Can't Sneak Around In This One
black mamba
Registered Users Posts: 8,323 Major grins
There'll be no low-profile cruising in this baby. Of course, in it's day, you wanted to be seen as you arrived in style....this beauty made certain that would be the case.
This is a 1906 Stevens-Duryea Model R Touring. There's quite a history to this car. J. Frank Duryea and his brother, Charles, were noted for building one of this country's very first gasoline powered cars....back in 1893. In 1901, Frank joined the Stevens Arms and Tool Company to produce autos.
The standard color for the Model R was Brewster Green. Interestingly, you could....for $300 less than the typical selling price of $2600....have the cars delivered with a primer coat only and get it painted any color you wanted. The color you see on this one was the original color chosen in 1906.
This very car, and another Model R, was on the dealer's showroom floor in San Francisco in April of 1906 when the Great Earthquake destroyed nearly all of the town. Both of the cars survived, and along with 6 others, are among only 8 Model R's known to exist.
This is a 1906 Stevens-Duryea Model R Touring. There's quite a history to this car. J. Frank Duryea and his brother, Charles, were noted for building one of this country's very first gasoline powered cars....back in 1893. In 1901, Frank joined the Stevens Arms and Tool Company to produce autos.
The standard color for the Model R was Brewster Green. Interestingly, you could....for $300 less than the typical selling price of $2600....have the cars delivered with a primer coat only and get it painted any color you wanted. The color you see on this one was the original color chosen in 1906.
This very car, and another Model R, was on the dealer's showroom floor in San Francisco in April of 1906 when the Great Earthquake destroyed nearly all of the town. Both of the cars survived, and along with 6 others, are among only 8 Model R's known to exist.
I always wanted to lie naked on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Cracker Barrel didn't take kindly to it.
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j/k
Actually, have you ever tried slapping a couple of ND's on your camera and dragging the shutter a few seconds, possibly "removing" the other people? (not sure what camera you've actually got.)
Thanks for posting the history of the car. I've got students who often yell out "CARS" when asked to name things that were not around 50 years ago. And yet we've had cars for over 100 years. Do you know if the owner drives the car much? What about parts for these cars? Are they custom made replacements or can the owner find parts from other cars? With only 8 of these things around I can't imagine you'd find many spares in junkyards either.
Actually, the blue car in the BG was featured in a previous posting.
I make no attempt to modify the surroundings of the cars I shoot at these shows. Considering the thousands of shots I take over the year, I'd never escape the computer if I tried to do that. I'm afraid that all the elements in the scene are what you're going to see.
I'm fairly certain that this car sees " 0 " miles driven on the road. At a show like this, in order to qualify being shown, the car must come on....and leave....the display area under it's own power. Outside of that, no driving. I'm also fairly certain that any part required for this car must be fabricated.... a huge factor in determining the cost, and value, of these high-end collectibles.
Thanks for looking in,
Tom
The driving lamps on this Stevens-Duryea are just that....lamps. There is an ancillary lamp up by the driver that is clearly an oil-burning one. The two major driving lamps are, typical to the time, acetylene lamps. They were most often fed by a tank system called Prest-O-Lite ( a brand name ). If you look at the first picture, you will see on the blue car ....a 1909 Cadillac...a tank on the running board. It, in fact, has the Prest-O-Lite trade name on it.
The lamp systems gave way to early, relative crude, electric light systems when cars started getting a magneto. From there, it moved even further forward when the " modern " system of a battery, generator, and starter motor came into play. In the case of Stevens-Duryea, it was 1913 before their first electic light models showed up.
Tom
Yea, I imagine this car caught a lot of attention. In addition to the loud color, the car brand itself was top-end stuff back then. At one time, Stevens-Duryea offered a model that sold for $9,500. And this was in a time when the average physician made around $3,000 a year. Probably a prime reason the brand didn't last.
Take care,
Tom
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
folks were this bold with their autos of the day.
Always enjoy the back story you have to share with your photos. Was
curious about the cylinder on the blue car. Was actually thinking maybe a
brake booster of some sort. I recall the first time I saw an old acetylene
generator used for welding out on an old farm. Things ya learn along the way.
I'm in agreement with you about the color orange but, as you say, it works very well in this instance. In a day of generally bland color choices in the auto market, it's great to see that someone was willing to separate themselves from the pack in this manner. There was a little more flash of color back in those days than most folks realize, but very few to this extreme.
I hope you're doing well,
Tom
As I told Mary, It's pretty uncommon to see a car of this period dressed out in such a loud color. The lower priced cars were almost always offered only in darker, more drab colors. Only in the higher priced vehicles did you begin to find colors and color-combos that had any flair to them. I don't know of another manufacturer, other than Stevens-Duryea, that let you take delivery of your car in a primer coat only.
In addition to the tanks for the acetylene lamps, I have seen some compressed air tanks used to " power " the horn system. Boy, those must have been successful in getting cows off the road.
Tom
Glad to hear someone else is in agreement with me on the color orange
I'm doing ok Tom...thanks for asking
www.Dogdotsphotography.com
He'd better be home from the ball before midnight.
BTW, I hope you folks noticed that the fenders on this car are blue. HOLY SHAZAMM, BATMAN. " orange and blue " !!!!! I bet the guy was a FLORIDA " GATOR ".
Tom
Thanks for looking in.
Take care,
Tom
When are you going to quit messin' round taking pictures of all those great cars, and borrow one from time to time, to give your friends a ride?
My goggles are on right now!
I hear you, brother. A number of exhibitors to these very early period cars will hang around dressed up in appropriate period garb. It all looks exciting: goggles on, long coats flowing, perhaps even a stovepipe hat, etc. I can readily see a few of us all suited up for a tour of the town.
Then reality hits hard. Which one of us is going to get out there and risk breaking his arm trying to get the fool thing to start with that hand crank? And we're not wearing those goggles and coats just for show....it'll be a little hard to guzzle our beer when we have a mouth full of mud. And, God forbid, we have a flat tire; the whole dang pack of us couldn't deal with that.
No, my friend, you better straighten up and fly right or I might show up for real in one of these things and make you atone for your wayward ways.
Tom
I absolutely loved this series and, more importantly, the narrative! I read to my family about the 1906 earthquake car and they were impressed. I'd never heard of the Duryea brothers so you gave me an excellent history lesson for today!
Cheers,
Lauren
Lauren Blackwell
www.redleashphoto.com
Why, of course, we'll save a place for you. In fact, I'm not really certain Randy will be along.....particularly when he sees the riding attire I've picked out for him. Something about the pink colors and high-heel shoes might not sit well with him.:D
I always try and include some history, or defining explanation, about the cars that I shoot. Almost any car I photograph at one of these top-flight shows has an interesting story behind it....maybe famous people were involved, or an incident of note, or maybe the simple fact that it's been able to survive and is one of only two or three still around.
The Duryea brothers really deserve their notoriety. Many automotive historians believe they built not only ONE of the first gasoline powered cars in our country, back in 1893, but the VERY FIRST. That's quite a milestone achievement.