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

MactheYankee: (man did THEY leave a bad taste in Henry's mouth AND pretty much spell the end for Harry Miller... gotta love Preston Tucker for THAT fine mess...)!

Jimi: This sounds interesting, but I'm in the dark about HOW Tucker was tied into this matter. Would you fill me in?

 

HJ, seems there's a reason the Spacke/Brook went under so fast.
The body styling seems pretty behind-the-times for 1919-20, doesn't it?

 

This picture is a real classic!

 

Though the name Rambler has a pretty humble connotation to the era of car enthusiasts, I submit that it deserves more attention -- and credit. After all, the faith of George Mason and George Romney in the 1950s enabled the once lowly Rambler to save and prolong AMC, veritably single-handedly!

But Rambler's roots go back way earlier than the '50s. From 1900 through 1914, the Rambler was THE brand produced by the Thomas B. Jeffery Co., Kenosha, WI. The 1902 Rambler pictured here is one of only about 1,500 made and sold that early year -- good enough to give Jeffrey's Rambler a strong third-place ranking in the infant auto industry, behind only Locomobile and Oldsmobile! 1902 was the first year Jeffery mass produced the Ramber, previously building cars one at a time like most other manufacturers.

During 1914, after the death of Thomas Jeffery, his son renamed the cars Jeffery. This changed when Charlie Nash, first, revamped the company, then, took it over in 1916, renaming it Nash. Nash put the Rambler name on the shelf, where it remained until its rebirth in 1951. (Fledgling Ford wouldn't even rival Rambler production until the following year, 1903. Then Rambler and Ford ran neck-and-neck for three consecutive model years.)

Incidentally, Nash counted its fiftieth-anniversary year as being 1902, dating from the first mass-produced Ramblers.


1902 Rambler, made by Thomas Jeffrey Co., Kenosha, WI. For more
information and photos, please see: www.vccc.com/galleries/1900-1915/pics1900-1915.htm on the web.



Astute for its day, this 1908 Rambler ad pushes price and utility for the
generally still-primitive driving conditions of the era. In fact, $1,400
was a moderate price, compared to some other makes. This ad is
thanks to WikiMedia Commons project, though any copyright is long
expired.

 

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Okay, guys, I'm stumped on one. Brogan, supposedly made from 1946 through 1950. Anybody ever hear of it?

I'm really wondering if this was a real start-up make, or maybe if it was a modified version of an existing model (???). I've NEVER even heard the name, and it's LATER, you know?

 

<TABLE id=sortable_table_id_0 class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Brogan</TD><TD>B and B Speciality Co, Rossmoyne, Ohio</TD><TD>10 hp (7 kW)</TD><TD>2</TD><TD>1946-1948</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Brogan B and B Speciality Co, Rossmoyne, Ohio 10 hp (7 kW) 2 seats

<H1 dir=ltr class=title>Popular Science Aug 1946

http://books.google.com/books?id=Li...Co,+Rossmoyne,+Ohio&cd=3#v=onepage&q=&f=false

</H1>Popular Science Mar 1951

http://books.google.com/books?id=Jy...resnum=7&ved=0CBwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

 

It is a microcar mamed Broganette Deluxe built by Brogan. Brogan was a American company that built a series of odd-looking three-wheelers with two-cylinder engines following the wars, between 1946 and 1952, this model was made in 1951.

 

PJ75- Brogan Runabout 1947


brogan_lineup.jpg

BROGAN_PACKAGE_CAR.jpg

 

Tucker was the middle man in the deal between Ford and Miller- there's a good write up of it in either of the Miller books.

Basically, it was a great idea, but too little time to really get things right for Indy. The cars are a work of art (typical of Miller) but the steering box was set too close to the exhaust. If they had even a DAY to test the cars out, they would have found the problem, but the schedule was impossibly tight. Instead, they went straight to Indy where every car retired early from steering failure. The heat of the exhaust literally cooked the grease out of the boxes... look at the driver's frustration in the pic I posted.

Ford was not a man who enjoyed being made to look bad- no wonder he went after Tucker when he got serious about starting a car company. For Miller, it was another unfortunate event that overshadowed his mechanical brilliance!

 

I must've been a sleep when I wrote this as it was Sonya Hjenies Cords I was inquiring about. I know where Amelias Cord is. My late father came to live in Mpls Mn at age 10 in 1941 to live with his father and stepmother. It was shortly after, that he saw his first Cord.

From that point on, he was smitten and studied the car for the rest of his life. He knew more about it then any one in this area. If some one got a Cord around here, Dad would get a phone call. Our Cord stories are endless.

One from his childhood that he told many times; Sonya Hjenie owned more then one Cord and when she was in town, Dad would walk by the place where he Convertible Coupe with a rumbleseat was stored when she was in town on the way home from school. Dad would often sit in it and admire that magnificent dash panel. The keys were always in the car and one day, he got brave enough to start it up as he wanted to hear the sound of that Cord motor. That didn't go over too well.

These striking b&w shots have the famed Norwegian Olympic figure-skating champion, Sonja Henie, posing with her Cord 810:

 

1936 1937 Cord 810-812 Dash

 

Here are the two versions of Graham Hollywood dash for comparisons sake. Btw, anyone know which was used when? I *think* the engined turned is 40 and the stripes are 41.

 

SunRoofCord, this is a wonderful B&W shot. Seems the photogs in the '30s had a special touch.

 

HJ, it's a tad ironic that I asked about another micro-car!
<STYLE type=text/css>.html_page_image { background-image:url("http://books.google.com/books?id=LiEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=RA2-PA138&img=1&zoom=3&hl=en&q=B+and+B+Speciality+Co,+Rossmoyne,+Ohio&sig=ACfU3U11u1f1CHZzEeMEqWUr4GWXSwsI6g"); width:575px;height:835px; top:0px;left:0px;position:relative}</STYLE>

 

The names Harley Earl and Harlow Curtice are household names to any automotive historian. The name Charles Chayne is not quite as familiar but it should be as this fellow is just as important to Buick history as the other two.

Yesterday, I made post # 2190 on Charles Chaynes Buick XP300 Dream car.

Last evening, I read a most fascinating article on that that car as well as a just as fascinating article on Charles Chayne in the April 2010 Collectible Automobile magazine.

If like me, the name Charles Chayne is not familiar to you, you really need to get to know more about him. Go here;

http://www.<wbr>buickheritagealliance.org/pdf/<wbr>chayne.pdf

 

Now here is one that's scarce as dodo-bird teeth!
The Lenawee was only build in 1903 and 1904
in Adrian, MI. All of the approximately 15 cars built
looked like this tonneau, and, ONLY ONE SURVIVES.
This was a venture by the Church Manuf. Co. You'll
note the left-drive and steering wheel as being in-
novative for such an early juncture. The horizontal
one-cylinder engine was situated under the front seat.



Sincere appreciation is expressed to The Auto Collections website
for this nice, clear photo of a very rare, and well-restored rare car.

 

One of the vehicles Charles Chayne owned in his personal collection as an antique automobile enthusiast of the time was a 1910 Buick Bug Racer Special

Created in just three weeks, the revolutionary Buick Bug race car was designated as a Model 60. Packing a 622 cubic-inch engine, the 2,600-pound Bug featured an aerodynamically shaped aluminum body, with streamlining even influencing the aluminum discs that cover the spoke wheels. Built as a single-seater, the Bug was the first race car to locate the driver in the center of the body both laterally and longitudinally. The principal drivers of the dominant factory Buick racing team was Louis Chevrolet and 'Wild Bob' Burman, whose car this is reputed to be. On March 30, 1911, near Jacksonville, FL, Burman drove the Bug to a speed record for a race of more than 10 miles. The NY Times reported that Burman and the Bug won the '20-mile Open Free-For-All' event at the 'Atlantic-Pablo Beach Automobile Race Meeting' at an average speed of 91.06 mph

For more on this vehicle, go here;

http://www.westernbuicks.org/Magazine/Article Buick Goes Racing.pdf

 

And another one from Ohio to boot.

 

What gets confusing is the great number of coach builders and chassis makers over the years. I have a buddy with a Peerless that was actually a kit from Peerless to make a standard Model T into a runabout or speedster. You bought the radiator, seats fenders running boards and gas tank as a kit and used your Model T chassis. This kit car thing goes all the way back to converting horse drawn wagons made by Studebaker and others into motorized vehicles. Lots of companies used Ford or Stude or White, etc. chassis and built their own bodies to make specialized cars and trucks the manufacturers didn't have in their lines. A lot of these rare nameplates are just kit cars. My great uncle in Montana when I was a kid had both a Hatfield and a McCoy that were really nothing more than converted motorized Studebaker horse drawn wagons or buggys. Seen other Hatfields, but that's the only McCoy I've ever seen or heard of. He also had a Maxwell just like Jack Benny's. My favorite tho was a buggy he had that had pedal operated leather pad disk brakes on the rear and rubber tires. Only 1 horsepower tho. Damned if I can remember who made it.

 

Another car Charles Chayne had in his personal collection was one of the six Bugatti Royales.

Everything about the Bugatti Royal is of the first magnitude. Its size, scarcity and value are extreme. Only six production chassis were built and all survive. Even among its Royale peers, however, the story of the Cabriolet that resides in the museum collection of They Henry Ford is uniquely intriguing.

The second production Royale built, it was ordered by Dr. Joseph Fuchs, a German physician and successful amateur racing driver. Dr. Fuchs had the 169.3-inch wheelbase chassis, which was delivered in 1931, bodied by Weinberger of Munich. Delivery of the completed Cabriolet occurred during 1932.

Shortly after Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany in 1933, Dr. Fuchs slipped away to Switzerland and soon traveled on to the lively open city of Shanghai, China. He had his massive Bugatti shipped to him there, but by 1937, the advance of Japanese troops into the south of China put the Doctor and his Royale on the move yet again.

Dr. Fuchs and Bugatti next traveled to Canada and then down to New York City. There, the 12.7-liter straight-eight engine in the Royale fell victim to the American winter of 1937-1938-water froze in the block, severely damaging and cracking it. Dr. Fuchs tried to sell his large, broken car, but there were no takers. Eventually it ended up in a Bronx salvage yard.

During World War II, Charles Chayne, a General Motors executive engineer, found out about the Royale in the junkyard and rescued it in 1943. He began to repair the engine and restore the car after peace returned in 1946, completing the project just a year later. Chayne also installed a custom manifold with four Stromberg carburetors in place of the original single carburetor and converted the original mechanical brakes to a hydraulic system.

During its restoration, the exterior color was changed from the original black to oyster white. Chayne also replaced the interior, modifying it to make it more adaptive to his 6-foot, 3-inch frame.

In 1958, Chayne and his wife, Esther, donated the Royale Cabriolet to the Henry Ford Museum. The museum took actual possession in 1959 and the car has remained part of the collection there since.

In May 2007, technicians from Classic & Exotic Services helped get the big car running for the first time in several years.

It is rarely removed from display at the museum, so the opportunity to view it on the grounds of Meadow Brook Hall and to see and hear it run and drive, is indeed a treat of the first magnitude.

More pics here;

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/chassisNum.aspx?carID=14214&iDNumID=2547

 

Have heard about the L29 cream yellow Cord phaeton many years, but haven´t got a chance to see it yet. .. She also had another Cord, a 1929/30.blue color. When i´m near, work, and ells its on "the other side" of the country, so had not seen it yet. Where the Cream yellow is, i´m not shure but somebody says its on a museum (but dont find it listed) and an old rumor says its still stored in a private garage/collection...

cover on a Swedish magazine, where it says Sonja Henie with her Cord, but in ladies racing,she drives a Dodge....


But its changed around at different museums over here,a long time it was on Teknisk Museum ,Oslo (Technical Museum), last year it could be viewed in the same city as the biggest 4.juli celebration cruising at Lillestrøm, just some miles north of Oslo. at Stømmen Motormuseum (http://www.motormuseet.no)

At another museum :Norwegian motorhistoric museum (www.welcome.to/nmhm)they got a Locomobil made 1903, a realy unic car..

and another museum in Horten got a unrestored original Lohner-Porsche taxi from 1903, who have front wheel drive...

 

Gary Lefevers 1926 Twin Engined Model "T" Ford Speedster

Front engine modified in 1920s for airplane use. Waukesha Ricardo Cylinder Head, Suremike Counter Balanced Crankshaft, Pressure Oiling, Special Grind Camshaft.

Rear Engine, High Compression Pistons, Milled Head, Kingston "L" 1/4 Carburetor.

Both engines fire on Number One Cylinder.

 

Smokin'Joe said: What gets confusing is the great number of coach builders and chassis makers over the years. I have a buddy with a Peerless that was actually a kit from Peerless to make a standard Model T into a runabout or speedster. You bought the radiator, seats fenders running boards and gas tank as a kit and used your Model T chassis.

Jimi responds: Smokin'Joe, I'm glad you came onto this thread, 'cause I was just ranting last week about the number of "makes" that honestly IMO were not makes at all.

I'm not DISS-ING anybody at all. These various LISTS of hundreds and thousands of U.S. car makes are impressive, sure. But when ya look INTO the details, many of these "makes" were just cars put together by tinkerers, dreamers (and people who had a few real skills in metalurgy , etc.), not really cars from any sort of incorporated company -- many one-, two-, three-man operations. Anybody who managed to get EVEN a "kit" car together (in ANY era) gets CREDIT on one of these f---ing lists. I just think it's a crock, and there needs to be at least a realization that many of these thousands of auto makes were a tempest in a teapot affairs -- even if they did amaze and entertain their neighbors!

Sure, people in every decade have followed the urge to give it a try with their OWN hand to build at least ONE car (that BEAVER out in Oregon is as good an example as any). I give them credit for American backbone & ingenuity ; but I don't consider them legitimate auto marques or "makes."

This kit car thing goes all the way back to converting horse drawn wagons made by Studebaker and others into motorized vehicles. Lots of companies used Ford or Stude or White, etc. chassis and built their own bodies to make specialized cars and trucks the manufacturers didn't have in their lines. A lot of these rare nameplates are just kit cars. My great uncle in Montana when I was a kid had both a Hatfield and a McCoy that were really nothing more than converted motorized Studebaker horse drawn wagons or buggies.

What he said.

 

Sonja Henie, a girl, then woman, who lived in politically difficult times and still comported herself well. The world is a better place for people such as she.
(And I'll throw good ol' Amelia in there, too! And note: This isn't OT, as Sonja is sitting on her Lycoming-powered Cord!)

 

This is a picture of a 33 chevy 4 dr conv and chevy records show 2,700 were made but you can't come up with anything that reflects this. The man that own this car will give it to anyone the come up with another picture of an existing car. Thats what the man said.

 

Here's an existing '33 Chevrolet 4 Door Convertible in Las Vegas. It's in the Sunbelt Classic Antique Auto Museum.

http://www.sunbeltcars.com/index.htm

Do I have to pay for shipping???? LOL

[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]1933 Chevrolet 4 Door Phaeton Convertible[/FONT]

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[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]One of the most beautiful of the 1930&#8217;s Chevrolets is this four-door convertible.[/FONT]

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[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]It has a small but adequate six cylinder engine and like all Chevrolets of that era, it was very dependable. We bought this car in its present condition.[/FONT]

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[FONT=Arial, Arial, Helvetica]Chevrolets, like Fords, were well-maintained and popular even as they got older.[/FONT]

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Bugatti Royal at the Henry Ford

 

A bit sad to see the Royale cooped up indoors..

 

Seems Spoogie has a point there. In an outdoor setting, the Royale appears to be about to take flight!!!