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Detroit, 4-5 July 1914 . The First International Cycle Car Races (UPDATE III: Princess & Twombly)


Todd Wells from California comes up with this intriguing photo showing a line up at the start for the 'First International Cycle Car Races, Detroit , 4-5 July 1914'. Well that's the first time we hear about this. The line up of cars is for the inner-inner circle of connoisseurs. From left to right we see Saginaw, Twombly, Princess, Coey, Detroit, Morgan, Downing, Vixen, Peugeot, Mercury, Saginaw, Malcolm, Twombly, Twombly, Vixen, Zip. Wow !!! Can you imagine you would have this collection of Edwardian racers in your garage...! When you go play Google with this knowledge you find that this was the upbeat for the later midget races, while Europe was stuck with cycle cars for much longer. One way or another it gave us associations with a Bart Simpson T-shirt we once owned "Underperformer & Proud of It". We would love to hear who can tell us more about this Detroit Superfast Subcompact event? Which drivers, which circuit and which organisation?
UPDATE III by Michael Worthington Williams:"As a matter of interest the Princess cyclecar, although made in the USA , was designed by an Englishman. I am intending to do a full length feature about him in a future issue of The Automobile. The cyclecar craze was just about exhausted in the USA by l9l5. The lack of good roads between cities and the flimsiness of the average cyclecar was the main reason, but also the cheapness of the Ford Model T. There is a surviving Twombly cyclecar here in the UK."
UPDATE II by Richard armstrong who found more recent leads elsewhere on the web, but we still hope to learn about the drivers.
UPDATE I by Edit. We found this AAA link but nothing about the drivers involved.
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Published:
Sunday February 1st, 2009
Unknown
18 January 2015, 15:24
I have a cyclecar that was assembled by my grandfather in Cleveland, OH back in the 30's.... engine/frame/wheels/running gear is from a 1915 Twombly [Driggs-Seabury mfr. in PA 1913-1915] & a 1927 Willys Whippet Model 96 body mounted; still runs[last driven in the 60's], but has been up on blocks most of it's life; another Twombly is in PA & a 1913 Twombly is in Australia.
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Unknown
23 August 2013, 05:42
The vixen was developed in Milwaukke Wisconsin by my great grandfather Frank Mortimer Davis at the Davis Manufacturing Company, we have some articles I can scan a send you, My grand father Harold Ralph Davis run one of the vixens and we have a panoramic photo of all the cars.
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