The "Hay" is on the Way!

The oldest car in our collection is en route to Fairbanks! Our 1898 Hay and Hotchkiss was discovered in a barn in Connecticut in the 1940s, not far from where it was built in New Haven. It passed through several owners (including the Powers Auto Museum) over the years, remaining pretty much in the unrestored condition pictured at right.

The Hay's last owner, Ambassador William Middendorf II, had Sean Brayton and Peter Pitcher begin what would turn into a very lengthy restoration of this unusual little car. This is the only Hay and Hotchkiss ever made, as the car never made it into production. This is likely due to the 4-cylinder, 8-cycle engine's odd design: Walter Hay claimed that no oil or water was needed to run it, "the motor simply running a trifle harder when no oil is used"! 

The 8 cycles of the engine gave two full revolutions to clean and cool the cylinders, giving it a pure mixture of fuel and air for complete combustion and obviate exhaust odor. The governing of the engine is done by holding the exhaust valves open and thus the admission valves are also open, so only air is exchanged. The cutout is done on opposite sides of the engine, and power requirements will cause the engine to fire as needed. Willy's opinion is that this engine would never run very well, due to its design and complicated nature. He spent a couple days with Sean Brayton of Red Star Restoration playing with this engine and it will run, but you probably won't see him taking any trips down the Parks Highway in it!

As best we know, our Hay and Hotchkiss is the earliest American four-cylinder gasoline-powered automobile still in existence. Sean just finished a complete restoration on it, and the car is now on its way to Alaska. We're pleased that the Hay was able to be shown in its birthplace of New Haven (pictured here) before beginning its voyage north. It is a striking vehicle, and you will enjoy seeing it when you come to visit.

Willy and Nancy

1928 Pierce Arrow

The museum is only open on Sundays now but the shop is hopping with activity.

At right is Carolyn Mustard, working on the upholstery of our 1928 Pierce Arrow Series 81. We are doing a complete reupholstering of the car with the correct leather and patterns. You might have noticed that it is missing the engine, transmission as well as the steering. We are doing a freshening of all the mechanical components on this car and will be able to put it back into like new driving condition.

THATS A WHAT???????????? YA SURE??????

Here docents Rick Larrick and Ron Allen are disassembling the engine out of the Pierce. Overall it looks good, with the only major problem we found was one stuck valve and the head gasket leaking, which let coolant down into the valves and a couple cylinders. We will do a valve job on it and clean up the engine bay and  try to make it oil tight??????

Willy

1917 OWEN-MAGNETIC REPAIR

Docents Jerry Mustard and Jim Movius have been hard at work on the large resistor from our 1917 Owen-Magnetic. They researched many hours and came up with a solution to duplicate what was original on the car. Upon removing the wire from the ceramic center, of course the ceramic center fell into many pieces, creating a great puzzle that we all (Ron Allen, Rick Larrick, Jerry, Jim and myself),  had fun putting back together again. After hearing comments from Rick ("Boy, that glue does get hot!") and lots of "Ooops!" and sticky fingers, we finally got it all repaired and put on the car. Now its a matter of getting the time to go through the fuel system and really check the car over before we fire it up for a test drive. More to come at a later date on the final results.

Willy

SoCal Wrap Up

I topped off my trip to southern California with visits to two very interesting collections. First, Bill Evans generously allowed me to look at his private museum, which includes three Pope-Hartfords, a lovely Pope-Toledo and a number of other great vehicles including some early race cars. I was particularly interested to see his Henderson opera coupe, which is stunning (and very red!). This is the fourth surviving Henderson automobile that I know of, including ours, although I think there is one in Washington still awaiting my discovery.

I next visited the J.A. Cooley Museum, billed as "San Diego's Most Unique Collection of  Antiques & Automobiles." You won't find a website for this place, and it doesn't look like much from the outside. However, Mr. Cooley and his wife, Carmen, have some great cars on display, including the only Hunt Special ever made, a 1900 Crest, 1912 Cartercar (pictured below), 1914 Woods Mobilette almost identical to ours, and a 1933 Olympic. While the Cooleys own over 170 cars, only about 20 are on display at a time. The museum is also full of other neat antiques, including huge collections of old clocks, model trains, typewriters, cameras and the most impressive assemblage of phonographs I've ever seen. Be sure to ask James to fire up one of the wax cylinder players if you visit, and budget some time to sit and visit with him. He's a very interesting guy. The museum is located at 4233 Park Blvd., which is only a few miles from the San Diego Automotive Museum.

Now I'm back in Fairbanks, where it's 80 degrees colder than where I was 24 hours ago. Despite the chill and all the great cars in southern California, I'm happy to be back at our museum!

Nancy

A Ride in a Rochester

While driving south from Los Angeles a few days ago I stopped by Michael Claire's place in La Habra. Mike had discovered the Fountainhead Museum on the internet a few weeks ago and contacted us about a car we have in common--a 1901 Rochester steam carriage. Until that point, I had only found one other Rochester besides ours, that being John Hampton's in Argentina. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to learn about another one and to know I'd be in Mike's neighborhood a few weeks later.

Mike has lovingly restored his Rochester and tricked it out to make it operable on today's streets. A good thing, since he fires it up every two weeks or so to take it out for a long drive. After a lot of coaxing, Mike got the little car running After giving me a ride through his neighborhood, I then got to take the tiller--what a hoot it is to drive what feels like a tall, rickety wheelchair! Watching Mike "blow off steam" after the ride was pretty entertaining, too. Many thanks to Mike for such a fun afternoon, and for generously donating a working engine from a 1900 Milwaukee steam car to our museum. It will be a great addition to our engine exhibit.

The Rochester Cycle & Manufacturing Company was short-lived, and we think they made only about 20 of their steam carriages. If so, a survival rate of three is pretty amazing, especially when you consider how fragile these little buggies are. Ours is presently being restored by Allan Schmidt in Escondido, so it won't be on display for a while. I'm looking forward to its return to Alaska!
Nancy

Restoration Check-Up

Yesterday I headed over to Allan Schmidt’s restoration shop near Escondido. Ever since I started doing research on our cars, the one that has intrigued me the most is our 1921 Heine-Velox Sporting Victoria. Piano maker Gustav Heine only built five of these enormous, curious-looking vehicles, and only one Sporting Victoria. Considering one could buy a Rolls Royce for $10,000 and a Ford Model T for $500, Heine’s prices of $17,000 - $25,000 for his big cars were outrageous. Yet, Heine refused to sell them.

I was pretty excited to see the Heine-Velox, but this was what greeted me:

The 4,500-lb car has been completely taken apart so Allan and his crew can work their magic and bring it back to its original glory. The fenders were in one room awaiting our decision on paint color, brake rods were at the welders table, wood pieces were being sanded, and the body was outside so the glue could dry. The modified Weidely V-12 engine was still mounted, so I snapped a picture of it:

Based on the other work Allan has done for us and others, we know the Heine-Velox will look stunning when it's finished. Allan also has our Biddle, so I got a nice "before" look at that car before I headed over to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (where I got mauled by a flock of lorikeets, but that's another story).

If you have an antique car and are looking for restoration supplies and accessories, be sure to visit Restoration Supply Company's website at www.restorationstuff.com. Allan and his crew will take good care of you.

Nancy

Hanging Out at Big Dog

I hit the jackpot and got to visit Jay Leno's Big Dog Garage in Burbank yesterday. Bob Sales, another one of those car guys "living the dream" by getting to work around an amazing collection, gave me the tour. That's Bob sitting in a Duesenberg chassis, explaining that this was what buyers started with and how they ordered their own coachwork. This Duesy had some wood and seats added so Jay can drive it on the streets. Every day Jay drives home a different car or motorcycle from his collection, which may range from a 1909 Baker Electric to his 9,000-lb, 1500-HP M-47 Patten tank engine car (whose wheelbase is over 15 feet!).

Many thanks to Bob for a great tour, and to Bernard Juchli for helping us earlier with a part for our Owen-Magnetic.

For those of you wondering, getting in to the Big Dog Garage is by invitation only. But, Jay shares his cars with everyone through a great website at http://www.jaylenosgarage.com. You can also read about his tank car at http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/jay_leno_garage/4206704.html.

Nancy