Mystery Friday Foto #38 Solved: The 12-cylinder Maxwell built for the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race.
Did you solve this weekend's Mystery Foto?
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify:
- The manufacturer and year of the race car
1906 12-cylinder Maxwell built by the Maxwell-Briscoe Company of North Tarrytown, New York (later renamed Sleepy Hollow).
- Its unique properties
Engine had 12 horizontal, opposed cylinders of 6 1/4 inches bore and 6 1/4 inches stroke.
- Its driver
The driver in the Mystery Foto was likely J.D. Maxwell.
- Link to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
The 12-cylcinder Maxwell was entered in the 1906 American Elimination Trial but did not appear due to "lack of testing."
- Overall racing record
Never races in the Vanderbilt Cup Races but participated in the 1908 Atlantic City and Ormond Beach races.
Comments (8)
Congrats to David Miller, Steve Lucas, Dick Gorman and Art Kleiner for identifying the "freak" Maxwell.
Kudos to Art Kleiner for finding the 1908 Atlantic City race in which the Maxwell competed.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Up
The Automobile, July 5, 1906
Maxwell Vanderbilt Cup Races Headquarters
"The Maxwell" headquarters were located on Jericho Turnpike near Roslyn Road in Roslyn.
Maxwell-Briscoe Company Plant in Tarrytown, New York "Then & Now"
Maxwell-Briscoe Company opened its Tarrytown manufacturing plant in 1903.
Chevrolet acquired sections of the complex in 1914 and 1915.
Up to 1996, over 12 million GM products would be assembled at the complex...which I remember seeing from the Tappan Zee Bridge. The plant was demolished in 1999.
As seen in this Google Earth "now" aerial, after over 20 years, this area is still transformed for residential development.
Comments
Well at first I thought this was an electric vehicle with extra batteries mounted vertically in front of the driver. Then I saw the caps and realized they were oddly placed double radiators. So then this must be the 1906 Maxwell with the 180 hp 12 cylinder horizontal engine. A unique innovation at the time (and maybe very distant precursor to the boxer engine in my Subaru). The driver was supposed to be J. Fred Betz in the 1906 American Elimination trial race but due to insufficient time for testing it never ran in competition.
Looks like an electric racer with two huge batteries mounted upfront. I think that’s an electric motor mounted onto the rear driver-side wheel (another motor likely mounted on the mechanician side, one for each battery).
If true, this racer is only one example of early automotive design/technology during its infancy. The design appears to be 1900-1910
I thought it might be a Christie, but I can’t find any pictures of Christie cars that look like that one, and it appears to have rear wheel drive. It looks like it has a flat “boxer” engine.
That’s the 1906 Maxwell-Briscoe 12 (cylinder). Its unique features included 12 horizontally opposed cylinders with 2 vertical radiators, one for each bank of 6 cylinders. It also had no flywheel or water pump. I believe that’s J. D. Maxwell driving the car although some sources report the driver as Wallace Owen or J. Fred Betz. The racer was built for the 1906 American Elimination trial but never arrived at the starting line to participate. I don’t think the car ever actually raced in competition. I’m attaching a photo of the 1906 Maxwell garage which some accounts have as being located on Jericho Road (Turnpike?).
- 1906 Maxwell.
- 12 Cylnders, no fly-wheel, no water pump, no double pipe gravity feed system normally used.
J. Fred Betz.
Entered to race in the 1906 American Elimination Race but never started.
Some races it entered after being refitted: 1908 Atlantic City, 1908 Ormand Beach
Additional documentation:
Additional documentation submitted to Howard.
Mystery Foto #38…The car is a 1906 Maxwell. It had an engine composed of six two cylinder opposed engines mounted end to end with two large radiators mounted on top, 180 HP. The driver here was J.D. Maxwell himself. It was entered in the 1906 Vanderbilt cup race to be driven by J. Fred Betz. Did not appear due to insufficent time for testing. Never ran in competition.
Additional unique features of the 12 cylinder Maxwell are detailed in this article from the Motor Way of Sept. 6, 1906.
And two mentions of races in which the Maxwell was slated to participate. I need to find out if the car actually beat out its competitor. From “The New York Times” of February 2 and July 9, 1908.
I seem to recall a different engine/radiators configuration from Maxwell at that time. It consisted of 2 eight cylinder engines mounted in tandem fashion with 2 radiators. one in the conventional up front location and the other where the dashboard would ordinarily be located. Not sure if only just experimental.