Eric Minoff
Vice President, Head of Department - US
LOT 520
1905 Maxwell Model H 16HP Touring Engine no. 10146
Sold for US$29,120 inc. premiumLot to be sold without reserve
Lot 520
1905 Maxwell Model H 16HP Touring
1905 Maxwell Model H 16HP Touring
Engine no. 10146
Engine no. 10146
196.5 ci, 2-cylinder Horizontally-Opposed Side Valve Engine
16hp
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
2-Wheel Drum Brakes
*Highly original example
*Top of the line, larger horsepower model by Maxwell
*HCCA Tour eligible
*The earliest surviving 1905 Model H
MAXWELL AUTOMOBILES
Financed by Detroit sheet metal manufacturer Benjamin Briscoe and East Coast plutocrat J P Morgan, ex-Oldsmobile and Northern engineer Jonathan D Maxwell built his first car - an advanced twin-cylinder design with water cooling, mechanical inlet valves, two-speed planetary transmission, shaft drive and right-hand steering wheel - in 1904. The twin proved an enormous success; a four-cylinder model joined the line-up for 1906 and Maxwell expanded from its Tarrytown, New York base, opening factories in Auburn, Indiana and Rhode Island. Sound engineering was complemented by a series of headline-grabbing publicity stunts that helped boost sales, none more successful than a transcontinental trip from New York to San Francisco undertaken by a team of four lady drivers in 1909. The following year the firm sold over 20,000 cars, a total exceeded only by Ford and Buick. From this high point Maxwell went into decline. Briscoe's ambitious expansion plans proved disastrous; most of the factories were sold off and Jonathan Maxwell moved production to Detroit. Hit hard by the post-WWI depression, Maxwell merged - unsuccessfully - with Chalmers and acquired a new president in the person of Walter Percy Chrysler, whose new marque would rise from the Maxwell-Chalmers ashes.
THE MOTORCAR OFFERED
One of the handful of completely unrestored cars in the collection, according to information on file, this early as found, discovery example of the Maxwell was acquired by the current ownership from noted collector Gibb Moyer of Pennsylvania, alongside one of the pioneer Cadillacs in this same collection. The car is listed in the registry of these cars as the earliest surviving example of the Model H, as supplied to the owners by historian Vern Campbell and a limited file of information accompanies the car, including an original sales brochure for the model.
Features of the model included the right-hand drive five-passenger tourer body with side-entrance doors for the rear passengers, an innovative design in its day that allowed passengers to alight direct onto the sidewalks rather than onto the road, as would be the case with a rear-entrance tonneaus it succeeded.
This Maxwell is a very interesting example of why all that the movement for preserving automobiles is important to the hobby and in the grander scheme to the history of the industry, for it almost certainly represents a virtual 'time capsule' of how Maxwell built their automobiles more than a century ago.
In being so unspoiled it demonstrates just how fine the leather and workmanship of the car's leather upholstery was, and that is matched by the car's high-quality paintwork which has survived nearly a dozen decades. The car appears to retain almost all of its original upholstery as well as period accessories including 'Climax' headlamps, by Silby & Pitman of New York, Atwood sidelamps, and an New Jersey 'Autocoil' to its dash.
While the aesthetics are for the most part original and aged, the mechanical component was worked on in house here, and has been rebuilt, further a starter motor set up has been added.
This is a car that deserves and rewards close inspection. It is certain to be appreciated in Preservation Classes or indeed to be carefully enjoyed on Horseless Carriage Club events.
16hp
3-Speed Manual Transmission
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension
2-Wheel Drum Brakes
*Highly original example
*Top of the line, larger horsepower model by Maxwell
*HCCA Tour eligible
*The earliest surviving 1905 Model H
MAXWELL AUTOMOBILES
Financed by Detroit sheet metal manufacturer Benjamin Briscoe and East Coast plutocrat J P Morgan, ex-Oldsmobile and Northern engineer Jonathan D Maxwell built his first car - an advanced twin-cylinder design with water cooling, mechanical inlet valves, two-speed planetary transmission, shaft drive and right-hand steering wheel - in 1904. The twin proved an enormous success; a four-cylinder model joined the line-up for 1906 and Maxwell expanded from its Tarrytown, New York base, opening factories in Auburn, Indiana and Rhode Island. Sound engineering was complemented by a series of headline-grabbing publicity stunts that helped boost sales, none more successful than a transcontinental trip from New York to San Francisco undertaken by a team of four lady drivers in 1909. The following year the firm sold over 20,000 cars, a total exceeded only by Ford and Buick. From this high point Maxwell went into decline. Briscoe's ambitious expansion plans proved disastrous; most of the factories were sold off and Jonathan Maxwell moved production to Detroit. Hit hard by the post-WWI depression, Maxwell merged - unsuccessfully - with Chalmers and acquired a new president in the person of Walter Percy Chrysler, whose new marque would rise from the Maxwell-Chalmers ashes.
THE MOTORCAR OFFERED
One of the handful of completely unrestored cars in the collection, according to information on file, this early as found, discovery example of the Maxwell was acquired by the current ownership from noted collector Gibb Moyer of Pennsylvania, alongside one of the pioneer Cadillacs in this same collection. The car is listed in the registry of these cars as the earliest surviving example of the Model H, as supplied to the owners by historian Vern Campbell and a limited file of information accompanies the car, including an original sales brochure for the model.
Features of the model included the right-hand drive five-passenger tourer body with side-entrance doors for the rear passengers, an innovative design in its day that allowed passengers to alight direct onto the sidewalks rather than onto the road, as would be the case with a rear-entrance tonneaus it succeeded.
This Maxwell is a very interesting example of why all that the movement for preserving automobiles is important to the hobby and in the grander scheme to the history of the industry, for it almost certainly represents a virtual 'time capsule' of how Maxwell built their automobiles more than a century ago.
In being so unspoiled it demonstrates just how fine the leather and workmanship of the car's leather upholstery was, and that is matched by the car's high-quality paintwork which has survived nearly a dozen decades. The car appears to retain almost all of its original upholstery as well as period accessories including 'Climax' headlamps, by Silby & Pitman of New York, Atwood sidelamps, and an New Jersey 'Autocoil' to its dash.
While the aesthetics are for the most part original and aged, the mechanical component was worked on in house here, and has been rebuilt, further a starter motor set up has been added.
This is a car that deserves and rewards close inspection. It is certain to be appreciated in Preservation Classes or indeed to be carefully enjoyed on Horseless Carriage Club events.
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