Classic USA Car

Classic Cars

Introduction
During the 34 years between 1905 and 1939 , there was considerable development in every element of both interior and exterior car design. Engines were initially slow-revving, having single or twin-cylinders. These only developed a limited horse-power, which is why the more prestigious cars came to have a very high cylinder capacity. The 1915 Packard introduced the fashion for very powerful cars. The “Twin Six” had twelve cylinders, and was the first American model to have aluminum pistons. At that time there was a great variety of types, especially among the vehicles with smaller cylinder capacities. There were air or water-cooled engines mounted either in the middle (even under the floor), ‘V’ or opposed, operating on the 2 or 4 stroke cycle. Then during the 1930s, 8 cylinders in line became a common arrangement until this was replaced by 8 cylinders in ‘V’ formation.
Hot bulb ignition was replaced by the coil, or ignition by means of high or low tension magnetos. Side valves operated overhead valves, sometimes operated by a double camshaft. In time the ‘L’ head developed into the ‘T’ (with side valves operated by two separated camshafts, originally adopted because they were easier to maintain). In the ‘L’ the valves were situated on the same side, and the spark plug was mounted beside the inlet valve, so as to be cooled by the incoming mixture. Cars which initially only had two-speed gearing acquired three or four gear. The system of gearing was soon to by considerably change, however. The early movable gear=wheels gave way to a proper gearbox, the invention of Emile Levassor. This consisted of a sliding gear-train providing two or three gear ratios plus reverse.
The electric gearshift made its first appearance on the Cadillac in 1912. The introduction of removable wheels represented another important advance. The Isotta-Fraschini was the first car to brakes on the front wheels in 1910. For a long time, however, front-mounted brakes were considered to be dangerous and did not come into widespread use until the mid 1920s. In 1921 a Duesenberg was developed with revolutionary hydraulic brakes which were adapted three years later on the Chrysler. At the same time, during this period, car body work saw a progressive development in structure. Open cars gradually were altered to have enclosed bodies for greater passenger comfort.

Proportions changed, partly due to style and partly due to the need for streamlining to accommodate greater speeds. Pneumatic tires replaced the solid rubber and provided a smoother, safer ride. There were subtle improvements such as windshield wipers, dipping headlights and interior heating and cooling.
Early car suspension was either semi-elliptical, fully elliptical or cantilever leaf-springing. The steel coil spring was introduced and eventually refined into the modern suspension system of springs and shock absorbers.
The history and development of the car industry in Britain, America, Italy and France was, and indeed still is, closely linked with motor racing. Most motor manufacturers either participated directly in motor races, or, like Citroen, organised great rallies to display the robustness and reliability of the vehicles they were offering for sale to the general public.
Motor racing had a decisive influence on car engines, encouraging the development of light and resistant metal alloys, particularly during the period from 1934 to 1937, when the most important competitions imposed maximum and minimum weight restrictions. The object of the regulations was to force the makers of racing cars to use engines of relatively low cylinder capacity so that they were not to powerful. Even then, people were shocked and concerned at the high speeds which were reached by the single-seater racing cars. Serious accidents were invariably attributed to the extremely high speed averages achieved on certain tracks. The availability of new light-weight metal alloys and special fuels, however, meant that all the motor manufacturers were able to overcome the obstacle of the maximum weight restriction. They produced cars with extraordinarily powerful engines with the only restraint being that they needed to limit the weight to 1,650 lb (750 kg). As the restriction of weight did not regulate the speed as it was intended, later rules almost always imposed a maximum cylinder capacity and a minimum weight for each vehicle. By contrast, especially at the beginning of the century, racing had provided a constant incentive to reduce the weight of cars: and this trimming-down (if only of sports cars) occasionally produced sensational results.

While Bentley, Isotta-Fraschini, Fiat , Alfa Romeo and Renault relied on racing as a highly-effective form of advertising, manufacturers in the U.S.A. , except for small specialist firms, soon lost interest. They were concentrating on mass production which was much more attractive and advantageous to them. Henry Ford led this trend with the Model T, introduced in 1908. Other manufacturers were quick to follow his example. American car-buyers were mainly interested in being able to buy a car cheaply. They were not concerned with speed or winning races. Mass production resulted in the construction of a network of suitable roads, and in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act, making possible the creation of an impressive national roadway system through a fifty per cent direct grant, the other fifty per cent to be provided by the individual States.
The first motorway to be built in Italy was the Milan-Lakes section, begun on September 21, 1924. Ten years later the Germans were to plan a comprehensive road system (mainly with military purposes in mind). In the meantime, Italy had opened various other motorways : the Milan-Bergamo (1927) , Naples-Pompeii (1928). Bergamo-Brescia (1931), Turin-Milan (1932), Venice-Padua (1933) and a road suitable for trucks between Genoa and Serravalle in 1935. The first Canadian motorway , from Toronto to Niagara Falls, was opened in 1939, whilst in every other country, including France, motorways were planned only after the Second World War. Italy also embarked on an ambitious national program after the War that made it, after Federal Germany, a country with one of the best road system in Europe, with motorways totaling about 3,700 miles (6,000 km).
The spread of the car has created numerous problems, first and foremost that of accidents. In six years (from 1969-1974) in the nine countries of the Common Market, 360,535 people died in road accidents, and some 10 million were injured. In the U.S.A. more than 50,000 people are killed every year. In Germany there are more than 18,000 road deaths, while in France more than 16,000 people die each year. Governments began to be concerned about these accident figures after the War and the U.S. government launched a safety campaign in the late 1960s.

They insisted on improvements in motor car construction and maintained that the worst faults lay in the design. Every company that exported cars to the U.S.A. was involved in the American ESV program (Experimental Safety Vehicle). Plans were studied for new, better-constructed cars and in was hoped that safety measures could be devised that would rectify even the driver’s mistakes. The ESV program was a failure which cost all the motor manufacturers concerned a great deal of money.
Techniques and the demands of safety clashed; meanwhile American experts were investigating another problem, that of pollution.
The energy crisis, which rapidly developed in 1973, has created another enormous problem, which is literally revolutionizing car design. Most countries are concerned about the steady rise in the price of oil and the fact that sources of energy are not inexhaustible. The countries most conscious of this, politically, are those that have to rely on other oil-producing countries for their raw materials. Ironically, however, the traditionally oil-rich U.S.A. has been the hardest hit. For years they produced very heavy, powerful cars (4,000-4,400 pounds/1,800-2,000 kg on average) which are massive fuel-consumers. They are now scaling down their production models, and making them much lighter. This operation requires immense design changers and an investment of billions of dollars (General Motors has allocated 13 billion simply to the first stage of the reconversion operation from large to medium-sized cars and from medium-sized to small cars). The need to reduce energy consumption has accentuated the movement towards the restructuring of cars, even if the idea of driving smaller vehicles has little appeal for car-buyers in the U.S.A. The V-8 engine, so widespread today will gradually be phased out and the 6-cylinder, which had almost vanished in America, and above all the 4-cylinder will be re-introduced.
Faced with uncertain fuel supplies and the reality of having to pay ever more for crude oil, most countries have no alternative but to scale down their motor industry.
After the excitement of the pioneering and expansion earlier in this century, car manufacturers are now having to work hard to guarantee the survival of their current models.
Motor design seems to have come full circle. As we admire and appreciate the powerful classic cars of bygone eras, we still look forward to new design concepts for ever safer and more efficient motoring.

United States of America
As in France, England and Italy, steam-driven vehicles were enthusiastically developed in the U.S.A. between 1800 and 1900. Such pioneers were Frank Curtis who produced a steam-driven buggy and White and Stanley who worked on designs for steam cars.
The first car, in the modern sense, made in America goes back to 1893, when Charles E. Duryea, a cycle maker from Illinois, and his brother Frank built a vehicle with electric ignition. In 1895 Charles and Frank Duryea started the Duryea Motor Wagon Company at Springfield, Massachusetts.
In the same year George Baldwin Selden was granted a patent (presented as long before as 1879) concerning a ‘car fuelled by liquid hydrocarbons with internal combustion engine, the transmission shaft moving faster than the wheels of the vehicle, and equipped with clutch or device to separate the engine from the drive-wheels’. This apparently elementary patent forced motor manufacturers to pay a royalty no their cars, except for Henry Ford who refused to acknowledge it. Ford was sued and lost but successfully appealed in 1911. The Selden patent was broken by a technicality- it was based on the Brayton design whereas cars were being built with engines based on that designed by Otto.
19895 saw the first race between 4-wheeled mechanical vehicles, the first specialized journal (The Horseless Age), and the first recognized club, the American Motor League, in Chicago. In 1896 the Duryeas completed their third vehicle.
The following year, the Pitsburgh Motor Vehicle Company, and the Pope Manufacturing Company began to make motor cars. In 1900 about 48,000 people went to the first automobile exhibition in New York’s Madison Square Garden, where 300 different models of cars from 40 manufacturers were on display. Prices ranged from a minimum of $280 to a maximum of $4,000.
In 1899 Ransom Eli Olds’ Motor Vehicle Company in Detroit began to achieve success with the Classic Curved Dash Oldsmobile, which had a chain driven single cylinder engine. The early part of the twentieth century saw the creation of hundreds of automobile factories, some of which did not produce even one car. In the ‘American Car since 1775’ Automobile Quarterly gives a detailed list of 5,000 different American firms (from Abborn to Zip), together with the names of another 165 (from Acme to Widmayer that merely designed motor vehicles without ever managing to build any. It also lists 116 body work factories (from American Body to Woonsocket), which operated and expanded alongside the classis factories. Statistics for production in America date from 1898, when 15 cars were made ( 13 Duryea, 1 Ford , and 1 Winton) : up to 1900 the figures are modest, Columbia emerging clearly at the head of the field, with 500 vehicles in 1899 and 1,500 in 1900. The Locomobile held first place from 1901 to 1902. In 1903 and 1904 Oldsmobile took the lead with an already impressive output for the times (4,000 and 5,508 vehicles respectively).

In 1906 Oldsmobile lost its lead to the Ford Motor Company which produced 8,729 vehicles ; Cadillac and Buick were not far behind. Ford gained substantially over the others with the presentation of the Model T on October 1, 1908. In that year Ford made over 10,000 cars, in 1909 production was up to 17,000, and in 1910 it reached 32,000 vehicles. From 1911 on, thanks to the growing success of the Model T, Ford made truly remarkable progress, by 1922 the company was producing over a million motor cars. Inevitably, however, the popularity of the T began to decline, and history was made in 1927 when Ford lost its lead to General Motors. The two companies were hotly competitive for the next two decades before the battle of mass production was decisively won by General Motors’ most popular model, the Chevrolet.
By 1939 a total of 75 million vehicles had been manufactured in the U.S.A. On the technical level, the 1930s saw the gradual establishing of certain designs. In 1933 the study of aerodynamics brought streamlined shapes to the car body. The first pointed or V-shaped radiator cowlings appeared, together with the first servo-assisted brakes. The Chrysler Airflow introduced in 1934 encouraged the trend for more daring and functional lines. In 1936 in some cars the handbrake was moved to the left of the driver’s seat, to give the driver and front passenger more room. For the same reason, in 1937, in some models, the gearshift was mounted below the steering-wheel. By about 1938 General Motors had introduced a technical innovation to many models: fully synchronized gears.
The need to produce larger and larger numbers of vehicles to feed the gigantic industry centred almost exclusively on Detroit, and resulted in a new philosophy based on an annual revision of each model. The originator of this new philosophy was the head of General Motors, Alfred Sloan. In contrast to Henry Ford’s principles and practice (the Model T saw few alterations from 1908 to 1927), General Motors started a system of annual changes. These were limited to one or two aesthetic details, however, and from then on the expression ‘face-lift’ was used to describe the updating of models.
The motor car therefore began to be regarded as a status symbol, a visible embodiment of the owner’s affluence as well as a means of transport.

Auburn 851 SC-1935
Car : Auburn 851 SC
Year : 1935
Engine : 8 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 77.7?120.6 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4572 cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : 150 (with supercharger)
Maximum speed : 100 mph
Wheelbase : 10 ft 7 ins (3.22m)
Suspension : front and back : semi-elliptic leaf-spring
Auburn was one of the great names among American cars in the 1930s before mass production, when there was still demand for refinement and prestige cars.

The factory took its name from the town in Indiana where it was set up. It was founded in 1874 by Charles Eckhart, a German immigrant, who had gained experience with Studebaker when it was still making its famous Conestoga Wagons. Frank and Morris Eckhart continued their father’s work, initially producing twin-cylinder cars, then later vehicles with 4 and 6 cylinders. Business did not prosper, however, and in 1919 the firm was taken over by Ralph Austin Bard and William Wrigley. The turning-point in the factory’s history was the arrival, in 1924, of Errett Lobban Cord, creator of the car of the name. There then began a period of thriving activity, and the 851 SC of Lycoming engine of the 851 SC came either with supercharger (115 bhp) or without (150 bhp). It had a cast-iron cylinder block , aluminium head, side valves, water cooling , coil ignition, shaft transmission, and hydraulic brakes on all four wheels.
The 851 SC could reach 100 mph. Auburn also made a 12-cylinder model. In 1937 the factory ceased production.

1915-Brewster
Car : Brester
Year : 1915
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 101.6?139.7 mm
Cylinder capacity : 5528cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : -
Maximum speed : -
Wheelbase : 10 ft 5 ins (3.17m)
Suspension : front: semi-elliptic leaf-spring : back: cantilever leaf-springs
Brewster was a make better known for its bodywork than engineering. It began in New Haven in 1810 with coaches. In 1856 production moved to Long Island, New York When cars began to flood through America, Brewster had agreements with the best European car manufacturers, especially Rolls-Royce to fit out cars exported onto the American market.

For about a decade, starting from 1915, Brewster produced cars under its own name, adopting Knight sleeve-valve engines with removable head, magneto ignition, pressure lubrication pump cooling, cone clutch, and brakes on all four wheels. Brewster cars were rather high-priced, however, ($8,300 for the Berlina, $8,800 for the Touring Landaulet, and $7,200 for the Runabout). The prices quoted included, so the catalogue stated, windshield removable tires, pump to blow up the tires, engine speedmotor, ammeter, voltmeter, and horn. In 1925 Brewster was bought by Rolls-Royce. In 1932 it regained its independence, and operated by fitting out other makes, mostly Fords. In 1938 production ceased. From 1932 to 1938 the company had only produced some 300 cars. Brewster also made bodies for Buick, Cadillac, Lincoln, and Oldsmobile.

1910-Brush
Car : Brush
Year : 1910
Engine : single vertical front cylinder
Bore and stroke : 101.6?127 mm
Cylinder capacity : 1030cc
Gears : 2 forward
Brake horse power : 10
Maximum speed : 45 mph
Wheelbase : 6 ft 8 ins (2.05m)
Suspension : front and back: coil springs
This Company had a vital impact on the history of car manufacture, although it existed only very briefly (from 7907 to 1910).

It pioneered coil spring suspension at a time when the vast majority of companies were using semi-elliptic leaf-springs. Another characteristic of the Brush was its wooden chassis and axles. The engine was water-cooled (10 bhp), with a multi-disc clutch. The wheels were made of wood. The lights were acetylene. Only a single model was produced, the 2-seater Roadster. In England it cost ?100 in 1910. Alanson P. Brush founder of the firm, and designer of the car, was keen to make his name known abroad, despite the small size of his business. In 1910, however, Brush was absorbed into the U.S. Motor Company, which specialized in trucks as well as producing a wide range of cars. In its 1912 catalogue it featured a Liberty Brush, with the same mechanical details as the 1910 Brush, at $350, or, with lights, hood, and windshield included, at $400. The Brush Roadster was priced at $485. It still had chain transmission, and could carry only two people. There were also still only two forward gears.

Buick 24/30 HP
Buick Six
Buick Series 40
Car : Buick 6
Year : 1918
Engine : 6 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 85.7?114.3 mm
Cylinder capacity : 3954cc
Gears : 3 forward
Brake horse power : -
Maximum speed : -
Wheelbase : 10 ft 4 ins (3.14m)
Suspension : front : semi-elliptic leaf-springs back : cantilever leaf-spring

Car : Buick 24/30 HP
Year : 1911
Engine : 4 cylinders in line
Bore and stroke : 108?114 mm
Cylinder capacity : 4175cc
Gears : 2 forward
Brake horse power : 32
Maximum speed : 55 mph
Wheelbase : 9 ft 8 ins (2.94m)
Suspension : front : semi-elliptic leaf-springs back : elliptic leaf-spring
David Dunbar Buick, born in Scotland, was only two when he and his family arrived in the United States an settled in Detroit. As a young man Buick developed an interest in the motor mechanics. He created several models of various cylinder capacities, and arrangements. But, though skilful in the workshop, Buick was no businessman, and a variety of backers. In 1908 it found success, becoming one of the four big factories in Detroit. Involvement in motor sport, particularly hill racing (winning 166 times in 1909 alone), brought the company to the public’s attention.
The Buick 24/30 dates from 1911, and could seat five passengers. The steel chassis was described in the instruction manual as resilient. The wooden wheels were the ‘artillery’ type, with easily removable rims. The twin-block engine had overhead valves, and was mounted on three bearings. The engine was water-cooled (with pump), and had high-tension magneto ignition, a multi-disc clutch, and brakes on the back wheels. It cost $1,850 from the factory. The extras included hood, windshield, engine speed indicator, and the tools for removing and replacing the wheels.

The Six dates from 1918. It had 6 cylinders, and appeared for the first time in the Buick line in 1914 (the 4-cylinder had meanwhile started to disappear from the firm’s list). The Six sold for $895, providing good value for the time. The best indication that production was now significantly improved is that from now on Buick no longer made ‘special cars’ to customers’ personal specifications. To make up for this, it offered an extensive range of models which included two limousines and a 2 plus 2-seater coup? . The Six remained in production up until 1923 with few modifications (electrical system, shape of the radiator, removable engine head, and brakes on all four wheels). 201,000 cars were made in 1923.