1909 Maxwell DA Crosses the country
Posted on Dec 1st, 2008 at 11:09 am by Richard
September and October 2008 were eventful months for the Alice Ramsey project and the Maxwell in particular. On September 7 the car was entered in the Kirkland Concours d’Elegance in Kirkland Washington. An article about the centennial drive was featured in the Concours program and the car drew a lot of rave attention at the show. Jill Zawatski was on site in period clothing and looked great. She talked with people about the drive and handed out information. Her presence was a great asset to showing the car and explaining the significance of this as a womens driving event. Jill will be riding along in the car as one of the three women next summer.
After the Kirkland show the car was picked up by FedEx Concours Transport and delivered to Hershey, PA. where the car was on display all week. For the first three days the car, and a display of items about the centenial drive were a part of the Antique Car Club of America Museum display. Tim Simonsma, our mechanic, was with us at the display and put in many hours showing off the car and talking with people about the drive. Tim did a great job and the car drew a lot of attention. Hopefully we were able to attract people to the AACA Museum display as well. We thank the AACA Museum for the space to tell our story and show off the car all week.
On Friday of Hershey week the car was at the Horseless Carriage Club of America tent and barbeque with the display table and Tim again sharing the story of Alice and her historic drive. Dorothy Grace also joined us for much of the day to talk with people about the centennial drive. Dorothy plans to drive the entire distance with us in her 1911 Regal.
FedEx Transport then picked up the Maxwell and delivered it back to Washington State for its final mechanical detail and drive in workout. On Sunday 11/9/08 Rich drove the Maxwell, with friend Pete Wahlstrom following, into town to fill the tank at the gas station for the first time. The car drove wonderfully and seemed to have great power when climbing hills even in third gear. The first tank fill of gas registered 13.4 gallons and cost $30.87. We kept the receipt for our diary about the adventure. Rich and Pete then drove the car home and abandoned Pete’s pickup braving a solo drive with no back up for another 20 miles. This was Pete’s first ride in a brass car and he was quite impressed. The Maxwell cruised along flawlessly and switching from battery to magneto went smoothly as well. The driver needs more practice in the shifting area, not being quite proficient in down shifting and double clutching a car with one pedal that operates the brake once it is depressed half way down.
A couple more 20 mile test drives have gone perfectly. Then on Sunday 11/16/08 Emily, Jill and Margaret joined Marriane McCoy and Bill Turina for a morning photo shoot. We located a dirt, two rut road a few miles from home and shot a load of photos of the women and the car. After lunch Les Gitts in his 1906 Queen and Mike and Marcia Yeakel in their 1907 Buick joined us for more photo opportunities at the Jacob Ebey house on the Ebeys Landing Historical Reserve. We were able to get a large number of great photos of all the cars and have submitted some to the Horseless Carriage Gazette for the cover of the January/February issue.
As of Thanksgiving 2008 we have 90 miles on the car with no problems. Sure, the brakes need adjustment, the oil needs to be checked often to be sure we are lubricated and the radiator is still the leaky original one, so we have to add water to keep it full. ( we seem to be getting 6 miles per gallon on the water). A new radiator core is being fitted and hopefully will get installed the first week of December.
Planning continues for the drive. We are making a few changes as we discover significant places to visit along the way. Alice went to Vassar College, so we plan a stop there. There is a Womens Rights Museum in Seneca Falls, NY that we will visit, and plans for our stay in Buffalo at the Pierce Arrow Museum are growing daily. We also hope to overnight in Auburn, Indiana and visit the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Museum.
So as you can see by the trip the car took from Kirkland to Hershey and back, the Maxwell has crossed the country twice already, albeit in a commercial hauler. Now the chore is to drive it and work out the mechanical details enough for it to be ready to drive from New York to San Francisco next summer. Stay tuned……