The Trackless Train

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Remember our recent article and photo about the Isotta Fraschini? In the back of the photo was a big limousine, that was used for advertising. It was quickly identified as a Graham-Paige, but Uffe Mortensen from Denmark came up with a whole lot more information about these strange automobiles. There have been several of them, all designed by Harry McGee from the USA. A standard Graham-Paige chassis was modified with a locomotive body, cow catcher and an observation platform at the rear. Called the ‘Trackless Train’, McGee used it at first to advertise his own company, but then sold it to MGM who campaigned it all over the world to promote their motion pictures. After that McGee seems to have built another fourteen or fifteen ‘trackless trains’ with some of them on a Dagmar or Cord chassis. It must have quite a sight, especially with the smoke coming out of the smoke stacks. This was done by dropping crude oil into the exhaust manifold, which was then conveyed to the smoke stack through a small pipe. In the smoke stack were revolving blades causing the smoke to come out in puffs instead of a steady stream. One of these trackless trains was recently for sale here on PreWarCar and we wonder if any more exist?

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