'Flying Teapot' 1910 Steamcar That Raced In The 1920s For Sale With H&H Classics For £50,000 To £60,000 - June 19 Duxford Cambs

How many 109-year-old steam race cars are there left? Not many according to H&H Classics who are selling this alternative energy, clean green race car, whose technology was overtaken by the petrol driven cars that would go on to pollute the planet. The sale is on June 19th at Duxford Imperial War Museum.

Stanley Steamers were sometimes nicknamed ‘Flying Teapots’ yet a Stanley Steamer set the world record for the fastest mile in an automobile (28.2 seconds) in 1906. This record (127 mph or 204 km/h) was not broken by any automobile until 1911. The record for steam-powered automobiles was not broken until 2009.

It is hard to even conceive of a steam driven race car, but that is what it is and it boasts its original engine and running gear which has been extensively restored by the vendor. It offers an excellent climbing performance.

This car, for sale with H&H, which started life as a road car, was converted to race and converted back to its current shape, has an auxiliary Weir water pump to fill its boiler, useable down to 100 psi. The Pilot light uses spark ignition and is fed by a 2 x 3.9kg cyl auto changeover propane system. Starting on pure petrol, the water heater then runs on 50/50 diesel/petrol. Extra gauges show propane, steam chest and lubrication oil pressure.

The car is a beautiful example of the road less travelled, a technology not chosen, and as such an historic curiosity the more valuable as a result. One can only wonder what a century of engineering refinement would have brought to steam technology. After all there are steam trains that are still in service in many parts of the world today.

Having made a fortune from selling their photographic dry plate business to Eastman Kodak, twins Francis E. Stanley and Freelan O. Stanley built their first steam car in Lewiston, Maine during 1897. Two years later Freelan and his wife Flora became the first motorists to successfully scale Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in the Northeast United States. Suitably impressed by the twins' design, publishing magnate J.B. Walker offered them $250,000 for it on the proviso that they also became general managers of the newly formed Locomobile Company of America.

Striking out on their own again in 1902 as the Stanley Motor Carriage Company, Francis and Freelan came up with ever more efficient models. A switch from rear- to front-mounted boilers for 1906 resulted in Stanley cars adopting coffin-like noses, while that same year witnessed Fred Marriott pilot the Stanley 'Woggle-Bug' racer to a new World Land Speed Record of 127.66mph for the flying measured mile.

As a Stanley Racer

Thoroughly revamped for 1910, Stanley's 10hp range gained a larger, more powerful engine and new longer wheelbase (104-inch), wider tracked (56-inch) chassis. Still equipped with fully-elliptic leaf-sprung suspension and rear wheel brakes, the newcomer eschewed leather mudguards in favour of more durable steel wings. Allocated 60-series nomenclature, the improved 10hp was available in Model 60 two-seater or Model 61 four-seater guises. Though, the former could be specified with a single or double rumble seat which was fixed or folding. Priced at $850, the Model 60 10hp Runabout accounted for some 352 sales in 1910.

Rumoured to have raced in Pomona, Los Angeles County during the late teens / early 1920s, this particular example - chassis 5491 - retains a 1922 California State registration document. Surviving black and white photos show the Stanley configured as a competition car, while colour images prove that much of its original woodwork survived into the twenty-first century.

Dilapidated but mechanically complete when bought by Geary Baese of Fort Collins, Colorado, the Model 60 underwent a fair degree of restoration before he sold it to fellow steam car enthusiast Colin May of North Yorkshire during 2006 for $54,000. Attracted to the project because of its originality and provenance, the latter set about returning the 10hp to its initial Runabout specification including the purchase of a replacement Bourdon Boiler Works boiler fabricated from quarter-inch rolled plate carbon steel. Finished in Brewster Green with Pale Yellow chassis and wheels (a livery introduced for the 1910 season), the Stanley was UK road registered as 'BF 4908' on August 22nd 2008.

Entering the current ownership two years later, the Model 60 has been extensively reworked and improved with input from specialist steam restorers J.R. Goold, Don English and Preston Services. Having served an engineering apprenticeship, the vendor took a hands-on approach to matters re-designing much of the pipework and adding extra gauges for propane, steam chest and lubrication oil pressure.

Pleasingly retaining its original engine and running gear, the 10hp Runabout is said to possess 'excellent climbing performance' and to be capable of over 40mph. Not steamed since its last boiler inspection certificate expired on August 2nd 2018, the Model 60 will require recommissioning prior to road use something the vendor is happy to advise on or assist with (depending upon location). An auxiliary Weir water pump has been plumbed-in to help fill the boiler (usable down to 100psi). Starting on pure petrol but running on a 50:50 petrol / diesel mixture, the heater uses a pilot light with its own 2 x 3.9kg cylinder auto changeover propane system (seen working during our recent photography session). Riding on correct diameter Ford Model T wheels, plans were made to convert the Runabout's headlights to halogen and install a kit for measuring fore and aft water pump pressures. However, the challenges of owning, maintaining and operating a 109-year old Steam Car in Central London have allowed the vendor to become distracted by other projects. The recipient of hundreds of hours of development work over the past nine years, this unusually original Stanley is accompanied by a large, two-volume history file.

During the mid to late 1910s, the fuel efficiency and power delivery of internal combustion engines improved dramatically using an electric starter instead of the crank handle, which had been notorious for injuring its operators, led to the rise of the gasoline-powered automobile, which also was much cheaper. The Stanley company produced a series of advertising campaigns trying to recover the car-buying public away from the "internal explosion engine," but it was unsuccessful. And it is only now, a century later that viable alternatives to the petrol and diesel driven engines are on the market.