I don't think I ever learned about Christie making a tank until now... in 1930 a Christie tank was finally sent to the USSR. Christie failed to supply a turret or detailed blueprints as initially agreed, as a result of which the USSR withheld a sum of $25,000.

https://x.com/Tank_Archives/status/2003854769002287560

Christie Front Drive steam pumper fire engine no. 8, using chains for added traction in snowy streets

https://www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/albums/72157626953297765/page2

Colorized Christie front wheel drive

https://twitter.com/aut0mob/status/1483428090810413060/photo/1

John Walter Christie

Christie alone changed the way wars are fought on both land and sea.
He brought firefighting irreversibly into the mechanical age, and changed the basic blueprint of the automobile forever.

Christie's enduring fame involves much larger vehicles. Using his knowledge of front drive, he created a two-wheeled gasoline tractor that allowed horse-drawn fire apparatus to be motorized on a budget. Entire city fire departments bought them in bulk to power steam pumpers and wooden hook-and-ladder trucks. Some Christie tractors were still answering alarms in the 1940s.

Christie was convinced that fast, armored vehicles could break the gruesome stalemate of trench warfare in Europe. While others also built early tanks, Christie created a light, terrain-friendly suspension that combined bell cranks, tracks and bogie wheels.

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2010/12/Walter-Christie/3693451.html

Remember the Stout Scarab? Well, William Stout was a syndicated newpaper columnist before making cars, writing a page a week for kids on how to make something cool using a jack knife

And he used the "nom de plume" / "pen name" (a name used by a writer instead of the writer's real name) Jack Kneiff.

In the above example, he reports on the Vanderbilt Cup race on the left, and the lower right tells kids how to make a push car that uses a rubber band to speed up once they release it

Thanks Steve!

http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1912/12/15/page/58/article/paper-toys-for-jack-kneiffs-boys

well, this is a surprise, I've never seen a steam pumper crashed

in better days it was the above... front wheel drive is the Christie

nearly identical to the 1913 fire engine in the Nethercutt

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1913-christie-front-drive-steam-pumper.html

this Christie front end is from my visit to the Hall of Flame Museum in Phoenix, the Front Drive Motor Company made everything that wasn't fighting a fire on this ladder truck. I look at it and am amazed that one company was making the power and steering section, and companies like Ahrens Fox were making the fire fighting part

http://www.blackdiamondnow.net/black-diamond-now/2013/01/black-diamond-fire-truck-in-the-ditch.html

The Christie at the hairpin turn on the Vanderbilt cup race 1906

http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/race_profile_the_1906_vanderbilt_cup_race

very interesting 1897 Toledo Ohio fire fighting equipment, propelled by a Christie Front Drive unit, and moving around what was called a water tower

it was in use until 1950

http://www.hallofflame.org/Motorized2.htm

the Christie front wheel drive race car, 1904-1909

http://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/

http://vikond65.livejournal.com/193554.html

https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5156036-Vintage-photos-Awesome!&p=78252952&viewfull=1#post78252952

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/AVvXsEjoRaITdmQA1LTdN76W7JpRCeOmF6SFvnyksTQUfz_6nt2si8BSksqyBzL1Qw6OUwSiyFZIb0vSo0zFZtgRJTX0LQ0WAAiUsPkwiubjJ0JXPy_QG_4-US4S52ry9u3likeKxm14Yg/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

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

Above photo from http://steampunkvehicles.tumblr.com/

the cylinders were leaned back to take some weight off the front and transfer the weight to the rear a little bit

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/

The machine is known as the “Freak Automobile,” because all its mechanism is built over the two front wheels, where the driving power is also applied. Each of the five cylinders, two of which are to be seen conspicuously over the front right wheel, is capable of developing 60 hp. The front right wheel is double tired and strengthened to withstand the enormous strain when traveling around a curve at a high rate of speed.

The power of the gas engine is so great that it is impossible to run the machine on a city street, and when the mechanism starts working the machine fairly jumps through the air. The inventor is wealthy and follows the sport purely for the joy of rushing along at a speed faster than the flight of a homing pigeon.  http://thiscircularparade.com/2012/02/04/speed-demon-roadster-runs-a-mile-in-57-seconds/

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 going to recreate the Vanderbuilt cup racer of Christie's http://www.stohrdesign.com/christie-automobiles-1903-1909.html

above two images found on the HAMB

the Christie comes around the curve at 3:40
video found from info at http://www.stohrdesign.com/christie-automobiles-1903-1909-a-blog.html

above from http://www.stohrdesign.com/christie-automobiles-1903-1909-a-blog.html

above found on http://lecontainer.blogspot.com

Barney Oldfield, American icon, record setter

 the above is a 33 Chrysler with a custom body

the above is a Christie front wheel drive

 the above is a Marmon... with Barney's name brand tires

each of the above photos were found on http://theoldmotor.com/?s=Barney+oldfield a really good website for brass era race cars

Barney Oldfield was the first man to drive a car at 60miles per hour (100 kmh).

On Memorial Day in 1903 in New York, Oldfield drove a mile in a minute flat in another match-race victory. Two months later, he powered the car to a mile run in 0:55.8 and that was enough for Winton to hire Oldfield, complete with salary, expenses and free cars.

His accomplishments led to the expression "Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield?"

In 1910, Oldfield bought a Benz, in which he broke all existing speed records for the mile, two miles, and the kilometer in special runs at Ormond Beach, Fla. After that, he was able to charge a whopping $4,000 for personal appearances, something he didn't mind at all.

Once suspended by the American Automobile Association, the sanctioning body of the day, because of his "outlaw" racing activities, much of Oldfield's legitimate racing career was lost during his prime.

One of those was testing new race tracks, like Iowa's Valley Junction Board Speedway, One Mile Race Track. Barney Oldfield was one of the first drivers to test out the new track. On July 25, 1915, Oldfield averaged 103 mph at Valley Junction Board Speedway, so remarkable was this speed due to the fact that the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway didn’t show those speeds until four years later in 1919.


However, he competed at Indianapolis after being reinstated and his best finishes were fifth in 1914 and 1916. Additionally, he ran the first 100 miles per hour lap in Indianapolis history.

http://digitaldoorway.net/The_Barney_Timeline.html

He helped found the Fisher Automobile Company, was a developer for Firestone tires, beat Winton (the founder of the Winton Car Company) in a Ford (by Fords requesting him as the driver), and had been inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame, the International Motor Sports Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports hall of fame of America.

Legend, pioneer, innovator, icon.

http://www.motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1990/Barney_Oldfield_main.htm

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am485_98/sarratt/barney.html

http://www.rumbledrome.com/barney.html