Gaston Chevrolet poses in his race car #4 at the Tacoma Speedway which appears to be the 500 winning car. Gaston was racing his Frontenac race car at the July 5, 1920 Tacoma Classic. Fresh from a Memorial Day victory at the Indy 500, he finished a disappointing 7th in Tacoma. 1920 was the last year that Gaston Chevrolet raced, he was killed in a crash in Beverly Hills, Ca., in November of 1920. He was posthumously awarded the 1920 AAA National Champion title.
OK, I can FINALLY add something to this discussion. Henry didn't make those parts, the Dodge Brothers did. The Boys made engines transmissions and axles for Henry until about 1911 when they ask to raise the unit price. They had 5000 employees at the time supplying Henry. Henry borrowed the only $$ he ever borrowed to buy them off. He had been paying the Boys in cash and stock and they had aquired enough stock they could have done a hostile takeover. They built their own factory and the rest is history.
In a 1912 Iron Age article a survey showed that the advancements in better metals was attributed to the auto industry. As stated Ford and Chrysler were the pioneers in seeking a better steel but both companies and the locomotive industry were still not satisfied with the product they were recieving from the suppliers. At one time Studebaker bragged about a 'secret special composition' but it was later found to be no stronger than babbit metal and the price was higher. I wonder if the war years had anything to do with the progress that was made later on.
Could that be his brother Harry seated next to him in a Schacht? Harry finished first in a Mason ahead of the E.M.F's in the 1912 Wisconsin Challenge at Milwaukee. Another photo of Billy Endicott at the West Side track, Wichita. 1917.
A bunch of great pics and you are correct on these Durant owned Chevrolet racers actually being the Stutz OHC cars carrying Wisconsin engines. Although I have not researched it too deeply I believe these OHC engines owe maybe a bit of their DNA to the Peugeot drawings supplied by Burman and his patron LC Erbes. Burman later sued Wisconsin over their OHC engines but I am not sure of the result of the lawsuit (still on my list of mysteries to unravel). Of course Burman's next engine shop that he visited was Millers West coast emporium and the rest is history. Great pics-Jim
Keith, David, Kurtis and Doug all a bunch of great photos. Kind of all over the map but that is what helps this thread a pretty decent thread to say the least.-Jim
Jim, didn't Burman sue Wisconsin after his failure at the 1914 Indy 500? He raced the 'Centipedes' car with the copy of the Delage 4 cylinder engine. Maybe his untimely death in 1916 put an end to any court proceedings.
Keith, Thanks for posting the photos. The car closest to the camera has holes drilled in the brake drums, is this a one off deal or did some MERCERS have them? I remember seeing holes in the drum on the Jay Leno MERCER, wonder if they are the same car?
The37Kid Im at work and thanks to our wonderfull 'new' sofware cannot see any of the pictures etc.that are posted. (red crosses abound !) I will have to look tonight Keith
Here is an old HAMB thread that needs that photo added to it.http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=368075&highlight=frontenac+radiator
Kurtis....perhaps they have the caption of the photo wrong. If Harry finished first in the race in the Mason I would say that it is Harry, not Bill behind the mask. Could that be Bill riding with him? I have a lot of Mason and Duesenberg photos and info as I take care of a 16 valve. I compared the masked man photo with photos of other Masons and the cowl shape and the steering wheel and it's position is a match.
T-Head, you are correct. I had a look at the Elgin photos and i will agree with you. That is Harry with Jim McNamara seated next to him. another photo of the two at Elgin here.. www.gettyimages.com/detail/87248131/Hulton-Archive Did Rickenbacker ever use this mask?
Kurtis the Detroit News 12/5/15 p5 of the Sports section reported the Burman was returning to Detroit from Waterloo and was bringing one of the Burman specials he built for the 1914 Indy. LC Erbes of Waterloo who backed Burman in the purchase of his Peugeot has sued the Wisconsin Motors for $200,000 alleging they made duplicate drawings and patterns of his Peugeot motor and then sold the copied engines to Harry Stutz...Stutz made some important changes...however it is admitted that the Wisconsin people prepared to build 3 duplicates Peugeot engines for Burman and these are what they sold to Stutz. Wisconsin built more than one design of OHC engines but if they had gone thru with building these and then providing them to Burman, history may have been a bit different at Miller's shop-not nonexistent necessarily just maybe different. Doug I am looking of what I have of a Simplex Zip. I thought I had a picture or two out of old magazines but if I do I am having trouble finding it.-Jim
Jim, Thanks. I didn't know that story. I have read that Burman also had problems with Wisconsin in regards to the Delage copy they had built for him and Louis Disbrow for the 1914 500. Both cars were retired after breaking conrods early in the race and as you know the Delage of Rene Thomas went on to win. Keith posted a photo on the previous page. It was after this that Burman bought the Peugeot and suffered the same fate in the first few races. Miller solved this problem by copying some features from the Delage engine including the tubular rods. It's understandable why the French didn't think much of the Wisconsin Co.
I think there's atleast one more here of Harry Hartz that you have not seen before. I also have a feeling that T-Head might like one photo.
HCCA gazette had an article on Simplex including a few pictures of the cars...can you say love at first sight Helck did painting of one in a mythical race against the Blitzen Benz and the Green Dragon. A later version of the Zip's raced in the SF Grand Prize. If i had a worth while scanner.
looks like the big cars got to run at Pebble Beach in '54...looks like the Benz of Lindley Bothwell in front.
Ouote ; Keith, Thanks for posting the photos. The car closest to the camera has holes drilled in the brake drums, is this a one off deal or did some MERCERS have them? I remember seeing holes in the drum on the Jay Leno MERCER, wonder if they are the same car? The brake drums on the dark colored Mercer in the foreground are one of the racing versions. The normal drum was pressed steel but for races requiring good stopping power they used a fined drum that also had the holes for mostly cooling but also weight reduction. Leno's car is a 35-J a different model and has a set of reproduction racing drums on it that were made recently from new patterns. The photos are of machining one here in my lathe. They like the originals are cast iron which has a higher coefficient of friction than steel and better resistance to heat and the fins helped to keep the brakes from fading on road races. The second photo shows what was necessary to machine them as they are so thin. I found out years ago if I fill a part that vibrates or causes the tool bit to chatter with oil dry or kitty litter (yes unused) it dampens or kills the vibration. This is a problem on very thin parts being machined. They are very large, being over 16 " with the fins and work wonderfully and do not fade. If any of you wondered, the car on the left is a Simplex with a custom dropped axle and this is Bentel's Garage. This could possibly be the Zip at some point in it's life or a cousin.
what about the one at the foot of the last page........ ' object of an admission dispute was this 'Dickens Special' which was rejected by officials because of it's similarity to a HOT ROD, It was finally admitted...... Pricless . ..
Some more Golden Sub Pictures. 1918 Ascot Barney Oldfield - Miller Golden Submarine - coupe removed 1919 Miller Golden Submarine rebodied as Oldfield Special . .
Golden Sub again 1919 Oldfield Special - Barney Oldfield & Waldo Stein at Beverly Hills 1919 Oldfield Special - Roscoe Sarles & Waldo Stein . .
Back at Tacoma again, we have Louis Chevrolet behind the wheel of his Frontenac with his mechanic K.W. Goodson riding beside him. This photograph was taken in the days preceding the July 4th, 1919 Racing Classic on the board track. This was the iron engined, gear driven SOHC 16 valve Fronty that preceded the all aluminum engine. Chevrolet would finish first in the 80 mile and 60 mile races and come in third in the 40 mile race, winning a purse of $6,500. On the same day his brother Gaston won the 100 miler at Sheepshead Bay on the boards 3000 miles away. Although he averaged out at 105 mph during the trials, his top speed in the races was 98.5 mph
Jimmy Murphy and his mechanic Ernie Olson posed in Murphy's Duesenberg #12 on the board track of the Tacoma Speedway in July of 1920 for the July 5th Tacoma Classic. Murphy had won his first major race and the season opener, the 1920 inaugural of the Beverly Hills Speedway. He would come in 6th in Tacoma in 1920, but return to take first place in 1922. The second photo shows Murphy standing next to another team car at Tacoma.
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