Laconia (Cyclecar)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Laconia
Laconia 10 HP Staggered Roadster
Laconia 10 HP Staggered Roadster
10 HP
Production period: 1914
Class : Cyclecar
Body versions : Roadster
Engines: Otto engine :
1.1 liters (5.2 kW)
Length:
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase : 2286 mm
Empty weight : 181 kg

The Laconia 10 HP Staggered Roadster was an American small car of the Cyclecar class only offered in 1914 . The manufacturer was Henry H. Buffum († 1933) in Laconia ( New Hampshire , USA).

Henry H. Buffum

Henry Buffum came from the west coast and died in 1890 after in Abington , Plymouth County ( Massachusetts ), where he ran a workshop, produced in the bikes and equipment were repaired. He also built motor boats ; However, he mainly dealt with the automation of shoe production. The inventor and tinkerer patented a nail and sewing machine and a spray head for sprinkler systems before he began to design his first automobile in 1894. The Four Cylinder Stanhope , completed in the following year, was the first of six test cars built before 1900 and is considered the first car in the world with a four-cylinder engine ; he also constructed this himself. In 1901 he founded the HH Buffum Company , which produced innovative vehicles until 1908. The company introduced in 1903 a race car with 180 ° - V8 engine in front, the first produced in the United States eight-cylinder -Straßenfahrzeug and the first "production" race car is because it was conducted in the sales catalog from 1904 as a regular model. The Buffum 40 HP from 1906 is, along with the Hewitt 50/90 HP , the first US passenger car with a V8 engine. After the bankruptcy of his company, Buffum went to Laconia ( New Hampshire ), where he initially manufactured motor boats again.

The Laconia cycle car

Around 1910 and thereafter, a boom on cycle cars broke out in Europe , which quickly reached the USA. Here, as there, there were well thought out and carefully built vehicles as well as a whole range of dubious and cheaply made constructions. The fad reached its peak in 1914; then it subsided as quickly as it appeared. Only two years later there was hardly an active manufacturer left. The cause can be determined from an increasingly bad reputation because of the so-called "black sheep" in the industry. The main reason, however, was the dwindling price advantage over a real car with better comfort, acceptable weather protection and more robust construction, as embodied in the Ford Model T. While the price range for a two-seater cycle car was between US $ 200 and 500, the price for a five-seater Ford Touring fell from US $ 690 in 1912 to US $ 360 at the end of 1916.

Buffum appeared with his Laconia just at the height of the fashion wave. Unfortunately, little is known about the vehicle, but its earlier designs and the relatively high price of US $ 450.00 indicate that it is a high quality vehicle. In the first and only year of production, fewer than 100 copies were made. Buffum seems to have given less thought to their marketing; He set up his own companies neither for his boat building nor for the production of the Laconia . Henry Buffum died on the west coast in 1933.

technology

Unfortunately only incomplete technical data is available. It is known that it was a V2 engine with air cooling . Such a drive was widespread in cyclecars. The manufacturer is not named. Buffum had designed earlier engines himself; it is quite possible that he adapted one of his boat engines. The cylinders of the Laconia engine had a square design, each with a 3.5 inch bore and stroke (889 mm). This results in a displacement of 67.3 ci (1103 cm³). The 10 HP in the model name refer to the NACC rating , which is based on the engine bore and number of cylinders and results in a value of 9.8 HP. This calculated value says little about the actual engine performance. It is given by two sources as 7 bhp (5.2 kW). There are no details about the power transmission, only a class-typical friction gear is mentioned , which usually operated on one of the rear wheels by means of a belt or chain drive.

The wheelbase is generously dimensioned for a cycle car with 90 inches (2286 mm). The wire spoke wheels measured 28 x 2.5 inches (711 x 63.5 mm). The vehicle was left-hand drive. Due to the narrow design, two people could only sit side by side to a limited extent, so the passenger seat was slightly staggered backwards ; this trick was also quite common with cyclecars. A body made of aluminum, which fits Buffum's quality philosophy, was unusual.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Predecessor formula for SAE-PS . NACC ( National Automobile Chamber of Commerce ) was an association of the automobile industry founded in 1913 and the successor to the ALAM ( Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers ), which introduced the first standards in US automobile manufacture in 1903. The inaccurate method for measuring performance was also used by the RAC in Great Britain ( RAC rating ).

literature

  • Beverly Rae Kimes (Editor), Henry Austin Clark Jr.: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805–1942. 3. Edition. Krause Publications, Iola WI 1996, ISBN 0-87341-428-4 . (English)
  • GN Georgano (Ed.): Complete Encyclopedia of Motorcars, 1885 to the Present. 2nd Edition. Dutton Press, New York 1973, ISBN 0-525-08351-0 . (English)
  • Robert D. Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era: Essential Specifications of 4,000+ Gasoline Powered Passenger Cars, 1906-1915, with a Statistical and Historical Overview. Mcfarland & Co, 2013, ISBN 978-0-7864-7136-2 . (English)
  • Beverly Rae Kimes: Pioneers, Engineers, and Scoundrels: The Dawn of the Automobile in America. Publisher SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) Permissions. Warrendale PA 2005, ISBN 0-7680-1431-X . (English)
  • James J. Flink: America Adopts the Automobile - 1895-1910. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1970, ISBN 0-262-06036-1 .
  • Association of Licensed Automobile Manufacturers (Ed.): Handbook of Gasoline Automobiles / 1904–1905–1906. Introduction by Clarence P. Hornung. Dover Publications, New York 1969.
  • National Automobile Chamber of Commerce : Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. Dover Publications, 1970.
  • Lou Phillips: Cars 1896-1965 , Xlibris, USA 2011, ISBN 978-1-4568-9292-0 . P. 371

Web links

Commons : Laconia (Cyclecar)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Bonham's: Quail Lodge Sale; 17 Aug 2012, lot 446: 1895 Buffum Four-Cylinder Stanhope.
  2. ↑ a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 160 (Buffum)
  3. ↑ a b c Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 833 (Laconia)
  4. ^ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 578 (Ford T, 1912)
  5. ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. 1996, p. 580 (Ford T, 1916)
  6. ↑ a b c d Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era. 2013, p. 91 (Laconia)
  7. ↑ american-automobiles.com: The Buffum Automobile & The HH Buffum & Co.
  8. ↑ a b c d american-automobiles.com: The Laconia Cyclecar & The HH Buffum & Co.
  9. ↑ NACC: Handbook of Automobiles 1915–1916. P. 212 (HP Rating)
  10. ^ Dluhy: American Automobiles of the Brass Era. 2013, p. 6 (ALAM).