Item Info

Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Automobile Reference Collection
Notes:

H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, Syracuse NY

The car that broke the Chicago- New York record 20 years ago

An automobile run from Chicago to New York in this era of good roads is so common place as to excite no attention whatever, but twenty years ago with dirt roads practically all the way it was a real run.

The picture shows a 30 H.P. six cylinder Franklin runabout just as it was ready to start from Chicago on September 6, 1906 in an attempt to break the Chicago-New York record.

The distance of 1,000 miles, with four drivers alternating at the wheel, was covered in the elapsed time of 56 hours and 58 minutes, cutting I hour and 45 minutes from the Columbia record which had stood for two years. The Franklin left Chicago at 2 A.M. on a Tuesday, reaching New York at 11:58 A.M. on Thursday; the actual running time was only 54 hours.

As an indication of the speed made by this old-time car over dirt roads, it is interesting to note that the 104 miles from Chicago to South Bend were covered in 3 hours and 10 minutes – breaking all previous records.

When the Franklin set out from Chicago on this record-breaking trip it attracted a great deal of attention in the streets, for this was the identical which just a month previous set up a new transcontinental record from San Francisco to New York, covering this distance in 15 days, 2 hours and 12 minutes, which incidentally, stood for many years.

Only two decades have passed since this picture was taken, but it seems more than that, perhaps, to the present day motorist who now looks with curiosity upon the old time right-hand drive, big acetylene brass spotlight, outside gear-shift lever, bulb horn, magneto on the dash, and other features which today seem crude, indeed, but which 20 years ago were the latest ideas in automobile fashion.

Some idea of the difficulties of cross-country touring back in 1906 may be noted from the 2 long wooden bars which were more than once called upon to get the car out of deep holes.