Barney Oldfields Barnstorming Benz
The ex-Barney Oldfield, Eddie Maier 1908 BENZ 75/105HP PRINZ-HEINRICH Raceabout in a pointillist setting. I know this isn't for everyone, but I had fun anyway. Dappled light can be very colorful.
Karl Benz is credited with the creation of the first practical (and salable) car in 1886 and it had....
........drum roll........a 2/3 hp engine! He also designed the first practical bus, and also the first truck. Not bad and Benz continued through the war, until, under the pressure of the post war depression in Germany, joined with Daimler in 1926 to form Mercedes Benz.
Benz recognized the value of racing and speed records in advertising, and both the 'Blitzen Benz' of 1909 with it's outrageous 200 hp, and this 1908 Raceabout ended up in the US with Barney Oldfield's barnstorming team showing them off all over the US.
Hans Nibel and Georg Diehl at Benz in Germany conceived the idea of a sports car a little before the idea for the T-head Mercer Raceabout came into the fertile mind of Finlay Robertson Porter and the Roebling family in New Jersey. Its impetus was the Prince Heinrich Tour, a multi-day reliability trial through Germany, Hungary and Austria first staged by Hubert von Herkomer in 1907. Crown Prince Heinrich himself participated in the first Herkomer Tour in a Benz and in 1908 contributed its winning trophy (a 13.5kg silver automobile) and his name to the event.
Racing was in decline in Europe with the Gordon Bennett Cup retired by the French and the stamina and resources of automobile manufacturers were strained by the expense of building racing specials, retaining drivers and funding teams of cars, mechanicians and spares to contest only two or three events a year. The idea of a reliability trial that demonstrated the automobile's reliability and practicality, along with a few timed events to highlight performance was attractive.This very Benz was featured, and then sent to New York, where it was sold to Oldfield and his team.
Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was "The Speed King of the World" through much of the last century's first decades. A successful bicycle racer, he quickly transitioned to automobile racing. With his trademark cigar between clenched teeth, he took command of Henry Ford's "999" racer, the Winton "Bullet" and the Peerless "Green Dragon". A showman of consummate flamboyance, he nevertheless was also a driver of skill, daring and calculated strategy. Backed by his manager Bill Pickens, Oldfield barnstormed across America drawing crowds for whom any automobile was exotic, let alone one clocked at over 100 mph, a speed that many thought would result in the expiration of the human spirit – except for a superhuman like Barney Oldfield.
Oldfield would drive it between events and it was fully equipped with road equipment including fenders and lighting which were removed before the hippodromes. It is pictured in several period photos on track and in promotional appearances with sponsors.
Barney Oldfields Barnstorming Benz
The ex-Barney Oldfield, Eddie Maier 1908 BENZ 75/105HP PRINZ-HEINRICH Raceabout in a pointillist setting. I know this isn't for everyone, but I had fun anyway. Dappled light can be very colorful.
Karl Benz is credited with the creation of the first practical (and salable) car in 1886 and it had....
........drum roll........a 2/3 hp engine! He also designed the first practical bus, and also the first truck. Not bad and Benz continued through the war, until, under the pressure of the post war depression in Germany, joined with Daimler in 1926 to form Mercedes Benz.
Benz recognized the value of racing and speed records in advertising, and both the 'Blitzen Benz' of 1909 with it's outrageous 200 hp, and this 1908 Raceabout ended up in the US with Barney Oldfield's barnstorming team showing them off all over the US.
Hans Nibel and Georg Diehl at Benz in Germany conceived the idea of a sports car a little before the idea for the T-head Mercer Raceabout came into the fertile mind of Finlay Robertson Porter and the Roebling family in New Jersey. Its impetus was the Prince Heinrich Tour, a multi-day reliability trial through Germany, Hungary and Austria first staged by Hubert von Herkomer in 1907. Crown Prince Heinrich himself participated in the first Herkomer Tour in a Benz and in 1908 contributed its winning trophy (a 13.5kg silver automobile) and his name to the event.
Racing was in decline in Europe with the Gordon Bennett Cup retired by the French and the stamina and resources of automobile manufacturers were strained by the expense of building racing specials, retaining drivers and funding teams of cars, mechanicians and spares to contest only two or three events a year. The idea of a reliability trial that demonstrated the automobile's reliability and practicality, along with a few timed events to highlight performance was attractive.This very Benz was featured, and then sent to New York, where it was sold to Oldfield and his team.
Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was "The Speed King of the World" through much of the last century's first decades. A successful bicycle racer, he quickly transitioned to automobile racing. With his trademark cigar between clenched teeth, he took command of Henry Ford's "999" racer, the Winton "Bullet" and the Peerless "Green Dragon". A showman of consummate flamboyance, he nevertheless was also a driver of skill, daring and calculated strategy. Backed by his manager Bill Pickens, Oldfield barnstormed across America drawing crowds for whom any automobile was exotic, let alone one clocked at over 100 mph, a speed that many thought would result in the expiration of the human spirit – except for a superhuman like Barney Oldfield.
Oldfield would drive it between events and it was fully equipped with road equipment including fenders and lighting which were removed before the hippodromes. It is pictured in several period photos on track and in promotional appearances with sponsors.