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

The Antique Automobile Club Of America created there Historic Preservation Of original Features Class (HPOF) in 1988. A list in the March April 1989 Antique Automobile Magazine recognizes the first 88 HPOF cars. Two very unusual makes appear in this listing; A 1915 Reading-Standard in Media, Pennsylvania and a 1914 Tahis Spl. race car in Spring Valley, California

I could find nothing on the Reading-Standard online but I did find the following pictures of A 1914 Tahis Special at:

http://www.supercars.net/Pics?viewPic=y&source=gal&uID=119513&gID=2344&pgID=2&pID=911454

They were taken at the Quail Motorsports Gathering in 2009. I'm assuming it's the same Tahis Spl. as in the 1989 AACA Listing.

 

TAHIS SPECIAL; Tahis is a Greek word for Speedy The Tahis Special has a lengthy history in American speedway and road racing. Frederick Robinson of Chicago, Illinois constructed the car. The first races for the Tahis Special were the Chicago Automobile Club Trophy and the Elgin National Trophy held in Elgin, Illinois in August 1914 and driven by Mort Roberts, a well-known driver of the day. In 1915 Mr. Robinson brought the car to the West Coast for the San Diego Exposition Road Race held at Point Loma in January. The Tahis Special was the first car entered in this race and was featured in a lot of the press articles because of a supposed search for a driver. In February they went to San Francisco for the U. S. Grand Prix and the Vanderbilt Cup races. In the Grand Prix, a tire was thrown from a wheel at speed and ran over a U.S. Marine guard who attempted to stop it while doing spectator control duty. During early 1915 Jack Gable drove the Tahis Special. Gable was a riding mechanic for "Wild Bob" Burman in the Indianapolis 500 in 1915 and possibly earlier.

Courtesy of;

http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums...n=view&current=mont05aAA-1.jpg&sort=ascending

<form action="http://s1011.photobucket.com/albums/af233/carl44s/preww2motorsports/?action=view&current=mont05aAA-1.jpg" name="formFullView" id="formFullView" method="post"> </form>

 

This 1904 Fredonia was the first automobile to pass through the village of Williamsport, West Virginia. The driver is not identified but the passenger is Krampton Marshall.

The picture is courtesy of Edward W. Weaver of Burlington, West Virginia and was on the inside cover of the November-December 1981 Antique Automobile Magazine.

 

Manufactured in Rochester, NY

 

General Motors didn't introduce the Pontiac to the American Auto Industry until 1926 but the there was a Pontiac long before this.

F. Lefebvre of Barre, Marieville, Quebec, Canada was adverting this 1908 Pontiac Runabout in the November-December 1985 Antique Automobile Magazine. His ad read;

1908 Pontiac Runabout. The only example known to exist of this particular model mounted on pneumatic tires. Well documented. Mint Condition.

 

The owners of the Pontiac Springs and Wagon Works of Pontiac, Michigan started building rapid trucks in 1904. By 1907, they decided to also produce an automobile, the 'Pontiac.' A prototype was displayed at the Grand Central Palace Exhibition of the Carriage Dealers Association in October, 1907. In 1908, after fewer than 40 cars were built, the Pontiac Springs and Wagon Works sold its building and part of its equipment to the Motorcar Company makers of the Cartercar. Correspondence from 1929 indicates that General Motors management was not aware of this earlier Pontiac when they named their new car in 1926. It is believed that more 'The Pontiacs' exist, but their present whereabouts are unknown.

Courtesy of of Concept Cars at 2008 Amelia Island Concours;

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z15175/Pontiac-Buggy-Runabout.aspx

 

Searchmont Motor Company

Courtesy of Wikipedia;

The Searchmont Motor Company was an American automobile manufacturer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

It evolved in 1900 from the Keystone Motor Company of Philadelphia (1899-1900) when this company had been bought out by Theodore C. Search (1841&#8211;1920), head of the Stetson Hat Company), Spencer Trask and other local business men. Keystone managing director and engineer Edward B. Gallaher accepted a position as the plant manager with the new company. The Keystone Wagonette, a Runabout for two passengers with a water-cooled single-cylinder engine in a compartment under the seat and chain drive stayed in production as the Searchmont Wagonette until 1902. In November, 1901, the car became also available with a new 10 bhp (7.5 kW) twin. This engine was derived from the single cylinder engine (which was still offered), using as many of it's parts as possible. Initially, a Searchmont Wagonette cost 750 $.

Involved in the development of the Searchmont automobile was a young engineer named Lee Sherman Chadwick. In 1902, Trask tried to interest the well-kown French Race car driver Henri Fournier, winner of the 1901 Paris&#8211;Bordeaux and Paris&#8211;Berlin races for Mors, in the Searchmont company. Although he finally failed - he even renamed the company as the 'Fournier-Searchmont Motor Company - there is some French influence evident in the Searchmont. This is shown in a certain resemblance with the contemporary Mors, and the use of a pressure feed lubrication system; the first in a U.S. production car. This is the reason that the cars of the company were sometimes also referred to as Fournier-Searchmonts.

Two new front-engined cars appeared for 1902 which again featured many parts from the Wagonette. Both were runabouts with improved engines. The smaller and sportier Type 3 got a wheelbase of 66 in. and a 12 bhp (8.9 kW), two cylinder engine. The bigger Type IV had a wheelbase of 70 in. and 6 bhp (4.5 kW) from a single cylinder engine. Shortly later, a larger Twin, Type V appeared. It came with 4-seater Tonneau coachwork, the Type III's twin engine, and had a wheelbase of 78 in. Problem with them was the price of 2.000 - 2.250 $.

Searchmont refined the Type V and offered it as the Type VI with 8 bhp (6.0 kW) in the following year. A new addition was the Type VII, a very attractive 4-passenger Tonneau with a 10 bhp (7.5 kW) two cylinder engine and a wheelbase of 81 in. They cost 2.000 $ and 2.500 $, respectively.

Chadwick developed a four-cylinder engine with 32 bhp (24 kW) for a new Type VIII which was scheduled for 1904. This did not occur because Trask had ill speculated with capital stock, and the other partners did not wish to continue. So, the company was liquidated. The John Wanamaker Department Stores bought the remaining stock of 100 two cylinder cars for only 750 $ a piece, selling the easily at 1.200 $. One of them was bought by Charles Yale Knight who put the first of his sleeve valve engines in it.

Chadwick was very disappointed that the new four cylinder car was abandoned. He bought out all plans and already delivered parts, founded his own company, the Fairmount Engineering Works which soon became the Chadwick Engineering Works and started production. He built the car as the Chadwick Type 9 7-passenger Touring car with a a wheelbase of 107.5 in. at a price of 4.000 $. It's engine now delivered 32 bhp (24 kW) and the car became the ancestor of a well-respected luxury sports car.

Sole survivor?

There is evidence that only one Searchmont car has survived until today. This car, a Type VI Tonneau with the 10 HP two-cylinder engine, shows chassis No. 310 and is in restored condition. It participates frequently at the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run whip is open for cars built before December 31, 1904.

I would have to disagree with the sole survivor theory as the first picture below is of a 1902 Searchmont taken in 1959. This vehicle must still exist somewhere. I can't believe someone would of destroyed it after 1959.

Searchmont Wagonette (1901), derived from the very similar Keystone Wagonette;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MHV_Searchmont_Wagonette_1901_02.jpg

Picture Two Below;1904 Searchmont Type VI Tonneau, Chassis No. 310, during the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 2009

1904 Searchmont Touring;

http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z13233/Searchmont-Touring.aspx

I would think at least THREE Searhmonts exist today.

 

deleted

 

Sunroof!

What timing:

Searchmont Motor Company

I was just reading about them, last night. Searchmount was one of the initial members of A.L.A.M. A.L.A.M. was the group of automobile manufacturers that were protected under the Selden Automobile patent.

Barclay H. Warburton of Searchmount was the Vice President at founding of A.L.A.M. 1903.

Initial A.L.A.M. members included Electric Vehicle (of course), Olds, Autocar, Pierce, Packard, Apperson Brothers, Searchmount, Knox, Locomobile, Haynes-Apperson, and Peerless.

Everyone needs to read "Monopoly on Wheels", by William Greenleaf.

Vintageride

 

Vintageride

Thanks for the post. I was beginning to wonder if anyone was reading this thread anymore since I seem to be the only one posting these days other then SWI once in awhile.

Ironically, I had just read an article on the Early Automobile Trade Associations;

By the year 1900, the large number of entrepreneurs and businessman already engaged in some aspect of the budding new automobile business provided sure evidence that a great industry was to be born. This gave rise to the founding of a succession of trade organizations whose relationships, included friendships, cooperation, separation and reunion.

The initial organization, founded in October of 1900, was the National Association of Automobile Manufacturers (NAAM). The purpose of the proposed organization was to "advance and protect the interests of the trade, to procure an adjustment of freight rates, to promote good roads, to procure proper legislation and the modification of recent rulings of the U.S. Treasury Department; to take needed action regarding future shows and exhibitions; and or such matters as may properly come before the meeting.

Any complete vehicle manufacturer who had produced cars for one year was eligible for membership. Component manufacturers were also invited to join and cooperate in the "formulation and adopting of various standards of business practice and manufacturing that will be truly representative of the entire industry."

Automobile manufacturers were to be accorded active membership , while accessory and parts manufacturers were considered as associate members. The organization started with 38 charter members among whom were the following; Baker Motor Vehicle Co., Duryea Power Co., Daimler Manufacturing Co., DeDion Bouton Motorette Co., Electric Motor Vehicle Co., Haynes Apperson Automobile Co., International Motor Carriage co., Knox Automobile Co., Locomobile Co of America, Mobile Company of America, Overman Automobile Co., Peerless Automobile Co., Riker Motor vehicle Co., Steamobile Co., Waltham Manufacturing Co., Winton Motor Carriage Co., Diamond Rubber Co., Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., and Jos. Dixon Crucible Co.

The occasion of the meeting was the 1900 Madison Square Garden Automobile Show, held November 3-10 - the first, truly national auto show. Incidently, there were 54 exhibitors, including automobile manufacturers and parts and accessory makers.

 

The rise of the Selden patent caused the formation of the Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (ALAM) in 1903. These two organizations often worked at cross purposes to the detriment of the NAAM, which was not an aggressive organization. The decline of the NAAM led to the formation , in February 1905, of the American Motor Car Manufacturers Association (AMCMA), an unpronouncible acronym, which doomed it to failure. This organization was comprised of Manufacturers who were opposing the Selden patent. Now, there were three contending organizations.

The Mechanical branch of the ALAM organized in 1905, with A.L. Riker of Locomobile as it's first president, performed some very significant work in standardization, and testing, which came under the purview of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) when the ALAM was downsized following the defeat of the Selden patent in 1911.

Driven by the initial favorable findings for the Selden patent in September 1909, the AMCMA dissolved in 1910. Nearly all the independents sought membership in the ALAM. With the reversal of the earlier favorable decision in January 1911, forty members of the ALAM founded the Automobile Board of Trade (ABT) In April 1911.

 

Conflicts continued. In April 1913, the ABT and the NAAM were dissolved and their memberships consolidated into the National Automobile Chamber of Commerce (NACC).

The same officers often served in more then one organization, and very often in successor organizations. For instance, Charles Clifton of Pierce-Arrow was the president of the ALAM from 1905 through 1910. The he became president of the ABT for 1911-1913. In 1913, he moved over to the NACC and became it's president.

These organizations all published catalogs and industry booklets and articles. It is often difficult in purchasing literature to know from the acronym on the cover just which period of the automobile industry and it's attendant organizations one is dealing with.

 

SUNROOF.


Excellent. Posts.


I'll have to pick up that book too.


There is more irony.


Before A.L.A.M. was formed, the Selden Patent really got it's teeth with the truly ironic backing of the Electric Vehicle Company starting in 1900.

Yes, the Electric Vehicle Company.

A twist to be sure. Under this backing, the initial Selden suits were brought against the Buffalo Gasolene Motor Company and Winton in 1900.


Vintageride

 

Nov. 3, 1900: The Grandmother of All Auto Shows

The first major automobile show in the United States opens at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

It wasn't the first automobile show held in the United States. It wasn't even the first held at Madison Square Garden. But it is considered the first modern automotive show. The week long event, sponsored by the Automobile Club of America, featured 66 exhibitors displaying 31 new fangled autos and a variety of accessories to pimp the ride.

Even then, people were getting clipped to go to these things. It cost the outrageous sum of 50 cents (about $12.75 in today's money) to attend what was known as the "horseless horse show." Despite the usurious prices, 10,000 people attended throughout the week.

Besides the latest hot models, the show featured astounding feats of braking and acceleration, and a special ramp was built to demonstrate the hill-climbing prowess of the different cars. (see attachment)

Among the show's highlights was the appearance of Ransom Eli Olds' prototype for a new model known as the "runabout." The Olds Motor Vehicle Company of Lansing, Michigan, was the first U.S. automaker to build cars in volume, churning out 425 Oldsmobiles between 1897 and 1901.

It was Olds, incidentally, and not Henry Ford, who built the first operational automotive assembly line. His runabout, also known as the Curved Dash, was the world's first mass-produced car. Built between 1901 and 1907, it sold for $650 (that's $16,500 today).

General Motors bought Oldsmobile in 1908, and produced more than 35 million vehicles under that name before the last Olds rolled off GM's Lansing assembly line April 29, 2004.

In fact, none of the automobile makes on display at the Garden that week exists today. (Not sure that I agree with this last sentence)

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1103#

 

The inaugural Chicago Auto Show revved up in 1901. General admission to the show was just 50 cents and patrons watched then new &#8220;horseless carriages&#8221; take spins on a wooden track that surrounded the Coliseum exposition hall&#8217;s main floor. The attraction&#8217;s main goal apparently was to help dispel public apprehensions and convince locals that motor vehicles were safe and easy to handle. At the helm was Sam Miles, editor of Motor Age magazine and the man who would become known as the father of the modern auto show.

The show ran once annually except during the 1930s and 1940s. Throughout the &#8217;30s, it was held twice a year with shows staged during the spring and fall &#8211; an indirect request of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who sought to boost demand for cars and, thus, jobs in auto plants. In a dramatic reversal, the show stopped production altogether from 1941-49 as plants redirected their efforts to meeting the country&#8217;s need for war vehicles and artillery rather than the consumer&#8217;s wants. Its 1950 return was a no-holds-barred celebration complete with beauty queens, Rockette-style dancers, a full orchestra, farm animals, 3-D exhibits depicting game hunting adventures in Africa and a massive box of dirt flown in from France so patrons could walk across it and &#8220;truthfully say they had stepped foot on foreign soil.&#8221;

Image One:

1903: Coliseum. The castle-like entranceway of Chicago's Coliseum exhibition hall was located on Wabash Avenue, between 15th and 16th Sts. From 1901 through 1935, it served as the home for the annual auto shows, offering 58,000 sq. ft. of exhibit space.

Image Two:

1903: Multi Vehicle Exhibits

 

Image One;

On the cover of The Automobile magazine from 1903, is an illustration of a husband and wife braving the chilly winds off of Lake Michigan as they drove to the Chicago Auto Show. This was the 3rd annual show held at the Coliseum, once located between Wabash and Michigan Avenues, and 15th and 16th Streets. A total of 325 machines from 80 manufacturers (four foreign) are exhibited with either gas or electric, or in the case of the Columbia, both. Gas engine cars still dominated and account for 75 percent of all vehicles at show. There are 26 more exhibits in Chicago than appeared during the New York show.

Image Two;

Overhead view inside the Coliseum during the 1903 auto show illustrates the variety of both open and closed top body configurations offered by auto manufacturers. Signs indicating the location of brand names, such as Packard, Winton, Columbia and Toledo, let people know where to find their favorite car.

Image Three;

Celebrating its fourth year in business, the Searchmont Touring Car was exhibited at the 1903 Chicago Auto Show. Available in two models, the Seachmont had retail prices of $2,000 and $2,500. The Githens Brothers Co. were the Western agents for the Seachmont, with a dealership located on Michigan Ave. near the Coliseum.

Sincere Thanks to http://www.chicagoautoshow.com for the images and above information.

 

Check out this thread:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=682665

I did not want to Hijack it.

 

The first hybrid car.

In 1898, Porsche joined the Vienna-based factory Jakob Lohner & Co, that produced coaches for Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, as well as for the kings of Norway, Sweden, and Romania. Jakob Lohner had begun construction of automobiles in 1896 under Ludwig Lohner in the trans-Danubian suburb of Floridsdorf.

Their first design, unveiled in 1898, was the "System Lohner-Porsche", a carriage-like car driven by two electric motors, directly fitted to the front wheels, and powered by batteries.

This drive train construction was easily expanded to four-wheel drive, by simply mounting two more electric motors to the rear wheels as well, and indeed such a specimen was ordered by the Englishman E. W. Hart in 1900.

In December of that year, the car was presented at the Paris World Exhibition under the name Toujours-Contente. Even though this one-off vehicle had been commissioned for the purposes of racing and record-breaking, the 1,800 kg of lead acid batteries it required graphically illustrated the limits of this power train concept.

Although it "showed wonderful speed when it was allowed to sprint", the weight of its huge battery pack meant that it was singularly reluctant to climb hills.

Still employed by Lohner, Porsche reached the logical conclusion and in 1901 introduced the "Mixte" vehicle/transmission concept: instead of a massive battery-pack, an internal combustion engine was fitted to a generator to drive the electric hub motors and (for vehicle reliability) a small battery pack.

This way Porsche had created the first petroleum electric hybrid vehicle on record, although since sufficiently reliable gears and couplings weren't available at the time, he chose to make it a series-hybrid, an arrangement currently more common in diesel-electric or turbo-electric railway locomotives than automobiles.

Although over 300 of the Lohner-Porsche chassis were sold until 1906, most of them were two-wheel drive—either front- or rear-wheel driven trucks, buses and fire-engines. No further four-wheel-drive passenger cars were manufactured, however some buses were fitted with it.

The up to 56 km/h (35 mph) fast carriages broke several Austrian speed records, and also won the Exelberg Rally in 1901 with Porsche himself piloting a front-wheel drive hybrid specimen. It was later upgraded with more powerful engines from Daimler and Panhard, which proved to be enough to post more speed records.

In 1905, Porsche was recognized with the Poetting prize as Austria's most outstanding automotive engineer.

In 1902, he was drafted into military service. He served as a chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the crown prince of Austria whose assassination sparked World War I a mere decade later.

http://www.cartype.com/pages/2417/lohner_porsche__1899

 

I think Ive seen parachutes that look more aerodinamic than this ute

 

The road to the Lohner-Porsche Mixte

In 1901 Prof. Porsche developed the revised concept of his petrol-electric hybrid car into a variant that was ready for series production under the Lohner-Porsche Mixte name (borrowing the French term voitures mixtes.)

With a four-cylinder, front-mounted engine, this model mirrored the Mercedes vehicle concept just recently designed by Wilhelm Maybach but with its two wheel-hub motors still conforming to the concept of a serial hybrid car. Prof. Porsche was now using a powerful 5.5-liter, 25-hp (18 kW) four-cylinder engine from the Austrian Daimler engine company as an electrical generator. The engine was connected by a drive shaft to the electric generator located under the seat, with control handled by a primary controller next to the steering wheel.

To solve his vehicles weight problems, Prof. Porsche was constantly reducing battery size while also attempting to design a dust-proof battery housing. While the Lohner-Porsche Mixte was only able to drive a few kilometers on electric power alone because of the reduced battery capacity, the unladen weight of the four-seat touring car including body fell to around 1,200 kg.

In normal driving mode the petrol engine and generator ran at a constant speed, feeding the wheel-hub motors and battery with electricity at a constant voltage. In addition to his drive concepts high-level of efficiency, the car offered other advantages as well. By reversing the polarity, the generator could be used as an electric starter motor, eliminating the need for the strenuous and hazardous hand cranking of the engine.

Before the end of 1901, Ludwig Lohner and Prof. Ferdinand Porsche had pulled off a respectable result by selling five Lohner-Porsche Mixte cars.

With a selling price of approximately 14,000 Krone each, this made the cars very exclusive commodities. The purchaser of this initial series was Emil Jellinek, the well-known general agent of the Daimler engine company in Stuttgart-Untertkheim and the inspiration behind the first Mercedes (named after his daughter) only the year before. Despite this contact, a cooperation agreement to supply Mercedes engines failed to materialize and only seven Lohner-Porsches with Daimler engines were built. From 1903 onwards, petrol engines from Panhard & Levassor were used because the large French automotive manufacturer had acquired the license rights for France, Great Britain and Italy from Ludwig Lohner.

At about the same time, Prof. Porsche again significantly modified his car drive concepts. For the weight reasons and to reduce production cost, he dispensed with the purely electric driving capability and shrunk the battery to a minimum for initiating the starter motor. He replaced the missing energy storage unit with another innovation. The generator, designed as a stationary armature machine, was fitted with an electro-mechanical speed regulator patented as a device for automatically regulating electric generators. Prof. Porsche also ushered in a further development in wheel-hub motor technology. A redesigned hub casing allowed the kingpins to be relocated closer to the center of the wheel. This steering geometry, patented in May 1902, significantly reduced the effect of road impacts and the effort needed to turn the steering wheel. To reduce the unsprung mass of the wheels, Prof. Porsche also reduced the diameter of his wheel-hub motors, which he compensated for by using wider windings.

In April 1902, having incorporated these improvements, Prof. Porsche took his place on the starting grid for the Exelberg race. His two-seat Mixte racing car was not only visually impressive due to its modern proportions but impressive on the track, as well. His Lohner-Porsche seemed to cope effortlessly with even the steepest gradients of the 4.2-km gravel road leading up to the Exelberg, and it emerged as the victor in the large car class. Porsche received additional high-profile publicity in the autumn of 1902 when he chauffeured Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in the Lohner-Porsche during a military maneuver. The aristocratic passenger seems to have liked the vehicle with its elegant touring body. Soon after, Prof. Porsche received a thank you letter testifying just how satisfied in every respect his Imperial Majesty was after the ride.

Despite these impressive demonstrations, sales of the Mixte production variants remained far lower than expectations. With only 11 hybrid cars sold, the return on investment was not on par with the enormous technical development costs between 1900 and 1905. The main problem was undoubtedly the high sales price. Depending on design and equipment, a Lohner-Porsche Mixte cost between 14,400 and 34,028 Krone, in some cases making it almost twice as expensive as comparable, conventionally powered motor vehicles. This was compounded by the high maintenance cost of the complex drive system that was unable to keep pace with the ever increasing reliability of normal petrol cars. Pure electric vehicles, however, were economically more successful. Approximately 65 Lohner-Porsche electric cars were sold during the first five years of series production to the end of 1905.

http://press.porsche.com/news/release.php?id=642

 

The Lohner-Porsche electric car, a "Chaise" ("Chair") with the internal vehicle number 24000, was exhibited as the only Austrian car at the 1900 Paris World Fair. A news report at the time described the development of the first-ever transmissionless vehicle as a revolutionary innovation.

The electric motors in the hubs of the front wheels had an output of 1.8 kW at 120 rpm. The 44-cell, 80-volt rechargeable battery with a capacity of 300 Ah gave the car a range of 50 km / 30 miles between recharges. The maximum speed was 50 km/h / 30 mph. The slow speed of the electric motor permitted direct drive and installation in the wheel. The motor operated without chains and thus without mechanical power loss.

Consequently, the electric motor was extremely efficient and was almost silent during operation. The total weight of the vehicle was 1205 kg / 2657 lbs. The car could be braked at all four wheels - by the motors at the front axle and with the aid of a mechanical strap brake at the rear axle. Ferdinand also victoriously tested his designs in races - he won on the Semmering circuit near Vienna in 1900.

http://stuttcars.com/about-porsche/ferdinand-porsche/

 

This is a great list. We just picked up a 1915 Standard Eight that has maybe the earliest known Herschell Spillman V8 that has 283 cu-in. If anyone has knowledge or literature on these let us know. Thanks

 

OldVWs, WELCOME to the HAMB! Hope the water tube repair is going well and you will be touring in a few months. Bob

 

Who built the Herschell Spillman V8?

The attached posted article looks to show that the Standard Steel Car Company, builder of the Standard Eight bought the Pittsburgh Model Engine Co. When my brother bought the Standard Eight it came with documentation that stated the engine was made in the Pittsburgh Model Engine Co. The original owner was Rockwell from Rockwell Industries and this car was in their lobby in Pittsburgh for many years. The poster shows that the cars engine was made in the Rockwell building. At some point Rockwell purchased the old Pittsburgh Model Engine Co, most likely right from the Standard Steel Car Co.

It looks like this company made the Herschell Spillman motors. My brother called the archives in Tonowanda and they didn't have any records of the V8 motor, maybe because the manufacturing of it was outsourced?

The Strandard Steel Car Company decided to buy the whole factory.

We know of 4 Standard Eight cars now. Certainly these are not extinct.

 

OldVWS;

Thank You for posting about your most interesting Standard Eight. Very neat car. I should hook you up with a friend of mine that is into old VW'S if your interested.

Jim

 

Thanks Bob, he dropped the water tubes off last week. Can't wait to get them back and fire it up again. This is a great site and this particular thread is awesome.