1913 Christie Front Drive steam pumper/ fire engine

The restoration is remarkable, but the concept used in this construction is astonishing and innovative. Brilliant really, Walter Christie was a gifted engineer, and made the first front wheel drive car, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/first-front-wheel-drive-car-1904.html and raced it in 1905 in the Vanderbilt Cup.

But getting back to the steam pumper... Christie didn't get in over his head and make the existing tech obsolete, he made it better. You may have realized that Microsoft is the world's top software company because it makes it's Windows better, not obsolete, and this made Bill Gates the world's richest man... improvements, not obsolescence.

Like I was saying, Walter looked at what needed to be improved, and took the opportunity to make horse drawn fire steam pumpers self propelled once they were equipped with his front wheel drive units instead of horses. Horses were already 10 years into the age of the car, and the writing was on the wall.

Fire department equipment is really expensive, and Walter focused on the biggest fire departments on the East Coast to contract with to improve the existing equipment to speed up the delivery of equipment to fires. Notice in the below photo that the front and back have little in common

To easily compare this to the horse drawn model, just click on this link and see it from my gallery http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/san-diego-firehouse-museum_11.html last month of the steam pumper in the San Diego Fire House Museum: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtiNyAnutakrkaLCYwFIy1zEor-P42PVXUD_edTiOJdBkJxG-DJOCIEztHVvB49yhhyAC52k-DRTOQifmmB-NTBWKZlfIC9o5PAmIkN4LcdNKayRnWEqxD2auzTOO-OJqm2PnJr6xRFNeE/s1600/DSC_0055.JPG

This is just a short gallery, for a better one, and a full write up on the Christie company and it's founder: http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-fire-engine.html

Steam punk, making things look victorian and brass era, steam powered... that's the idea. It has a lot of aspects though, here's a few

1930's France it seems, because just to the left of the motorwheel is a Citreon Traction Avant

Steam powered ditch digger.. .that is a monster

Cadillac tow truck, for more cars converted into tow trucks see: http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/12/tow-trucks-were-sometimes-made-from-big.html

Johnny Cash and the 1986 Steam Expo. Very cool. Two times.

the above is the Lanz bulldog, 1 cylinder, compression ignition powered

all of these are just an indication of how cool http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/ is

The first front wheel drive car, the 1905 Christie 4 cylinder Vanderbilt cup racecar

Above photo from http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/ Walter Christie was involved in the engineering of many other vehicles, steamships, submarines, aircraft and fire engines coincidentally, and this past weekend I and Justacargal were examining the one at the Nethercutt museum just North of Los Angeles in the San Fernando valley: http://justacargal-s.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-fire-engine.html

the 3 some of race cars at the 1908 Minnesota state fair is from http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/

At one time, it had a second engine on the rear wheels, in the same transverse powering it's own axle

The bottom photo is from http://www.atomicantiques.com/

The top 3 are from http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/index.php/blog/article/thursday_november_12_2009_the_christie_fron-wheel_drive_racer_in_the_1905_r

Nov 2011 update, Stohr Design is goign to recreate the Vanderbuilt cup racer of Christie's http://www.stohrdesign.com/christie-automobiles-1903-1909.html

Must have been built to accomplish a lot, it's got ski's on the front, tracks on the back, and a boat on top

Dodge Power Wagon is my best guess. Found on http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com

Most primitive of the mechanized flatbed tractor trailers, a 1910 Studebaker

Looks too unwieldy to be safe, maybe it's that the size of the car is as big in profile as the truck

Great photos from www.atomicantiques.com

1915 Sea to Sea trip began in Coney Island New York, and was to go to San Francisco California, these 4 factory backed cars were to see which made a better car by merely surviving the road conditions. The closest is a Packard, the other black car is a Studebaker. The white cars aren't lableled or indicated, and I couldn't find anything on the internet about this competition. The destination was the 1915 PanPacific Exposition in San Fran

Tom Mix, famous cowboy movie star, had a very lazy horse.. . it's riding in the trailer

Notice the solid tires on the tractor are cross drilled to soften the ride

Shwinn Autocycle

photo had no info on what she's riding , or what year

the 1892 Haynes car, the second maker of cars in the USA, the first was Dureya

In 1915 Ray Conklin, president of the New York Motorbus Company, left Long Island for the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Accompanied by a party of twelve, they travelled in an elaborately outfitted bus, complete with a kitchen, beds, hot and cold water, well-stocked book shelves and a rooftop garden.

The McFarland wrecked at Indy

There was a lot of drinking going on when they decorated whatever is under the Moose and Deer heads

Above is Joe Matson's Corbin at the 1908 Vanderbilt and below was the 1910 Vanderbilt cup race

It was a short lived website, just June of 2009 to June of 2010, but they posted some cool photos http://www.atomicantiques.com/

Nicolas Cage mansion and estate on the Rhode Island coast is for sale

Here's the odd part, 11 bedrooms but only a 5 car garage. Who is going to park in the drive way? About 100 cars.

Anyway, 27 acres, 10 million dollars.

Read more at http://carproperty.com/nicolas-gage-s-trophy-car-property-ad3715791.htm