Staver, 1907-1914, Chicago, according to Wikipedia quick check. Fours and sixes during the run. Pretty pricey cars, compared to the better-selling cars of the time. (About three times the price of, say, a Brush.)
From the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942,: Staver cars were built by the Staver Carriage Company of Chicago from 1907-1914 beginning with a 2cylinder, planetary transmission highwheeler capable of 30 MPH in 1907-1909. In 1910 the Staver Motor Company was established and began manufacture of 4cylinder conventional cars until its demise in 1914. Oddly, in 1912 the Staver Motor Company bought the wagon business of Mitchell-Lewis of Racine WI, not a brilliant move in the car business. The Staver emblem was a buck's head with an arrow through the neck.
Pasadena Hotrod: Great post. Boy would I love to buy a copy of that book, but when I checked, I couldn't afford it. Buck's Head with an arrow through the neck? Not a good shot by accepted hunting standards. LOL. But, then, maybe it was a metaphore for the dumb move of buying out Mitchell-Lewis?
Are you actually looking for a racing history of Staver? I'm the dude writing the story for HCC; there's a sidebar on racing in the story that probably won't make it into print--much of my Monckmeier history came from that, but here's the whole thing. Merry Christmas. The Racing Stavers As soon as the new, fully developed 30hp 1910 models appeared in the spring, Stavers started racing. From the beginning, Gus The Little Swede Monckmeier (a German immigrant, his nickname is obscure) was their factory driver, joined that year by Ned Crane and Chester Cheney. Monckmeier had earlier worked as an engineer in the Long Island Mercedes factory, so he probably served more like a modern test driver, rather than just a racer. Staver was in the right place at the right time, because 1910 marked the debut of the Elgin National Road Races, which instantly became one of the premier events of the day. After Ned Crane was disqualified on the final lap (for almost taking Arthur Greiners National off the track when pitting) and Cheneys car broke down after 42 minutes, Monckmeier was left to carry the flag, taking the Fox River trophy in just over three hours before more than 50,000 spectators. From there, they were off and running, with Monckmeier sparkling at the Algonquin Hill Climb and two Staver entrants at the Indianapolis Speedway in September. There, Keifers Class B, Division 2 entry (161 to 230-cu. in. displacement) entry took second, and Arthur Greiner finished third in a five-mile race. Formerly a Renault and Stoddard-Dayton driver, he was one of many successful opponents who found himself in a Staver sweater a few races later. Ned Crane didnt make it back for the 1911 season, killed while testing a Buick in April, but Monckmeier continued to win efficiency contests, hillclimbs and endurance events, soon joined by driver Emery Knudsen. Monckmeier, Knudsen and famed driver Ralph Ireland were all on the slate for Elgin that August, when on August 21 Ireland was killed in practice as a result of a burst tire. Ill never ride in a racing automobile again, said his mechanician (riding mechanic) Joe OBrien, who was thrown from the vehicle and spent a week in a hospital. This once has been enough for me. Ireland was as good and as careful a driver as they makeit was simply chance that killed him. Im not going to take any more of those kind of chances. Monckmeier wasnt scared offmotor racing deaths werent exactly front page news, and with Knudsen and Californian Joseph K. Nikrent (longtime holder of many Speedway Class B and C records in a Buick), did very well for the rest of the year. Nikrent was a short track specialist, and gave Stavers some of their first victories on ¾-mile tracks, as well as the exciting, nearly vertical board tracks at autodromes. Fatalities werent, but big wins were front-page news, so when Knudsen took one of two perfect scores (along with a Moline) in the Chicago Auto Clubs weeklong, Around Lake Michigan 1,355-mile reliability run in October 1911, it made the cover of Motor Age. Nikrent returned to Los Angeles for the 1912 season, but 1911 came back to haunt Staver. In the middle of another successful Around Lake Michigan run on October 21, 1912, the AAA suspended them from all competition through June 1, 1013, for a rule 75 violation: Their 1911 entries, run in the Stock class, had been revealed to be less than stock. Monckmeier and Knudsen, hundreds of miles away from Chicago and incommunicado, completed the race anyway, Monckmeier winning the W. E. Stahlmaker cup for touring cars. It appears the victory was allowed to stand. When they started racing again in the summer of 1913, it was now the 70hp Staver 65s that took the limelight. Staver engineer Dan Teetor, running in a car with an engine built by his brother Ralph at Teetor-Hartley, set a new record at the Newport, Indiana, hillclimb, 16.8 seconds in Class E (Nonstock, 451 to 600 cubic inches). Monckmeier set a record of his own in front of 35,000 spectators at the Illinois State Fair in October, 54 seconds on the mile track (eclipsed that same day by the Louis Disbrows fantastic Simplex Zip), and won the ten-mile club championship race for Chicago. He continued to race a Staver 65 through the fall of 1913 in the South, but Stavers fortunes were in decline and the company never won another race. Monckmeier wasnt quite done winning in a Staver, however: On October 1, 1914, four months after Staver ceased making automobiles, he won a 30-mile race on a one-mile dirt track at Johnson County Fairgrounds Racetrack in Iowa City, Iowa, with a time of 36 minutes, 34 seconds, beating two Buicks and a Mercer. It was his sole recorded American open-wheel, track racing victory.
Wigles, WOW! Looks as though Proscriptus" REALLY came through for you! From where I sit, this is pretty fascinating stuff. I never even HEARD of short-lived Stavers, and here they were actually a RACING force running with Mercers & Buick in the pre-WWI era! Good work, Proscriptus! BTW, DOES ANYBODY KNOW IF A STAVER OR TWO STILL EXISTS, IN A MUSEUM OR IN THE HANDS OF A COLLECTOR???
Found this Artical in the NY Times (1910), shows two Staver cars entered for the Gildden Tour. sound like a serious reliability run......... http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9803E0D61139E333A2575AC2A9639C946196D6CF Keith
· 1905 Autobuggy, Forney Museum, Denver · 1908/1909 ER, Tucson. Restored · 1910 Model H (Model I engine), Salt Lake City. Restored · 1911 Harry Staver (Wiglesworth) Special Roadster, Kansas City. Restored · 1912 40, British Columbia. Fragments · 1913 45, Oregon. Restored
Wait...1911 Staver...Wigles..Glen Wiglesworth? Owner of the HC Staver Special? The January issue of Hemmings Classic Car will have Part I of II on Staver. All your questions shall be answered.... Anything that doesn't fit in the 12-14 pages of the magazine will eventually turn up on the Hemmings blogs.
Although I have stumbled onto the Staver (Staver-Chicago) in re to the 1911 Elgin I have never attempted to research the cars. I guess I have too many mysteries with all of the Overhead cam cars that came on the scene with the new 300 cubic inch AAA limitation of 1915. In reseaching Joe Nikrent though and Mercer, I did stumble on his 1911 Elgin event (August) with the Staver Chicago. My notes indicate though that he switched to a Marmon in October of 1911 at Santa Monica finishing 2nd and was in a Case for the May 4 1912 event at Santa Monica so I gave up on the Staver-Chigao connection. It appears Proscritus did his homework on the Staver and Monckmeier. I have a written note that three Stavers ran at Elgin in 1911, Monckmeier, Robillard and Joe Nikrent although I would have to look thru ffiles to see if that is correct. Prior to the 300 era there were quite a few cars that could compete successfully and if one was to study the small tracks they would come up with some interesting cars for sure. Will look forward to an article on the cars-Jim
I have a couple of what look like nice driving lights with the Staver emblems on them, I also have a windshield frame and glass that I got from the same old guy. Not too sure if its off the same car or not. I've seen where Staver started with electric lights in 1913-14 so I would assume that's what they are off of. anyone know of someone collecting Staver parts? email me at [email protected]
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