Restoration of a 1917 Detroit Model 68

Transcription

Restoration of a 1917 Detroit Model 68
Restoration
Restoration of a 1917 Detroit Model 68
November 11, 2007 – December 11, 2010
By Donald R. Davidson
#1 – THE 1917 DETROIT ELECTRIC
Sometimes it is best to start a story at its end rather than the beginning,
and I will do that here. These are pictures of the completed Detroit taken
on December 11, 2010, just following its first outing under its own power.
continued next page
16 Current EVents / September 2014
Restoration
And now back to the beginning. Here
are three pictures taken on November
11, 2007, the day I purchased the car,
and before its restoration. They were
taken in South Carolina at the home of
Ray Adcock, the previous owner. In the
mid 1950s, Ray bought the car from the
original owner also from South Carolina.
Being an avid car collector, Ray painted
the car and got it running. Over the next
50 years he took it to many antique car
events. In the top picture below, Ray
is on the left and I am on the right. In
the background is his current project, a
1941 Ford.
Previous Owner Ray Adcock – Left
New Owner Don Davidson – Right
November 11, 2007
#2 - THE INTERIOR
Following are some photos of the restored interior.
I restored the trim around the door windows in
a natural wood finish. In stripping the original
black paint off the wood I found the grain to be
too beautiful to repaint, so I stained and varnished
it. I also thought the cut glass flower vases that I
mounted on the door frame pillars between the
windows made a nice touch. I found them at an
antique car flea market in Pennsylvania.
Before the new upholstery was installed, I replaced
all the wiring behind the old upholstery with new
wire having a cloth outer cover resembling the
original. This included wiring for the dome light,
tail light, headlights, and horn.
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September 2014 / Current EVents 17
Restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 17
continued next page
18 Current EVents / September 2014
Restoration
Ernest Hillier of Salem, NY (northeast of Albany) did the interior upholstery (Previous page). It was done in a wool broadcloth or whipcord as was the original. Below are some shots of what he started with.
Below is a photo of the steering tiller (long lever) activated by the driver’s
right hand, and the speed control lever (short lever above the steering tiller)
activated by the driver’s left hand. The driver sits behind the levers facing the
front of the car. The car turns left if the steering tiller is pushed away from the
driver, and right if it is pulled toward the driver. The size of the driver’s belly
is the only limit on how sharp a right turn can be made!
Speed Control Lever
Steering Tiller
continued page 20
September 2014 / Current EVents 19
Restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 19
The speed control lever adjusts the car’s speed. If it is pushed
away from the driver the car will go faster, and if it is pulled
back it will go slower. The horn button is located at the end
of the speed control lever grip. It is activated by the thumb
on the driver’s left hand.
It is not obvious from the photo on the previous page, but I
had to make a new grip for the steering tiller to replace the
missing original. It was made to match the existing original
speed control grip as the instruction manual showed them as
being almost identical. I turned the new grip on a lathe using
a piece of black Nylon which I polished. In the photo to the
right, the original speed control grip is on the bottom, the new
tiller grip is in the middle, and the Nylon bar from which the
new grip was cut is on the top.
The rear window latch was missing completely so I remanufactured a new one based on an original from a 1918 Detroit.
The photo to the right shows the new latch.
#3 - THE BATTERIES AND THEIR
COMPARTMENTS
Following are some photos of the Detroit’s front and rear battery compartments. The front compartment is located under
what normally would be the hood of a modern car. The rear
battery compartment is mounted in what normally would be
the trunk. Each holds seven modern six volt deep cycle golf
cart batteries (lead acid) connected in series making two
separate forty two volt battery packs.
The original batteries that came with the Detroit were also
lead acid, but would have looked very different from today’s
familiar automotive batteries. Instead of packaging six two
volt cells together into a separate twelve volt battery, as
with modern car batteries, they packaged each two volt cell
separately in its own hard rubber “jar”. The resulting twenty
one jars (forty two volts total) in each of the two battery
compartments were grouped together in Oak boxes. There
were three of these boxes in the front compartment and four
in the rear.
To accommodate the modern lead acid batteries, I had to
design and build a framework to hold them in place complete
with fifteen hold down straps to keep them from bouncing
around when trailering the car. I ended up using over twenty
feet of two inch angle iron and machining over fifty individual
parts which required more than twelve machining operations
per piece. The batteries should give the car a total driving
range of about sixty to seventy miles on a single charge. Their
life expectancy should be around five years.
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New Tiller
Steering Grip
Original Speed
Control Grip
New Rear
Window
Latch
I then cut twelve wire battery cables from 0/1 size wire that
had a cloth outer covering giving an appearance similar to the
originals. Each one had to be the correct length to give the
proper battery wiring sequence. Even though I used stranded
wire, the copper is still about 3/8” in diameter, and in tight
places very hard to bend making this job a real chore. The
proper left hand and right hand terminal clamps were then
soldered onto the end of each cable.
Below is a picture of the completed front battery compartment.
Completed Front Battery Compartment
continued next page
Restoration
Below is the completed rear battery compartment.
Directly below are the before and after photos of the front
battery compartment without the batteries.
Completed Rear Battery Compartment
Before — Front Battery Compartment
In the above photo, the red box in the middle of the rear battery compartment is the eighty four volt battery charger. It is
permanently mounted on the car and has a twenty five foot
power cord so the car can be charged on the road if necessary.
The small twelve volt motorcycle battery mounted behind
the charger powers the new directional signals I installed
for safety, and the horn. The original horn was powered by
forty two volts and was missing when I bought the car so I
used a horn of the period that worked on twelve volts. I will
have to keep my eye out for an original forty two volt horn
at flea markets.
After — Front Battery Compartment
The following three pictures show the details of the battery hold downs
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September 2014 / Current EVents 21
RESTORATION
Detroit
Continued from page 21
Before — Rear Battery Compartment
After — Rear Battery Compartment
Above are before and after photos of the rear battery
compartment.
on most of the components. None the less, each mechanical
system had to be dissembled and each part cleaned, examined
for damage, repaired if necessary, and reassembled. Starting
with the rear axle I removed the differential cover only to
find it full of a thick tar like grease (photo on left below).
The differential was cleaned (photo on right below) and filled
with modern gear oil.
As you can see there was a lot of damage to the battery
compartment’s wood floors due to spilled battery acid
throughout the years. All of this wood had to be replaced.
#4 – THE MECHANICAL SYSTEMS
Turning my attention to the mechanical systems, the first
order of business was to make sure everything was in proper
working order. As with many antique electric cars, my Detroit
apparently had very little use as almost no wear was found
Differential – Before
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The seals on the outer axle bearings were the traditional
antique heavy felt washers. I modified the seal holders and
installed modern seals as I didn’t want any differential oil
leaking onto the nearby brake linings. The photo on the left
on the next page shows the installation of the new seals into
the modified holders, and the one on the right shows the new
seal assembly being installed on the rear axle.
Differential – After
continued next page
RESTORATION
Modified Oil Seal Holder
New Oil Seal
Assembly
Modern Oil Seal
Rear Axle Bearing
I then dissembled and cleaned the brake mechanisms, the front axle
bearings and spindles and after repacking the bearings with grease, went
through the rest of the mechanical systems. The photo below shows the
car in the middle of disassembly during this process.
Before – Brake Ratchet Mechanism
After – Brake Ratchet Mechanism
Car Being Disassembled
During Restoration
The two photos at the right are typical of what I found. In
the photo immediately to the above right, the parking brake
ratchet mechanism is being dissembled. After disassembly and
cleaning, a new bronze bearing was made replacing one that
had worn out. Also, a worn ratchet pawl was repaired and all
the parts were painted. The photo on the bottom right shows
the finished parts ready to be reassembled.
#5 – FABRICATING THE MOTOR BRAKE
One component completely missing when I purchased the
car was the motor brake. This is mechanical brake mounted
directly on the motor shaft just behind the motor and before
the drive to the rear axle. It is activated by the speed control
lever shown in the photo on top of page 19. As described
earlier, pushing the control lever forward increases the
continued on page 24
September 2014 / Current EVents 23
restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 23
speed of the car. Pulling the control
lever backwards reduces the car’s
speed until current no longer flows to
the motor. If you continue to pull the
lever backwards, the motor brake will
engage. So in theory, you can accelerate,
decelerate, and apply a brake with
the simple movement of one hand. In
addition there is a traditional brake shoe
and drum mounted on each of the rear
wheels. These are activated by a pedal
on the floor and provide the majority of
the cars braking power.
A friend had a 1918 Detroit nearby and
I spent about five hours under his car
taking critical dimensions and over a
hundred detailed photos of his original
motor brake system. I then reverse
engineered the design and made several
precision layout drawings showing the
relationship of all the components to
each other and to the existing motor.
The corresponding detail drawings were
then made with the precise dimensions
for each new part. In all I had to draw
and fabricate over seventy pieces that
had to look and function like the original
brake system.
mechanism was destroyed as it hit an
obstacle in the road, and had to be
removed. In the process, the brake drum
mounting flange was bent.
The bent flange is a rather complicated
piece made from a casting with multiple
internal keyways machined to mate with
external keys machined directly into
the end of the motor shaft. It would be
a difficult part to recreate from scratch.
Considering how I might repair the existing part, I decided not to try bending
it back into shape for fear of breaking it.
Also, the flange was not thick enough to
machine the mounting surface back to be
true with its axis. So instead, I designed
an intermediate plate that I fastened to
the flange and then machined perfectly
true to the motor shaft. This worked out
quite well as the new drum has less than
.005” run out after being mounted in
place. The new motor brake is now assembled on the car and performs exactly
as the original would have.
Directly below is a photo of the new motor brake mounted on the motor.
Newly Fabricated Motor Brake
The first piece fabricated was the brake
drum. An old cast iron brake drum of
a similar size and shape to the original
was found and modified to fit. This was
the first step as all the other parts had
to be designed to properly fit the new
drum. When the drum was first installed
on the original mounting flange on the
motor shaft, I found out why the brake
mechanism had been removed. The
mounting flange was bent making the
drum wobble front to back by about
+/- 5/16”. This would have bound up
the original brake and not allowed the
car to move.
The mechanism for the motor brake is
larger in diameter than the motor making
it the lowest point on the car. I imagine
sometime in the car’s history the brake
24 Current EVents / September 2014
The next photo is the original I copied.
An Original Motor Brake
continued next page
restoration
The next six photos show some of the steps in fabricating the new motor brake parts in my shop. Directly below, the main
mounting plate (left), and the brake shoes (right) are being machined.
Main Mounting Plate
Brake Shoe
The brake shoe mounting bracket shown in the next two photos was machined out of a solid block of steel as were many of
the other parts.
Brake Shoe Mounting Bracket
Directly below are the final products. The completed new motor brake assembly (left) and the new intermediary pivot
mechanism (right).
Completed Motor Brake Assembly
Intermediary Pivot Assembly
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September 2014 / Current EVents 25
restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 25
#6 – THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS
The switching for all these combinations
Turning my attention to the electrical systems, I removed the cover from the motor, is made by a turning a drum which roand found the commutator and brushes to be in excellent condition and not needing tates either forward or backward as the
any further attention (photo directly below).
speed control lever is moved either away
from or toward the driver. On the drum
are mounted several copper plates with
Motor Commutator
very specific shapes that contact eight
copper fingers. As the drum is rotated,
the copper plates make contact with the
proper fingers to achieve the desired connections and thus the different speeds.
The drum, its copper plates, and the
contact fingers are clearly shown in the
photo below.
Motor Brushes
The main power wires to the motor and
speed controller were also found to be in
usable condition and were shrouded in
shrink tubing for added insulation. The
speed controller was then taken apart,
and completely rebuilt. As described
earlier, the Detroit’s speed is regulated by
pushing the small arm above the steering
tiller away from the driver (see photo on
page 19). The father away it is pushed,
the faster the car will go. There are five
and only five speeds available, each one
being separated by a distinct mechanical
detent. The first will get the car going
about two or three miles per hour while
the last allows the car to develop about
twenty five miles per hour. Two of the
five speeds are achieved by connecting
the front forty two volt battery pack
with the rear forty two volt battery pack
in either series or parallel (42 volts or
84 volts to the motor) by an ingenious
switching mechanism shown in the photo
to the right. The same switching device
can also connect the motor’s two field
windings in either series or in parallel
26 Current EVents / September 2014
with each other. The resulting combinations of voltages and wiring of the field
windings result in four different motor
speeds. The fifth utilizes a separate
resistor for the first or starting speed.
Considering the technology available
at the time, the Detroit’s method of
speed control is a fairly efficient use
of the stored electrical energy. None of
the energy is wasted by dumping it into
idle resistors to reduce the current to the
motor and thus its speed. This would
occur if a variable resistance (Variac)
type speed control were used which was
about the only other technology available at the time. The only exception is
the additional resistor used in the first or
starting speed, and this position would
be used only briefly.
8 Copper
Fingers
Copper Contact Plates
continued on next page
restoration
Through the years, most of the fingers had worn quite a bit. I silver soldered copper to the bottom of the worn fingers, and
then reshaped them by hand to give perfect contact with the copper plates. Auxiliary springs were made for each finger to
aid the original springs that had lost their tension.
The next two photos show the restoration of the speed controller fingers. On the left, additional copper is added to the bottom
of a worn finger in preparation for silver soldering. To the right the soldered copper is being shaped by hand.
Adding Copper to the
Worn Contact Finger
Reshaping the Contact
Finger
Below is a photo of the speed controller before restoration. Looking down on top of the controller with its cover removed.
The Speed Controller
Before Restoration
The head lamps, interior dome lamp, and tail lamp all work on forty two volts and all the bulbs had to be replaced. Where
does one look for forty two volt, bayonet type, automotive bulbs? Well, my first try was McMaster Carr and to my surprise,
they had exactly what I needed. As a side note, the head lamp bulbs have a single filament which is wired to give both a
bright setting and a low or dim setting. How did the engineers at Detroit do this? They connected the two bulbs in parallel
for the bright setting, and in series for the dim setting. Now that is both clever and efficient!
continued on page 28
September 2014 / Current EVents 27
restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 27
Another surprise came when I removed
the cover from the dome light. Inside
was the original Edison Mazda bulb
complete with the Edison label and the
pointed tip on top. The filament still appears intact, but I decided to replace the
bulb anyway, and to keep the original in
a safe place. Was this bulb shipped with
the car from the factory? It could have
been as this light is rarely used. Below
is a photo of the Edison bulb found in
the dome light.
Original Edison Light Bulb
As seen in the photo below, the horn
button is mounted on the end of the
speed control grip. The original button
was missing one of its electrical contacts
which I had to recreate. It now works as
well as it did in 1917.
for easy viewing. Its primary function
is to show the driver how much charge
is left in the batteries, and in a sense is
used like a gas gage in a modern car. As
the batteries are being charged, the black
needle pointed at 6 in the photo moves
to the right. When they are fully charged
it will be opposite the “Full” mark just
below the number 1 on the dial. As the
car is driven and the batteries discharge,
the needle moves back toward the left.
As it approaches the stationery red hand
or “empty” marker the driver knows it is
time to recharge the batteries. Recharging can take as much as twelve hours so
it is advisable to be close to home well
before the batteries approach “empty”.
28 Current EVents / September 2014
#7 – THE WINDOWS
When I purchased the Detroit, most of
the glass was the original plate glass
which in an accident can become deadly.
Also, one of the four curved corner
windows was cracked, and another
had been replaced with Plexiglas.
Being cautious, I decided to replace
all the windows with safe materials.
The front windshields were replaced
with laminated safety glass as found in
The second gage on the amp hour meter modern automobile windshields.
is an amp meter which is located in the
arched opening toward the bottom of For the two door windows, and the
the gage dial, and is marked “current rear window, I had tempered glass
rate”. It reports the amount of electri- fabricated. This is also used in modern
cal current the motor is drawing at any car door windows and when broken
given moment. This alerts the driver to breaks into very small harmless pieces.
any unusually high current draws that
may signal an abnormal condition in the Deciding what to do with the four
motor or wiring.
curved windows was not as easy. I
received two quotes of $5,000 to have
In restoring the amp hour meter, I the four windows made in safety glass.
removed its cover and examined the In addition, I talked to several electric
car owners that tried this, and learned
that making the proper curve and fit was
at best very difficult. The glass contour,
and outside shape had to be coordinated
perfectly. In talking to one car owner, he
had three sets of glasses made before he
achieved an acceptable fit.
Deciding this would be cost prohibitive,
I used 1/8” thick, impact resistant, clear,
polycarbonate plastic (Lexan) with a
scratch resistant coating that is currently
being used for motorcycle windscreens.
It is flexible enough to bend in place
without heat (with a lot of effort!) with
the required bend radius being well
within the manufacturer’s specification.
Horn Button
The amp hour meter is shown in the
photo the right. It is the only instrument
used to check the status of the electrical
systems and is mounted on the dashboard directly across from the driver
mechanism. Since everything seemed
to be in good working order I oiled the
moving parts, painted the cover, and
mounted the meter back on the car.
This is where my experience restoring
antique clocks came in handy.
continued on next page
Amp Hour Meter
restoration
Below is a photo of the finished product.
The only way you can tell it is plastic is by
tapping on the window.
The process started by cutting the
Lexan to the inside shape of the
window frame. New rubber trim
was then cut and applied along its
edges (photo on right top), and the
corners glued together (photo on
right below).
Securing one end of the Lexan
under a piece of the aluminum trim
that was nailed in place (photo on
right below), the plastic was forced
into position by hand until a large
C clamp could be applied (photo
on left below).
continued on page 30
September 2014 / Current EVents 29
restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 29
Two more C clamps forced the rest of
the window into place (photo on top
below). A second piece of the original
aluminum molding was then slid into
position in a channel behind the wooden
blocks, and finally nailed to the body’s
wooden frame (photo on bottom below).
The clamps were then removed and the
remaining top and bottom pieces of aluminum trim were nailed in place. It took
two people about three hours to install
one window.
finding a replacement material that was wide enough to cover the top without any
seams. I finally located a suitable vinyl covered canvas top material. New padding was installed and the fabric was then tacked in place. Finally, the original
aluminum trim was reinstalled. Below is a photo of the finished top.
The next two photos show the fabric being stretched over the padding (photo on
left) and then thumb tacked in place (photo on right).
The next two photos show the top material being permanently tacked in place with
carpet tacks, and then cut to size.
Finally, the photo below on the left shows the original aluminum trim being reinstalled along with the salvaged aluminum gutters above the doors. The photo to
the right shows the completed top.
#8 – THE TOP
The original top was canvas coated
with a rubberized waterproofing. Unfortunately it needed to be replaced as
it was torn, and the rubberized coating
was severely cracked making it no longer water proof. I had some difficulty
30 Current EVents / September 2014
continued on next page
restoration
#9 – IDENTIFICATION PLATES
Other details needing attention were the missing serial number Directly below is the new door sill plate mounted in position.
plate (VIN plate), the motor ID plate, and the hubcap inserts
with the Detroit logo. Also, the plates on the door sills were
badly worn with the one on the passenger’s side completely
illegible. Each of these was carefully reproduced.
Original examples of the plates were located and photos taken.
Digital artwork was then meticulously created on a computer
by my wife Sarah Stanley duplicating the exact images of the
originals. Film positives were made, and a vendor found that
could acid etch the images into brass and aluminum plates.
Immediately below is the new hubcap insert, and below that
is the motor ID plate.
#10 – WHEELS
The car had last been painted in the 1950s and was now due
to be repainted. I wasn’t sure how far I wanted to take this,
but I decided to start with the wire wheels as rust was starting
to come through the paint and the wheels were in too good
a condition to let them deteriorate further. I was advised the
best and most economical way to “paint” these would be to
powder coat them. Indeed for a few hundred dollars all four
wheels were completely sand blasted free of all old paint, and
powder coated. Directly below is the before picture and below
that the after picture. They turned out beautifully, actually
much better than I had expected, and so set the standard for
the rest of the car.
Before Powder
Coating
Below is the new serial number or VIN plate mounted on the
heel board below the driver’s seat.
After Powder Coating
continued on page 32
September 2014 / Current EVents 31
restoration
Detroit
Continued from page 31
The next challenge was to mount the
new tires without scratching the powder coating. Instead of tire irons, I used
several large C clamps and a weighted
rubber mallet which worked quite well.
The photo immediately below shows
a tire being urged in place with the
C clamps. The picture on the bottom
shows the finished wheels ready to be
mounted on the car.
This was difficult as the shape of the wood determines the contour of the lid. This
has to match the curve of the body perfectly so there wouldn’t be any large gaps
between the lid and the body when the lid was closed. After mounting the lid back
on the car, I was very pleased as the gap turned out to be a 1/32” or less.
The following two photos show the poor condition of the wood in rear lid.
“Acid Rot” On Rear Battery Compartment Lid Wood
The next two photos illustrate the fabrication (left photo), and installation (right
photo) of the new wood.
In addition to the “acid rot” on the battery compartment floors, and on the rear
lid wood, there were several additional pieces of wood in both the front battery
compartment (left photo below) and rear battery compartment (right photo below)
that suffered the same fate and had to be replaced.
#11 – THE BODY
The Detroit body was handmade having
a wooden frame (Ash and/or Oak) covered by sheet aluminum in some places,
and sheet steel in others. On my car there
was virtually no wood rot due to water
damage. This testifies to the good care
this car had received over the past 93
years. However, there was a significant
amount of wood damage in the both battery compartments due to acid spills and
fumes over the years. In particular, the
frame for the rear battery compartment
lid needed about half its wood replaced.
32 Current EVents / September 2014
Rear Battery Compartment
Front Battery Compartment
restoration
As mentioned, the body is made primarily from sheet aluminum and steel nailed over a wooden frame. The exception is the
framework around all the windows which for some reason was left in oak. To prepare this wood for the painter, I stripped
away all of the paint with paint remover, and coated it with a penetrating two part epoxy. This epoxy is commonly used in
wooden boat construction to protect wooden hulls before painting. It soaks into the wood and after hardening makes it almost
impervious to water. It is also remains somewhat flexible so it can move with the wood as it expands and contracts with
changes in temperature and humidity. Without this sealer, normal paint and primer could eventually crack allowing water into
the wood where it could dislodge and flake the paint. The photo below shows the wood after being treated with the epoxy.
Epoxy Coated Wood
#12 – THE PAINTING
The final painting was done by Lance
Tegeder of Exceptional Finishes in Perkasie, PA. The body was stripped to the
bare metal before new primer and paint
were applied. Most of the body was in
very good condition with only two small
places where mice had gotten into the
body and left their deposits which ate
through the aluminum. These were cut
out and aluminum patches welded in
place.
The fenders were the greatest challenge
as they were also made of aluminum
and being soft became rather “lumpy”
over the years. Lance was able to save
them and today they look like new. It
took Lance nine months to complete the
painting of the car. In the photo to the
right, Lance and my wife Sarah discuss
the Detroit’s progress.
The final touch was the pinstriping. It was done by DeWayne Connots of DOA
Flatliners from North Wales, PA. To stripe the entire car took about four hours.
continued on page 34
September 2014 / Current EVents 33
restoration
Detroit Continued from page 33
In the two photos below, DeWayne is at work in Lance Tegeder’s paint shop.
DeWayne Connots Pinstriping The Car
13 – THE FINALE
Of course, the above are only highlights of the Detroit’s restoration. It would be impossible to describe everything that
was done. Suffice it to say that the first ride in the Detroit
made it all seem worthwhile.
In the photo below, the author takes a moment to wave hello
from the Detroit’s cockpit sometime during its three year
restoration.
The Author, Donald R. Davidson,
Waves Hello During The Restoration
At the top of the next page is a glimpse of how 100 years of
continual technological improvements are showcased in a
modern plugin car, such as the BMW i3. That new product
offers the best of today’s ICE tech to drive a electric
generator (in the REX) to circumvent the shortfalls of either
ICE or BEV technology in this car. Consider where we’ve
come from, with this list of the strong points in modern
cars. They:
• have a much lower center of gravity than this tall
carriage,
• include effective heating /cooling systems to
maximize passenger comfort,
• their inside and outside lighting makes it easy to see
and be seen,
• are easy to handle and use in urban environments,
• present no difficulties to maintain them in good and
proper operation,
• run cleanly and quietly,
• have refined shock absorbers and a suspension which
34 Current EVents / September 2014
is the key to their smoothness,
have an ability to hit and maintain high speeds for
sustained freeway travel over long distances, all in
comfort, with safety.
These items are all the result of numerous incremental
improvements made over the past nine decades in
automobile models delivered by many different OEMs.
We’ve seen tremendous changes in styling and capability,
just incredible refinement. Now to be able to lessen our
dependence on oil in the automotive sector by using
electricity is a disruptive, yet sustainable step which society
needs to take. The differences here couldn’t be more stark
and satisfying.
•
Of course, the EAA gives a solid plug for the stupendous
restoration and documentation effort portrayed in this
article. It is clearly a very well executed, top tier job.
Congratulations to Donald Davidson!
restoration
Photos and comments on this page are
courtesy of Chris Neff.
What is so amazing about Don and his wife Sarah (Sarah
Stanley, great-granddaughter of Francis E. Stanley*) is
that they drive their Detroit Electric today. In fact, just the
other week they met up with me at ‘Cars and Croissants’ in
Chatham NJ. I was able to take some pictures of my BMW i3
next to their Detroit Electric... how cool is that?? Talk about
the past meeting the future.
*In case you do not know who Francis E Stanley is....
co-founder, along with his twin brother Freelan Oscar
Stanley, of the Stanley Motor Carriage Company which
built the Stanley Steamer. They not only built the cars but
they are the inventors of the Stanley Steamer. http://www.
stanleysteamers.com/
September 2014 / Current EVents 35