Iron Skillet Event Feb 27,1999

By Howard Clark

        Survivors and gardens were the topics of the February 27^th meeting. After a traditional Hoosier Sunday dinner at the Iron Skillet, John Klein, Walt Reynolds, and Bill Greer discussed the survival of Indianapolis' Classic automobile manufacturers. Sally McKnight showed us that touring routes are never far from beautiful gardens, if you know where to look. Our timekeeper and disciplinarian was Elaine Klein, who kept the proceedings on time and on track.
       

Howard Clark, John and Elaine Klein, Fred Salmons, and Bill and Caroline Greer listen to lead off speaker Walt Reynolds

The Great Depression clouds one's vision of the previous decade, it is hard to think of the early twenties as hard times, but they were certainly tough on the car builders. Indianapolis lost Cole, Pathfinder, and American Underslung, to name a few. Only three local makes survived to the classic era, Duesenberg, Marmon, and Stutz. John Klein lead off with the Duesenberg brothers and their cars, Walt Reynolds followed with an examination of the Marmon V-16 engine, and Bill Greer discussed the history of Stutz.
        The amazing thing about the classic car manufacturers of Indianapolis is that they were so very far ahead of their time. Overhead cams and four valves per cylinder, common to Duesenberg and Stutz, didn't make the journey from Indy to Detroit for almost seventy years. Howard Marmon's aluminum V-16 set the format for v-type engines that continues to this day. It had pushrod operated overhead valves, but it was the first use of a downdraft carburetor on an intake manifold inside the vee, feeding cross-flow heads with the exhaust manifolds mounted on the other side of the head, on outside of the vee. The Society of Automotive Engineers gave Marmon an award for the best engine design of 1931, but SAE members paid him the ultimate compliment (30 years later) by copying all these features in Detroit's famous postwar V-8s. Walt said they still haven't quite caught up with Howard Marmon's deft use of aluminum. The V-16's pushrods, for example, were steel-tipped aluminum tubes that expand at the same rate as the block and heads, thereby maintaining tappet clearances. Marmon used fork and blade rods, which I've always thought archaic, but they allowed the opposing cylinders to line up and the engine ran smoother. Side-by-side rods, first used on the LaSalle V-8 and now common on all V-motors, require the two banks to be offset, and the rods will actually twist the crankshaft journals. Walt said that he had noticed odd wear patterns on late model V-8 crankshafts over the years, but didn't realize it was due to the twisting moment of offset cylinders until he got involved with Marmon engines. His current project, by the way, is to rebuild a Marmon V-16 as an objet d'art to be displayed at the IMA, a gift from the Marmon family.
    

John Klein discussed Duesenberg  

   John Klein said that Fred Duesenberg was the designer, while brother Augie turned Fred's designs into metal. The Duesenbergs began by building bicycles, that they raced. Then they built Mason cars, which they raced. They went on to build their own race cars, and became the first three-time Indy winners. Racing was common characteristic of the three Indy classic cars. Marmon's Wasp, of course, won the first Indy 500 while Stutz "Made Good" on the same day by coming in eleventh. All three makes have an extensive, and enviable, racing history.
        Neither Stutz nor Duesenberg would have made it to the classic era without financial rescue. E.L. Cord, who wanted a supercar to round out his automotive duo of Auburn and Cord, admired Duesenberg Model As. Cord's rescue came with a price -- Fred Duesenberg was to design the most extravagant car of its era. Cord insisted that the Model J be bigger (and heavier) than Fred would have liked, but the rest was pure Duesenberg.  There is no question that the Duesenberg Model J was the supercar Cord requested.
        One of the former owners of John's car was given a test ride before purchasing it. The salesman got the speed up to well over 80 but never shifted out of second gear! In fact, he never used third gear at all during the entire drive.
        It is well known that in 1932, Fred Duesenberg  had an accident while driving an early supercharged Model J on a wet Pennsylvania highway. Jim Dougherty added a very interesting story to the Duesenberg legend. Indiana region founding member Herman Winkler worked for Switzer-Cummins of Indianapolis, who built the superchargers used in A-C-D cars. Fred wanted Herman to go with him on a trip to New Jersey; they might have been working on a fan or a water pump. Herman's boss, however, wouldn't permit him to go, saying, "That old man is too crippled up with arthritis to drive those cars as fast as he does!" Fred's injuries were not severe and he wasn't thought to be in danger, but he developed pneumonia.   Jim said, "In those days they put people to bed and kept them there, which may be why the pneumonia killed him." Young Herman Winkler was a pallbearer at Fred's funeral.
      

Bill Greer Discussed Stutz, Walt Reynolds looks on

   Bill Greer, as editor of the Stutz club newsletter and a major author of The Splendid Stutz (published by the club), can speak with authority abut the marque. At the beginning the classic era, Harry Stutz was long gone from the company, and the Stutz company was in trouble. Charles Schwab's money and Fred Moscovitz's skill bought the company another 10 years. Schwab controlled Bethlehem Steel, then the largest steel manufacturer in the world. Moscovitz had been an executive at Marmon and was president of Franklin. Schwab hired Moscovitz, who based the new Stutz on the single overhead cam "Vertical Eight" (he based his home life in what is now John and Elaine Klein's marvelous house). The Vertical Eight was later converted to double overhead camshafts with four valves per cylinder, the famous DV-32 ("Dual Valves," two intakes, two exhaust per cylinder -- 32 valves total). Stutz cars were sports cars and were "sporting" even with formal coachwork. They were raced extensively, one of them placed second at LeMans after leading the winning Bentley most of the way.
        Debate on the floor had been building with each presentation as to which car was the fastest. Bill said that someone built a Stutz DV-32 engine that pulled more than 300 hp on a dynamometer, and there is debate as to whether or not a Duesenberg actually developed 265 horses. Jim Dougherty wound up the proceedings with the observation that the Marmon, with the earthmoving torque of a modern 490 cubic inch engine, would outdrag anything of the era including a Duesenberg up to 70 or 80 mph. Beyond that, the Marmon suffered from the tiny manifolds of those days and the Duesy's race-bred breathing, big manifolds and all those valves, gave it longer legs. The more nimble Stutz would have the edge on a road course.
     

INR director Sally McKnight discussed Gardens to visit while touring

   Elaine put a halt to the bench racing so that Sally wouldn't have to give her presentation in the parking lot. A new National Geographic publication, America's Public Gardens, describes 300 of the great gardens of America, which are often attached to a great American house (another new Nat'l Geog. Book). The McCormick house and garden near Chicago (Wheaton), for example, is practically unknown to Chicago area gardeners, yet it has a magnificent garden, a beautiful house, a museum of the U.S. Army 1^st Division, and an 18 hole golf course! A CARavaner couple's dream. The Traveler's Guide to American Gardens has accurate, literate descriptions of gardens across the country as well. Jo Ellen Sharp's (garden columnist for the Sunday Star) annual books about Indiana gardens is great, but bear in mind that the events listed in the back are for 1999 and may not happen again in 2000.
        Last Sunday was a beautiful day to get together at comfortable inn for a lively discussion of Classic Cars and CARavans. What could be better?

The Hansens and Rays

The Maleys and Pecsoks

Bill and Sonia Miller, Bill Lurvey, Helen Vogel and Bob Titlow.

Hugh McKnight's 41 Lincoln Continental Coupe, Shawn Millers 36 Auburn in background.