There’s a sort of inverse relationship between automotive development over time and amount and density of fascinating details on cars. As cars developed and advanced, they became more and more like coherent, unified wholes instead of assemblages of parts. And while the unification of form and hiding complex parts underneath protective and aerodynamic sheaths is undoubtedly a better idea for efficiency and speed and all that, there’s something about a car that is just slathered with interesting, complex detail that’s hard not to love. Like this early 1900s National Indy racing car, and especially this delightfully clunky exposed speedometer setup.
I love how it kind of looks like a 1930s robot head, or maybe an archaic diver’s helmet, or the helmet of some experimental Civil War anti-mine suit. It’s a drum-type of speedometer, which is already pretty cool in itself, though knowing what the NVH is on cars of this era, I have my doubts that the number scrolling by in that little window would be even remotely legible to someone driving this at any sort of speed.
The vibrations, bouncing, and the distance to that speedo from the driver’s eyes makes me bet this thing provided less information about your speed than all the stuff whizzing past you in that completely open body. I mean, look at the whole setup here:
After you finish marveling at that very thick, serpentine speedometer cable connected to that wheel, note how far from the driving position that thing is; it’s just like a foot above the pedals there. But it’s so cool looking!
Also worth noting is that I think that engine there, which made about 50 horsepower or so, is a four cylinder that displaces over seven liters. Each of those cylinders is like the size of a wastebasket! Two spark plugs per cylinder, too, because why not, there’s plenty of room.
It’s barely on that dashboard, too, which is kind of funny, because it’s not like that instrument panel was starved for open real estate:
Plenty of room there! It’s like the headboard of a bed! Also, when are glass oil-drip observation bulbs going to come back on dashboards? Look how cool that looks! Who wants another touchscreen when you can watch oil drip under a glass dome?
Another great detail: this massive exhaust setup. In menacing, blacksmith-metal black. Look at that thing – it’s like what I imagine the main engines of a steampunk spaceship would look like, as they belched absolutely opaque mountains of steam and ferried Lady Gearspedrille and Lord Crankenflaps off to their erotic liaisons with the libertines of the Moon Commune, or whatever.
I had an enormously good time looking at the “Ragtime Racers” in the paddock this year as well. So many cool brass-era details, and getting to stand next to a hundred-something-year-old Isotta Fraschini as it fires up is a helluva thing.
I suspect the drum type speedometer is not too much different than the more modern “drag cup” type speedo in my 1985 Jeep CJ that also has a thick speedometer cable. Simple and effective technology.
“There’s a sort of inverse relationship between automotive development over time and amount and density of fascinating details on cars. As cars developed and advanced, they became more and more like coherent, unified wholes instead of assemblages of parts.”
I kind of disagree with this statement. However, I understand your point. As cars have developed, there are 1000’s to 10’s of thousands more parts on them than those old cars have. The issue is that modern parts have gotten smaller and more obtuse. The function of each component has passed beyond what a relatively educated observer can understand.
So instead of seeing thousands of components within the ECU, each having a complex function to make the whole incredibly complicated, you just see, “the ECU”. Even a simple O2 sensor has multiple advanced material processes involved in its construction.
So, I guess it comes down to what is a “fascinating detail”. We all deal with computers in everyday life, and the function of their components is beyond mose people, so they are just a “coherent unified whole”. So the ECU, as an intricate device with 10,000’s of components, is not fascinating to most. An O2 sensor is just a sensor.
I agree that looking at an old mechanical gear/dial solution that no one sees anymore, even if it’s only 5 parts, is quite fascinating to look at. No one thinks like that anymore! I look at problem sometimes and figure that a sensor and a microcontroller are the only solution, but then sometimes I find a 100 year old equivalent which uses gears, etc. It’s always fascinating, but not because it is more complex with more parts. Often they are fascinating because they are so much LESS complex! But they work in a way that most educated people can actually understand how they work, which is unusual these days, and it’s fascinating.
Fun fact. Race car drivers of that era have their own greeting when they meet each other: WHAAAAT?
I saw “experimental Civil War anti-mine suit” and accidentally read it as “experimental Civil War anti-mime suit”.
Sorry, just needed to get that out of my head by sharing. Have fun with it… ;P
Now I want to see Torch’s take on an experimental Civil War anti-mime suit.
That screams for some treatment by The Bishop!
“The year is 2042, and COVID-Mimeteen, first discovered in the street performers of Marseilles, has ravaged the earth. Verbal communication is impossible, so 7.0L four cylinder cars with no NVH have become widespread among the survivors. Our hero, Otto Torchinsky, last of the road warriors, fights the mimetic menace of unmitigated Gaul.”
“This is his story.”
-(imaginary intro for The Bishop’s imaginary setting)
I remember seeing one of the LeMans Ford GT cars that just… didn’t have a speedometer. They were running the race on RPM. Literally stapled a table with expected RPM for different parts of the circuit to one side of the cockpit for the driver to reference if needed.
For endurance races it’s mostly “as fast as it won’t blow up” so who is going to care about the precise speed of the thing anyway.
VW Bugs had the speedometer cable attatched to the front wheel up until the very last ones. Hidden a little better by the bodywork..
Last saw the drum/barrel type speedometer in my 1985 Citroën BX 14E.
So not so archaic technology after all. But the steampunk style makes it look very cool in this one (thumbs up emoji)
Did you post a picture of the complete car in another article? i’d like to see it if you have one.
Google image search brings back a few examples, but not this exact one. Here’s one that is very similar (floorboards, exhaust, etc):
riding-history-indianapolis-motor-speedway
thanks. feel like an idiot now though: I thought National Indy referred to a race series, not a make of car. Also there is a picture of the car in the article, which i didn’t see yesterday, somehow despite scrolling back up to check.
Wait, what? That photo of the full car was NOT there, I am 93.6% confident. I closely scrutinized the ones that were, so I could figure out the racing number.
I also thought the “Indy” was referencing the race. So there we were, on the same page.
Yeah, that car looks like something the sky pirate Filibus would drive when she’s not busy flying her airship to commit heists or romancing the sister of the detective pursuing her (though the eponymously titled film came out in 1915 in Italy, so perhaps a decade later than this car and in a different country…)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibus
Or like something Agatha Heterodyne – https://www.girlgeniusonline.com – would whip up during one of her milder fits of mechanical genius.
Krosp, Lord of Cats says your dedication to webcomic excellence is…adequate.
Early automobiles were the epitome of the “show your work” ethos. That dashboard clearly displays why we call them that. The drum speedo gives passengers something to do while the driver concentrates on keeping the car on the road. A seven (!) litre four cylinder is awesome; you could mill grain with those pistons. Fascinating stuff.
My old John Deere makes about 38 hp from a 5.3 L 2 cylinder. I never get tired of hearing that beast run. I love a gigantic, slow moving engine. Idle is at 350-400 rpm and max hp is at 950. The later models had a shorter stroke and could get to 1150 rpm.
Reminds me of my first home built go cart, even painted it that shade of blue. Didn’t need no fancy speedo, oil dripper frivolities. Love that steering linkage perforating the frame, and long push rod to knuckle, looks like a lot of backlash, but assuredly better than a tiller.
The length of the drag link doesn’t make a difference. That style of side steering is totally standard on every t bucket ever and many heavy duty trucks, and just regular cars from this time period. It’s probably inherently slightly looser, but it’s not a big deal
Fun bonus: When the gauge hits 50mph your espresso is done
I feel as if this entire 720-page erotic fanfic story has already been written in WordStar and saved across 12 different 5.25 inch floppy disks in Jason’s basement.
I bet Torch has even written a 4 color 256×128 pixel game in BASIC on a Commodore 64. You must successfully build up enough steam pressure to successfully launch Lord Crankenflaps to his Lunar Liaison.
If I didn’t know better; I’d think a gearspedrille went into a crankenflaps and not the other way around.
Who says it can’t be that way? 😉
That’s the spirit! Anything is possible with SCIENCE.
I wonder why a race car has a trip odometer.
I imagine it depends on the type of racing being done – multiple laps around a track its not necessary, but in the early 1900’s there were a lot of road rallies that required navigation, often times by dead reckoning (turn left at Mill Rd, then travel 3.8 miles to the next unmarked right), similar to Time Speed Distance rallies now.
Great Autopian content. I am a sucker for old mechanisms, especially if they are made from Brass, Nickel, or Copper. Interestingly, many racecars don’t have speedometers because lap time is the only thing that really counts.
Most Indy cars in 1900 had a passenger, the “oilman”, a riding mechanic who was responsible for monitoring the health of the car, pumping fuel from the main tank to the gravity tank over the engine, and replenishing the lubricants lost onto the bricks during the race. That is why most of the instruments were located on the far side of the dashboard.
Because I’m OCD about Indy history, I have to point out that the first car race at Indy was in 1909 and the first Indy 500 was in 1911. There was a blue National number 6 driven by a Tom Kincade at Indy in 1910. He won a race in May and was killed in July. This is likely to be his car. Before Indy, the first track race in the US, to my knowledge, was at the Milwaukee Mile, in 1903. I don’t think race cars were called Milwaukee Cars then, but who knows. I’d never heard the riding mechanic called the oil man, but it makes sense. Most cars of those era, were lost oil designs (so they lost oil as they ran). I believe they ran on castor oil, which is also a laxative. Ew. Anyway, I have heard that mechanics of that era were called Mechanicians, which sounds kind of old timey. Either way, I don’t think I’d enjoy being an oil man or a mechanician in the 10s. Driver wasn’t a fantastic job either. But the cars were cool! If you lived and the john was handy.
I would love to see someone customize the huge touchscreens in a modern EV to show only a juddering, spinning drum speedo, a dripping oil bulb, and a vast expanse of varnished oak.
COTD! (I know it’s early but still..this would be brilliant)
Add-in piped in sounds of a 100 y.o., 7L four-cylinder engine.
The Beast of Turin