. As you moved out into the Midwest - open spaces and no roads - it was pretty difficult to convince people that you could even use these things. ​

But in Northfield, Minnesota, 15-year-old Lincoln Fey was convinced. With a small amount of money in his pocket and some encouragement from his older brother, he got to work.

Fey: I first built a tricycle, using tandem-bicycle wheels with one driving wheel in the rear and two wheels in front for steering.

The designing of my first gasoline engine required a lot of thought and study. There were such questions to decide as the size of the crankshaft and bearings, length of connecting rod, size of piston and pin, thickness of cylinder wall, compression space, and a great many others which I had to take into consideration.

When it was finally complete, I began building the tricycle's frame. I was due to enter high school in the fall of 1896, but I hated the idea. I was so enthused over my work that it seemed almost impossible to waste the time in school. I was forced to work on the tricycle nights and Saturdays, assembling it in our barn.

Toward the spring of 1896, when the machine was almost complete, my brother and I pushed it out in the street for a test-run. The engine started and I got into the seat. My brother chucked in the clutch cone with a stick, and away I went down the street. When I made the first turn, I nearly tipped over because the steering gear was so sensitive.

The tricycle gained speed in every block and I was due for a smash-up because the street was about to start going downhill. I decided to try to make a turn at the next crossing. Swinging gradually over to one side of the street, I attempted to make the turn, but to keep from tipping over headed the tricycle up over the sidewalk and into a snow bank.

My brother had been following and came up running all out of breath and aglow with excitement. This was one of the most thrilling moments of our lives. The vehicle was pulled out of the snow bank and we spent a good deal of time trying to start the engine again, but with no success, so we pushed the contrivance back to the barn.

Many times I ventured the prediction to my parents that we would see the time when horse-drawn vehicles would become a thing of the past. But Dad, being a lover of horses, couldn't see it that way and cautioned us continually to leave anything that used gasoline alone or we would be blown up. ​

Lincoln's father was not the only skeptic. All the earliest autos had problems. They rarely started, most had horrible brakes, and only a few allowed the driver to back up. The tires blew out constantly, the engines stalled often and the steering was apt to fail, forcing drivers to spend as much time under their vehicles as in them.

The machines lurched along loudly, spewing smoke and steam.. Horse-loving citizens called the frightening contraptions "devil wagons" and organized a strong resistance early on.

Forest: A community passed a law that if you were driving an automobile on the road and you met a horse drawn vehicle, you were required to drive your auto off the road and into the trees or brush and in some cases they specified that you had to dismantle the automobile and hide the parts. How they enforced that I don't know. ​

Lincoln Fey's first car sold quickly. Within weeks of the first test run, a mill worker from a town twenty miles west of Northfield offered to buy the machine for $65. The engine still broken, Lincoln packed it up in a large crate and sent the tricycle to its new owner by train.

Fey: With spring in the offing and a capital of $65 in the bank, a bright future appeared. We began work on drawings for a new motor with a two speed transmission, composed of bicycle chains and sprockets, spilt-ring clutches on a jack shaft and final chain drive. The machine was ready for a test run in the winter of 1898. On account of frightening horses and receiving unjust comment from illiterate bystanders of the community, we didn't take the machine out until midnight. We pushed the carriage over to the drinking fountain in the square and filled the water tank. The engine started, and away we went with a lantern tied to the front of the rig as a head light. The machine continued on its run without a hitch for three hours, covering most of the streets in town. My brother and I were two very happy lads. We were well pleased with the performance of the rig; it functioned perfectly except for a little undue vibration. And we got quite a kick out of the fact that people the next day were having considerable trouble getting information as to what that thing was going around town last night.

I decided then and there that none of my vehicles would have a horse hitched to them even if I had to rebuild them where they stopped. And this I lived up to. ​

The Fey brothers sold their second automobile for $175 to another experimental car builder in town. Altogether, the Feys built four automobiles, each one more sophisticated than the last. Their final car was an impressive five-seater, with an air-cooled, four cylinder engine. It even had a modern steering wheel.

Lincoln Fey never built another car. He sold his small operation to a car manufacturing outfit in Minneapolis and lived out his life as an inventor in Northfield. In 1944, he patented a new type of boat anchor.

So they appear to be a "manufacturer" of a total of four automobiles...........wonder how many are lleft?

 

Any of you HAMBers out there in IOWA might be interested in this.
From an old e-mail I received...........

"Iowa's Automobiles" by Bill Jepsen

The book was written by my old boss and friend Bill Jepsen. I worked as a bartender for him at a college bar called "That Place" while in my college days at Iowa State University in Ames. Prior to that, Bill studied in the history masters program at Iowa State.

What I found in the book is a wealth of interesting information. Not technical, but more of a story on the history of automotive manufacturers in Iowa. There are also many beautiful photos, drawings, and reproductions of old ads.

Cars by Maytag, Mason (Duesenberg design and built), Spaulding, Morrison Electric (1890), Adams-Farwel (3 and 5 cylinder solid crankshaft air cooled rotary engines), and Galloway are a few of the cars manufactured in Iowa.

The history of the Duesenberg brothers and Walter P. Chrysler and their Iowa ties to their automobile companies is included.

There is VERY good podcast of an interview with the author on "Iowa Living" public radio. You can listen at a link on this page (scroll half way down): http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/woi/.jukebox?action=viewPodcast&podcastId=4603

The book is for sale at many book stores in Iowa, including Borders.
You can buy it online at www.ourfocusisyou.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp?s=newsletter&page=303101 and www.iowabook.com/ioaubybijeh.html

Other links that make reference to the book or author follow:

http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071201/BUSINESS/712010314/-1/SPORTS0806
http://www.iowahistory.org/publications/historian/2007/historian_july_aug_07.htm (scroll to near the bottom of the page)
http://www.mcpress.com/articles/2007/09/12/news/news02.txt
http://www.iowatransportationmuseum.com/articles.php?articleID=13
http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2007/09/14/local/doc46ea1da0ce5ea470876016.txt
http://www.lincolnhighwayassoc.org/iowa/newsletter/Paul's%20NL%20Archive/041/041.html

I think everyone that has an interest in automotive or Iowa history will enjoy this book.

The author, Bill Jepsen, can also be contacted directly by email at: willin@galynx.com ; telephone at: (515) 432-8807 ; mail at: 822 "L" Avenue, Boone, IA 50036-7262

 

I owned a 1931 DeVaux 3 window coupe and sold it to a friend in Vancouver, Washington where it remains. Norman DeVaux was once a major player in The Chevrolet Motor Company and bailed out at the wrong time. It was based on the 1930 Durant except for a body re design by Alexis DeSakhnofsy who also designed the L-29 Cord. It had a 12 port flat head six designed by Col. Elbert Hall who had designed the WWI Liberty aircraft engine. In 1931 they sold less than 1,000 cars and the car was carried over to 1932 with no major changes. Sales continued to drop and the business was sold to Continental Engine Company who had been making the 12 port six engine for DeVaux. The 1933 Continental DeVaux was redesigned and had the generic 1933-1934 look of most American cars. Continental made very few and gave up on it. Continental is the same company that made engines for many other Americn cars and trucks including Kaiser-Frazer. For 1933 Continental made two smaller cars, the Flyer and the Beacon. The Continental DeVaux was the "Ace".

 

33-Chevy, THANKS for those hard facts. So often, we don't have the whole picture. But, AT LEAST the DeVaux were very nice-looking cars, perhaps the best derivative from the Durant stable.

Gosh, WHAT a hard time it was in the auto industry right then!

 

RE; Post 1330

Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky DID NOT design the L29 Cord. He designed ONE L29 Cord.

Credit for the outstanding design of the L-29 is shared by Auburns body engineer, John Oswald, and the firms new chief designer, Alan Leamy. Oswald designed the L-29s flowing hood and fenders and Leamy came up with the sloping Duesenberg Model J-influenced radiator housing.

The L-29s closed bodies were designed by Oswald while Leamy and George McQuerry Jr. of the Walter M. Murphy Co. of Pasadena, California are credited with the design and engineering of the L-29s open vehicles. 3 closed prototypes were constructed at Central Manufacturing, a close-coupled 4-window, 2-door sedan; a 6-window, 4-door sedan and a 4-window, 4-door brougham that was based on the 6-window body with blanked-in rear quarters. Unfortunately Oswalds 2-door sedan was axed before production began.

The Limousine Body Co built the two Murphy & Co.-designed prototypes, a spectacular 4-door convertible sedan (phaeton-sedan or 4-door convertible) and the equally impressive convertible coupe (cabriolet or convertible). The phaeton-sedan in particular, looked very much like a Hibbard & Darrin Convertible Sedan that had been exhibited at the previous winters New York Auto Salon.

When production began in the fall, only four factory L-29 styles were offered, a six-window sedan, four-window brougham, phaeton-sedan (four-door convertible) and cabriolet (convertible coupe). Oswalds close-coupled 2-door sedan was axed before production began. Central Manufacturing produced the closed bodies and the Auburn-controlled Limousine Body Co. built the cabriolets and phaeton-sedans.

The most famous L-29 was a one-off built by the Hayes Body Corp. of Grand Rapids, Michigan for its art director, Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky. Following a short stint at Vanden Plas in Belgium, deSakhnoffsky emigrated to the United States and was hired by Hayes as their art director in 1929. He liked the L-29, but hated the factory body styles, so he designed a striking coupe for his own personal use that won him the Gran Prix at Monacos 1929 Concours d'Elegance and the Grand Prix d'Hommeur at the 1929 Beaulieu Concours.

A total of 43 L-29 chassis were bodied by custom coachbuilders. The most memorable L-29 was a beautiful Convertible Victoria that was built by Voll & Ruhrbeck, a Berlin-based coachbuilder who built mainly on Mercedes-Benz, Horch, Maybach and Bugatti chassis. Three custom L-29 Town Cars were built by Walter M. Murphy Co., and a fourth town car by Brunn & Co. of Buffalo, New York.

Murphys Philip O. Wright is credited with the designs of the three L-29 town cars that Murphy built for film stars Delores Del Rio, Lola Montez and John Barrymore, plus an L-29 Dual Cowl Phaeton for actress Toby Wing and a blind quarter L-29 sports sedan whose doors opened part way into the roof, as well as a number of Model J Duesenbergs. On a trip to Detroit, Wright had a chance meeting with Cords president, Roy Faulkner, who persuaded him to join the automakers design staff. The culmination of their chance meeting was Wrights Cord L-29 speedster, the star of the 1932 auto shows.

The following roster of custom Cord L-29 bodies was prepared for the 1987 Pebble Beach Concours de Elegance:

Auburn-Fuller - 1 LWB Town Car and 1 Coupe (2 total)

Brunn - one LWB town car
Curtis Aerocar - 1 Boattail Coupe
Freestone and Webb - 1 unk style
Herman Graber - 1 unk style
Hayes - 1 coupe (de Sakhnoffsky)
LaGrande (Central Manufacturing) - 1 unsold sedan, mounted on used Duesenberg J-189 in 1933, 1 unk type also unsold, mounted on new Duesenberg J-472 in 1933 (2 total)
La Grande (Union City Body) - 2 Town Cars, 2 Victorias, 1 Coupe, 1 Salon Sedan, 1 Boattail Speedster and 1 Sedan. (8 total)
LeBaron - 1 SWB Town Car
Murphy - 7 Dual-cowl phaetons, 3 Convertible Coupes, 3 LWB Town Cars, 1 SWB Town Car, 1 Victoria, 1 Sport Sedan, and 1 Sport Phaeton (17 total)
Proux et Cie - 1 unk style
Rollston 1 Sport Touring Phaeton, 1 Berline and 1 Victoria (3 total)
Voll and Ruhrbeck - 1 Sport Kabriolett
Weymann-American - 1 coupe

​

While working at Hayes, Count Alexis de Sahknoffsky designed the original boat-tailed Auburn Model 8-88 Speedster, which debuted in 1928. Alan Leamy redesigned the body during 1931 and his Model 8-98 Speedster debuted in October, 1931. Auburns speedster bodies were built in-the-white by the Union City Body Co in Union City, Indiana and painted and trimmed at Auburns Auburn, Indiana plant.

 

Of all the bodies to adorn the L29 chassis, the Hayes Coupe is probably the most striking. It benefited from the L29's unique chassis and $20,000 budget, making it one of the most expensive cars, rivaling the '20 Grand' Duesenberg and Fatty Arbuckle's Pierce.

The car was made to promote the Hayes Body Corporation which operated out of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Stylist Alexis de Sakhnoffsky worked with the car's unique chassis to execute his design. With it's front-wheel drive chassis, the L29 could be made lower than other cars. In fact, it was America's first FWD car, beating Ruxton by just a few months.

Sakhnoffsky took advantage of the L-29's low chassis height by dropping the beltline at the door and keeping it below the hood. This gave the car a strong sense of robustness, especially with its long hood that was further accentuated by prominent front fenders and oversize hubcaps. Intricate detail was used throughout the body and interior which complement the car's sweeping grace. Interior appointments included an external sun visor, a padded headliner, chromed rear window, sill lights and plush wooden accents.

Made for the show curcuit, the Hayes coupe was shipped to Paris to compete in the 1930 concours d'elegance. Remarkably, this import fetched a first prize before wining the Grand Prix award at the Cote a'Azur concours. Eventually it was returned to America and retained by a Hayes company director.

Eventually the car was restored and invited to the 1987 Pebble Beach Concours to participate in the custom-bodied Cord class. It took a first place in class and two other special awards. Since then, it was sold to the Blackhawk Collection in 1991 and has been seen at the 1994 Amelia Island Concours and 2008 Meadowbrook Concours.

The car has been authenticated by the ACD club as an original L29 with a body style described as the Special DeSakhnoffsky Coupe.

At their Pebble Beach Auction, Gooding & Company offered the sole Hayes coupe, chassis number 2927005 for $900,000 to $1.1 million. They described the car as "one of the most beautiful coupes ever built" and a "singular custom design" but failed to meet the reserve despite the overall success of the auction.

 

I thought it sold? One of my most favorite cars of all time.

 

Al;

The DeSakhnoffsky L29 Cord Coupe may of sold at a later Auction. I believe the informatioon above is from 2007.

I also believe that the DeSakhnoffsky L29 Cord Coupe was once owned by "The King Of Morocco"

 

The beautifully-designed, front wheel drive L-29 Cord in itself is special enough, but this one was owned from new by famed designer Brooks Stevens, who received it as a gift from his father and owned for the rest of his life.

Stevens wanted more than a cabriolet - he wanted a unique speedster. He extensively restyled the car, adding skirted fenders, a speedster tail and Woodlites. He drove it in races, hill climbs and other sporting events until his death in 1995.

The Current owners purchased the Cord from the Stevens family in 1997 and commissioned a two-year restoration.

 

Considered by experts to be the ultimate classic design, the 'dual-cowl phaeton' was out of style by 1930 due to its impracticality; but the design was continued on custom-ordered cars. It was this attention-getting appeal that prompted E.L. Cord, president of Auburn Automobile Company, to order seven phaetons from Walter M. Murphy Coach Builders, Pasadena, CA, famed 'coach builder for the stars.' Each car had a distinctive color combination and subtle changes. They were exhibited around the world at the largest and most prestigious auto shows.

This car was first owned by W.A. Clark III, owner of the Pilot Ray Turing Light Co. Clark was also the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg dealer in Phoenix, AZ. He took delivery on November 30, 1930, after the car made the show circuit tour. Clark owned the car only three years.

Franklin Hershey, the car's designer for Murphy, was a mere 23 at that time. He gave the present owner guidance as to details and colors during the car's 18 years of restoration. Designing the top bows to fold into a neat package at the rear was an art form at the time. Similar body designs, but higher, were later fitted to several Duesenbergs. Murphy Body Company closed its doors in late 1930, avoiding the rush in 1931-1932.

The chassis frame was lengthened 9-inches to give an even longer, lower look to the already silhouette of the Cord, which was made possible by the lack of a drive shaft to the rear. Power is a 298.6 cubic-inch straight-8, L-head Lycoming engine that developed 125 horsepower and tons of torque. Cost, new, for chassis and body, was around $15,000 (about 30 Fords). Two of the original seven phaetons still exist today.<!--halfWideBoxBottomLines--> <table border="0" cellspacing="5" width="440"><tbody><tr><td>
</td><td valign="top">
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

This handsome L-29 Town Car is one of only three produced by Cord. Simply put, a Town Car is a long-wheelbase limousine with divider window and an open driver's compartment for the chauffeur. With its novel front-wheel drive arrangement, this car was much lower and sleeker than the competition, and was popular with New York cafe society, the nouveau riche and the Hollywood film colony. Of the latter, John Barrymore, Delores Del Rio and Lola Montez all ordered Cord Town Cars custom-bodied by the Walter M. Murphy Company of Pasadena, California. This example was originally owned by Dolores Del Rio, whose petite size made the lack of leg room inconsequential. Despite its technological advances and voguish good looks, the L-29 arrived at an abysmal period in American history. Even with a seemingly affordable price compared with other cars in its class, the long list of potential buyers dwindled, and the L-29 was out of production by 1932.

 

The 1931 Cord L-29 Boattail Speedster was one of a kind.

It's a phrase often bandied about, but every now and then it is justifiably applied to something truly special. The L-29 was built to garner prestige for itself at shows and events in the United States and Europe. The car's dramatic appearance was enhanced by a bold color scheme of Chinese Red matched with bright yellow panels flaring out along the bodysides and around the interior tub. Narrow, slit-eyed Woodlite headlights added an eerie look. Interior touches reflected the high life of a bygone era.

Folding door panels housed etched shot glasses and a humidor. Credit for the slippery Speedster design was attributed to Philip 0. Wright, of Murphy Body in California. (Interestingly, this would be the only commission Wright would receive from the company.) The coachwork was done by the Union Body Company, an Indiana firm that produced custom bodies under the name LaGrande.

The L-29 Speedster made its show debut in 1931 (having first traded in its Woodlites for conventional round lamps), and voyaged across the Atlantic to Europe twice in its short lifetime. Along the way it gathered legions of admirers and left behind intriguing, yet unverifiable myths about possible ownership by prominent people, such as Paul Bern, the ill-fated husband of film star Jean Harlow. The Speedster disappeared during one of its European jaunts, never to be seen again.

But neither was it forgotten. In 1990, Stan Gilliland completed this recreation of the fabled Speedster. Commissioned by Dr. F. H. Culbreth, it is the result of a painstaking process that began with a technique called "lofting," in which historic photographs and calculated dimensions are used to generate full-size drawings. The rebodied Speedster rests atop a genuine front-wheel-drive L-29 chassis with a wheel-base of 137.5 inches, and employs an original Cord drivetrain and instrument panel. The 299-cid Lycoming inline eight-cylinder engine is rated at 125 bhp.

Those who want a closer look for themselves can get one by visiting the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, Indiana. The Speedster was donated in part by noted East Coast car collector David Stevenson.

 

SunRoof & AlsAncle: THANKS for all of the great coverage on the Cord L-29s!!!

Were it not for the '36/'37 Cord 810/812s, the L-29 might well have been relegated to the same classic & semi-classic shelf as other 1930-ish luxury cars! (Ruxton, DuPont, the last Peerless and Jordan, e.g., are regarded as Depression-era commentary . . . and little more.)

I have always felt the L-29 stood alone. YOU guys underscore my attitude, and I thank you. The things I have always admired MOST about the L-29s are: (1) Front-wheel-drive could have really obtruded the grille and ruined the style potential; but the folks SunRoof mentioned overcame the challenges, and (2) the front-wheel advantage, then, permitted the classic, low-slung construction, INCLUDING the absence of old-fashioned running boards. "Ahead of its time is an expression overused to the point of meaninglessness. The L-29 Cord, however, sort of struck the original mold!!!

I might add: Though these were high-end cars, they WERE among the "factory" hotrods of their time. And THAT, of course, was part of the attraction -- even in '29 and '30 !!!

 

Oops, meant to include the pic of that Lycoming engine!

 

Jim,

Somewhere on the Hamb is a thread on cars that look fast but go slow. The L29 is the ultimate example of that. Spectacular looks but very pedestrian performance. I've always liked them but they are much better in the Concours then out on the road.

 

I have a feeling that Mike Huffman would disagree with you since he drives his L29 all over and just recently drove it on a cross country trip.

Read about Mikes trip here;

http://forums.acdclub.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=13311&sid=6f25336d7576d59a05ba4d7c0c090f78

Mikes L29

 

Fred Roe is responsible for identifying the body on this L29 Cord as d'Ieteren. The picture below shows what a careful wash & wax plus a new set of tires can do...!).

Fred has been accumulating automotive knowledge for every one of his 83 years, and when he saw the car he remembered a catalog in his collection from the New York auto show in 1927, which showed the same body on a Minerva.

...Close examination of the catalog showed it was an exact match, and, we suspect, unless d'Ieteren made a short run of identical bodies, that it was a case of body snatching. The owner of the Minerva, we think, wanted a more modern body by 1929, and the d'Ieteren body became available and was installed on a new Cord chassis. "

Note; Fred Roe recently passed on at age 88.

 

I would of liked to of included the Weymann-American L29 Cord Coupe built for band leader Paul Whiteman but can't seem to locate it and I know I've seen pictures of it on the net before.

Before we leave L29 Cord, it should be noted that no one knows for sure where the L29 nomenclature came from. When introduced, it was referred to as "Cord Front Drive".

 

SunRoof, one theory: Wasn't it quite common in that era to derive a model name from the drive train? (The Graham "Blue Streak" was, e.g., named for the Continental engine in it. (In this case, a guess would be Lycoming and the year of introduction. That was always my private opinion, and I never had to be money on it. LOL

 

'course, I meant BET money. BTW, isn't it kind of "funny" that the Cord name should be SO well remembered in auto history when there were only two basic lines?

 

AlsAncle, you said a mouthful about early "high performance" !!! We've discussed lots of early mills and drivetrains on other threads. Fun exercise! Discussed everything from the Packard V-12 and Lycoming 8s to the Caddy V-16. The basic conclusion was/is always the SAME: It's a matter of how performance was defined and marketed in that earlier era. People generally didn't blaze from stoplight to stoplight for bragging rights back then. Instead a car's power was more likely to be judged on how quiet it was when running, how steep a hill could it climb without breathing hard, or what was the top speed (and not necessarily how quickly it GOT there).

So, your point is well taken, and I surely buy into it. Even when the forerunners of 'hotrodding" did their thing, they surely didn't start with a big, heavy car. They laid hands on something relatively cheap and light, preferably with a V-8 but not always. So, that explains a lot about the popularity of '31 and later Fords. Even Dillinger liked a Terraplane, which was tough yet light (comparatively) and had a peppy six-banger.

And, sure, before 1930, there were "quick" cars, such as the Bearcat or Mercer, and other production roadsters & speedsters -- none of which could pull up to the line today against a Hemi, Hornet, Rocket 88 or even SBC. The "roots" of hotrodding date from well before WWII and, basically, are anchored in the very competitive spirit in most every human being.

 

Hey, since we happen to be on the swansong of really high-end luxury U.S. cars, anyone got a nice pic of a '31 Dupont Model H ?

 

I think this is an excellent theory of where the L29 nomenclature came from. L for Lycoming and 29 for the year of introduction.

 

I think a lot of that has to do with the 810-812 series that looked like nothing else on the road at the time.

 

A one-of-a-kind car built specifically for the 1931 New York Auto Show. This car is one of only three Model H duPonts ever built and one of approximately 35 duPonts known to exist today. DuPont built a total of 516 automobiles between 1919 and 1931.

The Sport Phaeton design featuring dual cowls, twin spare tires hung at the rear of the car, and graceful, sweeping lines accentuated by its paint scheme, is known as the most elegant of all duPont cars.

Owned by Jerry Reigel, his son Dicky and Grandson Richard. The car has been in the Riegel family since 1962.

More Pictures here;

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/chassisNum.aspx?carID=10331&iDNumID=2829

 

Thanks much, SunRoofCord! Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful cars of the era (even though the crystal hood ornament is IMO over the top). Lots of nice style motifs working here. But I think one of the car's STRENGTHS is what the designers did NOT include. Restraint is a hard thing for some designers to embrace, and the DuPont Model H designers came close to stiking the optimal BALANCE between stylish and overbearing. VERY close to being a "just-right" car!

Now, with 516 DuPonts made, that would make the short-lived Ruxton rarer, on the whole, wouldn't it???

Thanks again!

 

[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Monaco]<!-- $MVD$icsz("412","279") -->[/FONT]
1903 Liquid Air Car, courtesy Frank Didik (Didik.com)

Though not an American-made car, the 1903 car built by the
Liquid Air Car Company of London is notable in that it
was among the first air-propelled auto attempts during an era
when ONE particular type of automobile propulsion had not yet
gained favor. Internal combustion power, electricity and steam
were only three of the systems receiving a hard look as the
19th Century wound down and the 20th began.

Though he modestly claims otherwise, Frank Didik is the author
of a rather comprehensive and obviously well-researched work,
History and Directory of Electric Cars from 1834 - 1987,
covering literally scores of electric cars, most early defunct
makes. The above liquid-air car seems a sidebar story in the
overall fabric of the electrics' history.

Though LIQUID AIR built several of these cars, the project
seemingly petered out due to technical difficulties. Mainly, the
energy and expense of compressing air, coupled with low torque
and very limited range and the concomitant need to recharge
tanks frequently made the liquid-air car uncompetitive at that
time against cars using other propulsion means. However, it
should be noted that engines powered in this fashion had been
successful in tunnel-building wherein noxious fumes would have
been deadly to workers. Experimentation with this technology
for various task-specific applications continues in modern times.

 

My uncle had a 1914 Haynes Touring Car. I wish I still had a pic of it.