UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDThe 1935 Harris FWD Speedster story starts herein AutoPuzzlesby Motorcar1
An IntroductionTHE 1935 HARRIS FWD SPEEDSTER
A story about Benjamin F Harris III's remarkable and futuristically designed sports car.
The story that has taken 22 years in on and off research and time will unfold and be told exclusively herein AutoPuzzles.
We offer a special thanks to Charlie ( Ultra) and Francesco, (Paul Jaray) who have graciously offered their personal help and Charlie again for the space needed herein this site.
We also would like to thank all others on this great site for their comments and added information.
The pictures are being posted so that everyone can visually see that this very special futuristic car is still in excistence with almost all of its parts intact and repairable.
There will be no disputing that it will be fully restored to an Invitational Quality using most of the original birdcaging and hand beat panels.
Many believed the Harris Speedster was gone in 1964 along with many other very special automobiles in the disaster at David Biggs private Museum in Clarksville Missouri.
This very special futuristic car has been continually brought back in magazines and other articles for decades since it was thought gone in 1964 !
Why would this be?
AutoPuzzles will unfold the story in the upcoming months and tell the story of why !!
It will take roughly 20 Chapters to fully document and understand Ben's acheivements in what he brought forth.
The name of this very special futuristic sporting car has changed all through the decades.
National magazine writers, newspapers and many others have called it by many names.
The Harris Built Streamliner, the Harris streamlined race car, the Harris Grand Prix race car, a Baby racer, Harris's Hormone 8, the Harris Speedster , the Harris fwd Speedster, the Harris fwd Streamlinened Speciale, the Bantam V-8 Speedster, the Futuristic Harris Speedster, the Harris Custom Motors Speedster, the Harris Special, Harris's Sensational fwd streamliner , the Harris streamliner, together with other names.
In the Chapters below you will find the above names for Ben's creation brought forth by numerous writers from 1936 and in the decades that followed
For the sake of History and as the owners, we are branding it;
The 1935 Harris FWD Speedster.
This is until such time that other documents appear or are discovered that straighten out what Ben decided upon. Perhaps he himself never knew what to call it and let the writers have their way with naming it.
We do so hope that the public, Historians and all members of AutoPuzzles enjoy the story as it unfolds herein and exclusively at AutoPuzzles.
Is this very special car the first birdcage, is it a street car or a race car design, did it inspire famous desigeners of both types, was it the first true futuristic car that lends itself in size, closed body, weight, height, engine, fwd and a host of innovative firsts to this very day in 2010 ?
Is it a Futuristic car, a Concept car, a Custom Car, whatever the case, all will unfold and be told exclusively herein AutoPuzzles.
We would like to caution all, this story is being protected under Federal Copyright laws and any other rights that AutoPuzzles have.
No infringement regarding the story, new facts, model car rights, poster rights, but not limited to as such is allowed without the sole writen consent of the owner.
Ben, in his own words said;
My car is intended to be a demonstrative example of artistic and functional design ability, as well as mechanical ability and understanding.
These attributes being, in my opinion, the most important qualifications of an Industrial designer.
In our opinion, he could have not said it better, as he unknowingly built the future of what was to come even to this very day in 2010.
Many of his own firsts and borrowed innovations are still being used to this very day !!
By the way, wherever Ben may be, we celebrate your very special futuristic creation on its 75th Anniversary !!!!!!
Please sit back with your favorite beverage and enjoy, as History books may be re-written in front of your very eyes.
Thank you to all that have helped to this point and will be further involved in the story of Ben's great creation.
The Caretakers of Ben's Fabulous Creation in Time,
John, together with friends, associates and family !
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 1A true barnyard find;
Updated Current Condition, 8-7-12
The Speedster was taken from its long term storage to a business which soda blasted the entire body, frame and birdcaging.
The Speedster then went to Browns Auto Body in Louisiana Missouri, thank you Chris & Lisa Brown, where they allowed us to use their 4 post tilt frame machine over a weekend..
Three of us spent 14 hours per day slaving away to bring the Speedster's body, birdcage and frame back into a correct shape and form, which ended up taking three days to complete. The frame was X-ed on the 4 post frame machine, as well as the entire bird cage and body.
Pictured is my son Jared Yasenko, he was home from college and he took the liberty of sealing/metal etching the Speedster metal up for storage again.
When monetary funds or an investor becomes available, work will begin again.When we first discovered the Speedster, it was by pure accident.
We were out for a visit with my folks in Illinois in the earlier part of the 80's.
I had discussed the possibility of looking for a business or home in the area with some acerage with my folks.
Well, to say the least, they had several picked out before we arrived.
After a day or two, my brother Dan, my sister Joann, Frank Sly, my folks> Joe and Margaret Yasenko as well as myself loaded up and headed to Clarksville Missouri.
There were three homes with farms they wanted us to look at there.
It was an over cast day and had rained the previous night, we continually were scraping mud off of our shoes and boots everywhere we went .
Our second stop was the old David Biggs estate.
There is a seperate Chapter on David Biggs and the cars from his private museum.
It seemed that the Biggs family heirs had vacated and placed the farm up for sale.
A local realestate agency had told my folks to take us there for a look.
Only a small amount of the land, main home, swimming pool, tennis court , guest house and large out building went with the sale.
Upon going down a rather steep hill, we came upon a white fairly good sized 1960's garage.
As we pondered over how many cars the building might hold, we walked the property some more through old barn yards and mud.
About twenty or so foot from the building there was a steep hill and woods.
It was at that time that we first seen Davids cars and parts down the hillside.
Naturally, all car guys have to "investigate" such a find.
We had to walk quite carefully down a steep hillside to get to them, not only was it muddy, but there was metal and parts laying around and sticking out of the ground everywhere.
At the bottom of the hillside, we found all kinds of frames, body parts and engines.
We could only identify a few American cars, the better part of the chassis and other parts were a mystery to us.
Big Mistake Guys!!!
We did see the Harris Speedster, a tree had grown up through the center of the open engine bay area.
We were all amazed in looking at the car, again, another one that we knew nothing about or could identify.
As it was starting to drizzle again, we scraped a bunch of mud off of our feet on a unique looking chassis that was almost bent in half and took back off up the hill and back to the main home.
We used some stepping pads we found to head back up to the house, they looked rather odd, this will be talked about and completed in the Biggs Chapter.
Upon arriving back by the home and cars, our shoes were again full of mud.
We all scraped the mud off of our feet on a odd looking aluminum engine that was partially melted and sitting right next to the house.
More on this in the Biggs Chapter.
So as many of us have done before, we logged it all in our "car guy brains" and took off back home.
The property sold to a family just a short while after that.
The one unknown car stuck in my mind though.
On a return trip from Utah to Illinois again, I gained the phone number of the folks that bought the old Biggs property.
I phoned them to see if the cars were all still there, they informed me that 2 or 3 had been sold and drug off.
I described the one weird car to them, they said it was still there and had no idea why people wanted to buy such junk.
We came to a price on the phone after a bit of bargaining.
The next day, with an axe in hand, chains and an assortment of excavating tools, we were off for our treasure hunt.
It started raining while on the way, it seems all we talked about was how slick and muddy it was going to be.
The first thing we did was get the truck and trailer stuck while trying to back down close to the garage by the steep hill.
We had to contactt a local man with a bachhoe, he came over and pulled the truck/trailer up first.
We then directed him to the unknown car we had cut a tree out of for him to drag up.
He thought we were crazy for buying the unknown car but agreed to work with us to get our new found treasure out.
We had to hook about 60 foot of chains together as i recall, this was because he would not back down the hill any further.
He then drug the unknown car up the incline,
We unhooked it and set about using chains and straps in conjunction so he could pick it up rather than drag it on the ground back up by the house.
The back hoe operator then set it down on our trailer, thank God for that !
We spent another hour or so surveying the hillside for parts that were close to where the body sat.
The hood, at least thats what we thought it was, was 2/3's buried, as fate would have it, this was the unknown cars hood.
We gathered engine parts and everything else that even remotely looked like it belonged to the car.
Again, as fate would have it, 90% of what we grabbed that day belonged to the new find.
We do have a few other very unique parts that do not go with the Speedster, we think they are from a sporting type european car
I have owned the Speedster ever since and have done on and off research on it for 23 years now.
Identifying what we had just drug in turned into many hours and years of anguish.
There was no internet so my brother Dan Yasenko rendered a pencil drawing of the car. A picture would not have displayed it to anyone for any real type of identification. I did have pictures of the unique parts and design but the body would not picture well.
I have some original hand written notes about weird things we noticed, this, together with the rendering and a few pictures was the start of my research.
ENTER notes and 3 pictures of Harris carI spent weeks and years mailing this rendering, pictures and description out everywhere, faxed everywhere and phoned everywhere until the internet became available.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 2The Traggic Fire at David Biggs Museum;under construction
from the Louisiana Missouri Newspaper, May 1964Their are many different stories that have been written about the David Biggs car collection.
We will do our best to unscramble everything and present it in our best knowledge and research.
Referencing the chapter 1 on the true Barn Yard find;
A- the weird stepping stones we mentioned were puddles of molten aluminum and other metals that came from the excotic collection of cars.
David must have found it quite amusing, as he used them as stepping stones going back up to his main home, we walked on those puddles !!
B- The engine by the main home we scraped the mud off our feet on, was a Ferrari 12 cylinder.
C- The mud we scarped off on the unknown chassis laying at the bottom of the hill, was the Blown Alfa.
As mentioned in that Chapter, Big Mistake Guys !!!
The article, Biggs Collection of Ten Cars is displayed for your viewing, it brings forth numerous facts but yet leaves
questions in one's mind. Perhaps all can never be answered.
We did just find this Newspaper article last week about the fire. It solves many issues for the story.
The dates of the fire have been misqouted many times over, we now know with certainty that it was May the 21st, 1964.
We also know as fact that Lightening did hit the museum.
As a matter of fact, a gentleman by the name of James Church, was sitting atop a flag pole in attempt to break the Genis (sp) world record for the number of days he could handle/take it. BY the way, he actually did it, we think it was for over 70 days ?
It was Mr Church that first seen the lightening strike David's private museum.
He contacted someone below that then contacted the fire department.
Can you imagine what was going through Mr Church's mind while sticking up in the air like a lightening rod>> wow !
Can you also imagine what was going through David Biggs mind, he must have been frantic!
As special note before getting on with this chapter, to our best research, two cars were saved from the fire, the Mercedes Gullwing David raced and a brand new Ford Mustang Convertible David had for about 2 weeks.
Both were started and pulled out to our understanding, the third one in the row, alas, had no battery in it.
This blocked numerous other cars on one floor what happened next to an astounding collection of rare automobiles is History.
In interview from a person that was on site during the fire;
He qouted David as saying, there goes my Ferrari, my Alfa etc, as David knew how big each tank was and how much gas was in each tank, Wow !
The article also brings forth something we did not know, that there was a second small building that burnt together with the barn, we do know that the small guest house as qouted in the news release did not burn.
Recently in interview, we also found out that David's museum had two floors of automobiles.
We have interviewed family members and local people over the years from Clarksville to gain our facts and best presentation together with this newspaper article, numerous national magazines and other publications of all sorts.
Many stories contradict one another though as to what cars were really involved in the fire.
Herein lays a real hornets nest.
Just as two unscroupolous people did with the Harris Speedster, one in a national magazine, claims were made and "other" vehicles had came into excistance .
These, one might say, were purely air cars to our best research and knowledge !
Fights pursued as to which chassis and chassis # was truly one they refered to as Big Red, this references an early race Ferrari Testa Rossa .
It seems that accusuations were made that the new owner had the second Ferrari chassis, they went as far as doing carbon dating on the chassis,sounds like serious business to me.
David had a second racing Ferrari, that car, as per sworn affidavite and we think court testimony, ended up cut in half and buried under Interstate 70 by St Louis Missouri.
What a story huh !
Some still dispute the second race Ferrari's fate and whereabouts to this very day though.
The Special Horch mentioned, to our best belief, was a 1934 bodied V-8 Cabriolet model .
As a side note here and if you do not know what happened to the Horch company, it combined efforts in manufacturing and cars with others, to our best knowledge, thats where one of the four rings came from in the Audi emblem, Horch.
Also of honorable mention regarding Horch and Auto Union; the fabulous Auto Union Race Cars of this era were built in the Horch Works at Zwickau, into which Audi had now also moved into.
A Mercedes mentioned herein, besides the other two noted, was a 500K special bodied example to our best knolwedge.
This particular car together with 4-5 others, are accounted for.
The 10 vehicles noted in the article, does not seem correct, family and friends estimate between 13 and 18., these numbers have consistently turned up over the years!
One being a very early example of a Chain Driven small Fire wagon type vehicle.
Two Alfa Romeo's were noted in the newspaper article as being burned.
This newspaper qoute from David Biggs does not add up unless he had acquired another Early Alfa before the fire.
This is an entirely different story.
A picture displayed shows two Alfa's prior to the fire.
It has been written many times over that David had sold one of the Alfa's in the picture to another very well known Alfa collector before the fire.
This known and particular Alfa collector is highly recognized in the Alfa world and with other makes.
We do believe in what he said and stated in many articles as truth.
We surmise that David had purchased another Alfa, it is not at the old Biggs graveyard anymore though.
We were quite flattered and surprised at what David said about Bens special futuristic sports car in the newspaper article.
By the way, as mentioned in the Introduction of the story, David Called Bens car the "Harris Special" in this newspaper release.
Davids comments about it being the most valuable at the time were probably correct, as his collection of exotic cars in 1964 where yet to come of collectors choice in being worth millions of dollars. Perhaps Davids collection was the most prominent and known at the time?
In interviews, we found out that David had tried to purchase the Harris Speedster on numerous occasions.
We were told that David first seen the Speedster while at a SCCA event Ben was sponsoring in the State of Illinois.
In an interview with a very elderly genteman from Indiana, Ben had brought his Speedster to a race and drove a few laps around the track/course.
This gentleman traveled to Missouri to find me and the Harris car.
He only had a vague idea of where I lived, he told me some fascinating stories about the car, Ben and the first SCCA race Ben hosted in Illinois.
Perhaps David recognized the fact that Bens creation was what "became" in Sports and Racing car design and thats why he continually tried buying it from Ben?
It should be apparent that david collected nothing but the rarest, perhaps he had the best collection of rare and exoctics in the US at the time.
David raced the Ferrari TR before the fire, we do have old SCCA records, that is how Ben and David Both met.
David was quite influential in the Banking world, and it seems had acquired a huge inheritance to our best research and knowledge.
Ben and David it seems both enjoyed old family business, land, power and wealth.
This newspaper article also solidifies that the Harris Speedster was on loan to Biggs for his collection, many writers have stated that Ben needed storage space, this is now also put to rest..
Davids quote in the newspaper article regarding the 3 years it took Ben to build the car substantiates others that stated the same.
The time line for Bens creation was from roughly September of 1933 to completion in September 1936.
We believe that actual construction did not start until roughly December of 1933 though.
This fact plays into the Chapters herein, who was first with many forward and futuristic innovations.
The car upon completion, was sent a special invitation to the 1936 Chicago International Auto Show.
Can you just imagine the press and public in 1936, swarming around a street car like they had never seen before in their life,
As many Ferrari , Alfa and Mercedes collectors may end up reading this article about Biggs, if we have errored in any of our research, please feel free to contact us with any new documents, corrections or information.
Also of note here, the 2nd group of buyers, went to a local Judge and had him confirm and adjudge that the farm was sold lot, stock and barrel, giving the new owners full legal right to sell the vehicles.
There are 4 vehicles that we no of that have been renovated that were in Biggs collection and the fire.
Here, to our best research, is our report on what David had at varying times in his impresive collection;
a early factory prewar Mercedes race car,
a alloy bodied Mercedes Gullwing he raced after the fire.
the Harris fwd Speedster
a early MG
a Ferrari Testa Rossa
a Horch cabriolet
a blown early Alfa Romeo
chain driven fire wagon
a early Alfa sport roadster
a whippet
anther earlier Ferrari race car
An early Maserati
An early Blown Buggati
there are possibly more to be added to this list.
Here is an article clip we were sent which further references Davids Blown Alfa
412021 Nazis, Wessells and the Buried Treasure
As the first edition of the 2.9 book went to press in 1986, the American Alfa enthusiast Henry Wessells was on the case of a buried 2.9, but the story did not completely unfold until after the book was published. Moore includes Wessells amazing tale of the burned and buried Alfa 2.9, along with the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, S/N 0720. It is one of the great barn stories of all time. After a sojourn in Italy and Genoa, 412021 turned up in Germany, where according to legend, an Alfa 2.9 with a uniquely styled Touring body was sold to a Nazi whose name in those days was only uttered with dread.
During the war, the car was taken apart and hidden in Berlin by ex-motorcycle racer Helmet Ryll. When the Russians came to scavenge anything they could, Ryll talked them into taking a more practical bicycle.
Ryll was later murdered, and the Alfa somehow made its way to the U.S., some say brought by an American film star.
VeloceToday contributor Patricia Yongue and Walter Baumer, author of the 'Maserati 300S', are still trying to help Moore track down the mysterious Nazi, but Baumer thinks it was the notorious SS officer Dr. Phillip Bouhler.
The American film star has yet to be determined.
The Biggs 2.9, the most frightening ‘as found’ photo we’ve ever seen. Courtesy of the late Henry Wessells.
By the 1950s, 412021 became the property of David Biggs, of Clarksville, Missouri. Biggs also owned a Ferrari Testa Rossa and several other classics which shared a space in a large barn.
In 1964 lighting struck the barn, started a fire, and the owner could do nothing but watch most of the collection go up in flames.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDChapter 3
Bens story>>>>>
Ben was quite the wealthy man, we do mean wealthy by all means, he did not have to do any of the work on his special creation whatsoever.
This car is perhaps his legacy?
Herein will come, Gordon Buerhig, the President of Cord, the President of Perfect Circle, Grannatelli's, SCCA, Triple AAA Club, President Roosevelt, Barry Goldwater, Edwin Land> maker of the land camera, Alex Tremulis, Navy time in research and development inventions, Bens home donated for a hospital wing/college wing, the University of Illinois writings used as Masters thesis works, and a host of other persons and topics.
Ben was truely a remakable man, as well as his family in general, they helped and pioneered Champaign and Urbana Illinois and perhaps parts of Chicago.
UNDER construction
Pictured below here is another of Ben's cars from later years.
Many may remember it from old magazines,
The Fordilac.
More to come>>
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 4 
Is Ben's car a Futuristic car, a concept car, a prototype, a custom car>>
under construction at this time.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 5UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Pop up headlights, pop open interior gas caps, pop open interior hood release, front hinged solid hood..
This should bring forth a few whimsical facts between Ben and Gordon Buerhig.
Perhaps Gordon changed his patented design and went with Ben's design?
Ben was a lifelong documented friend with Gordon, he was his best man at his wedding also.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 6
A twin cam, twin distr, twin carburated dual exhaust V-8.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION STILL
Credit here must go to an ingenious fellow by the name of George Swindler, who in 1933 and to or best knowledge, created a first in street car engines.
Before describing what George Swindler built, we feel it is warrented to display how everyone around the world has copied / borrowed from "old designs" to invent "new designs".
This is not just for engines, transmissions, body designs or styling, it encounters just about everything involved with automobiles.
The first V-8 in the world it seems came from foreign shores, it was built by the De Dion company in France. The engine was first used in production in 1910, this is to our best knowledge and research.
De Dion V-8 pictured above.
An American Hall-Scott V-8 Aero engine became the second in the world to our best knowledge.
DOES anyone have a picture of the first Hall-Scott V-8 Aero engine for posting here
?
>>>>
ENTER picture of the Hall-Scott V-8The third V-8 in the world came from the U.S. also, it was built for Wilfred LeLand, the son of Henry LeLand and placed into production in 1914 for the Cadilac car, this is to our best knowledge and research.
Cadilac V-8 pictured above
Evolution of the V-8, or shall we call it borrowing;
It was Henry's son Wilfred who had contemplated the production of a V-8 engine in 1912 for the Cadilc line. Charles Kettering and his associate Edward Deeds traveled and purchased a De Dion V-8 engine for Wilford.
The Delco team herein the United States, studied the De Dion design first hand, then studied the Hall-Scott V-8 aero engine.
Upon there findings, Cadilac appointed a transatlantic engineer, D. McCall White, a Scotsman who had graduated from the Royal Technical College.
He had worked for Daimler and Napier in Britian to design the V-8 for them.
The resulting V-8 model was called the type 51.
We bring this into light as we feel the basics of this design noted above were used/borrowed in George Swindlers V-8.
Articulating rods, non staggered cylinder jugs and extensive aluminum use were common traits.
Perhaps this 155lb V-8 with twin cams, twin ignition, twin Carburation and dual exhaust was a first ?
( Would any one reader even remotely believe that Ben would use something ordinary for his Futuristic Speedster? )
Seems that many decades later, history unfolded very similiar engines in modern street car's, imagine that !!
This unique lightweight engine powered Ben's creation for 10,000 miles at speeds up to 110 mph while twisting 6,000 rpm's !!
A special thank you to the Kroll family of California for forwarding this picture to us in 2003 !
We contacted Mr Stan Block in Arizona, as in 1977 Stan wrote the best article known on Swindler's fabulous V-8 creation
He is alive and well and agreed to lend his story to Bens fabulous futuristic sporting car, thank you Stan !!
In part, here is the story,
THE' SWINDLER / AUSTIN V8 STORY .
BY STAN BLOCK
The recent Austin Bantam blurb by George Domer in Automobile Quarterly was well done. That article touched on the subject of a V8 engine used in an Austin roadster that was tested by the folks at Butler, Pa.
Domer has exposed only the tip of the iceberg on the V8 subject. I have been holding into the rest of that story trying to find time to do it justice. Now seems like a good time to tell all there really is to know about the legendary Austin V-8; how it was made, " and later used in a most unique automobile."
The testing Mr. Domer spoke of at the Austin factory in Butler took place sometime in 1934, and was well described in the Automotive Quarterly. The Austin V8 designer was George Swindler of Dayton, Ohio.
In 1933, he ran the G. M. Swindler garage in Dayton, and was a franchised Austin dealer. Swindler, like other dealers, had trouble selling Austins, and had, of course, been exposed to all the jokes and complaints about the Austin's lack of snap and performance.
Perhaps to spur sales, or dreams of a fortune to be made, Swindler set out to do something about the tiny Austin engine.
Taking a practical approach, Swindler looked at his Austin parts bins, and began designing a V8 engine that could be built by using stock Austin parts (he must have had quite a few left over in stock).
Design proceeded, and an 83 1/2 degree V8 was decided as the best approach. This configuration he determined would fit under the hood of a standard Austin and be undetectable.
George Swindler was a master machinist, and somewhat of a shade tree genius in engine design.
The Automotive Quarterly article quoted Chester Flenipfling, then of American Austin, that while testing Swindler's roadster V8 they found many bugs, and chalked that up to Swindler's poor mechanical and design ability.
Carefully considering the following events and circumstances afterwards, I believe you will conclude that George Swindler's V8 was indeed well designed, and overall performed very successfully.
In order to build such a V8 engine from stock Austin parts there were many serious complications.
The first need was to cast, in aluminum, a new crankcase that would lie fitted with standard Austin roller and ball main bearings, and seats for bearings for 2 camshafts; and finally to accept two cylinder blocks set in the 83 1/2 degree Vee.
Just try that in an ordinary service garage if you think it's easy!
Then came the question of the connecting rods. In order to use a standard Austin two main crankshaft, something had to be done to obtain enough big end rod bearing surface.
Since there were now eight rods and only four main journals, Swindler struck on a novel, but remarkable, solution.
He felt it unwise to reduce each rod bearing surface to 1/2 inch and offset the blocks, so he constructed special rods that would operate in an articulated fashion.
One set of rods (4) were connected to the crankshaft in the normal manner, maintaining the full 1 inch rod bearing width.
From these "normal rods" there extended an elbow located near the big end of the rod. These were fitted with a standard Austin wrist pin and connected to a special rod that was constructed by swindler.
When the crankshaft turned the "normal" rods went round and round with the crankshaft, pushing 4 Pistons up and down; the 4 special rods articulated from the "normal" rods and also went up and down operating their pistons.
At the end of travel, they rocked back and forth a few degrees on Swindlers machined wrist pins.
This was not a new idea, but try it yourself in your machine shop !!
The oiling system was changed to a combination splash and jet spray (similar to a 38 Bantam) to accommodate the new surfaces that need oiling. This worked amazingly well. Perhaps better than the oiling system in the four cylinder version.
Swindler faced other problems. Two separate camshafts were needed, and two separate distributors because of the 83 1/2 degree Vee configuration.
Test runs indicated the old Austin thermosiphon cooling system was going to cause overheating. A new fitting was made up front to attach a water pump. This solved the cooling problems.
The Austin V8 had some unique abilities. It could run on either bank of four cylinders alone, simply by turning off one of the distributors. When this was done you experienced a I reduction in power, without any roughness or vibration.
You couldn't tell if it was running on 4 or 8 cylinders until you called for power; a dual ignition divided the two banks. The water pump and the generator were driven by two Vee belts from the crankshaft (similar to the very late Austin engines).
The 2 Tillotson M10 carburetor was discarded and replaced by two down draft Winfields, one for each bank. Small flat air cleaners were added later.
The bore was still 2.2 and the stroke 3 inches, but with 4 additional cylinders the horsepower was raised to 32 . Though the displacement was exactly doubled from 46 to 92 CID, the horsepower was more than doubled. This could be attributed to the new carburization and Vee configuration.
Now running nicely, Swindler installed his Austin V8 in a stock 1930 roadster and began testing the car on the road. The fuel economy was good, the V8 delivered around 30 MPG installed in a 1300 pound car.
There was a mania about Vee engines during the thirties, the idea that there was a V8 under the hood raised the top speed of that car at least ten miles an hour over what it really could do.
George Swindler continued to test the Austin V8 into early 1934. When he felt he had worked out the bugs, he drove the V8 equipped 1930 roadster from Dayton, Ohio to Butler, Pa., with the hope of selling the idea to American Austin.
Although making a V8 from existing Austin motor parts was a good one, Austin's financial condition was so bad that they perhaps could not have even bought Swindler's one example.
It was looked over and given a rigorous road test while at the Butler plant, but Roy Evans was still trying to sell economy, and the customers weren't buying.
If American Austin had developed a V8 engine of its own in the beginning, or had George Swindler come along sooner, the whole sad Austin failure might not have happened or would have been delayed.
At 30 MPG the Austin Company could have sold economy, just as before, and the Swindler V8 concept would have added little to the cost of manufacturing the Austin automobile.
Swindler took his stock 1930 Austin V8 back to Dayton, where it was later sold to recoup losses encountered in its construction.
I know of no photos of Swindler's roadster or of his V8 installation in that car, and there is no known test data from Swindler's experiments either.
There is however, a second chapter to the Austin V8 story, and I have found many good photos of the Austin V8 engine that I will share with you.
What is little known is that George Swindler and the machine shop in the Swindler garage in Dayton built two Austin V8 engines.
I have just described what happened to the first one. The second one ended up as the powerplant of a most unique, and exotic automobile, that had a long and distinguished life.
Ben F. Harris III designed and built a car called the Hormone 8 Streamliner, and fitted it with the Austin V8
Finished in 1936 the "Hormone 8" is a story that ended on a sad note, and that will be part two of the "Austin V8 Story'' for the next issue of PBAC News, Ben Harris and The Hormone 8".
The foregoing story is copyrighted and reproduction or use is forbidden except with written permission of author.
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With this said and this story being over 33 years old, new facts from Ben came forth in other national magazine articles and publications;
Ben at a later date made comment in a national magazine article that he had purchased the engine out of George Swindler's Austin that he had driven to Butler Pa.
Ben was going to buy the second engine built, but Swindler insisted that he buy the one from his car, as he knew it would perform well for Ben and give him no trouble.This engine was stamped with the # AV8-3, perhaps meaning, Austin Vee-8 number 3.
He paid Swindler $250. for the engine plus he gave him the new 4 cylinder Austin engine he had purchased.
One might surmise that at this time Swindler installed this stock 4 cylinder engine back into his Austin and then sold it.
Ben also commented in this article that their was a Second engine sitting on the floor, we surmise it may have been stamped as # AV8-1
Ben continued in the article by saying there was another incomplete Swindler V-8 engine under a work bench in Swindlers garage,
Pictures of an old race car surfaced later that had another Swindler V-8 engine, we surmise that this was possibly engine # AV8-2 perhaps ?
Ben noted this in the same articles..
We are unsure, but through logical thought, one may surmise that it is the # AV8-2 engine.
Eve though the History is vague on this Race Car engine, we have hopes that more information will surface when the story hits full stride and is posted for public viewing and response, perhaps then this issue will be finally put to rest ?
I first discovered some information about this other engine in 2002-03 through interviews and the internet.
I was told in conversation that this race car was in England somewhere.
Does anyone know the wherabouts of this race car?
To confuse the wherabouts and history further, it has been written that this particular Austin V-8 had been built by Bantam Chief (Harold Christ) for his own number 25 race car.
Perhaps this story can be straightened out in time, we are just writting, in truth, what we have learned over the past decades.
Upon hearing this new info and seeing the picture of this race car, I forwarded an e-mail to a Austin Bantam Club in England requesting any known information about it.
In that e-mail I also let it be known that I owned the old Harris Speedster that had one of Swindler's engines in it.
The return response from England was that they had not seen the Race Car and had no information about it.
Guess that ended the search over sea's.
Two days later, I recieved 3 or 4 e-mails from within the U.S. questioning my honesty about owning and having possession of the Speedster.
They were all atomate that the Speedster was crushed, junked, shreded and gone almost 40 years ago.
It seems they had all read the numerous stories that had been nationally printed for decades about the Biggs museum fire.
Most of the National stories and publications did say that all of Davids Biggs Cars were bulldozed and then crushed.
One must also Remember that Ben never did go look at his Special creation after the fire, he was quoted as saying it was gone also!!
Ben was paid quite a respectful amount of money for his loss in 1964 !!
Upon agreeing to send pictures to one of the Presidents of the US Austin Bantom Clubs, this matter of the very excistance of the Speedster was settled.
I did place restrictions on the club President that he could not share the pictures with anyone else, just verify to the others that it still excisted.
The Club President did keep his word and agreement with me !!
Through this fine gentleman I made the agreement with, he pointed me in the direction of the wherabouts of one of the other Swindler engines.
This particular Swindler engine did not have any direct links to the one in the race car though, as names did not match up as to where it came from.
Years later I stumbled into a fine Lady at the Old Car Weekly website, she is a writer and avid follower of the Austin Bantam Club,
I was still in pursuit of any information on Bens Speedster and the Swindler V-8 engines as we are to this very day in 2010.
She kindly shared further information with me on the race car and the Swindler V-8, as I did in return.
As a gentleman, I will not share or make public comment about information of some testy and truthful facts I told her about.
We do so hope that you enjoy this exclusive story being introduced and written on AutoPuzzles, as many Austin Bantam Club members may not see this story, please contact me if you should still desire to write a brief story for your readers at the Club.
ONE OF OTHER NUMEROUS ARTICLES ON SWINDLER'S CREATION;
The Swindler Austin V-8
I had heard rumors of this engine, two Austins put togetheer in a V-8, but it wasn't until I was browsing through some old Road and Tracks that I came upon this fascinating article. Think about it as you look at the homebrewed "Hormone 8".
Consider the photo below beside say a '33 Austin Roadster which would have been a contemporary!
This guy was a forward looking individual indeed.
"The Harris FWD Speedster"
(An exerpt from a Road and Track interview of Ben Harris of Champaign, Illinois describing the construction of his very original and forward looking roadster "The Hormone 8" (!) which he completed in 1936 .
Despite it's age of 16 years the car won a first prize in 1951 in the custom division of the Indianapolis 2d Annual Custom Car Show)
"Originally I had a standard four cylinder American Austin engine with Warner Gear transmission. I decided however that I needed more power, but something small enough so the crankcase wouldn't drag the ground, and yet not so powerful that I'd tie my universal joints in knots.
I heard that Mr. H.M. Swindler, of Swindler's Garage (Boy, WHAT A NAME!!) in Dayton, Ohio had built a V-8 engine using almost all standard Austin parts. Mr. Swindler had designed and engineered this engine, but had never gotten it into production, or been able to interest Austin in it to the point of going ahead.
I contacted him, and purchased one of the two engines in existence.
It was necessary to make a number of changes in the set up as I got it from Mr. Swindler to adapt it to my car, but the design and credit should go to him in its enirety. The engine has a special aluminium crankcase on which are mounted two standard four cylinder Austin blocks in "V".
It uses special connecting rods which are of the articulated type with one rod linking off the side of its mate thus resulting in full con-rod bearing area and not requiring off-set blocks. The "front plate" casting is special and carries two fittings for the two distributors driven by two camshafts.
The only other special parts are the starter mounting and water pump castings. All the other parts are standard Austin, though the crankshaft has two Timkin tapered roller bearings. I uses a Long clutch and a standard Austin Warner-Gear transmission."
Front of engine is to the left
Road and Track
March 1953
Vol. 4, No. 7
Pages 38,39,44
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 7The front simplified front suspension.Much like the Miller and cord but advanced in different ways, weight being the most obvious here.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 8UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Bens simple but yet proven rear independant rear street suspension.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 9The cockpit and interior Bens creativety to incorporate new idea's were not just limited to his futuristic body style.
The Speedster was quite a unique car in many different ways.
Ben seemed to have a silver tounge, it appears that he could walk in off the street and find ways to enlist shops into keeping his Speedster in the building stage for completion.
According to research, foam rubber had not been used in any manner in any vehicles at the time here in the United States.
Ben apparently knew someone from Dunlop.
Dunlop had developed the formula for foam rubber cushioning in seats together with other applications.
Using his silver tounge, Ben made a deal to buy some of the foam rubber through a US Dunlop office that had recently been opened to market their product.
In numerous national magazine articles, Ben stated that even after 30 years the seat was as soft and comfortable as it was the day from when he sat in the seat.
As to our best knowledge, it seems that Ben again found a way to bring another first to his Speedster that endures to this very day in 2010.
It is quite well known that foam rubber is the standard used worldwide in almost any seating surface.
Perhaps Ben unknowingly again envisioned what was to come in his futuristic Speedster.
Ben did not stop there though with his unique and innovative feature's in the cockpit of his futuristic street creation.
We are all familiar with a head rest attached to the seats of our modern day cars, it appears to have basicaly become standard equipment in many applications to this very day in 2010.
This was not the case 75 years ago.
Ben again went about creating a seat that incorporated a head rest and what one might call, an interior console for storage.
Ben designed his seat to allow the headrest to hinge, in doing so, he further created a console for storage.
He used the console area behind his headrest to store a chromed set of tools in a pouch.
He further used it to store his hat and briefcase.
The inner console was lined in a red velvet type material in all area's of the console area matching the rich red leather appointments on the seat together with the Speedster's red wool carpet.
To this very day in 2010, it seems that a headrest is quite standard as well as interior console area's.
Perhaps Ben again unknowingly envisioned what was to come in his to this very day in his American built futuristic Speedster.
Ben furthered his futuristic thoughts in more unusual ways for his elegantly styled cockpit.
Ben incorporated a interior release for the twin gas caps which he aerodynamacily designed into the Speedsters Body.
Yes, to our best research, the first interior pop open gas caps back in 1935 which are again quite the standard to this very day in 2010.
Ben furthered his cockpit with a interior hood release for his innovative one piece hood that "hinged from the front".
There will be further talks on Bens hood in a body chapter, was this a first again?
Yes, to our best research, the first interior hood release that is carried over to this very day in 2010.
Ben, as with his good friend Gordon Buehrig, came up with pop open headlights at basicaly the same time.
Their will be further discussion as to who was first with this creative idea in the Body chapter and in Bens Life and Times Chapter.
Whatever the case, Ben incorporated a remote crank mechanism in his cockpit design to raise and lower his headlights.
Perhaps after reading the other Chapters, one will have to decide for themselves who was first with Hideaway headlamps in their front nose designs.
Whatever the case, this aerodynamic creation was a first by Gordon and/or Ben, it went on to became part of Automobile designs for many years to come.
Ben's steering wheel.
Back in the 20's and 30's, it was common place for auto manufactures to build huge diameter steering wheels.
Ben apparently liked the idea of a elegantly styled Banjo type of steering wheel.
To our best research, he soon discovered that the ones being built were of enormous size and were not a good fit for his cockpit.
Ben apperantly used his silver tounge again to get a smaller version for his sporting car.
We have never been able to find out who he enlisted for this special steering wheel.
Ben furthered the steering wheel with a special center.
A special trim ring was made and inscibed "Harris Custom Motors",
Ben did license himself to our best knowledge as a Motor Company and he also owned an Industrial design office in Chicago.
We measured the steering wheels of modern sports cars, they all seem to follow Bens diameter of 13-14 inches.
The Miata that is pictured next to the Speedster above, has a steering wheel frame the same size as Ben's.
Did Ben again unknowingly create a standard size of what was to come in our daily driven cars ?
Ben's seat belts,
Perhaps it was his knowledge of airplanes that led him to this very thought of using a seat belt.
Perhaps this lends the Speedster to a race car thought again?
To our best knowlegde, Ben and his family either owned the airport in Champaign Illinois or leased it to others for their planes at the airport.
Archive records are extensive on the Harris Family, they will be brought forth in another Chapter.
Was Ben first with this in his street driven sporting car that looged on over 10,000 miles in it's life?
This will be best left for the reader to form their own opinion on.
A seat belt was incorporated and used in a tear drop designed vehicle around the same time Ben had drawn up the details of his car.
To our best research, it was the 20 foot long 1933 DymaxionTeardrop Car.
Writers coined it a Concept Car and this is furthered by a Historian calling it a zenith of the first wave of semi-scientific streamlining !!.
By the way, is this a Tear Drop style of car or is it a Streamlined Style, this will be addressed in the upcoming Chapters.
Here is a real twist regarding the History of seat belts;
The "professional driver" of Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion was killed while wearing the seat belt when the vehicle suddenly overturned and rolled over a few times. As we understand it, the professional driver was a known race car driver!
The Tear Drop Car was on exhibition at the time at the 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair.
Reports have it that 2 other possible investors were aboard that sustained some serious injuries but survived, they had no seat belts.
Is this rather Ironic or what, the first person known wearing a seat belt in an Automobile accident was killed !!
In defense of this fabulous Tear Drop creation, it is said that a camera car was following to closely and it brushed the Dymaxion causing it to crash.
On the other hand, others have written that it was unstable past certain speeds and cross wind turbulance.
In knowing how Ben thought out and desigend his special creation, together with his knowledge of aircraft and his other innovations, would he have not designed it without seat belts?
Bens original seat belt anchors are visible in a picture that will be added at a later time, they were roughly 2 1/2 wide belts with a center buckle like an airplane used.
Either which way a reader might determine this, the fact remains that Ben incorporated it into his Futuristc sporting car, might it be considered as first in real practicality in the 10,000 miles the Speedster traveled on the Street ?
Ben's emergency brake;
(Would any one reader remotely think that Ben would leave any little detail untouched in his Speedster)?
Ben developed a rather unique emergency brake system, he locked all 4 wheels at one time.
He had an interior mounted emergency brake handle. This handle was linked with a steel rod to the hydraulic brake master cylinder.
When Ben engaged the emergency brake, it ratchet locked itself together with engaging and locking all 4 wheels.
Perhaps this was a good idea for current jet airplanes, as to our best research, most lock all brakes when emergency brakes are on, are you smiling?
Ben's instrument cluster;
Pictured above is a Packard Instrument cluster.
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Ben's instrument cluster was designed with 6 instruments in all with one being a clock .
He used Stewart Warner convex glass gauges.
They most definetly complimented the elegant design and colors of the interior.
In our research of the Speedster, we stumbled into some pictures of the instruments used in 1933-34 Deluxe Packards.
Upon comparison, they seem to be identical.
We will research further to see if perhaps Packard enlisted Stewart Warner to build the instruments for there cars.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVEDCHAPTER 10Land Speed, Race Car and Street carUNDER CONSTRUTION
Ben's styling has been thought of by many as a Land Speed type design, we thought it may deserve a direct comparison for Histories sake.
Ben creation has been linked and compared to styles from the pre 1935 Land speed cars.
The pre 35 Bluebird seems to be the one that most compare Ben's creation to.
One must remember that Bens car was well under way in late 1934 and 1935, point being, could he have even seen Campbells new creation first shown in 1935 ?
The 1927 Sunbeam Land Speed car is another example.
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Requested for the story guys ? are there other Land Speed cars that are prior to these two examples for serious air control and dynamics???
Please paste in if so>>>
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The early Land Speed cars were quite heavy and large for the most part, (2-3 tons).
We would assume that their collective thoughts steered them to both a heavy weight , Large engines and Large body size to keep their cars stable and from literally launching itself airborn at high speed.
>>>>> thoughts here guys?
After researching herein AutoPuzzles and elsewhere, we conclude they were all working in the same thought and design patterns at the same time but for different applications, Land speed, Race car and Street Car design.
Requested additions here guys>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> are there other closed bodied Land speed cars?? that we have not found??
>>>>>>>>>Please paste Any pictures, we would truly appreciate.
Alas, it is quite evident that Bens creation was not a Land Speed car, perhaps Ben did draw some thoughts for his futuristic vision of a << gasp>>>futuristic closed body sports car though.
One might ask themselves this, is this evolution or borrowing as all great designers have done through automobile history?
Just like a V-8 engine?
It seems that Ben just decided to gear his designs towards a street sporting car like no one had ever seen before.
We believe this answer to this is best served by letting the reader form their own conclusion.
Race carsRace cars are quite different in many ways when compared to Land Speed Cars.
The vast amount of persons that have personally viewed Bens creation view it as a Grand Prix Race car of the era.
Perhaps Ben unknowingly built a car that blends right in with what the future held in SCCA classes and other formulas of racing worldwide?
Pictured above is a streamlined "track" race car in a "closed bodied design".
It was affectionatly called the " tank car", bet they hated that name like Ben hated the Hormone 8 name, he was quoted as saying as such.
UNDER construction
Bens SCCA history and affilation will be in another chapter.
Kind of ironic in a way, as Bens creation to most seems to be favored in style as a Grand Priz race car. "that had yet to come."
Should we talk of Bens birdcage here and his actual design? or does this deserve a seperate chapter?
Street carsIN our best research efforts so far>>>Bens design, weights, size etcetera were first's in a "Futuristic closed body Sporting Street car design" .
One might ask themselves, does this early design lend itself to modern designs more than any other early car built ?
Was Harris's designs borrowed from
Is this perhaps one of the reasons of why it has continually been publized in articles for the past 46 years after it was thought gone?
Requested additions here guys>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> is there another closed bodied Street car , sports car or?? that we have not found??
OR, is their a car built prior to Bens creation that brought so many futuristic thoughts forth in a singular closed bodied sporting car?
>>>>>>>>>Please paste Any pictures or information, we would truly appreciate.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION UNTIL SUCH TIME OTHER DOCUMENTS ARE RECIEVED
