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

Yeah, Rowdy One, what I meant (since the oil embargo of the '70s) was that the former Big Three had to homogenize their designs, so as to ensure sales and (hopefully) bar the possibility of a terrible failure of a model (Pontiac Aztec?), thus pissing off stockholders.

So, the bright trim, roominess, anything adventurous (except on the pricey models) of the earlier decades faded away, replaced by little gas-efficient beans-on-wheels with no style (have you seen the newest car Cadillac is touting? Will never be HAMB-friendly!).

 

1933 Durant 633 Sedan Deluxe owned by Robert and Stephanie Smith
of the Golden Era Automobile Association. One of ONLY TWO known '33
Durants, folks!

 

First electric vehicle, built in 1884 by Thomas Parker

Think this one is still around?

 

Made by William Morrison in 1891, some say the Morrison was the first electric vehicle in America. It had a four horsepower engine , and could carry 6-12 passengers. Top speed was about 20 mph. The batteries needed to be recharged every 50 miles.

Electrobat 1894-1899

 

1900 Riker



Thanks to Jake Richardson's article
9 electric vehicles 100 years old or more

 

1906 Krieger


This vehicle was made in Paris, and it is presumed to have been owned by US Senator George P. Wetmore of Rhode Island. The Krieger actually had regenerative braking which could be used to recharge the batteries while coasting downhill. It had a tiller/steering wheel in the very front, and hubcaps!

 

Regenerative braking/charging! WAY ahead of their time, eh?

 

Okay, gang, here's a wild one -- with another strange marketing twist! (As if the Metz Plan wasn't novel enough?) There is a very brief but detailed paragraph in an article on Coachbuilt.com on the Biddle and Smart body company of Amesbury, MA. American-Automobiles bases this ill-fated venture in new York City. Here's the Coachbuilt 'graph:

"The Club Car Company of 1910-1911 was based on the idea of having to join a club in order to buy one of its cars. The vehicles were built by Merchant & Evans of Philadelphia, with engines supplied by American & British Manufacturing of Bridgeport, Connecticut, and coachwork from Biddle & Smart of Amesbury, Massachusetts. Merchant & Evans sold off the cars remaining in stock as Devons when the foolhardy plan failed within the year."

Anybody know of an extant Club or Devon automobile? Barring that, any info on the drive train?

 

Remember the 1770 Fardier de Cugnot pic posted last year
by 666Irish? Well, it seems the French only beat the Yanks
by a few years for the honor of "first."


http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Eur...hoto408229.htm



Images THANKS to AmericanHeritage.com!



The Orukter Amphibolos, a heavy and awkward self-propelled
steam dredge, was built by prolific, visionary AND eccentric
Philadelphia inventor Oliver Evans to keep the city's harbor
clear. A lifelong inventor, Evans filed the first U.S. patent for
a self-propelled vehicle in the 1780s.

Finally built in 1805, his machine is considered by some to be
the first car, first steamboat, first amphibious craft and first
steam locomotive -- all rolled into one. As well, Evans lobbied
for construction of a wooden or iron railroad decades before
the first were built in the 1830s. Probably because Evans'
vehicle was primitive and very clumsy to operate, others
would get official credit for various steam-powered vehicles,
as history shows.

Prof. Stephen Lubar of Brown University wrote an engrossing --
occasionally humorous! -- article on Evans and his clumsy tech-
nical harbinger for Invention & Technology Magazine (Spring
2006 issue) which can be found at American Heritage.com.



Likeness of inventor Oliver Evans
by engraver W.G. Jackman, THANKS
to 123people.co.uk
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Way more interesting than Frank Lloyd Wright in a Crosley, eh?
And the Crosley ice cream truck is a first for me!

 

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Okay. THANKS, Frank! That would make sense for a low-revving engine, wouldn't it?

 

<TABLE border=0 width=424><TBODY><TR><TD height=336>

1899 Baker Runabout ​

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1904 Baker Newport Runabout ​

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1906 Baker Imperial ​

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1913 Baker WB Roadster ​

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There are few cars that are as dramatic as the Jonckheere Its imposing length, menacing curves and oversize grill make most other pre-war cars look boring. And it certainly makes most other Rolls-Royces look staid by comparison. Furthermore, the benchmarks of size, stature, cost and risk will probably never be reached again. If we had to pick the most memorable Rolls-Royce, this would have to be it.
Such a striking car would certainly have to have an eccentric owner and certainly be born in the Art Deco movement of the 1930s. The Jonckheere Coupe was very much a part of this movement with its stylish modernism and mathematical geometric shapes which were popular at the time. This is especially true of the car’s circular doors which give it a proper nickname: “The Round Door Rolls”.
The origin’s of the Jonckheere Coupe stretch around the world, but start in Great Britain at the Rolls-Royce factory. As early as 1907, Rolls and Henry Royce were setting high standards of luxury, reliability and craftsmanship in their cars. This trend never died and the same company is still making cars true to the company’s origins.
This design philosophy caught the attention of the Raja of Nanpara. His Great Nanpara Estate had already contained a polished aluminum 40/50HP Silver Ghost when he ordered Rolls-Royce’s latest Phantom. Upon arrival, the owner probably didn’t like the conventional Hooper cabriolet bodywork because it was eventually scrapped and replaced with what you see here.
Almost 10 years old, this rolling chassis was then shipped to Belgium to the shop of Henri Jonckheere and his son Joseph Jonckheere. They were well known throughout Europe for making bodies on both cars and busses. The later of which is still in production today as VDL Jonckheere. The commissioning owner of the car is uncertain due to war damage at the factory, but the design is not. The Jonckheeres created an extravagant body which has just as much impact 75 years after its constuction as it did in 1935. The car was finished in time for the Concours on the French Riviera where it won the ‘Prix de Cannes’ award.
The doors, which are actually oval, required two half-moon pieces of glass that closed towards each other within a complex winding mechanism. Other details included sliding left and right sun vents, a sloping fastback profile and an enormous rear tail fin. It was also one of the few Phantom Is which featured a modified front grill.
Eventually the car made its way stateside and was saved by Max Obie before being scrapped. He restored the car in a brilliant hue of metallic gold and refurbished details like the silk headliner and seats that folded into beds. From here, the car was shown as a sideshow at fairs where anyone with a dollar well spent could have viewed the Coupe. After its freakshow days were numbered, the golden behemoth was stored away for long time.
In the 1980s, the car was resurrected and sold at auction. The description incorrectly listed it as “the 1954 World Motorsport winner in NY” and “Built for Prince of Wales”. With just 5000 miles on the odometer, it was picked up by a Japanese collector for $1,500,000 USD who retained the car for 20 years.
Eventually the car made its back to America and in the hands of the California-based Peterson Museum. Arriving in pieces, they send the remains to Tired Iron Works in California to piece together the entire car. Details were discovered such as an extended chassis. The biggest challenge was to finish the body and its squared-off louvers.
Peterson debuted the stunning Rolls at the 2005 Pebble Beach Concours where its questionable providence got in the way of its unquestionable elegance. If the Pebble Beach judges would have understood that nothing is born perfect, this likely would have taken Best in Class or maybe even Best in Show. As a consolidation prize, it did win the Lucius Beebe Trophy for the finest Rolls-Royce and became a favorite of many at the show. It has since been seen at various other Concours events such as Meadowbrook and Ameila Island.

Bibliograhy and Further Reading

Walsh, Mick. "Round Door Rolls-Royce". Classic & Sports Car. April 2006.

Story by Richard Owen for Supercars.net

 

My dad could have bought it for 8500.00 when it was for sale in NY in the 50s and passed. Sigh...

 

Guy, it makes me shudder just a bit to think THIS rare photo MIGHT have
been the last we'd ever see of the Jonckheere Phantom before it passed
into EXTINCTION! From the looks of things, she came damn close!

 

Coulda Woulda Shoulda!!!

That's all I'm Sayin'

 

Everybody remember the 1899 Horsey Horseless motor
carriage? Well, below is the Moxie Horsemobile!




Thanks to the WikiMedia Commons project, here is what
is believed to be the last surviving Moxie Horsemobile, now
preserved at Clark's Trading Post, Lincoln, New Hampshire.
From 1918 the soft-drink makers made maybe two dozen
of these to promote Moxie, for example in parade appear-
ances. This one is based on a LaSalle chassis. Driver/rider
controls are linked where the saddle horn and stirrups would
be on a horse.

 

1905 RAMBLER MOXIE TRUCK (image from moxie.info)

Description: The year 1905 saw another new Rambler, which Jeffery christened the Surrey. This came in two forms at the time, one with a convertible folding 'cape' hood as a $125 extra (Type One), and the other with a fixed canopy and glass swinging windshield, waterproof side curtains, gas lamps, mirror reflectors, separate generator, tube horn, as well as drop-forged wrenches, oilers, pump, and repair kit (Type Two). Rambler sales continued to climb for 1905, up by almost 1,500 and retaining third position on the US auto sales chart.
Specifications: 16-20bhp water-cooled 2-cylinder engine (Type One), or 20-25bhp water-cooled 2-cylinder engine (Type Two). Top speed - 35mph. Wheelbase - 90 inches.
Production: 3,807

 

I didn't go through the whole thread to see if anyone posted this Buck Rogers land cruiser in here. I just stumbled upon this one.

 

Wow, rockets were fairly new in '39. Anybody else try a ROCKET-CAR prior to that time?

 

"This vehicle was built in the late 1920's and early 1930's."

"The rocket engine (only the top tube housed an engine, the other three were dummies) was built by Daniel and Floyd Hungerford."


http://www.home.earthlink.net/~shadetree-imagineering/id5.html



http://www.home.earthlink.net/~shadetree-imagineering/id9.html

 

"......photos of the world's largest rocket car, and liquid-fueled rocket engine, as of 1931. The chief engineer was Altons Pietsch, the vehicle weighed 4,000 lbs. and the public trial took place at Berlin's Templehof airport on May 3, 1931."

http://automobileandamericanlife.blogspot.com/2009/09/rocket-cars-from-1920s-and-1930s-lou.html

 

http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/articles/August1930_700.jpg

 

"Sig Haugdahl built the first man-driven rocket powered car in the early 1930s. An earlier effort, built in Germany a few years earlier, was an unmanned rocket sled that ran on a rail. Sig only drove the rocket car in exhibition runs, the first public one being on June 17, 1932 at the Bo Sterns Speedway, 10343 N. Broadway (then Lawrence Highway), Wichita, Kansas."

http://winfield.50megs.com/JetCar.htm

 

Max Valier "He drove his rocket car 150 mph in the 1920s."

http://jalopnik.com/5562673/the-rocket+car-man-who-helped-put-us-on-the-moon

and, in 1928 (You Tube clip) -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59rNGO4FTlo&feature=player_embedded