Jim, Thanks for the FRP details, to bad they did not have time to develop it. I noticed that Porter used the same brand of front axle as in the T-Head. Fur Biscuit, Do you know what the wheelbase was on Sigs Mercer? It has to be at least 12" shorter than the standard 108". How successful was he with it? Who knows something about this straight eight L-head touring car? Was it for a record? I cannot place the car or driver. I wonder if that was a sponsors truck in the background. The sign on it says Rainbow Motor Oil. Sure looks like they are pouring plenty in. The car looks like a 1926-29 with front wheel brakes. The photo was with a collection from Calif. Best, T-H
T-Head, That is Indianapolis driver Wade Morton,car is an Auburn. He worked as a Test driver for Auburn. Not sure who the oil pouring man is.
about 18" shorter. always figured that because the rear spring bracket is mounted at the front of drivers seat and those seats are 18" deep. Not a clue if it was successful, it must have interesting to drive though. I understand that Mercer frames were heat treated, was this done after the whole frame was assembled or as individual components and rivited together?
Buildy, thanks do you think this was a stock car event or were they testing, I can see other cars parked behind them but no #'s on this car? Fur Buscuit, Thanks, the frames were made out of spring steel and I assume the holes were punched then they heat treated and tempered the side rails and assembled them later. They are springy but hard and tend to crack by the rear spring mounts and were the shifter comes thru the frame. Most all of them have been welded or strenghtened. You are right it's 18" I just measured one. Who Knows what H.A. Clark is driving in the photo? Best, T-H
only mercer part i own is anoriginal seat. mounted it to a stutz once...didn't quite rub off like i had hoped. makes the best looking T speedster seat too:
T-Head, Anything I add would be speculation. This car had the fenders removed. Cars in the background have fenders. There was some stock car racing at the Atlantic City boards around 1927 or so,not sure if there was at the other board tracks. The car looks like a 1926 Auburn to me. In 1927 they had a vertical chrome strip in the center of the radiator. Not sure if Auburn had a test track. Since the car doesn`t have a number on it,my guess is some kind of attempt at an endurance/speed record. Maybe at Indy? Sorry I don`t have more info.
Harry was said to have all kinds of animals around the shop and his home. One was a large Parrot that would devil Goosen in the drawing room....
I found the following text on a website describing the carrier of Louis Chevrolet: "1906 - Louis leaves Fiat and moves to Philadelph to join Walter Christie. There he is made first assistant for the development of a new racing car with a completely new concept, namely front-wheel drive. The vehicle has a Darracq V8 engine and becomes known as the "Big Bear". It reaches 191.5 km/h (world record)."<O></O> <O></O> I found pictures of several types of Christie race cars, one sketch of the Christie New York taxicab and one picture of a Christie luxury car. All front wheel drive.<O></O> <O></O> If this Christie-Darracq V8 ever existed I would love to see a picture of this "monster". Unfortunately very little is published on Christie in Europe except on his entry in the French grand prix of 1907 and his tanks designs
No record of this car on the Land Speed site. http://www.speedrecordclub.com/outland.php Here's a link to the Darracq 200, (sorry no pics as i can't post from work) http://www.isdm.co.uk/darracq/index.htm . .
Here is the 1905 car being fired up for the first time after restoration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4GCIPnjhzY
LOVE the HAMB- 4 minutes FLAT!!! Thanks Buildy!... now I just need to wait 'till I get home from work to see it (youtube banned at school).
I just happened to be browsing the Atlas Nostalgia forum right after I saw the Darracq posts here, and saw I a link to the Video posted. http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=123325
It is really neat, I have seen it at Goodwood when I went over with the 1915 Duesey a few years ago. It is most a most impressive beast. Best,T-H
Whats really frustrating is they brought it to Shelsley and it never ran, i then discovered AFTER that the restoration work was carried out about 2 miles from where i live ....... now sold 200,000 GBP still waitng to see it run . .
Here is a random one...(Buick?) and another McFadden and Buxton...(FIAT S71) McFadden and Buxton were early San Diego realestate developers. The driver is Mr. McFadden.
18.3-litre 350hp Sunbeam on a massive solid-tyred, charn-driven Scammel artic, probably at Sunbeams Wolverhampton works. . .
Sunbeam, called Nautilus, appeared at Brooklands in March 1910. It had a cigar-shaped streamlined body built from wooden slats mounted on hoops. The nose and tail consisted of polished brass cones. The 4.2 litre, 4 cylinder engine had 16 overhead valves, operated by push-rods and rockers, from two camshafts, one on either side of the crank case. Unfortunately the car suffered from overheating problems, because the radiator in the water-cooled engine was fed with air from a small hole in the nose, which proved to be insufficient. In practice the rear half of the body was removed when racing, to try and overcome the problem. Unfortunately this didnt work and even after several modifications the car was still unreliable. . .
Sunbeam 1913 French GP Car Four special cars were built for the race, each powered by a 4.5litre, 6 cylinder engine. Jean Chassagne, driving one of the Sunbeams finished in 3<SUP>rd</SUP> place at an average speed of 70.3m.p.h. over the 579 miles. Later that year, one of the cars, fitted with a single seater body, broke many existing records during a meeting at Brooklands. The car, driven by Jean Chassagne, Dario Resta, and Kenelm Lee Guinness ran for 12 hours during which it succeeded in breaking all of the worlds records from 2 to 12 hours and from 200 to 1,000 miles. The average speed over the 1,000 miles was 90m.p.h. and for the 2 hours, the car averaged 97.5m.p.h. . .
Thanks for posting that! Its one thing to look at that engine, and a completely different thing to see it running. Wish I could see it in person. Im a sucker for lots of moving parts. I think it was Indian Larry who said it, "I like the mechanicalness of it!". I couldnt have said it any better.
Christie-Darracq V8 I am pretty sure there is no such car. A photograph does exist of Chevrolet sitting in Christie's first V4 engined car at Ormond Beach. I don't think Chevrolet worked for Christie for very long, and I doubt he had much influence on Christie. Walter Christie was pretty stubborn and he was a very creative inventor. The best history of Christie has been reprinted by Thomas Saal and should be available for about $10. Someone here probably knows how to contact Tom. If you have any other questions about Christie, ask away.
There is a fine Christie feature in Automobile Quarterly, I'll dig out the issue tomorrow. I don't think there was a Christie/Darracq either.
Goodwood is on my Bucket List and has been given some good coverage here on the HAMB. What was it like having a ar there? Was it well recieved by the people across the pond?
Man, I just love this photo. And this thread. I know nothing of these cars but the stories and photos are just fascinating! They must have been just amazing in their day. Gary
Taken from the Darracq 200 site The factory desperately wanted to retain the record wining performance, and Hemery's view was that an engine of twice the size should easily be able to lift the land speed record to a new level. George Cook, who was the American president of Darracq USA, tried to impress on the factory the importance of the Vanderbilt Cup. On 14th October 1905 the pair won the Vanderbilt Cup held on Long Island USA. It was here at Long Island that Hemery and Demogeot met Louis Chevrolet, the most important french speaking driver on the race circuit. Chevrolet was driving for Fiat and Christie at the time. Just for the record, the Christie car was front wheel drive, and the Darracq race cars had over-square engines typically at 160mm bore by 140mm stroke (not much is new in car design in the last 50 years, just refined!) Following the banning of Hemery, the American agent George Cooke was given full control, and he charged Mr S.B.Stevens to manage the team. Stevens took over the Darracq garage and placed a guard on the door in case Hemery should try sabotage. and it was Stevens who engaged Chevrolet to drive the "200". The third day dawned worse than before, not only was it damp dirty an discouraging but it was raining hard. The tide was abnormally high due to the wind and the storm, so it was not until the afternoon before the beach course was ready. The following day, the ex-Christie team driver Louis Chevrolet drove the Darracq 200 and took 117.65 mph with a time of 30.6 seconds. Undaunted by these events, Marriott set a new speed record on 26 January 1906 of 127.66 mph in a time of 28.2 seconds, however only his slower speed for the flying kilometre (121.57 mph) was officially recognised in Europe. On the final day came the event which had drawn the largest crowd of the week. The paper had run a competition for the prettiest girl in Florida to present the "golden crown", special trains had been laid on from Jackonville, the grandstands were full to overflowing. The event was a "2 miles in 1 min" competition for a gold crown. Chevrolet would not drive again except for an substantial additional fee, so the Darracq mechanic Demogeot was pressed to task, now partnered by Vivet. He did a best of 122.4 mph with a time of 58.8 seconds, a fabulous time. The prettiest girl in Florida, Miss Mary Simrall, crowned Demogeot the "1906 Speed King" but it was done with a laurel wreath, no golden crown ever materialised. The car was returned to the factory in the Suresnes district of Paris. Chevrolet might have been mercenary, but he was a fearsome driver, and lucky too. He survived many crashes, spent three years in hospital between 1905 and 1920, and killed four mechanics. . .
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