Guys...a friend of mine posted this car on a local site, requesting some info on what it might be. Apparently it was the first car in some remote local town, but nobody can figure out just what make it was! The picture was supposedly taken in 1910! The little thing looks like a Hot Rod already with that dipped front axle and the fully elliptical front suspension. The whole front has a really nice look to it with everything very well placed and sized for a car that old. It appears to have some form of weather protection hood partly covering the flat dash and lower windshield, but if that were left off it would kinda/almost look like a Stutz Bearcat or something... I could really go for something like this with a hopped up banger and some steel spoke wheels! Any ideas on it???
Is that axle actually twisted tubes? Now that's wild! I want to say it's a Pic-Pic just on a guess looking at the radiator shape, but it would be unlikely...although they did have ties to Hispano-Suiza, which did have cars in North America.
Thanks for trying to help guys! By searching pics of cars you both suggested I stumbled on to what I feel the car actually is! Heres a copy of the post I made on the local forum... Took a bit of looking with nothing to go on. Thought it was English seeing as how we were an English colony at the time and its right hand drive...but then i remembered that some of the early American cars were right hand drive too. Nice little rig....speedster style...full elliptic front suspension...chain drive rear...acetylene headlamps... Thought it might be from around 1906 or so but turns out its actually from 1909 -1911 and beyond. IF the picture was actually taken in 1910...It's a METZ plan Roadster! One of the first KIT cars. You can read about it here. http://www.american-automobiles.com/Metz-Plan.html In a nut shell, Charles Metz sold it in knock-down form to help pay off the debt of another car company he had acquired. Each "package" was sold for $25.00 until you had all the packages to ***emble the car. The packages with the highest profit margin were sold first and thus he got his money quickly. He sold almost 40 THOUSAND kits! In 1911 he started selling the full car as the Model 22, but it still looked the same. If this pic is truly from 1910 it has to be the "Plan car". The first Metz Plan Roadsters (1909) were equipped with two cylinder engines rated at 10 horsepower. Features included a gearless friction drive transmission, 81 inch wheelbase, double chain drive, 28 x 2 1/2 inch wire wheels, disc brakes, aluminum body and leather seats. Imagine! Discs, Alloy body and full leather interior! Could be an advert for a MODERN Sports car!!! The equipment on the car in the pic...other than the right hand drive...make me think it might actually be a later Model 22 METZ with the 22 hp 4 cylinder engine and full weather cowl etc. Then again, that could also have been available on the "plan car". Thanks for posting that picture ...made for a very interesting search and turned out to be an amazing piece of local and WORLD history! Love to know where she ended up...
That car is not a Metz Plan car. I am positive the pic is not 1910. The plan car was a bit more primitive and was a transition model from Metz's bicycle building days, and sported dainty wire wheels. If I could get a close up pic of the front or rear wheel hubs; there is a difference between the 11/12 and the 13 and newer. the 12 2-pc hubs had a simple crossbolt that when removed, let you slide the wooden wheel off, and flip it around to change the offset....the wagon tracks down south had different track width than up north because there were southern wagons and northern wagons If you didn't already know, trains had different width tracks at the same time. The engines in the model 22 and 25 was a carbon copy of a T Ford, but no bell cast onto the pan like Ford. Supposedly Metz hired a ex-Ford designer .
I don't know for sure, but that's what I think it might be, simply by virtue of it's small size. I sat in a Brush once...it was pretty dinky...like a shrunk Model T. P.S. - Brush had wooden framerails too...with iron cross-members.
Now I don't think it's a Brush. Brush only made cars until 1912, when Mr. Brush went to work for Chevrolet. Here's a 1912 Brush. It's different that the one in your picture. Notice that this one doesn't have the curved front axle...perfectly straight. In fact, am I mistaken, or is that a wooden axle on that thing?! The way the hub is attached leads me to believe it is.
Mac...you posted while I was typing. So the Brush did have a wooden front axle...but the one the OP has posted doesn't. Not a Brush I think.
Rickybop, it may depend on the year. Again, that small size/wheelbase has me thinking Maxwell or later Brush. Hackerbilt, it would be worth posting your pic on the extinct makes thread- you would probably get a definitive answer quickly!
OK! But it IS a METZ, correct? As I mentioned the look of the whole thing matched the latter cars a bit better in my mind. I DID see Ad's for the "Plan Car" with wood spoke wheels though. It's one of the things that threw me off a bit and made me wonder. Theres at least one ad in the link that shows a "plan" with wood spokes. Also the steering on the right side. Was that available on the Model 22 as well? I agree that the photo may be later than 1910. The car looks "used" to me. Not worn out...but at least 3 years old or more. I found some photos of the friction drive "transmission"... just too cool! It's like a huge version of whats on my snowblower and works just the same. Simplicity at its best!
If you look on that link, there is a 1914 Metz 22 that looks almost identical to the photo in the thread.... Jerry
Yes, it is a Metz. I tried enlarging the pic to see the front hub. I "think" I see the 1911 to 1912 only crossbolt, and what looks like the pressed sheet br*** round hubcaps used on 11/12. If I had to bet, at this point, I am saying 1911 to 1912 I am not aware of RHD on these, is the negative flipped as was common back then??
I am fairly sure Model T manifolds will fit as well as heads. There is one central headbolt that is off about 1/4 to 1/2 inch to get around the Ford patents.
Yes...in the link there's another link to the "22" and this Ad! Must be the later "Model 22" car and a later than thought photo.
Other side showing box like starter and box shaped generator. Having a starter makes this motor maybe 1914 up or so . One of these motors would be cool for some "ford" speedster thing....it would drive T guys nuts if you ground the Metz name off the head.
Excellent! Obviously you know those cars well! The engine was set very low in the frame by the look of it. Guess those little things were a bit more stable then they first appear! With the speedster style, low CG and light weight, along with the T engine and that style transmission, I bet those things were one of the earliest cars to be Hot Rodded! They had to have a bit of a following...just too cool of a little car to have been ignored as far as I'm concerned. Like a little Stutz Bearcat!
I like the magneto drive on the Metz- that would make a neat accessory on a T engine, or like you said F&J, grind off the "Metz" on the head and leave the T guys puzzled!!! I'm looking for a Samson timing cover/etc for the same reason. Samson used Chevrolet engines, but ran a magneto... which I would like to do on my '28 Chevy 4! Sorry for the thread-stealing... now back to our regularly scheduled program...
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