Seen today at the Tulare Swap meet…

[Chris Bamford]

Swap meet opens to the public tomorrow at 7:00 but there was plenty of vendors-to-vendor activity today.

CNC head was said to provide 7-1/2:1 compression ratio, included solid copper head gasket and required an electric water pump, buyer to drill for water outlet manifold.

[Chris Bamford]

Interesting folding seat in this ‘15 touring. Age unknown, was in place when vendor bought the car 15 years ago.

[Dan McEachern]

The combustion chamber in that head is very similar to the one Kenny Kloth designed for use in a very successful V-8 Ford powered LSR attempt several years ago. The chamber design has made its way into several T powered engines at this point.

[Will_Vanderburg]

Interesting folding seat in this ‘15 touring. Age unknown, was in place when vendor bought the car 15 years ago.

That is a period accessory you could purchase to make your passenger compartment into sleeping quarters for camping trips. It's called the "Good Night Sleeper". The back and sides are part of the kit.

[Norman Kling]

That seat does not look very comfortable. I thought they would have made the back fit level with the front and back seat cushions. If that picture is the way it lays, you would have your head roll off and your lower back and buttocks would not fit very well on the hump unless you had a "Brazillian Butt Lift"! Many years ago my parents had a Nash. The back of the back seat would raise up and a fold out fit between the front and back seat. The legs would extend into the luggage compartment you would need to move your luggage to the front seat. It was much more level than that picture of the T. It could also be used for carrying long items in the trunk if needed.
Norm

[Chris Instness]

A few more pictures from today at Tulare.

[Chris Instness]

[Rich Eagle]

Thank you Chris and Chris for the report and teriffic photos. I had seen Coltharp's work in Utah several years ago. It's very intriguing.
Great stuff.
Rich

[Erik Johnson]

Was that National Electric for sale?

Do you have additional photos of it you could post?

[Chris Bamford]

The red 1909 T was priced at $70K and the all-original-and-running 1905 Curved Dash Olds was $40K.

[Chris Bamford]

Erik, the 1903 National electric was a (working) display only and could be seen gliding occasionally around the meet.

It is owned by the great-grandson of the fellow who founded National in about 1900. He is the driver in the action shot, not the one standing beside the parked car. I had the pleasure of a ride in this rig on Thursday.

It completed the prestigious London to Brighton veteran car run in 2019. L2B is 62 miles and strictly limited to cars 1904 and earlier. The wee National made the entire distance thanks to a battery swap half way.

Electricity — the future of the automobile… once again!

[Chris Bamford]

Oops, here are the photos:

[Angmar]

Great photos, thank you.

[SleepyT]

Great swap meet!

[old_charley]

Regarding the fold down seat on the '15, another company that offered the same thing was called (and it's one of my favorite accessory names) the Auto-Bunga-Loafer.

[Erik Johnson]

Bryan:

Thank you for the reply.

My dad owns a 1900 Waverley Electric. The National Vehicle Company was founded by two former employees of the Waverley Branch of the American Bicycle Company and the earliest National Electric models built in 1901 are practically clones of 1900 Waverleys.

Charles E. Test was one of the original incorporators of the National Motor Vehicle Company. His great-grandson, Charles D. Test, has lived here in Minneapolis for nearly 50 years and we've talked to him on various occassions.

We were aware when Charles acquired the 1903 National a few years ago (the car was in England at the time) and had seen photos of it but, to best of my knowledge, he never brought the car here to Minnesota so we've never seen it in person.

I thought it was odd seeing the car in California in your photo so I wondered if it was for sale. But, thanks to your response and Charles' website, I now know it resides at the Blain Motorsports Foundation in California with other, later Nationals so now everything makes sense.