Tuesday Car Quiz: A winner is E92Matt!

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/25/2018 at 11:38 • Filed to: car quiz

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What an awesome little roadster. I love the curtains. Interestingly, the company that produced this little guy also built airplanes.

Sedan-sized original

Answer : Our obscure car for today is a Velie roadster. The company was founded in 1902 as the Velie Carriage Company by Willard Velie, the maternal grandson of none other than John Deere.  Velie Motors opened its doors in 1908 and produced cars for twenty years. In 1927, they bought the Mono Aircraft Inc. and started producing the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . They also produced aircraft engines. Willard died in 1928, and his son, Willard Jr., sold the car company before he passed away in 1929. The car factory was bought by John Deere.

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 10:38

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1923 Focus RS.

Just Jeepin' > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 10:40

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Clearly designed without today’s obese Americans in mind. Look at that ti ny door!

Future next gen S2000 owner > Just Jeepin' 09/25/2018 at 10:44

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Not just that, the steering wheel blocks off half of it.

ttyymmnn > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 09/25/2018 at 10:49

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Close. Ford did make airplanes. Though the Trimotor is best known, they started with this, the Ford Flivver.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 10:50

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I know I saw this marque in one of the other searches, given that the raised stiffening lip on the radiator shell bottom edge of top face and hemmed/reinforced front fenders are absolutely unique. I don’t instantly remember the name, though...

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/25/2018 at 10:55

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Plenty of time. I’m just sitting here typesetting music. I’ll wait.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 10:58

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Is it a 1917 Chandler?

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:00

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic-Ford_JB-2

Coolest ford aircraft(?)

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/25/2018 at 11:00

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As far as I know, Chandler never built airplanes.

ttyymmnn > CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever 09/25/2018 at 11:01

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Certainly the deadliest. Oh wait, the Pinto. 

CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:05

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Or the thousands surely killed by the Mustang’s bloodlust.

Ford has blood on their hands

punkgoose17 > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:08

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My first guess was Curtis, but I don’t think he made any cars just planes and motorcycles? My 2nd guess was Napier, but that doesn’t seem correct. Best of luck I got to get back to work.

Also, I want to read this:

http://www.earlyamericanautomobiles.com/americanautomobiles3.htm

Hopefully sometime this week.

ttyymmnn > punkgoose17 09/25/2018 at 11:10

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Nope and nope. Thanks for playing, though. I’ll post the answer in a little while. I’ve got work to do myself!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Future next gen S2000 owner 09/25/2018 at 11:25

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Talking of useless door openings, look at this Stutz:

Matt Nichelson > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:27

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Velie? They made planes toward the end of its lifespan. 

ttyymmnn > Matt Nichelson 09/25/2018 at 11:31

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Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:36

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Here’s a picture of one in modern times:

Very unusual fender construction and cowl.

Future next gen S2000 owner > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/25/2018 at 11:39

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There doesn’t appear to be any headroom in that car. Maybe topless was a way of life.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:39

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I think the company that had been tickling the back of my mind with a ribbed cowl stamping and similar fender construction was Stutz, though obviously it is after all a Velie.

http://theoldmotor.com/?p=138221

Matt Nichelson > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:47

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Fun fact: Velie designed  one of the first cars with the A pillar slanted as opposed to straight up and down like most other cars of the time. 

ttyymmnn > Matt Nichelson 09/25/2018 at 11:51

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The fyootcher!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 11:56

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As someone with a little bit of manufacturing education, this is what I’m seeing re: the fenders and what I’m seeing. T raditional fender construction of the time was to use heavy metal in a single stamp/draw process. This REO is exemplary of what was more “normal”:

A single mold process, top and bottom, stamping a single piece of metal. Top, with sides, and a rib to stress the metal and give strength (red):

Sometimes, an additional wrinkle or two:

In contrast, the Stutz, Velie, and a couple of others apparently including Saxon and Jordan, have a hemmed-over “cap” to the fender:

...and either an added angle to the inside or a multiple-mold process to draw an angle back straight. This is more possible with light metal, more labor intensive, but wouldn’t necessarily require a heavy press. More useful on a cheap, light vehicle that isn’t necessarily the cheapest on the road - or as with the Stutz, needs to be light and fashionable.

Oaklands...

may have been made with a mass-producible version of this: relatively heavy metal, drawn to this profile:

And then crimped.

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/25/2018 at 11:58

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Interesting! Thanks. 

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 12:08

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Shorpy link dump of diversions I ran across while trying to spur my brain into action:

http://www.shorpy.com/node/18768

http://www.shorpy.com/node/22341

http://www.shorpy.com/node/23364

The last is quite interesting. There may only be two remaining, both owned by the same man. The second is more interesting given the story there in the comments. The first is amusing given Jordan’s model-naming and advertising history.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Motor_Car_Company

ttyymmnn > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 09/25/2018 at 12:10

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Hey--you’re stealing all my material!

fintail > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 13:10

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Nice, I don’t think I would have guessed this.

Also has a rare application of a “California Top”, being on a 2 door model. Very few of these tops survive.  I like the side curtain, which appears to pull down like a window shade.

ttyymmnn > fintail 09/25/2018 at 13:32

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I assume that top is removable?

fintail > ttyymmnn 09/25/2018 at 13:35

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Yes, these were kind of the intermediate step between open and closed cars.  Closed cars had existed long before, of course, but weren’t very popular until the early 20s.