The F.C. Deemer, Honeymoon Roadster, ex-Dick Teague and W.K. Haines
1907 American Underslung 50hp Roadster
Engine no. 1402
476.5ci T-head 4-cylinder Engine
Single carburetor
Listed as 50hp
4-Speed Manual Transmission
Front and Rear Underslung Leaf Spring Suspension
2-Wheel Drum, and Transmission Brakes
*Oldest existing Sports Car in America
*Iconic early 'Speedster', with revolutionary 'underslung' suspension
*Known history from new
*Formerly in the famed Deemer Collection
*Recent Concours show exhibit and prize winner
The American Underslung
The
innovative American Automobile company of Indianapolis, Indiana is best
remembered today for their famous "Underslung" models. These striking
designs placed the frame rails below the axles, giving a significantly
reduced center of gravity along with a sporting profile. The problems of
ground clearance were remedied by the use of significantly oversized
wheels. This design innovation resulted in a chassis with remarkably
sure handling while still retaining the necessary clearances to handle
the poor road conditions of the day.
The effect of the
underslung chassis, with its big wheels, was dramatic and memorable and
helped make the Underslung both a style and performance icon of the
pre-war era. These charismatic machines have been prized since the day
they were built, evidently by the list of the car's owners - a who's who
list of automotive luminaries. Captain Larz Anderson bought one new,
and another became one of Briggs Cunningham's first and most prized
antique automobiles.
Today the American Underslung is regarded
by the Museum's founder, historian and collector, Dr. Fred Simeone, as
the first American sports car. In his book The Spirit of Competition
he states "...the American Car Company only made an automobile
specifically for sport, at least in 1907 when the famed underslung
chassis was introduced. Thus, arguably they are America's first
exclusive sports car maker."
The Motorcar Offered
The
Deemer family name will forever be associated with the American
Underslung model, for they were serial buyers of these cars and the
discovery of their cache of four Underslungs in the 1960s is one of the
legendary tales of 'cars in barns' in America.
The origins of
that find and the Deemer association with the brand began with the very
car offered here, when a young Frank Deemer purchased this early example
of American's sports model with its revolutionarily designed chassis.
As today, it was quite common for those who earned their livelihood from
this new industry to understand and benefit from the best of the
technology that it created and to invest and support it themselves. It
can safely be assumed that F.C. Deemer, whose business was in oil and
natural gas, and in some part would have earned his living from the
burgeoning automobile business, would choose what he felt to be the best
automobile of its kind. As for any driven, young, up and coming
individual, the freshly christened term by American of a 'sport' car
would have appealed most.
And so he chose to purchase the very
latest from American. On the basis of latter research it seems likely
that this was one of the first such cars that the company had built, and
was a pre-cursor to 1908 production.
He clearly appreciated
this fine automobile, so much so that one of his first excursions would
be to escort his freshly anointed bride on their honeymoon. Over the
generations of coachbuilding design, a married couple's honeymoon has
long been associated with two seater bodywork - the carefree newlyweds
needing a motorcar with little more than a seat each and modest luggage
space. F.C. Deemer may well have coined this phrase as it doesn't get
more spartan than his American Underslung Roadster.
A few
snapshots from the start of the honeymoon show the happy couple posing
for each other after an undoubtedly routine tire change, "full of the
joys of spring". And then one night on their journey they laid the car
up in a barn in Oil City. Rather sadly, a fire in the barn that same
night would curtail their journey albeit briefly for it is said that the
bride and groom simply hopped on a train and headed to American's
Indianapolis base to acquire another in its place. Surveying the
factory, Deemer elected to buy the last of their 1908 production
Roadsters and, liking the look of the next season's Traveller model that
was being built, placed an order for one of those also. But Deemer had
clearly already grown attached to this car, such that he chose to keep
his 'Honeymoon' roadster and had it shipped back to his home. Indeed, he
must have approved of the '09 also as a 1910 Traveller was later added
to the stable. Loyalty and a 'word is my bond' attitude were known to
have been some of Deemer's strongest qualities.
At this point
one can 'fast forward' to the 1960s, when the second generation of car
collectors were in full swing of sleuthing old cars in the manner of
which their forebears such as Cameron Peck, James Melton and Henry Wing
had done in the 1940s. One particular enthusiast, Walter Seeley, for the
most part was interested in more humble automobiles, having previously
restored cars including 1910 and 1914 Model T Fords and a 1914
Studebaker. Despite the 'car is king' culture in this nation, there were
far fewer people interested in old things, and with no internet,
enthusiasts relied on tip offs that the broadly defined 'old car' might
still belong to an old family or suchlike. Of course many might have
referred to these as rotting classics, but for the lucky Walter Seeley
it was more like finding Tutankhamen's resting place.
Seeley was
first alerted to the possibility of there being an American still with
the Deemers in 1960, a year after F.C. Deemer Sr. had passed at the age
of 89, though he would eventually wait until the estate was settled
before pursuing this lead. One summer's day, Seeley was lead to a
multi-story outbuilding on the Deemer family property, where the
caretaker took him to the top floor and the treasured 'gold'. He is
quoted as saying 'Incredible as it seemed we were looking at not one or
two, but four early American Underslungs, - two completely original cars and the remains of two more'.
As
it happened, the Deemers were not actually intent to sell any of the
cars, but perhaps nostalgically following the death of their patriarch,
were more interested in finding someone that could restore them. Over
time, Seeley was able to negotiate a deal where if he were to complete
this work for them, then his prize at the end of the exhaustive exercise
would be one of the four.
The full tale of Seeley's find and the
subsequent restorations of the Underslungs is well documented in the
Antique Automobile in 1979, a decade or more again after the rebuilds
were finished. In the manner of a true artisan, Seeley proudly details
his workmanship and the reviving and rebuilding of all four cars. Such
is the quality of his work and the time that has elapsed since that
today it seems hard to believe that as much was required as he suggests.
What is certain is that the workmanship was very fine.
It is of
course logical that this car, which had suffered in the day, would have
required the most work. However, with the resources of the other cars at
hand Seeley was able to ensure that the rebuild and completed car was
as accurately executed as it possibly could have been.
A
further breakthrough for Seeley came three years into the rebuilds when
he discovered that the family of Fred Tone, who had designed and built
these cars, still retained drawings and even some parts from American
production.
The Honeymoon Roadster was delivered to F.C. Deemer
Jr. in 1968 at the Fall Meet of the AACA in Hershey, 47 years ago. It
arrived sixty years after it had blitzed its way along the roads on his
father's post wedding jaunt.
In the nearly five decades that have
elapsed since this time, the car has had only a handful of owners,
those including noted collector Dick Teague up to 1986, the late W.K.
Haines, and the present custodian who acquired it in 2004 from Haines.
Its
old restoration has recently been freshened and once again the car has
returned to the show circuit, where it has as ever continued to be
lauded and coveted at local events such as the Elegance at Hershey, the
Keeneland Concours - where it was given the Chairman's award - and in
the run up to the auction it is anticipated to be presented at the
Radnor Hunt Concours d'Elegance. It is featured in numerous magazine
articles including the aforementioned Antique Automobile article in 1979
and more recently in their November/December 2010 issue, where it is
illustrated on the cover.
If one places this car in the context
of its contemporary offerings by other manufacturers, it is the
equivalent of a rocket ship in an era of turbo propped Constellations,
and has all those wonderful hallmarks of sports cars that have followed
in its footsteps, such as a Shelby Cobra. Sitting in a mere 110-inch
wheelbase is a 50-60hp, 476.5 cubic inch four cylinder T-head motor,
with mechanical valves and four speeds with which to enjoy its sheer
performance. In this time such motors were usually created to ensure
that the chauffeurs of behemoth limousines might convey their passengers
at speeds faster than their recently obsolete horses and carriage.
Here, all that may detain its miles per hour are a modest pair of bucket
seats and the car's limited wind cheating capabilities.
As with
many automobile designs, the original drawing board concept is its
purest form. This was certainly the case with American, and it was not
long before practicality in terms of touring coachwork became the norm
for their models, and that also fashion began dictating coachwork that
become closed in and more 'slab sided'. In the same way that we see a
snapshot of this car on the honeymoon, so the model itself is a snapshot
of an era.
As sporting a car as existed in its day, with a
known history from new, the sheer style of the Honeymoon Roadster
continues to hold its appeal today, wherever it is seen. Be it for tour
or show, this car is sure to reward its next custodian.
