History Who can tell me about this FRONTENAC RACING grill shell ???

Well,....

You guys are going to have to wait, I cant get back over there until next week when he gets back from vacation,... ( they were packing the car as I called him back to negotiate a deal,.... And guy's I am paying every penny for it, maybe more then its worth).

As far as the radiator goes, it weighs about 45 to 50 LBS.(I was surprised at the weight for such a small radiator,.. but this puppy is thick) and your looking the actual radiator, there is only a three piece shell around it, in the back on the bottom there is a place where two outlet were to go on either side of the crank hole that goes straight through the radiator,... I can't remember what the top (back) looks like,..... But this is NO Model T radiator. the shape of the actual radiator mimics the outline of the shell perfectly.

Again, this is just something to hang on the shop (office) wall,.... and I am paying a big chunk of cabbage for it.

 

This just in from the cheap seats. BUY IT, you'll never find another one to say you paid too much for this one.

 

Dennis - you sure come across some great stuff! And right here in the woods of Northern Michigan.

 

Before you know it you'll be a Fronty expert and you'll be building a car around that radiator

Pete

 

Ditto, this is ain't duece parts...or just send thier contact info to me.

 

Well, he says he's going to buy it. Will be interesting to see just what it's from - who knows, maybe it's big ticket enough to swap for a deuce body -

 

Looks like a honeycomb core, the weight comes from the m***ive amounts of solder required to put it all together. Some early finned cores were dipped in a bath of melted solder to seal them completely, in fact a Russian tractor factory Zetor )Sp?) still does. My father used to re-core the imports as they didn't cool well enough for the Australian climate. Those ****ers were HEAVY!
If its the real deal you cant go wrong, but....... just what is a large chunk of cabbage?
(You knew one ***hole was gonna ask....)

 

Those Zetors don't cool well enough for the midwest U.S. either, pop used to carry a five gal bucket of water with him when MoDot had those pile of **** tractors. As far as the rad, buy it, when will you ever see another? and you will kick yourself for not doing it. My shop is full of stuff on the walls that serve no purpose other than neat to look at.

 

This was 8 pages back when I got home today. Any new info?

 

I'm thinking he won't find out until next week. Guess we'll have to keep bumping it.

 

Doug, I was hoping some one would confirn or disprove my belief that this is the same radiator as the one in the 1920 INDY 500 wreck I posted. Just think, if one of the three Chevrolet brothers didn't install this radiator at the very least they stood in front of it.

 

As if the rad shell wasn't enough to generate my imagination, the above statement makes it all the more majestic!

 

Well said a prayer that you will own it!

How ever I don't think it to be off of
a Indy Car to small.

I do think it is real FRONTENAC!

 

Well put, Bob!


Here's a copy of one of the catalogue pages- not the best shot of the radiator, but I have a better pic of (I think) Tommy Milton in a Fronty that has a radiator that may be a match at work... will post tomorrow.

 

Maybe there's a little Chevrolet DNA on it. We could clone Louis, GM could use the help right now.

 

Which Doug are you speaking too...? Either way I agree.

 

Hi guy's,...

I am glad/happy about all the interest this thread has stirred up,... but was hoping it might simmer down for a week or so until it's physically secured in my grubby little meat hooks,...

As soon as it is I will post a lot of detailed pictures, so hopefully we can get to the bottom of this,....... thanks so much for all the interest and information,....... It should make some way cool wall art.

If you want, please P.M. Me,.. thanks

 

Here's the pic I was talking about- not as great as I was thinking, but maybe some help:

 

Bump cuz it's a great thread and I wanna know.

 

Apparently there's another super stud named Doug besides me! I thought your real name was Fur.

 

there are some pretty good pics of the emblem on this car , it looks the same to me.....http://myindycar.com/pictures.html

 

here is another link ....http://winfield.50megs.com/sullivan.htm ...at the bottom right is a link to Bob Lawrence , he may be able to help you identify your radiator.

 

Ok, There is a PA. and CA. Doug, please stay on your sides of the Mississippi.

 

Here's an interesting radiator pre-WWII I have been looking at. Too bad the grill shell is gone. Its about 15" wide and 22" tall. Neat piece but not as rare as the one in question.

 

That looks nice, something from the UK, AC, Morris Cowley or something like that.

 

What ever happened Harms Way ?

 

Frontenac ad from the 1920s



The rad looks something like the one the OP has but not exactly, the difference could be just artistic license. Notice the front suspension with transverse leaf spring and Model T axle, but the axle is dropped and appears beefier than stock. More artistic license?

Car racing was a big draw in the period 1907 - 1915 but after that cars became common and the novelty wore off. Racing was dying because there was not enough money in the game to support expensive racing cars.

The Chevrolet brothers got the idea of making speed parts and accessories to convert a Model T into a race car. Of course it would not be as fast as a Miller or Duesenberg but would only cost $1000 to $1500 vs $10,000 to $15,000. If enough guys built enough race cars promoters could put on races on every dirt track and horse track and that is what happened. As long as the cars were evenly matched you had some compe***ive racing.

It wasn't long before these streamlined bodies and hopped up motors found their way onto the street. This may be the beginning of hot rodding as we know it.

PS they couldn't use the name Chevrolet because GM owned it by that time.