RE: 100mph in 1911: Time For Coffee?

RE: 100mph in 1911: Time For Coffee?

Tuesday 29th July 2014

100mph in 1911: Time For Coffee?

Back to basics driving on a whole new level with RM's latest auction lot



'Racing car for the road' is a phrase that all too often gets attributed to a car not really deserving of the title. For this Mercer Type 35R Raceabout though, it easily applies.

A what you say? We hadn't heard of the Mercer either before RM's video but it seems the company endured a short but tumultuous history in the early 20th century. The Type 35R made the case for relatively low displacement and mass over 100 years ago, as well as being the car you could drive to and from the circuit. At the first Indy 500 two Mercers were the smallest-engined cars to finish. Alright, 301 cubic inches (5.0-litres) isn't exactly tiny but given it beat other cars running with 589 and 520 cubic-inch motors that's a fair achievement. Apparently the lights were then placed back on the two Mercers and then driven home. From the Indy 500.

This car, chassis number 35-R-354, was part of Henry Austin Clark Junior's legendary collection. RM's video features an interview with his son Hal who is predictably enthusiastic about the car's simplicity and fascinating past.

The Mercer will be sold at RM's Monterey auction next month with an estimate of $2.5-3.5m. This enlightening video and the hugely detailed bio should explain just why it's so intriguing.

See here.

 

[Lead pic: RM]

Author
Discussion

jaik

Original Poster:

2,002 posts

212 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
I'd run out of poo before I hit 100.

dalla

260 posts

211 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
There is (or at least was) one cruising around Disneyland Paris. No idea if it is a real one or not. It looked very correct.

Its creator went down with the Titannic.

FD3Si

857 posts

143 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
I initially read the title as 'Time for coffin'.

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all


Outstanding.

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
100 mph in 1911?

How about 134.1 mph in a car built in 1910? wink
http://www.racetechmag.com/features-1/item/798-fia...

0llie

3,006 posts

195 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
Incredible car, also a great video and writeup.

Amazing to see how far the car had progressed in a little over 10 years.

Jasper Gilder

2,166 posts

272 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
Oh - You young folk!! Matchbox toys did a model of the Mercer Raceabout when I was young back in 19stoneage!! I also know an Allard fan who called his kids Ford, Allard and Mercer (which is a lovely girls name I think)

TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
Jasper Gilder said:
I also know an Allard fan who called his kid... Mercer (which is a lovely girls name I think)
Was the kid's middle name "Des"?

shoestring7

6,138 posts

245 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
Oh, so not a video of a Porsche doing 100mph at all then.

Specsavers please driver.

SS7

StottyEvo

6,860 posts

162 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
I get the impression that the owner doesn't want to part with the car frown

sideways man

1,306 posts

136 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
jaik said:
I'd run out of poo before I hit 100.
Yeah that probably sums up the driving experience smile

I'd love to have a drive in that. My westfield was pretty raw/basic but that takes it to a whole new level.

can't remember

1,077 posts

127 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
Chris71 said:
100 mph in 1911?

How about 134.1 mph in a car built in 1910? wink
http://www.racetechmag.com/features-1/item/798-fia...
The Fiat was a record breaker the Raceabout was a road car. Imagine a road car now being about 30% slower than the current LSR car (or ever the current wheel driven LSR car).

In 1911 the Raceabout would have seemed like it had arrived from a different planet to a people used to horses and carts.

threespires

4,289 posts

210 months

Tuesday 29th July 2014
quotequote all
122 mph in 1906 - watch it starting up
Darraq V8
https://flic.kr/p/81VBpb

anglophile

65 posts

134 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
When I still lived in Southern California, I ran into Jay Leno at a burger joint near his garage and not far from where I also lived in Burbank. Out front was his Stutz Bearcat "business/doctor's coupe," and he was sitting inside with a few pals.

I asked him about it, and said "I only know Bearcats that were open cars with the circular windscreen mounted on the steering column, like a Mercer Raceabout."

His reply was, "Hey, you know about those? I got one of those too!"

THAT guy is a motorhead!

dinkel

26,884 posts

257 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Great car advert - storytelling works.

Pre-war car owners are heroes ...

Chris71

21,535 posts

241 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
can't remember said:
Chris71 said:
100 mph in 1911?

How about 134.1 mph in a car built in 1910? wink
http://www.racetechmag.com/features-1/item/798-fia...
The Fiat was a record breaker the Raceabout was a road car. Imagine a road car now being about 30% slower than the current LSR car (or ever the current wheel driven LSR car).

In 1911 the Raceabout would have seemed like it had arrived from a different planet to a people used to horses and carts.
Fair point, although there wasn't quite the same distinction back then. Three decades after the Mercer you still had grand prix cars wearing number plates.

Martin 480 Turbo

601 posts

186 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Most striking use of the term "pre-war". This car is a century old now,
doesn't make me feel younger. First time I heard about Mercers it was
just 2/3 of that...


aajaxx

2 posts

118 months

Friday 29th August 2014
quotequote all
Stutz Bearcat is the old-timer muscle car everyone seems to know the name of, largely because of the name itself. But the T-head Mercer ruled the roost for several years after 1910. Built in the unlikely automotive Mecca known as suburban Trenton, New Jersey, and named for Mercer County itself.