I need your help again!

[pem]

Attached is an original photo of Perry Mack sitting in a cyclecar type vehicle circa 1906 to 1914. According to Perry's son the man in the back seat is the father of "the" Davidson brothers. I have showed this photo to the Davdison family including Jean and Michael. They do not think it is the father. My question is what year was the photo taken and are there any suspension parts from a Model T? I have a 1914 diary of Perry's that records parts bought to make a cyclecar. This diary could refer to the attached cyclecar or the 1914 Steco cyclecar which used a version of Perry's Mack motor. The attached cyclecar clearly shows a radiator which suggests a water-cooled motor. According to a Mack biography Perry was involved in automotive work between 1906 and 1909. Unknown if this is true! I also have original photographs of the Steco Cyclecar with the hand written notoation on the front "Built by P.E. Mack 1909". I don't believe this to be true either! Once again it is hard to sort out the real truth that was written years ago. Can anybody help me?

Dick

[c.o.]

Sure wish I could help. I just don't know a whole lot about Cyclecars. Very interesting machine you have pictured there. Great period photo!

[silentgreyfello]

Cool photo... Neat car but doesn't look to be very comfortable, especially for the guy in the back.

Cory, how do you post the larger photos shown here? Mine always turn into the thumbnails.

[jmanjeff]

he uses photobucket to host his pic's and then he use's the image tag [img]url of your pic at photobucket[/img]

[c.o.]

What Jeff said............ I found the thumbnail deal frustrating, so I finally broke down and got into the photo hosting thing. It's easy once you figure it out.

[Perry Ruiter]

A contrarian view - first, posting photos in that manner forces me to waste my time and bandwidth downloading a full sized photo that happened to catch c.o.'s fancy whether I have any interest in viewing it or not. Having a thumbnail leaves control in my hands as to whether I think it's worthwhile enough to me to download a full sized version. Second, the photo is only visible as long as c.o. decides to host it. If he runs out of room and deletes old ones or finger checks and wipes out his library they're gone. Uploading them to the club server, they should be there forever (or until the next server upgrade at least) ... Perry

P.S. I'm not hacking on you personally c.o., you're just an example in this particular thread. Granted bandwidth is less of an issue now that most people are off dial-up.

[c.o.]

Interesting thought Perry, bandwidth and downloading never crossed my mind. Maybe I should think before I just randomly upsize people's thumbnails in respect to the dial-up folks.... or I guess the folks that may not be interested.

[Chris Haynes]

The radiator looks "T"ish. But it is painted black. "T" radiators were polished brass in 1909.

[slewfoot]

Perry E. Mack should check his tire pressure.

[pem]

Thanks Chris, I really don't have a clue about the radiator. Like I said I'm not even sure the diary was for the above cyclecar. The dates in Perry's cyclecar diary start in late December 1913 and go into 1914. He bought for sure brake drums, muffler, hood support on dash, upper radiator hose, levers, universal joint, ball & 2 covers at Ford. A sprocket-10 tooth-from Indian. He used the Wisconsin Pattern Co. for his patterns, example-pattern for rear axel housing-$4.00. You can't buy a good bolt for $4.00 now. The machine work was done by the Universal Machinery Co. who made his Waverley and Mack motors. Planetary transmission from New York Gear Works-$24.00 plus $2.20 for Express shipping and .25 for C.O.D.
But the more I think about it the Steco cyclecar was belt driven and the above cyclecar has a driveshaft. So maybe the above car is from the diary. I believe I have had an epiphany! Thanks

Dick

[pem]

I forgort to mention Perry also had a propeller plus propeller bits listed in the cyclecar diary so maybe it was going to be amphibious! Now I'm confused again.

Dick

[c.o.]

Perry E. Mack should check his tire pressure.

Maybe that's how he got a smoother ride.........

Great stuff Dick....... that's quite the puzzle your working on!!!

[HarleyCreation]

Attached is an original photo of Perry Mack sitting in a cyclecar type vehicle circa 1906 to 1914. According to Perry's son the man in the back seat is the father of "the" Davidson brothers. I have showed this photo to the Davdison family including Jean and Michael. They do not think it is the father. My question is what year was the photo taken and are there any suspension parts from a Model T? I have a 1914 diary of Perry's that records parts bought to make a cyclecar. This diary could refer to the attached cyclecar or the 1914 Steco cyclecar which used a version of Perry's Mack motor. The attached cyclecar clearly shows a radiator which suggests a water-cooled motor. According to a Mack biography Perry was involved in automotive work between 1906 and 1909. Unknown if this is true! I also have original photographs of the Steco Cyclecar with the hand written notoation on the front "Built by P.E. Mack 1909". I don't believe this to be true either! Once again it is hard to sort out the real truth that was written years ago. Can anybody help me?

Dick

Dick,

When you say father of "the" Davidson brothers, just who do you mean? See, I thought Bill Mack said that the guy behind Perry was supposed to William A. Davidson. That would be "one" of the Davidson brothers. That would be the father of William H. Davidson and the grandfather of Willie G. That would make him a son of old man Davidson along with Walter and Arthur Davidson. It is rather complicated. I'm trying to remember, but I do think the boys father was also named William Davidson but in 1913 he'd have been an old guy.

For what it's worth, I don't think that's Wm. A. Davidson either. At least he doesn't really resemble other photos. But it's hard to know for sure. That's a really nice photo of Perry and cycle car.

[pem]

Hi Herb, when I interviewed William I thought he said that the man sitting behind Perry was the father of the original three Davidson brothers, Arthur, William, Walter. I could be wrong. I'll have to go back and replay the tapes from the interview. In any case, I had Jean Davidson and Michael Davidson show the photo to their family's and nobody thought it resemebled the father of the founders of the Motor Co. And I'm sure if it was William A. they would have said something. Unfortunetly William Mack knows so little about his dad that he was unsure and just plain wrong on more than one aspect of his fathers life.

Dick

[c.o.]

There are some very motorcycle related cyclecars in this video. The Steco does not appear though....