"Capt. G.W. Eldridge at age 105 going to the 3/4 century Baseball game in St. Petersburg Florida" in 1937 to perform his umpire duty! thank you Steve!

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=27091642003819149&set=gm.10162947483642481&idorvanity=119087132480

interesting back seat! 

This is Charles W. Eldridge of St. Petersburg, Florida.

 The 1908 Franklin Model G Runabout is not his. 

The car was 29 years old when this photo was taken at the 1937 Three-Quarter Century Club baseball game. 

C.W. served as home plate umpire. 

He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 29, 1831 and came to America at the age of 10. By age 14 he was at sea, where he worked his way up to captain his own ship - hence the honorific and the hat.

 He served as a private in the 2nd Maine Cavalry during the American Civil War, and at the time of this photo was the commander of the Kit Carson Post No. 26, Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization in St. Petersburg. 

In December 1938 he suffered a fall in his home, resulting in broken ribs. Pneumonia set in and despite an early positive prognosis, he died on December 17, 1938. 

 The Half Century Club was open for member between the ages of 49 and 74.

 The Three-Quarter Century Club was for members 75 years old and up.

1930 Franklin, yes, only posted for those cool headlites

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/330/

Mrs. Minnie M. Blandin, 74, who at the turn of the century was president of of the Racine Mfg Company that made bodies for 32 makes of 'horseless buggies,' sitting in a 1904 Franklin that ran the San Francisco to New York in 33 days in 1904. (phoot from Nov 1937

Between 1902 and 1925 Racine supplied bodies to Auburn, Buick, Case, Cole, Elgin, E.M.F., Kissel, Lozier, Mitchell, Mitchell-Lewis, Nash, Overland, Pierce-Racine, Piggin, Premier, Rambler, ReVere, W.W. Shaw, Standard, Stearns-Knight, Stephens, and Stutz. Racine also produced a popular line of taxicab bodies for Chicago’s Walden W. Shaw Livery Co, and its successor, the Yellow Cab Mfg Co.

Minnie married the founder of the Racine Novelty Co, Frederick Franklin Blandin. The Racine Novelty Mfg. Co. / Racine Mfg. Co., was one of the nation’s largest production automobile body builders.

They also made storm aprons and curtains, wood and metallic bodies, battery boxes, spark coil boxes, tool boxes, dashes, fenders and automobile tops, piano stools and ironing boards

the company grew from 400 employees to 1200 in 10 years, and by 1917 were manufacturing 80 touring car bodies and 15 closed bodies daily.

In 1918, the company got the contract to make 500 metal life boats to support the WW1 effort, but the other companies in Racine were just as busy, making cots, shoes, guns, tents, and airplane parts

http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/r/racine/racine.htm

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/492/

Douglas Fairbanks made pirates cool (the Black Pirate 1926), Franklin caught the wave and named one of their models a Pirate, in 1930

https://www.shorpy.com/node/23485?size=_original#caption

once they were an innovative car company, but within 100 years, non one under 40 is able to tell you they existed.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10232827382967391&set=a.1493925788617

1926 Packard with an interesting factory feature, that's dangerous to have functional now, the Fuelizer, a 1920 invention

the Packard Automobile Company engineers perfected a device which is simple and solved the problem of heating the 1920s low-grade of gasoline to insure complete combustion. 

The Fuelizer consisted of a chamber surrounding the intake manifold, in which a small amount of gasoline is exploded and then drawn into the manifold thus raising the temperature of the gas to a high degree.

The gasoline is drawn into the Fuelizer chamber by a small pipe leading from below the butterfly valve, is circulated at high velocity in the chamber by the explosion caused by the spark plug in the chamber, and then goes through a small opening into the manifold where the usual wet and cold mixture from the carburetor is converted into superheated gas which explodes entirely upon ignition.

Franklin also used a pre-heater

https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1920/3/13/fuelizer-packards-motor-miracle-innovation-in/

https://www.sae.org/papers/packard-fuelizer-210037

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44720596?seq=29

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10164525320227845&set=pcb.10162575079488757

I wonder how terrific car magazine article writer Exra Dyer is related to LH Dyer, patent holder for car stuff?

 

Dan wrote an article on the "Instruction Plates" on Franklin car firewalls, in order to relate the "licensed by Ricker", and brought up this topic utterly new to me about 100 year old cars, that the "Made By" plate (familiar to most people interested in cars made before 1970) used to have info that relayed who owned some patents needed to manufacture the vehicle, and I was intrigued by Leonard Huntress Dyer's name, and the likelyhood that Ezra Dyer is related to him 

In the Sept 1912 book  Motor Truck: The National Authority of Power Haulage, Volume 3  the focus of an article is LH Dyer's company Enterprize Automobile Company (I've never heard of) (he was the president of it) that bought the rights to patents held by the "Patents Holding Association" that was using the Selden Patent to parasitically get rich from all the car makers (prior to 1911ish) in the Michigan area 

So, they had the patent rights to the sliding gear transmission! Who knew? 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10225440083209514&set=pcb.10225440086169588

how the air cooled Franklin was displayed at some 1922 car show

https://www.facebook.com/EricBrightonNostalgia/photos/p.144127981316599/144127981316599/?type=3

Franklin touring car in Oslo

 https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=223655536753802&set=gm.1254216881825898&idorvanity=197491484165115

1931 Franklin Series 15, Model 153 and only 4 of them known to exist

https://www.facebook.com/bob.sitar/posts/pfbid0XqyxbCxXTcF21iXGiAUpsr9cF1cCP8ZPfQcijxhYkiw4eAUkEA5Bx7NuTX64NdCyl

a very cool statement on that plate... the manufacturer wanted to stay in touch with the owners, no matter if they were the first, or last, owners of any Franklin

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10221968032090406&set=pcb.10221968041410639

Dan makes great photos, and restores Franklins

 

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.russell.77736

1909 Franklin, thanks Billy O!

https://www.alamy.com/franklin-vintage-car-optional-hood-cover-with-storm-front-and-side-curtains-illustration-circa-1909-image341398072.html

Dan is at the Amelia with his 1903 Franklin that he restored and posted progress on Facebook!

 

Isn't that COOL! What a great moment for a great guy who has been restoring Franklins for years and sharing the process with us online

https://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/08/dan-is-nearly-finished-with-his-1903.html for the post on the process 

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.russell.77736

Check out this cute little railcar diner! Great curb appeal was added by installing some old railroad crossing signals

Nearby is the Northeast Classic Car Museum, which houses over 150 classic cars, including the world's largest collection of Franklin cars, which were luxury items.

Of course, this is news to me, as I've posted previously that the Franklin Museum somewhere in Arizona has said they have the largest collection

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwich,_New_York

San Fran to New York in a 1906 Franklin, with a spotlight, and what appear to be a couple good pry bars for trying to get it unstuck

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/53624

1912 Franklin Model G Touring

This 1912 Franklin Model G Touring, chassis number 12837G, was part of the estate of Helen Swigart, and as such was subject to litigation between her heirs and those of her husband, William Swigart. 12837G was among some 65 cars from the Swigart collection auctioned at Hershey, Pennsylvania in 2007. At the time, the car carried a 1917 Pennsylvania license plate, presumed to indicate its most recent registration.

At some time during its long storage, the car had been coated in oil as a preservative against rust, which was noted at the left-rear fender and the splash aprons nonetheless. The entire car was said to be sticky from the oil, though the substance had apparently done its job in preserving the machine during its 90-year hibernation.

Since its sale in 2007, the car has been tidied up considerably, and its missing lower seat cushions have been reconstructed. 12837G remains unrestored, however, and it received its certification of Historic Preservation of Original Features from the Antique Automobile Club of America in 2012. More recently, 12837G was awarded with first place in the OR1 HPOF class for Original cars at the AACA meet in Lakeland, Florida.

12837G's engine is in running condition, with new wiring, and the car's three-speed manual gearbox shifts well.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/24308/lot/303/?category=list&length=50&page=5

Dan is nearly finished with his 1903 Franklin runabout

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10206503827294951.1073741831.1248220299&type=3

To see how fast he made progress, see http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2017/05/dan-is-getting-near-to-completing-1903.html

I immediately think it's a Franklin

Steve recognized it as a National

http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showpost.php?p=5996713&postcount=12103

H. H. Franklin club's "48th Franklin Club Westrek" was found in Yellowstone, proving these old cars were built to last

https://www.facebook.com/daniel.russell.77736/posts/10209481053283740
http://www.franklincar.org/