History Auto racing 1894-1942

Although I cannot add much of anything of value regarding the Model L "racer" E. F Roberts and S D Waldon were both big wigs at Packard. They both worked for Packard when it was in Warren Ohio and they made the move to Detroit right about the time of this contest in 1904. Roberts eventually rose to the rank of Vice President in charge of production in the 20s I believe and Sidney Waldon was on the Board of Directors and had a stake in the company. He left Packard I believe in the teens and built his own car before moving onto other projects I suppose. The Waldon had an aluminum body (by Rubay if my memory serves me) and had a neat little OHC four. It was to be a prototype for Pierce Arrow and only the one car was built (now owned by a Pierce collector in Ca). So it is not surprising Roberts and Waldon were there as they were real Packard enthusiasts.

After the debacle of the Model K (failing to really make it into production) the Model L was not going to be another failure if Roberts and Waldon could help it.

For whatever its worth and I cannot guarantee the authenticity of the claim, some give Waldon credit for the checkered flag. I suppose if you were to Google it or whatever it may reference it. I researched it years ago and never came to any bullet-proof conclusion.

I also seem to remember that Schmidt left Packard not too long after this contest and went to Peerless and worked on some of their racecars (I believe-as I am relying on memory without looking at my notes).-Jim

 

Any idea who did this little sketch? It's great.

 

I know it's been a while since we've talked about the White that ran in the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup, but I thought I'd mention that another photo of that car recently surfaced, depicting it running the race sometime after it blew its front left tire:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2010/06/18/lost-and-found-overflow-step-aside-maam-were-racing/

I don't think I would've been able to identify it if I hadn't seen the photos of the car that ehdubya posted here last month. Thanks!

dan

 

June 1909 photograph of the #4 automobile that participated in the New York-To-Seattle, Washington “Guggenheim Cup” Ocean-to-Ocean race This is an original Bain New Service photograph with their stamp. It was probably taken just before the beginning of the race. The photo shows a crowd of spectators looking at the number 4 car of the race.

The driver and mechanic are seated in the racecar. It has a 4 written on the hood and a small 4-digit license plate. The car has old-style headlamps and a kerosene lantern on the side. These are all clearly visible in this great photograph. Handwriting on the back of the photo says, “Pilot Car NY – Seattle 6-2-1909.”

I think this might just possibly be an Acme Automobile?

PS........I just found this photo that Kurtis posted earlier with this to say about it.....Photos below are Len Zengle in an ACME. American Grand Prize-Savannah 1908. So I think we can safely identify this car as an Acme

 

Another view of the endurance run L. The first model L's had a radiator shell with no cusps, but this changed late in production, and by August of 1904 when the second run was made, the type of shell shown on kurtis' post (3824) had become standard issue.

 

1938 Deutsch et Bonnet DB1.

Does this car still exist ?

 

The Blitzen Benz is easy to identify but who can tell us what the other car is. This photo was taken at Ormond Beach.

 

An autographed photo by Montague Roberts who drove this Thomas in the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race.

 

Is that his Peerless? I have a feeling Lee Stohr will provide us with a better description of the photo.

 

Photos that are captioned Oakland Speedway, 1939 500 mile race.

Wikipedia tells us the following; The Oakland Speedway was the first motor racing track near Oakland, California, a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built in 1931, which operated throughout the Great Depression and postwar years. The track featured AAA National Championship races with Indy cars and drivers from 1931 until 1936, when the AAA pulled out of the West Coast. Thereafter the track still featured racing by members of the Bay Cities Racing Association, in roadsters and motorcycles, as well as Big Cars, stock cars, and midgets. It was known as the "fastest dirt track in the Nation".

In 1931 the Oakland Speedway was built near Oakland, but actually was located between Oakland and nearby Hayward, California, on the site of what is now Bayfair Mall in San Leandro, California.
Annually each fall the track hosted the "Oakland 500" race. Many of the local East Bay races were exhibited by the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA). In 1948 local East Bay driver Bob Barkhimer quit racing to become the Business Manager for BCRA. In 1949 Barkhimer took over San Jose Speedway and also started his own association (CSCRA), and in 1954 he co-founded west coast NASCAR.

Among top drivers who were killed at the Oakland Speedway was Clyde Rea Bray, who had held second place in the A.R.A. points in 1939, behind champion Wally Schock. Bray had come in 5th in the Oakland "500" that year. Two years later, on Labor Day, 1941, during the Oakland Speedway 500 race, on the 356th lap, Bray was fatally injured after being thrown from his car, after it sailed over the south fence.
Among legendary top race drivers who got their start at the Oakland Speedway was Bob Sweikert, the 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 at the Oakland Speedway, Sweikert drove his own handbuilt track roadster in his debut race for prize money, and finished second.

 

This is a Chadwick four cyl. marine engine but it gives you a good idea of what their incredible six's in the racing cars were like.

Note the applied copper water jackets.

 

I think this photo must have been taken seconds before T-Head's photo in post 1554.

 

From what i have read, the Chadwick engines were a popular choice for some of the racing boats although a little on the heavy side they produced great power.
I've done a thorough search but i haven't found a detailed photo of the supercharged engine. The restored example at the Seal Cove Museum, this being one of two example's known to exist and a B&W photo of the Willie Haupt driven car at the Giants Despair Hillclimb are the only one's i have seen so far but the elusive blower shot still elude's me.

This is a brochure of what was available for mariner's at the time. Not many companies gave the buyer a choice of HP rating's.

 

Nice engine shot of the restored 1907 Chadwick at the Seal Cove Auto Museum in Maine. They also have a fully restored racing car but i haven't seen that....yet.

 

Kurtis,

how good is your French ??

shows a DB2

http://www.leblogauto.com/2007/02/charles-deutsch-ou-rene-bonnet.html


http://www.motorlegend.com/histoire-automobile/rene-bonnet/8,11950.html


http://translate.googleusercontent.....co.uk&usg=ALkJrhjqijFSW7dXjAP8H1MPjm1MB6HGAQ



if you make head or tail of it let us know

.

.
Keith

 

This page is in Hungarian, and purports to show the DB1 - lots of differences from the posted car. I reckon it doesn't exist in any presentable form, or else it would turn up in one of these enthusiasts' sites:

http://autohistory.blog.hu/2009/06/01/matra_6

http://www.amicaledb.fr/galerie/index.php?imgdir=1930 et 1940

DB built several cars using wrecked Citroens, but wasn't allowed by the factory to buy new running gear. So they went with Panhard , the oldest name in French automobiles.

The DB1 had a 1.9L four from a "Traction Avant". There were several versions of the DB2, including a coupe.

 

I've done a thorough search but i haven't found a detailed photo of the supercharged engine. The restored example at the Seal Cove Museum, this being one of two example's known to exist and a B&W photo of the Willie Haupt driven car at the Giants Despair Hillclimb are the only one's i have seen so far but the elusive blower shot still elude's me.


kurtis,

There is a drawing by Lee Chadwick of the 1908 three stage centrifugal blower in AQ vol 9 number 2. The blower is hidden by bodywork in all the photos.

Paul

 

kurtis,

There is a drawing by Lee Chadwick of the 1908 three stage centrifugal blower in AQ vol 9 number 2. The blower is hidden by bodywork in all the photos.

Paul[/QUOTE]

I will take some photos of it later and post. I forgot all about that. Thanks, Paul

 

The Chadwick supercharger drawings and photos of the racing car and a roadster which each carried one. I also posted an interesting photo of part of a rear wheel chain case that I found with the marine engine photo this morning. It appears to have also held the brake shoe and its actuating mechanism.

The supercharger was supposedly driven by a leather belt from the flywheel. It appears to have several stages to boost pressure as it moves thru it.

I will post more details later if I can find them.

 

Thanks Paul and TH. Mr. Chadwick was a very clever man.
It's unfortunate the company didn't last.

 

Kurtis..... This is a brief description of how the first and second blowers on the Chadwick worked in the words of Karl Ludvigsen.

Do you have any Lozier Marine photos and information you can share with us??

 

Other long-distance outings of note included one man and his chauffeur covering 10,000 miles in the United States with no breakdowns, as well as a Pathfinder 12 driven by Walter Weidely (son of George Weidely, the designer of the engine under the hood) cross-country for a total of 4921 miles.

Engines in Pathfinders started with four-cylinder engines, proceeded to six-cylinders, before culminating in Weideley 12-cylinder engines in 1916. The V-12 engined cars were called "Pathfinder the Great, King of the Twelves."


T Head,

Here is (supposedly) a photo of George Weidely racing an X, who knows when, pre WW2, in PA. The same George Weidely who designed the oversquare, SOHC, air cooled, 45 degree VIA, roller rockered, 846 cu in monster Premier in the the Indy museum for Carl Fisher in 1905 ? And a very nice SOHC with finger followers with a central gear, shaft driven cam shown in the 1917 edition of the MGA. His big ideas seem decades ahead, but what ever happened to him ? Do you know if he was involved in the Peugeot copy Premiers ?

Paul


Does anyone have any photos of Weidely's other engines or a source of information ? The 1905 engine looks amazingly similar to the Porsche 911 engine created 60 years later. Only better in some respects. I don't think George was copying anyone on this one.

 

The Boston Evening transcript March,13 1914. #1 & 2

Automobile Magazine April,13 1916 #3

 

Weidley information from Indiana & Indianan's Vol. #4

 

A big Weidley V-12 that is in a Heine-Velox automobile. I had the spare engine for this car here 20 yrs. ago and if I remember correctly, size wise it was about 36" long and quite impressive.

****** YOUTUBE VIDEO of this engine running, link just below*****

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mBGDxQ8Arc

****** Link to the Fountain Head Museum for more info on the car*****

http://fountainheadauto.blogspot.com/2009/12/heine-velox-update_28.html

 

How about this for a neat work bench................






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Still on the 'bug' theme














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.

 

So,......... can ayone tell me more about this little beauty...........

sadly only a poor picture of a poster......





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T Head,

Thanks, I like your new photo, didn't he run for office a few years ago ? I am always telling teenagers, the (mechanical) valves should sound like a bunch of typewriters in the next room, and they look up from their Iphones and say, "what is that ?"

George was a Free Mason , that may explain it ? Those two articles are talking about two different engines, the SOHC and the OHV V12. So George did a SOHC hemi six years before Porsche, four years before Ledwinka and two year before Daimler. A OHV V12 when the Packard was a flat head and a SOHC ? with a central drive cam gear eight years before Jano. And then disappered and was forgotten. The only earlier SOHC hemi around could have been the Welsh and A.R. Welsh seems to have wound up in a cemetery in 1912. I have a few Welsh photos, but am always looking for more. I have a drawing of the Weidely SOHC with the central drive from the Modern Gasoline Automobile 1917, but my scanner needs a new oil pump.