Great link to a story my friend Dan Strohl wrote for Hemmings blog today. It is about two Japanese race drivers called H. Sakamoto and W.T Watanabe and them racing a Mercer, Case and Stutz. They also raced two Mercers back in Japan. I just bought a plane ticket and am heading there today to look for the Mercers. http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2010/02/02/mercers-to-japan/
Best of luck on your trip,keep us posted. Wouldn`t that be something if those Mercer racers could be found!
You got me-LOL..... Unfortunately they were probably recycled into Zero fighters or Betty bombers....
T-Head somewhere I have the picture of those Japanese racers that were published in either Motor Age or The Automobile back in the day. Everyone wanted to see racers so it should not surprise us with the cars being shipped overseas. That is only a couple of racers but imagine all of the good racers in this country that were hauled to the scrapyard. I am especially in horror regarding the jeweled OHC race engines that were hauled off as scrap. The 1917 Packard Twin Six racer found about ten years ago in the jungle of South America was brought back to this country and has been restored. I have enjoyed going to all of the big shows with the car and I believe it had not been shipped to South America it probably would have been scrapped here and never survived-thankful it was saved to say the least. The same owner of this car also bought (and since resold) two Marmon racers from South America although they were converted stock car engines and homebuilt style track racers. The Packard was and is a real deal racer built in the experimental department of Packard and still had the original tag affixed to the chassis when I inspected the car right out of the overseas container, on its return to this country. Buildy as to my computer, long story but the first IT guy I used told me it was the worst virus he has run into and I had to get a second guy here (that costs more money) to really dig deep and find stuff. I still am finding stuff that is missing and he is coming back in a few days when I get a better handle on what we should look for. That is why when I went to look for my file on the FRP racers which I had not long ago scanned and worked on the photos is gone. I can scan the stuff again as I have the original articles from the teens but that particular file probably had 200 scans that are gone and I do not even know what scans were in that file. Just more work. If I was the law the hackers would rue the day they became interested in computers-Jim
Walter Christie car I'm loocking for a picture of a Walter Christie car with a Darracq v8 engine. I believe Louis Chevrolet helped Christie to develop the car
I've posted this pic before but as we seem deep into Mercers whats the history on his T-head then ? I believe still owned by E Dean Butler and run here in the Uk, interested to know why it's right hand drive.......... . .
Lou Disbrow was an early racer that I now raced Pope Hartford's. I found this photo of a beautiful car labeled the Disbrow Special. It looks like it has just been finished and is in bare aluminum. Does anyone know anything about it? Is it a race car with fenders and lamps for getting to and from the track? Or is it a road car? Regardless it is a wonderful creation that I have a feeling he may have had something to do with. Please let us know if you have any information on it.
Somewhere I have run across that car with a blurb in either The Automobile or Motor Age. I do not have it in my notes but I have seen it. When I run across it I will keep you in mind. Disbrow not only raced the Popes but he also owned and raced some other neat racers. He allegedly owned the Jay Eye See Case and the Gray Streak Case that he ran at the small tracks as late as 1915 my note says. In addition he owned and raced the Simplex Zip which had a pretty swoopy body. By the way check your PM-my email jams every time I use it-Jim
Keith, All T Head MERCERS were right hand drive. Bases on the shade of yellow and the wire wheels I wonder if that is the same MERCER that had the very first full color ad in Hemmings over 30 years ago? I saw the car in a Passport van and could not understand why it was restored the way it was. From 20 feet away it looked nice, but up close it was easy to see that no attempt was made to fill the deeply pitted chassis and running gear. But that was back in the old days when they sold for under a hundred large.
The37Kid, thanks for that, interesting. Heres a copy of the info on their webpage about the MERECR, the car is run out of Zakira's in Cincinnati Ohio when in the US. '' The most famous Mercerbuilt by the Roebling family of Trenton, New Jersey, builders of the Cincinnati Suspension bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge. Mercer Raceabouts won many road races in the pre-WWI era. In 1911, a stock Mercer Raceabout was driven to the first Indianapolis 500, placed twelfth and driven back to Trenton. The engine is a T head displacing 300 cubic inches. Top speed is 80 mph, which was very fast for a pre-WWI automobile '' . .
T-Head, Thanks again for the pics- any idea where this last set was taken? The backround looks very similar to the circle behind the Art museum in Philly.
Mac......the only thing I know is one of them has a photographers stamp from Chicago. She was very famous in her time so that does not really mean anything. Best, T-H
"Not a racing photo and I hope you folks can endure one more Mercer road car, yell if it's to much." Anyone who has problems with fender-less Mercer two seaters has a problem with me-LOL
I'm just an observer on this forum, but I don't have any problem with it. So many cars in those days went both ways.
Hey Model "A" Keith, I recognized some of those cars in the bottom pic. Dug through my HOT ROD archives. March '51, has a really neat article in it and it also identifies some of the drivers. The pics in it are from the 1934 Mines Field in L.A.,250 mile, Gilmore Gold Cup Race. So Im guessing the pic is from '34. IF you look close the 99 Ford, Al Reinke car says "Gold Cup Road Race" on the Gas tank. So we may have a match. According to HOT ROD The #6 Ford was driven by Shorty Cantlon, the #45 car is identified as a Rockne driven by Guy Doolin, the #32 Ford was driven by Ralph Hepburn, the #7 Ford was driven by Chet Gardner, The #36 Ford was driven by Louie Meyer. Im not familiar with the Mines Field Track, and theres no good pics of the surrounding area in the magazine. Unfortunately Im missing April of 51, and the rest of the story is in it... Hope this helps.
Here am a couple of photos that maybe related to the garage scene at the airport. I wonder if the parade could be in LA? In places the builds were that tall. Tank may have more info on these. We know Wilber's sponsor was there. That parade looks like a recipe for a bunch of over heated flatheads. Best, T-H
Yes the parade was in Downtown L.A. I love that picture. The #3 roadster picture T-Head posted is in the Mag along with several other roadsters, including a starting lineup shot of the race which is very cool. The parade pic is the cover art of that issue. Kind of interestin that in '51 the cover was of a race that was held 17 years earlier. Always one of my favorite covers though.
Hi and welcome Marc, I have not seen or heard of such a car but i'm not saying it never existed. Louis Chevrolet was an bicycle apprentice at Darraq before coming to America at the invite of W.K.Vanderbilt. The other connection he has with Darraq was at the 1906 Speed Week at Daytona Beach where he was to drive the Christie car but he eventually replaced a very arrogant Frenchman on the 200HP V8 Darraq. Interesting. I look forward to any information about this car you mentioned. Maybe Lee Stohr can shed some light on this.
Mines Field is now covered by LAX, they raced twoman INDY cars there as well most likely on different dates than the stock cars.
Found the file with some of the FRP scans-better late than never I suppose. I really like the look of the car from the front. Too bad the car never really raced. With that horsepower and RPM potential it may have been a hoot. Also as to the Darraq and Chev that seems to ring a bell-although I cannot answer it at this time. Will have to try and remember if and where I have that info. T-head my email is still iffy-am sending along a couple of small articles on the FRP SOHC (touring and sedan-so not racing related). Here are the pics of the FRP from Motor World and The Automobile-Jim <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> IMG]http://i49.tinypic.com/30vhldz.jpg[/IMG] <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F1zlequr.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F1zlequr.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19"> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://tinypic.com/i/input.swf" style="" id="flash-html-code" bgcolor="transparent" quality="high" name="flash-html-code" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" swliveconnect="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="ipt=%5BIMG%5Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fi49.tinypic.com%2F30vhldz.jpg%5B%2FIMG%5D&trk=copy_details_img" width="262" height="19">
"100 MPH on 4 inch wide cotton cord tires. No roll bar, no seat belts and your crankshaft whipping around like a skipping rope and your rods flopping around like the hammers of hell. Those were the days." Excellent description!
The Jalopy Journal
