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

You know, in the five years I've lived here, I've never taken the opportunity to go up there and view it. Heck, I can almost see the museum from where I work.

That said, I did do a little research on it recently, trying to find out exactly where Martin built the Wasp:

http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/12/21/in-search-of-the-birthplace-of-the-martin-wasp/

I was stymied by the fact that Keith Marvin, who was perhaps the preeminent researcher on the Wasp, died just a couple months before I did that digging, thus taking a lot of knowledge of the Wasp with him.

But I did indeed hear of the second Wasp turning up when I was looking into it, and I made a request for photos of it, but have yet to receive those photos.

dan

 

Hiya, Dan! The Hemmings piece is VERY interesting!

Carl Martin was a pretty fascinating guy. He wasn't some unqualified car dreamer or tinkerer who fell out of the sky. He actually had considerable experience designing and building cars for others companies, in the Midwest, before settling in Vermont to build a car HIS way. Roamer was one company he'd assisted, though I'd have to go back to some sources to find more right now. It would surely be great if Martin himself had left more letters and documents behind to fill in some blanks!
The Bennington/Martin WASP is one of the cars that I find most fascinating -- right in the ultra-rare and mysterious class with the Heine-Velox (first generation) and the ReVere/Richelieu/Barbarino. An example of how elusive WASP info is: the tremendous range and speculation about just how MANY Martin made! I also have not seen anything about the engines used, though your Hemmings piece notes he switched later from four-cylinder to six. I might add that one seemingly reliable piece I read indicated that the two known WASPs are probably cars assembled MUCH later out of left-over WASP components -- perhaps even as late as the 1950s!
It does seem very apparent that Martin's venture ultimately folded because he just couldn't sell the cars at the price that intensive production forced him to charge (shades of Heine-Velox).
Still, they're fascinating cars that help to define the era of the early '20s when the industry was really shifting to mass-production, leaving the small or exclusive automakers out in the cold. Along with that, I am enamored with the "riksha-phaeton" body style, the INEXPLICABLE fins down the middle of the hood, as well as the rare reference to a decorative "propeller" on the radiator cap!!!

 

Folks, they don't get much scarcer than one-of-a-kind!


1965 Mercer Cobra retro-revival styled by Exner's studio and built
in Italy on a Cobra chassis and with full Corbra drive train. One
of several Exner-conceived revival cars, originally featured in 1963
in Esquire magazine. Sincere appeciation for the photo is expressed
to the web resource fortunecity.com.


Exner's revival version Bugatti, 1965. Built in Italy on an actual
post-WWII Bugatti chassis owned by Exner. Sincere appeciation
for the photo is expressed to the web resource fortunecity.com.

 

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Only two model 812 convertible Phaetons were ever produced with a "bustle trunk" like this car, which is pictured in Josh B. Malk's book Cord 810/812: The Timeless Classic. This 34,434 origional miles standard wheelbase car has received a "Verification of Originality" from the Auburn Cord Duesenburg (ACD) Club and is classified an ACD Category No. 1 Certified Original Car. This 120mph speedometer and 1936 steering wheel were all original for this vehicle. The official description dated September 22, 1997 indicates that it is an exceptional rare trunk body style with matching numbers.[/FONT]

 

1908 Christie

[SIZE=-1] After experiencing frequent blowouts during a 400 mile trip, John Walter Christie sought a way to reduce tire wear and other maintenance costs through simpler design. That search led to front wheel drive. Christie reasoned that he could lighten a car and give it better balance by applying power to the front, rather than rear, wheels. Front wheel drive helped Christie post a respectable 42.2 second mile and to win a 50 mile race at Ormond Beach, Florida, in 1905. After spectators praised the car, Christie opened the Christie Direct Action Motor Car Company. To enhance sales, he entered the Vanderbilt Cup Race of 1907. His new model was powered by a 19,891 cc V-4 - the largest engine ever to compete in a Grand Prix. Unfortunately, the car was insufficiently tested and broke down on its fifth lap. Christie did well in several dirt track races that summer until he was injured in an accident. His efforts, however, attracted no new investors, and the Christie Direct Action Motor Car Company slid into receivership in 1908. Using 'direct drive' once again, Christie built his last car in 1909. He posted a 57 second mile - a track record - at Grossse Pointe, Michigan, but received no orders. George Robertson drove the car for a 30.39 second mile before the engine failed. Thus ended Christie's racing career, but not his contributions to automotive progress..." [/SIZE]

 

My dad only started driving Chrysler New Yorkers when well-maintained DeSotos were no longer available. Those who enjoyed driving the DeSoto make in its true, brief heyday of 1955 to 1959 lamented the make's cancellation in November 1960 -- even though the last two model-years' DeSotos were nothing more than re-badged Dodges, rolling off the Dodge assembly lines. (DeSoto's decades-old traditional plant was boarded up after the '59 models.)

Completed in late-1959, here's the concept for the 1962 DeSoto. As a DeSoto lover, all I can say is YUCK! This is a car better off NOT getting built, and it wasn't built. Instead, the DeSoto name died, and the Valiant -- which had been designed on DeSoto drawing boards -- became a very successful Plymouth for 1960 (and Dodge Lancer a year later), while the full-size Dodge Custom 880 for 1962 was really just a cobble-together, big DeSoto in disguise.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=400 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>
</CENTER><CENTER>Publications International, Ltd.</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>



For an awfully well-written analysis on the demise of DeSoto in its
feeble last days, please see the entry, HowStuffWorks, "The Last
DeSoto." This is the source of the photos shown here, and sincere
appreciation is expressed to Publications International, LTD.



With DeSoto officially out of the picture for 1962, a mad MoPar scramble produced this full-size "Dodge" Custom 880, solely to fill a market price-gap in the Dodge line -- the gap that DeSoto had previous occupied. The front sheet metal was Dodge Polara, the rear Chrysler Newport.

 

I know it's a truck, but would anyone have more info/pics (especially of the engine) on Samson trucks?

They were built from 1919 to 1923, when they were taken over by GMC. I'm looking for the timing cover for one!

 

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]2005 CRUISIN&#8217; AUTUMN TROPHY WINNERS[/FONT]


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James Loven
Paris, TX
1919 Samson Truck

http://www.cruisinautumncarshow.com/Html/results05.html

Hey Mac the Yankee, looks like I have a new mission if I choose to accept it.

 

I like the sedan bustle better. It looks like it's part of the body while this definitely looks like an add on.

 

1920 Samson Model 15. (HP)

Bill Richardson Truck Museum
CCMV - Classic Commercial Motor Vehicles @ fotopic.net



http://ccmv.fotopic.net/c1313151.html

 

Just a kewl old pic

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<SCRIPT type=text/javascript>F.decorate(_ge('photo_notes'), F._photo_notes).notes_go_go_go(2036501755, 'http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2303/2036501755_b0a43f41e8_t.jpg', '3.1444');</SCRIPT><FORM style="VISIBILITY: hidden" id=fave_form method=post>photo of old photo...circa 1920 Liberty Street Buick Garage, Samson truck </FORM>
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Geez man!

You must have searching down to an art... care to find me that timing cover ?

 

Samson Sieve Grip Tractor

This California-based company was acquired by General Motors in 1919. The business plan was to build both tractors and trucks for the farm market but none of its products succeeded. The operation was scrapped in 1923 after losses of $33 million.

 

GMC Samson Truck Engine which was also used in the Samson 30 steel wheel tractors of the 19-teens The tractor was made is Stockton CA but not sure if the motor came from GMC's plant in Janeville WI or from California where the tractor was made.

http://www.enginads.com/classifieds/showproduct.php/product/33583/limit/recent

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD align=left>Wanted: GMC Samson Truck Engine for Samson 30 tractor </TD><TD noWrap align=right>Email BuyerPM Buyer </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by Mac the Yankee
Geez man!

You must have searching down to an art... care to find me that timing cover ?
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Mac, I am here to ATTEST, he DOES have it down pat!!! HJ's a wizard at research.

 

Funny how one pic can bring back deep, nostalgic memories! I had one just like THIS when I was young!



Okay, HEY look! If HJ can throw in a NOSTALGIC pic (#2507), I can too! LOL

 

HJM,

That's one of the engines used, but there is one that's truly based on the Chevrolet 4- here's a pic of a '27 Chevrolet automobile engine:

 

Jimi; Funny how one pic can bring back deep, nostalgic memories! I had one just like THIS when I was young!

Me; The girl or the car? LOL

 

Silly! The 32 (by24, by 34), of course!

Oh! You actually saw a little CAR in that shot??? LOL

 

Pretty fancy car for 1895, eh?


Sincere thanks to earlyamericanautomobiles.com for this fine color
shot of an 1895 Chicago Benton Harbor Autocycle, Chicago Auto-
mobile Co. According to WIKI, the Chicago was made from 1895-
1899 (though several other, later makes were called Chicago, too).

 

Here's one I photograhed on the streets of Minneapolis years ago. Bet you'll never figure out what it started life as.

 

Must be rare as a live Dodo bird. The American Scout,
only made ONE year, 1913. Don't even know WHERE or
WHO made it. Doesn't even appear on WIKI's big list
of defunct makes! (Ugly little mutha-humpa, eh?)



Sincere thanks for this photo to: Oldtimer gallery.
Cars. Pre-1932 types, USA. See MORE at
www.autogallery.org.ru/ppreus.htm

 

Mystery solved. Turns out, the source for the previous pic neglected to mention that the American Scout was not a stand-alone make but, instead one of the FINAL offerings of American Underslung before the company went under.

The Americans were known for high quality, great handling AND high price. Trying to consolidate market, the company eliminated all conventionally-sprung moadels in 1912 and officially changed its name from American to American Underslung -- a little too little AND a little too late.

Any-who, the Scout shown here (with a little 159-CID four) sold at Meadowbrook in '93 for over $100,000. Full-size Underslungs come up rarely and can command in the $400,000 range.


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0 itxtvisited="1"><TBODY itxtvisited="1"><TR itxtvisited="1"><TD vAlign=center align=middle itxtvisited="1"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> Sincere appreciation is expressed to UltimateCarPage.com
for this crisp photo of a 1913 American Underslung "Scout."

 

You don't see these very often, do you Jimi?

 

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1916 - 1928 Chevrolet Parts for Four Cylinder Models​

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http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/1916_28parts/index.htm

Timing Gear Cover Part Number 345511

 

1923 Instructions for the Operation and Care of Chevrolet motor Cars - Four Ninety and Superior Models
(Contributed and Originally Scanned by Per-Ake Larsson)

Click on Image above to ENLARGE​

http://chevy.oldcarmanualproject.com/chevyowner/23omindex.htm

 

This is an awesome thread, but you don't have to go looking for pre-war rarities
Go to most car shows and try to find more than a couple Mopar rods! Ha!