7 replies to this topic

[THead]

The Old Motor Feature Series – The New York to Paris Great Race of 1908

Starting today and monthly we are going to be running the story of the 22,000 mile race by Jeff Mahl, George N. Schuster’s Great Grand Son along with some of his very rare photos.
Schuster was the driver for most of the trip and is seen above behind the wheel after the race in New York. Stop by as you are sure enjoy it.

We also have a great photo and post about of Jenatzy the "Red Devil" and his Mercedes

[Allan Lupton]

Someone in Canada was restoring a Züst for the race centenary in 2008. It was supposed to be the one that did the race, but as contemporary photos show at least two different bodies my research cast some doubts that a single car really did the whole event.
I have some copies of the photos but can't post them here as I can't be doing with photo-host sites

[robert dick]

The Jenatzy photo is dated 18 July 1912. It was taken at Dinant/Anseremme, a few days before the Grand Prix du RACB (Royal Automobile Club de Belgique).

The Mercedes is a sprint/record racer, 17,3 litre, 175 x 180 mm. In 1910, at Ostende, Jenatzy achieved 212 km/h in such a car.

In July 1912, Jenatzy was on a visit at Anseremme. He did not start in the Grand Prix du RACB.

[David Birchall]

Someone in Canada was restoring a Züst for the race centenary in 2008. It was supposed to be the one that did the race, but as contemporary photos show at least two different bodies my research cast some doubts that a single car really did the whole event.
I have some copies of the photos but can't post them here as I can't be doing with photo-host sites

The car that you refer to is still in British Columbia Canada. I was not aware of any doubts about its provenance. The car has all of the chassis reinforcements and other features that were added during the race and were documented during the race. It also has the damage to the rear from the fire that occured in England. Given the severity of the race, replacing the body would not be unexpected! I had wondered myself years ago if the car had been substituted (possibly in Alaska) but seeing the actual car convinced me it hadn't.
I will dig out the photos I took of the car under restoration some years ago.

Edited by David Birchall, 21 December 2012 - 18:52.

[Pullman99]

The car that you refer to is still in British Columbia Canada. I was not aware of any doubts about its provenance. The car has all of the chassis reinforcements and other features that were added during the race and were documented during the race. It also has the damage to the rear from the fire that occured in England. I will dig out the photos I took of the car under restoration some years ago.

Look forward to that David. It's amazing to think that all three finishers in this epic adventure are still around. The Zust in private ownership, the winning Thomas Flyer in the National Automobile Museum (formerly the Harrah Collection) where I saw it a couple of times many years ago; and the second placed Protos is in the Deutches Museum in Munich.

Protos in Deutches Museum

Edited by Pullman99, 21 December 2012 - 19:31.

[Allan Lupton]

The car that you refer to is still in British Columbia Canada. I was not aware of any doubts about its provenance. The car has all of the chassis reinforcements and other features that were added during the race and were documented during the race. It also has the damage to the rear from the fire that occured in England. Given the severity of the race, replacing the body would not be unexpected! I had wondered myself years ago if the car had been substituted (possibly in Alaska) but seeing the actual car convinced me it hadn't.
I will dig out the photos I took of the car under restoration some years ago.

Well you have the advantage over me if you saw the car - all I had to go on was photographs of the car under restoration and a few "as found" parts, which inevitably were not quite the shots one needed. I did also speak to someone who had looked at the rebuilding in progress, but that's still not the same as being there.
If I remember correctly the body changed in style in Japan and then changed back to the original which was interesting, at least.

Edited by Allan Lupton, 21 December 2012 - 22:16.

[THead]

Thanks to all of you for your interest, Jeff Mahl is doing a great job on it and we have started on Part II. We decided to cover much
more of the story in original photographs than ever has been done before including the cars.

The next post will feature some very interesting info on the Thomas, the factory and George Schuster. Stay tuned as they say,
as it will be a very interesting ride.

And thanks to Robert Dick for the info on the Jenatzy photo.

[THead]

The Old Motor Feature Series – The New York to Paris Great Race of 1908 – Part II



Part II of the very popular series is now up on TheOldMotor.com. It tells of George Schuster's involvement with the E.R. Thomas Co.
up until 1908, the year the 22,000 mile New York to Paris race started. As always there are plenty of great photos and an interesting story to be read.