I know theres ALOT of controversy about tradition (and PERCIEVED tradition) around here, but I have a calendar with a different car per day on my desk, and it has some of the coolest photos of cars i have no idea existed, anyway im rambling... todays car is the PEERLESS "green dragon" circa 1904, what an amazing pice of work, just look at those seats! To me, THIS is about as traditional you can get. Wish i knew some specs on it, but i just enjoy looking at it. hope you do too!
Go here for a pic of Barney's car that'll really blow you away! http://www.seriouswheels.com/1800-1919/1904-Peerless-Green-Dragon-Barney-Oldfied-C.htm
Capaigned by Barney Oldfield in 1904, restored and currently owned by Richard King in Connecticut. Awesome car. I got several pics of it at the Mt. Washington hillclimb last year, if you're interested in seeing more of it. dan
Oh yeah! I was looking at that photo online before i found the one i posted. excuse me for being such an idiot but, what is all that brass stuff on the "dash" and, what are the levers ON the steering wheel for?
Most of that is the ...uh..."Dry sump" system... Over at the side is a row of drip oilers, each serving a metered drip from the glass walled reservoirs to something, and the big brass box is a larger oil tank with sight glass, most likely serving the engine. The doodads on top are probably individual controls for amount of drip to each engine bearing. Remember, oil pumps are for streetrodgoldchainers... Levers atop the adjusters on each gadget allow the metering pin to be dropped, shutting the system down when the car is not being used. Engine runs on a totl loss system--oil drips to the bearings, then out the bottom and onto the goggles of the dude in second place...
As for the levers on the steering wheel, most likely similar to a Model T - timing and throttle. I've seen some ears that control an air dump tube in the intake manifold, so one could do that too. I'll grab the pictures when I get home tonight and post them here. d
The "Green Dragon" lives a half hour away form me, really glad you guys like this old stuff. After dinner I'll be back with some original race car photos from 1907 that will blow you away.
http://danielstrohl.com/images/forhamb/greendragonrecords.jpg http://danielstrohl.com/images/forhamb/greendragonhillclimb2.jpg http://danielstrohl.com/images/forhamb/greendragonhillclimb.jpg http://danielstrohl.com/images/forhamb/greendragonengine.jpg all from last year's Mt. Washington Hillclimb. d
wow foul, thanks for the great photos of that wonderful machine. It gives me great joy to see that it still gets driven! the engine photo, pure art! talk about form following function. those guys sure knew where it was at. also love teh "records" painted on the rear of the body, 1 mile in 51 1/5 seconds. we may snicker now, but in 1907! wowee!! thanks again for the info, guys. i love this place
I have some pics posted here of the other cars that were there: http://dabica.com/mt_washington/index.html It's interesting that a lot of the cars could be considered hot rods in one way or another...the Hemi-engined Maserati V8Ri, Allard, Flathead-powered Riley Ardent Aligator and Ol' Grey Mare, B-engined Amilcar, Cheetah and Parkinson specials, etc. Plus a couple pics of Swamp Rat III for the drag guys.
Cris, Thanks for posting the photos! I had no idea that meet was so large, great to see so many cars I worked on over 20 years ago. That maroon 1933 Riley Imp with the English plate A ON 434 was one of the best looking sports cars I ever got to paint, looks like the job has held up well. If you look at the last row of photos that blue and red car with the blue tarp is a 1907 Autocar (same company that made the trucks), I tried to buy it years ago when it was a rusty pile of parts. It is hard to believe the car turned out so nice based on what was there. Look at the steering wheel, this is the odd part of the car, the two hand grips at 9 & 3 o:clock are the spark & gas like a motorcycle hand grip. I can't imagine making a turn steering and controlling your speed at the same time. What is the date for the 2005 event?
It was actually even bigger than the pictures show. The car show part was pretty big with some great stuff...Mercer, nice original paint early Pierce Arrow coupe with staggered seating, and some other stuff. There was a '29 on Deuce rails there when I showed up but they put it away when it started to rain. A lot of people who were planning on going didn't show up because of the weather.
[Attempting to comment on the 51 1/5 sec. time for a mile by Barney Oldfield in the Green Dragon.] You're right, a mile in :51.2 on I-70 nowdays is nothing, even in an '84 Dodge minivan with a 4-cylinder. Go out to your county fairgrounds right after the horses have gone around the 1/2 mile track and try to do two laps in :51 and you'll be doing something close to what the Green Dragon was doing. It was the Bugatti Veyron of it's day and :51.2 was world record.
Hi all, So cool to find this thread on our old car! That is my father Dick King and I motoring up the access road. Daniel, I would love to see those pictures. I think this thread is old enough the links may be gone or broken. Any chance you could send them to me? My email is sking @ kingindustries . com (no spaces of course) Best, Shenton
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