Quite a car race

Among other things

The annual “Cruisen by the Bay” car show always attracts a huge crowd of auto enthusiasts. I always recognize some models I’d driven over the years, and always wish I’d kept them. None were ever as shiny and classy as the cars on display though. Some I gave unglamorous names like Rusty Dusty, Bucket of Bolts, Lemonzine, Slowpoke, Shot Rod, Gas Hawg, you get the idea. You’ve probably driven some of their cousins in years past.

Another car event that attracted a lot of attention was the historic 1908 New York to Paris automobile race, which was won by the sole American entry, a 1907 Thomas Flyer.

The 22,000 mile adventure started Feb. 12, 1908, in New York City with a field of six cars — three French, one Italian, one German and one American. The cars headed westward from Times Square. Only two vehicles finished with the American car declared the winner although it arrived in Paris four days after the disqualified German machine.

No one had ever tried a transcontinental auto trip across the U.S. in winter before. In fact, few folks thought the cars would get out of New York state. But five did — one French car didn’t. The second French machine conked out in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The entrants were to drive to San Francisco and then go by steamboat to Valdez, Alaska Territory, where the race would resume to Nome. There the drivers were to cross the Bering Strait on the ice into Siberia and work their way to China. Presumably, the 10,000 mile stretch from Peking to Paris would be a piece of cake. After all, four other cars had covered that route a year earlier.

The 1907 Thomas Flyer, driven by George Schuster, arrived in San Francisco 42 days after leaving Times Square and sailed immediately for Alaska. Six days later the Italian car rolled into San Francisco and eight days later the third French auto arrived.

However, the German entry arrived aboard a railroad car. Hopelessly mired in mud in Wyoming, the Germans finagled a train ride the rest of the way.

Race sponsors had second thoughts about the navigability of the road from Valdez to Nome and over the Bering Strait on ice. The ship carrying the Thomas Flyer was re-called to Seattle, where the Americans were joined by the other three entries. All sailed for Japan, then to Siberia where the road race was resumed.

The Thomas Flyer experienced problems in Siberia, first with the transmission, then the generator. Meanwhile, the other three cars were stuck in the mud so badly that the French and Italian teams dropped from the race. Ironically, the railroad riding Germans received a $1,000 prize from the Trans-Siberia Railroad for reaching China first.

Across the Gobi Desert, over the Volga River, it was a speed contest — first the German Protos was in the lead, then the American Thomas Flyer. At Lake Baikal, the Germans managed to board a ferry that pulled away from the dock within sight of the pursuing Americans, who had to wait 24 hours before the next ferry sailed. The Germans picked up another $1,000 from the Russian Auto Club for reaching the Russian border first.

The 24-hour lead gained at Lake Baikal proved insurmountable and the Germans reached Paris July 26, 1908. The Thomas Flyer arrived four days later and was declared the winner because the Germans were disqualified by their Wyoming to San Francisco train ride.

The Flyer averaged 150 miles a day with a maximum of 400 miles in a 24-hour period. It was on the road 88 days out of the 170 elapsed.

The Harrah Auto Museum in Reno, Nev., when I visited there in 1986, displayed the American Flyer with four mannequins and an unfurled American flag, starting down a rutted hillside trail. The exhibit was designed from a photo taken near Leige, France, in the final stage of the race.