I love this ad:
Interesting that the Tincher is named. The Tincher was a very low production car, only a few are known to still exist. There was one in a restoration shop in Oklahoma a few years ago. It was a very advanced over head cam design with lots of modern ideas for the time. Big, fancy, expensive, IIRC they only made about 100 or so of them. I had a bunch of pictures of it but they must have got lost in the big computer crash a couple years ago.
Stan, didn't Chris and the restoration program at McPherson College have one last spring?
Also, I found more on this big "Cadillac victory" over a "60 hp Ford six" and "120 hp Stearns". I'll double check the race results and post them tomorrow. Talk about "false advertising!"
Meanwhile, here's the billing for race. It says Henry Ford will be one of the drivers....... He wasn't.
Stan I saw that car in Oklahoma two years in a row on trips to Chickasha.
The first year it was just a chassis with the engine. The second year it was a complete car.
I think they built a body for it. I wanted to go back the second year just to see the Tincher.
We have this photo of a Tincher that is dated 1905 and maybe the wrong year, which was taken at the same track. We have been trying to learn more about on The Old Motor so if you have any info on it be sure to let us know. You can learn more about it @ http://theoldmotor.com/?s=tincher
100's more early racing photos can be found here @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=23&paged=130
Yikes, that Tincher is a monster! Those were brave men back then....
What do you want to bet they cranked it right handed too.
OK, this is what I've found (let me tell you this about that ). It appears to me the Cadillac Agent is quite a "promoter" ( or liar, take your pick).
The Cadillac does win, in the third race, a five mile race. However, the only other Fords I see are two 15 hp N or R runabouts. On a side note, one of the Fords is owned and raced by Frank X. Mudd. Mudd is credited with purchasing the First Model N sold in July 1906.
I don't know if any Model Ks were in any of the races, however, the Cadillac doesn't appear to beat the Stearns in any head to head races. The newspaper caption above the summary read:
I'm getting on a plane, more to follow,
Rob
It looks to me as thought the Cadillac representative who made this ad took a few liberties with the truth.
The ad says "Two of the most hearalded manufacturers in America were among the aspirants beaten by the Cadillac..."
Neither Ford nor Stearns made a " 60 hp Ford and 120 hp " automobile. They did, however, both have racers with those size engines. I suspect the writer is using the fact the Cadillac beat the Ford N time (not by much) and possibly in one of the races came in ahead of the Stearns, to say those "manufacturers" were beaten by the Cadillac.
Makes todays advertising look pretty accurate.
Thanks to laws, lawyers and agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, advertisers won't get away with that crap very long today.
Ralph,
I believe the Internet would quickly expose a lot of this too. I think back then you could probably put anything in a local paper without any worry of ramifications.
A separate news account did list Henry Ford driving his racer. However, the dates were pushed back and this was about the time Frank Kulick wrecked (driving the racer) so Henry Ford apparently did not bring his racer:
Oops!
Did someone say thanks to ...... lawyers ?
The rest of the story:
I found the news account of the races. The Cadillac won the feature race when the Stearns (leading) ran through the fence. A Ford six (Model K) then was leading, until the oiler ran out, forcing the Ford to quit (ouch). The Tincher then had ignition problems. As a result, the Cadillac was able to say they beat all of the above, plus an Apperson Jack Rabbit iin the advertisement. However, throwing in the "60 hp Ford and 120 hp Stearns" was a real stretch.