Historic Hood River
Tip Top Auto
Notes
I enjoy this advertisement from a February, 1912 issue of The Hood River Glacier both for its artwork and the detailed mechanical description. WAAAM has a 1917 Federal truck in their collection. Their collection of antique trucks is one of my favorite exhibits.
I especially like that the engine has an independent governor to limit its speed to 1000 RPM. While modern engines may spin at several thousand RPM in routine operation, the bearings and lubrication of this period was much more suited to low RPMs. This gives these old vehicles at the classic “pucked-ah pucked-ah” sounds as they amble along at a leisurely pace.
We’ve met “Captain” C. P. McCan before. He was the builder and original owner of the house on the corner of Tucker Road across from the Catholic cemetery. We also saw an image of his visit to Sam Hill’s Maryhill in 1912 along with a delegation of other promoters of “good roads.”
McCan was an early car enthusiast with a race track in his yard. I was not previously aware of “Tip Top Auto Company,” but his house was called “Tip Top Ranch.” I don’t know if there was any connection with the later Tip Top Tavern.
Tip Top Auto Company also sold Maxwell automobiles.
Dale Nicol
As Arthur has noted, WAAAM has a very nice 1917 Federal truck with hard rubber tires. WAAAM also has a 1919 Samson 1 1/4 ton truck that is very basic….no top, open cab, but with balloon tires that greatly improved the ride quality, The Samson does not have a electric starter which is unusual as the engine used is made by Chevrolet and a starter was available in that time frame. Here is the link to the Samson truck http://www.waaamuseum.org/collections/automobiles/579-1919-samson-1-25-ton-flatbed-truck
Kenn
Thanks Arthur and Dale, very interesting with well detailed information
Kyle
When I saw “The clutch is a leather faced cone” I cringed a little.
Dale Nicol
Kyle, leather, cork and woven brake material were some of the most common clutch cone materials used back then.
In the planetary gear transmission, Ford use multi-layers of thin steel discs, called the “clutch pack” for the clutch coupling into high gear……which is direct drive in Model-T's.
Low gear, reverse and the foot brake were steel bands lined with woven brake material to contact the spinning drum inside the transmission. These three bands actually were running in the engines 30 wt. oil. I think Arthur used wood lined bands on his Model-T pick up when he did an overhaul.
ArthurB
Yes, my T has cottonwood transmission bands. Cottonwood or creosote soaked cotton were common in that era.
Relining a clutch or transmission band were common service, A blacksmith who could reline a leather covered brake shoe on a wagon should be able to reline the truck clutch.
Jack Sheppard
I am greatly pleased that you have shed some light on Tip Top Auto Company. Previous to this the only document of I had of their existence was the remains of a book of gasoline coupons printed for Tip Top Auto Co. I found the scrap in the joist space of the loft floor of the eastern one of the matched barns. I had been told that they had sold Maxwell; I had no idea that they also sold Federal trucks.
I dug out the remains of the Auto Company floor and foundation maybe 25 years ago, and found the domestic water system still connected–backflowing Ice Fountain water out through an old connection to Cap's well system! The Ice Fountain crew helped me cap it off. We never found the point where it was actually interconnected.