![Magnets, Hen Houses and an Emporer.]()
RM Auctions are holding their next car auction at Hershey, that mecca for old car enthusiasts to mingle amongst thousands of stalls to buy and sell their autojumble stuff. There are 180 lots in their
catalogue and many come from the collections of John Moir (1st session) and Jeffrey Day (2nd session). Lot 257 is a
1905 FIAT 60 HP Five-Passenger Tourer by Quinby & Co. and is a truly fabulous motor car. With its 4 cylinder
T-head engine of 10.6 litres, 4-speed gearbox and twin chain drive it’s easy to understand why this car is considered to be the first true Italian supercar. When delivered to first owner Mr. Anheuser Busch Sr. it was the most expensive car in the world with aluminium bodywork,
racing sprockets and recommendation from his close friend and fellow potentate, Kaiser Wilhelm II, the emperor of Germany, who had recently shelved his Mercedes for one of the Italian cars (in what proved to be somewhat of a public relations blunder!). The description even teaches us a new adjective ‘uber-premium’.
John Moir was a successful coffee importer in 1912 and on a trip to New York he bought his first car from Flandreau & Company, an importer of early French automobiles. It was a
1911 Brasier 11/15 HP Runabout, appealing to his ‘Yankee thrift’, but sold it after 10 years when his wife grew worried about driving her young children in a car with no doors. After WW2 he tracked the car down languishing unloved in a hen house, bought it back and had it restored. By 1978 he could no longer crank the engine and it went to a museum. Then in 1983, his daughter saw it for sale and it returned to the family for the third and final time. This collector’s raison d'être was to have a car with a name of every letter of the alphabet, so when it comes to ‘G’ what do you buy? A GN of course! Lot 113 is a
1914 GN Cyclecar – “wild, woolly, and wonderfully unconventional.” ‘S’ is a
1913 Spacke Cyclecar Prototype – “For sheer popularity and charm, this little gem is unbeatable”. If magnetism is your thing, then you’re in luck. The
1896 Armstrong Phaeton was discovered gathering dust in an old horse shoe nail plant in 1963. It bristles with features that would not be seen on other production vehicles for many years to come. These included a tubular chassis frame, electric lights, and electromagnetically controlled inlet valves. The electromagnetic starter within the flywheels is called “the commencer” and transmission is a 3-speed unit with additional variable magnetic drive.
A more conventional electric car is also offered – a
1908 Baker Electric Model V Victoria – much like the one driven by Mary McConnell Borah who you may remember from
Independence Day? The unique
1899 Crouch Steam Runabout will certainly find a buyer amongst steam buffs and the previous owner has offered to travel to the new owner’s home (at their expense) and instruct them in the car’s operation. Money well spent I’d say! Why anyone would want to paint their car brown is beyond me, but in the case of this
1930 Cadillac V-16 Roadster there are plenty of other features to allow the well-heeled young man to get the most from his fleet two-passenger roadster known as the “
gentleman’s open performance machine”. The rumble of the V-16 exhaust helped, I’m sure.
The
1928 Jowett 7/17 Sports Racer was described by John Moir as “one of the crown jewels in his collection”. The air-cooled horizontally opposed
flat twin engine of just 907cc fascinated him. I approve of the pleasing eau-de-nil colour scheme and the inclusion of detailed starting instructions for the new owner. And for those who like wicker bodies, there’s
THIS.
(Text by Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy RM Auctions)
