Puritan Steam Car

Posted on July 12, 2013 by classiccarweekly

1902 Puritan Runabout

For Sale by H&H Auctions | Appleton, England

When Albert Locke took control of his father and uncle’s company in Salem, Massachusetts, around the turn of the century, he decided he wanted to do more than just build parts for steam engines. The Locke Regulator Company was getting into the car business.

In 1902, they launched their little runabout (designed in-house by Albert himself) that uses a straight-twin steam engine making six horsepower. Most Puritans were known to be ahead of their time (the cars, not the people) by featuring two things that would become standard on automobiles: a steering wheel and a foot throttle. However, this car has tiller steering. It could go 100 miles on one tank of water and could reach 20 mph.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t last in the car business for long, with production ceasing the following year in 1903. As rare as that makes it, surprisingly, there is at least one other Puritan steam car in England. This one isn’t exactly in concours-level shape, but it is usable – which is the most important thing. Price is not listed but you can check out more here.

Update: Not sold, H&H Auctions Duxford, Fall 2014.

Northern Runabout

Posted on October 4, 2012 by classiccarweekly

1902 Northern Runabout

Offered by RM Auctions | Hershey, Pennsylvania | October 12, 2012

I have a new general rule: if a car comes up for sale and it’s a marque you can’t recall ever seeing come up for sale, the there is a good – no, better than good – chance that it is an ex-Harrah Collection car. As is this 1902 Northern Runabout.

1902 was the first year for the Northern Manufacturing Company of Detroit. Founded by Charles B. King (who went on to build the King) & Jonathan Maxwell (who went on to build the Maxwell), this marque would last until 1909 when it was merged into E.M.F. This “Silent Northern” has a five horsepower single-cylinder engine and cost $800 in 1902. These cars were also built under license in Sweden as the Norden.

Ownership history is known from new. It was acquired by Bill Harrah in 1956, making him the fourth owner. It was purchased from the collection and restored by its current owner in 1986, with the restoration completing in 1990. It has competed in 10 London-to-Brighton runs and holds the Guinness World Record for being the oldest car driven coast-to-cast across the United States (accomplishing this in 1994). Only 11 are known to still exist.

It is expected to sell for between $70,000-$90,000. For more information, click here. And for more from RM at Hershey, click here.

Update: Sold $66,000.

Bonhams at Petersen Automotive Museum – Results

Posted on November 23, 2011 by classiccarweekly

Bonham’s November 12th, 2011 auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles sold a few interesting cars that we’ll talk about here. One that did not sell was the 1906 Holsman Model G-10 High-Wheel Runabout we featured here a few weeks ago.

On the upper-end of things was a 1955 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 Limousine that was once owned by Elvis Presley. It’s Elvis-association brought in $172,000 – which is a lot, but then again, this is a lot of Cadillac. This result would appear to show that, in this case, Elvis’ name is worth approximately $100,000.

On the interesting side was this 1981 Phillips Berlina T-Top:

Neo-classics were all the rage in the late 1970s and early 1980s. There were quite a number of companies sprouting up in the U.S. that sol old-style cars on modern running gear. Every one of them looks like something Cruella de Vil would drive. This particular car from the Phillips Motor Car Company is built upon a C3 Corvette chassis and uses the donor car’s L82 V8. Chances are you could find numersou Excaliburs or Zimmers for sale at any one time, but this Florida-built Phillips is much rarer. It sold for $10,350.

The next car was featured in the the Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise movie Minority Report. It’s a 2004 Lexus that is fairly memorable from it’s role in the film (if you happened to see it). The car was featured prominently in the movie ads and at least one Lexus campaign if I recall correctly.

It doesn’t have much in the way of an interior – just a driver’s seat, a steering wheel, and some video screens. In the movie it was run on fuel cells (as that was the world-saving technology being touted as “the future” in 2004). Whether it runs or not in real life is another story. This car would work best as a pretty sculpture that sits in the middle of your collection. It brought $101,790.

Going back more than a hundred years we find this wonderful 1902 Autocar Type VIII Rear-Entrance Tonneau:

This car is a driver and is eligible for the London-to-Brighton Run. It’s attractive rear-entrance tonneau bodywork is a kind of marvel. Like three-door coupes today with their hidden rear-doors, this was an early attempt to build a somewhat sporty-looking two-seater with extra hidden seating and space behind the driver. Autocar traces its roots back to 1897 but they built their last “car” in 1911. They are still in business today, making large “vocational” trucks – thus making them, off the top of my head, America’s oldest vehicle manufacturer that’s still operating today. This car sold for $64,350.

Finally, we come to this 1951 Studebaker Land Cruiser Sedan.

It’s not remarkable – Studebaker made a good number of these – but it’s fresh (2007) restoration really looks good. It has a 120 horsepower V-8 and Studebaker’s stand-out “Bullet Nose” design. There’s just something about this car that struck me as intriguing. Do you agree or am I crazy?

For complete results, click here. Individual car pages are linked above.