You'd drive this down to pick up that new-fangled .30-06 cartridge that the young whippersnappers are all shooting.
The Stanley twins were tinkerers, in the great 19th century American tradition. They originally were in the photography business, but sold out to Eastman Kodak. Their cars were interesting in that while as cars they were primitive (all cars were primitive, back then), their steam engine was one of the most advanced designs in the world. While it was extremely light weight, it was also extremely safe (I don't think that any of their car owners were ever injured by a boiler explosion, for example).
It was also a screamer, for the period. A Stanley Steamer set the world land speed record in 1906: 127 mph. It was also classy - while you can't call it the Rolls Royce of its day (Rolls Royce was producing cars back then), William McKinley rode in one (the first president to ride in a car), and Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to buy one.
Originally in the back of the car, the engine was moved to the front. The resulting rounded compartment caused the design to be christened the "coffin nose" - you can see why in this picture.
Although for a while the Stanley Motor Carriage Company was the second largest US car manufacturer, the Stanley brothers had backed the wrong horse. The engine - while a technological marvel for the steam age - was much more expensive than the internal combustion engines. Once they passed steam in terms of power and reliability, the writing was on the wall. While the company staggered on until 1927, it was relegated to a luxury niche. At almost ten times the price of a Ford, it was the Bentley of its day.
The dashboard is very cool (sorry, no pic). It has some features obviously "car-like": steering wheel, gauges, etc. It also has some decidedly non car-like features: valves for the steam lines.
From the Owl's Head Transport Museum. Worth a day trip for those of you in the Northeast, especially if you have kids.
UPDATE 21 October 2008 16:59: Boy, that was fast. Chrisb points out that Jay Leno has one. There's a cool video of him and his ride here.
Neat car. I believe Leno has one in his collection.
ReplyDeleteYes he does. I hear that he drives it to work sometimes.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to have one of those about now. Got plenty of fuel hereabouts...
ReplyDeleteDoubletrouble, how many Miles Per Cord (MPC) you getting?
ReplyDelete;-)
It was actually the boiler that was moved to the front in the later cars (post 1903) the engine was always in the back. But thanks for the nice pic :-)
ReplyDelete