About Quiz #389: 1909 Lane Model 15 or 1910 Model 20? No winner?

When you read back the answers to last week's quiz you can only conclude that we must have ruined the weekend of jurymember Ariejan Bos. We wrote the quiz car was made in Pennsylvania, which should have been New York. This editorial slip of the pen probably made him plough his full library to find a brass era steamer looking like this yet made in Penna... Errare humanum est, Ariejan. Sorry!

To take out all misunderstanding, here is the makers plate of the fabulous Lane steamer which was subject of last week's quiz. A next problem is that we are not really 100% sure what the identity of the car is. Most competitors stat that we are looking at a 1909 Lane Model 15. Do they tap from sources of knowledge that we nor the owner have? Or are these experts quoting from ill informed sources? Very hard to say. Two facts are clear: the chassis number of the car is #2080. The 'object report' of the Henry Ford Museum which comes with the car states the wheelbase is 102-1/8 inches. We asked jurymember Stanley Steamer historian Kit Foster for help and he explains: "The chassis number doesn't help much. Grace Brigham's Serial Number Book has no listings for Lane. The company had built 500-some cars by 1909, and another 123 in 1910, so it's difficult to make sense out of #2080 in that context. I think the key is the wheelbase, measured by The Henry Ford as 102-1/8 inches. That's closest to the 103 quoted for the 1910 Model 20 in the Standard Catalog of American Cars."

So basically we have to decide is the Standard Catalog wrong? Or are the other sources wrong? In other words? Is the motorcar depicted above a 'short wheel base' 103" 1909 Lane Model 15 or is it the 1910 Model 20 with 103" wheelbase as described in Beverley Rae Kimes Standard Catalog?
Please send us your opinion in order to help decide who is winner.... if any.

Publié:

vendredi mars 6th, 2015

peter

07 Mars 2015, 13:15

Personally i do not think that the wheelbase dimensions are of particular importance. When I became involved in Vintage cars in the early 1960's I knew a number of 'serious' motor engineers, all had trained during the 1920's or ,perhaps, earlier and they indicate that, in general, chassis dimensions could vary by +/- as much as 1/2"! This applied more to early, totally 'hand-built' cars.
Also, with 'restored' cars all sorts of things seem to happen with dimensions!
As for the serial number, here I would like to know what, if any, other cars survive and what there serial numbers are. In particular the 20HP model. Perhaps one should consider the number as representing two things. The '20' being the engine rating and the '80' the actual car/chassis number. Equally, it could represent series and chassis which is much the same thing. Quite a few car manufacturers used similar of numbering system. I accept that Without any other numbers to consider I am just guessing.

Regards, Peter Maguire.

Ace Zenek

07 Mars 2015, 10:03

I spoke to Alan Hancock who was selling the car. He said it has now been sold to someone in Holland. He stated that it was a 20 H.P. engine and that it was a Model 20. He said that he never measured the wheelbase, and it was titled as a 1909.

There was a 1909 Lane 5-passenger touring car with a 103" wheelbase runabout described in Figure 1 here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=3TNLAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA112&dq=lane+steam+1909&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2O_yVOPFFciVyASwlIAw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=lane%20steam%201909&f=false

The same information is described at the bottom right of the first page in the actual article.

About Quiz #389: 1909 Lane Model 15 or 1910 Model 20? No winner?

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