Luray Caverns Virginia - It's Not Just about the Caverns! (2)

...continuing with our tour of the 'Non-Cavern' attractions at Luray Caverns in Virginia.  If you follow me very often, you have noticed that I'm into old and/or classic cars and trucks.  Returning to where I left off on my last blog post, this is a continuation of our perusal of classic antique vehicles at the museum.  Fortunately for me, Laurie also likes viewing old cars, trains, planes and ships.  One of her wishes is to be able to fly on either a PBY Catalina (water take off and landing please) or a D.C. 3 or it's military version, the C-47.

Now on to some strange and wonderful old cars and trucks... Some are classics and some were more utilitarian.

This is a 1903 Knox 7-passenger Touring Model.  It's one cylinder engine produced 10 HP.  An interesting feature is this vehicle's cooling system.  Called a 'porcupine' cooling system, it features studs driven into the cylinder wall to carry off the engine heat.  The Knox was advertised as the car that never drinks.  How do 7 passengers fit into this automobile?  There is a front folding seat that can be opened up that seats 2 adults.  

The Knox Automobile Company was based in Springfield Massachusetts.  The company built cars from 1900 until 1914.  They continued building trucks and farm tractors until 1924.  Knox built the first modern fire engine in 1905 as well as the first American vehicle equipped with hydraulic brakes, in 1915.

This interesting blue beauty is a 1903 Winton.  Apparently the back seat can be easily removed, allowing what appears to be a full-size touring touring car to be transformed into a sporty roadster.  The 2-cylinder water-cooled engine produces 20 HP.  In 1896 Scottish immigrant, Alexander  Winton, turned from producing bicycles to developing motor cars.  In 1898, he sold his first car, (one of if not the first car to be sold in the USA), to a customer who's seen an advertisement in "Scientific American" magazine.  

To prove his automobile's durability, Winton had one of his cars undergo an 800 mile endurance run from Cleveland to New York City.  In 1898, Winton sold 21 more vehicles, including to James Ward Packard...who later founded the Packard Automobile Company.  In 1899, the Winton Motor Carriage Company sold more than 100 autos, making the company the largest manufacturer of gasoline-powered vehicles in the USA.  The Winton Motor Carriage Company ceased automobile production in February of 1924 but the separate Winton Engine Company continued, and was purchased by General Motors in 1930.

Note: In 1903, Dr. Horatio Nelson Jackson made the first successful automobile 'road trip' across the USA.  Using a slightly used Winton touring car and accompanied by a mechanic, the team drove from San Francisco to Manhattan in New York City.  The trip lasted 63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes including breakdowns and delays waiting for spare parts.  At that time there were only 150 miles of paved road in the entire country.  The 'cross country' Winton is on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

In 1909 the fall Sears Catalog included an automobile for the first time...The Sears Motor Buggy.  Sears foray into the automotive business began with the company fitting a motor on their best horse-drawn  buggy model.  It had tiller steering and high wheels for navigating the rough roads and terrain of the day and it was equipped with a 2-cylinder dual-exhaust engine that produced 14 HP.

The initial run of Sears Motor Buggies were built in 1908 by the Hercules Buggy plant in Evansville Indiana.  But by the fall of 1909, the Sears Motor Car Works began operations.  In the first year of production, the automobile was offered only as a $395.00, solid-tired runabout.  But in 1910, the company offered 5 different models of the Motor Buggy.  In fact it was the same car with different amenities, such as fenders, lights, tops, etc.

Despite praise from satisfied customers, Sears had a problem.  The car cost more to produce than the company was getting from its sales.  Production ended by 1912.  Note the photo above... I did find a Sears Motor Buggy that was sold at auction in August of 2022.  The winning bid totaled $13,850, which coincidentally is about today's dollar equivalent of the original price...

This elegant automobile was built in St. Denis France.  The Delaunay-Belleville Town Car was built in 1908.  It powered by a 6-cylinder motor that developed 20 HP.  This town car has been driven over 300,000 miles At the start of the 20th Century, this company was perhaps the most desirable French marque to be attached to your prestigious automobile.  By 1906, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia owned one.  Other royals with Delaunay-Bellville autos included King George I of Greece and King Alphonso XIII of Spain. 

All the Delaunay-Belleville vehicles were sold as a bare chassis body...and high-end specialty coach builders, in this case Kellner and Ses Fils of Paris, was responsible for the luxurious features shown above.  Note the solid mahogany coach work, the original upholstery and the leather 3-stage fenders.  

The Kellner firm also built bodywork for upscale European automobiles such as Hispano-Suiza, Rolls-Royce, Delage, Renault as well as one of the 6 Bugatti Royales ever built.

Even for 1909, this high-wheel Schacht Model K had an 'old-fashioned look.  The carriage style wheels were designed for navigating rural roads with their mud and ruts without getting bogged down.  Featuring a 2-cylinder motor, the Schacht Model K cost $650.00 back in the day.

Originally the Schacht Manufacturing Company built buggies.  But, beginning in 1904, the company built automobiles and 'high-wheelers'.  Renamed the Schacht Motor Car Company, over 9,000 cars were built between 1904 and 1913.  Automobile production ceased in 1914 and the company was rebranded as the G.A. Schacht Motor Truck Company.  The truck company continued to build trucks and fire trucks until 1938.

Backing up for a moment, time-wise, this is a 1907 International Autowagon.  As with the Autobuggy, International Harvester, a company that was formed by the merger and buy outs of other corporations, had been making farm machinery for several years.  However, as autos and trucks became more practical and accepted, like Sears had taken their best buggy and put a motor on it, that's exactly what International Harvester did with its best spring wagon.  

International Harvester also built auto buggies from 1907 through 1912.  There were both air and water cooled versions of the Autowagon.  The company continued manufacturing Autowagons until 1917.  The history of International Harvester is too confusing for me to summarize here.  To learn more about International Harvester and its progenitors, you can just go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Harvester.

This is a rare 1909 Middleby roadster.  It was actually discovered in Luray, where it had been owned by the former freight agent for the Norfolk and Western Railway.  This may be the only Middleby in existence.  With its wooden frame, large air cooling fan and original white rubber tires, it is a special auto indeed.  It was powered by a 4-cylinder motor producing 20 HP.  

The Middleby Auto Company was a 'brass era' automobile manufacturer that was based in Reading Pennsylvania.  Just looking at this car, it's obvious why it is considered to be part of the 'brass era' in American auto building.  Customers paid $850.00 to own a Middleby, about $30,000 in today's dollars.  Standard equipment included a 3 speed transmission plus reverse, 2 gas lamps, 2 side oil lamps, a rear lamp, tools and a French horn.  By 1910, the company had sold about 400 cars.  Founded in 1908, it went out of business by 1913.

This classic black touring model is a 1914 Westcott.  When it was found it only had 1,700 miles on it.  Since then it was given new tires, a new top and it's been repainted.  However the engine hasn't been touched.  The 6-cylinder 60 HP motor will cross any mountain in Virginia in high-gear without any issues.  Note that the brass era was over by 1914 and a nickel-tin finish had replaced it.

First manufactured in Richmond Indiana and later in Springfield Ohio, the Westcott Motor Car Company was in operation from 1909 until 1925.  Production reached 2,000 cars in 1917 and it peaked by 1920.  Westcotts were hand-built and the company had not adopted the cost saving production line methods used by other manufacturers.  The company collapsed due to debts owed to suppliers.  

Note: Burton Westcott was a client of architect Frank Lloyd Wright who designed a Prairie School style house for the family in Springfield Ohio in 1904.  As you can see in the photo above, the house has been refurbished and maintained over the years.  Today it is open to the public.  Go to https://www.westcotthouse.org/ to learn more.

I'll end this post with this 1910 Maxwell Roadster.  It was a very popular automobile back in its era and it was one of the 'base' autos that was involved in the creation of the Chrysler Corporation...now Stellantis North America.  This roadster was powered by a 2-cylinder motor that developed 14 HP.  Note the lack of a windshield.  Goggles were an obvious necessity!

Originally Maxwell automobiles were built in Tarrytown New York but in 1907 after a fire, the company opened a new modern automobile factory in New Castle Indiana.  The basic materials needed to build a car came in one end of the plant and finished cars came out the other end.  This plant was in use by Chrysler until 2004.  Chrysler had acquired Maxwell in 1925.  For a significant period of time, Maxwell was considered one of the 3 top automobile firms in the USA, along with GM and Ford. 

For those of us old enough to remember...and who still can remember...a decrepit old Maxwell was famous as the car that Jack Benny drove long after they were no longer built.  The running joke on his radio and TV shows was that Benny was too tight with the dollar to buy himself a new or newer used car...as long as the old one still ran.

It is worthy of note that Maxwell was one of the first automobile manufacturers that marketed specifically to women.  In 1909 the company received a lot of publicity when it sponsored Alice Huyler Ramsey, an early advocate of women drivers, as the first woman to drive coast-to-coast across the United States.  By 1914, the company had strongly aligned itself with the women's rights movement.

Sorry about being so 'wordy' but I like the research...and the learning.  Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave