October 11th 2015 Premier Automobile Sale
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/10/2015
•Believed to once be part of the collection of Henry Austin Clark.•Eligible for the London to Brighton Run.•Older restoration with incredible patina gives the appearance of an original car.•Many vintage photographs included.•Extremely rare vehicle as one of only 400 produced in 1904 by Franklin.The H.H. Franklin Manufacturing Company was the most successful producer of air-cooled automobiles in the United States. The Syracuse, New York firm which produced cars from 1902-1934 was founded by Herbert H. Franklin and John Wilkinson, an engineer, who designed and built cars combining high quality with light weight. Franklins had a distinct reputation for dependability and long life. In more than 30 years of production, the company never made a water-cooled machine and sold more than 150,000 cars in all. As late as 1927, Franklin was still producing a car chassis with wooden side members while using full-elliptic springs in order to give the best possible ride. Franklin, like so many producers of luxury automobiles, became a victim of the Depression ceasing automobile production in 1934. The patents to the Franklin engine would be taken over by the Air-Cooled Motor Corp. whose Syracuse factory specialized in light horizontally-opposed aircraft engines. A six-cylinder Franklin helicopter engine, converted to water cooling, powered the Tucker automobile in 1948. The factory catalog indicates this Franklin to be powered by a 10hp four-cylinder air cooled engine with vertically arranged cylinders. The planetary transmission features two speeds forward plus reverse, chain drive, steering via a Brown-Lipe worm gear, and hub brakes on the rear wheels. Gas tank capacity is 7.5 gallons. Riding on a 78-inch chassis, the frame is composed of angle iron while the body is aluminum with a steel frame. Capacity with the bolt-on rear tonneau is increased to four persons and the price new was a hefty $1,650.00 without top. Franklin celebrated a coast-to-coast motoring record in 1904. L.L. Whitman, who made a career of cross county expeditions, and C.S. Carris of the Franklin Company traveled from New York to California in just a shade under 33 days; this at a time when there was little infrastructure to support such a venture. That year, Franklin produced just 400 vehicles almost doubling production of the prior year.There is no history in the consigner’s file of this car, but there is a postcard postmarked November 28, 1962 presumably picturing the car (post restoration) while it was in possession of noted collector Henry Austin Clark. Numerous black and white photographs in the file might be the car prior to restoration to its current condition. Perhaps most important, as a 1904 model, the car is London to Brighton eligible and would no doubt make a quite an impression wearing the current patina from its restoration of many years ago. It is an extremely rare automobile.As this vehicle has been part of an estate collection, the purchaser has been advised that it will require some degree of mechanical recommissioning before being placed into routine service. Offered at no reserve.