A Neat Old Car

[Arizoni]

As usual, I went to the local Hot Rod, Custom and Antique car show today.
Because the Barrett Jackson auction is in town 5 miles north of the show the place was packed with a lot of neat cars.

As I was walking around I came on something I've never seen in real life before.
A restored 1907 Renault.

This beast has a 521 cubic inch 4 cylinder flathead engine with cam operated inlet and exhaust valves.
The cooling is done with 16 gallons of water without a water pump to move it.
It relies on hot water being lighter to move the water to the top of the massive radiator.  As the water cools it settles thru the radiator and returns to the engine.
There is a cooling fan of sorts on the outside of the flywheel.

The car has a 4 speed transmission but I forgot to look underneath to see if it used a shaft drive or chain drive to the rear wheels.  I know the FIAT back in those days used a chain drive.

Using a crank, the owner started it while I was there so I got to watch it sit there and quietly idle at 70 RPM.
That's so slow I could almost count the time it took for the exposed valve lifters to move up and down.

Although it idled quietly when the owner popped the throttle open and closed the engine, with a deafening roar came to life showing this was far from what one would expect from 105 year old technology.  The thing sounded awesome.

This is no small runabout!  The tires were over 3 feet in diameter with a crossection of around 3 3/4 inches.  It sits high off the ground and just getting into the seats would require a bit of a climb.

The owner said he had had it up to 80 mph but didn't feel safe at that speed.
I can see why, sitting up there in a little chair with no protection and only the rear wheels for braking.

Oh.  Something like this is worth around 1 million dollars today.

Anyway, I thought you might like to see a 1907 Renault so I posted a few links below.

http://www.greatrace.com/news/1907-renault.html

http://www.greatrace.com/news/1907-peugeot-enters-the-great-race.html
 

[mikail gransee]

very cool...wonder what all the spare tires are for?

[tooseevee]

very cool...wonder what all the spare tires are for?

    There were no roads in those days.. Just wagon tracks, mud holes & rocks.

    There were no AutoZones, AAA or cellphones.

     On the cross-country trips these cars used to attempt 6 or 8 flats a day were not uncommon & if you wrecked a tire on rocks you needed a whole new tire. A flat you fixed yourself. You had to wrassle the tire off, get the tube out, patch it & put it all back together.

      If you needed a part you didn't have & a blacksmith couldn't make & were near a town, you telegraphed for it & waited for it to come on a train IF you were in a town the trains went through. 
      Howthehell do you insert a link?