Source: RM Auctions

Posted: 07 Aug 2007

Specifications:Model 60. 100 bhp (est) 690 cu. in., inline six cylinder "T" head engine with four speed transmission and chain drive, front and rear solid axle and longitudinal leaf spring suspension, two wheel inboard mechanical drum service brakes, and transmission mounted mechanical drum hand brake. Wheelbase 134"The Alco: Combining European Technology with American Execution.The French had a word for it, automobile, while Americans were arguing over "horseless carriage", "motocycle", and "buggyaut". They also built a credible motor industry, the world's first, producing nearly 5,000 cars in 1900. It's unsurprising, then, that the American Locomotive Company, having decided to branch into personal transportation, took a license for the Berliet. Automobiles M. Berliet was the leading auto manufacturer in Lyons, France's second motor city, after Paris. Marius Berliet, scion of a family of textile industrialists, built his first car in 1895, and by 1905 had 250 employees turning out 300 cars annually, upmarket machines comparable to Daimler's Mercedes. In 1906, a new plant at American Locomotive's Providence, Rhode Island, facility began assembling Berliets from imported parts at prices from $5,000 to $9,000. Initially called "American Locomotive Motor Cars," they were soon dubbed "American Berliets" by the press. Having cut its teeth on auto assembly, American Locomotive gave up the Berliet license in September 1908 and undertook a car of its own, called simply "Alco."The new Alco was ready by January 1909, a 40 hp chain-drive machine exhibited at New York's Waldorf=Astoria. Touting extensive use of vanadium steel, "the anti-fatigue metal," Alco coined a snappy slogan, "It stays new." Top of the line was a 60 hp six selling at $6,000, more than any Packard and comparable to the big Peerlesses and Pierce-Arrows. Harry Grant and the Racing AlcoThe impetus for racing came from test driver Harry Grant. Grant proposed a competition effort in 1906, but management gave him a polite dismissal. Insistent but frustrated, he left in 1907 to work for the Park Square Automobile Station, a Boston dealership run by C.F. Whitney. Whitney outfitted a 40-hp American Berliet which Grant ran at Readville, a former horse track outside Boston, in September. Winning the five and twenty mile heats, Grant blew a tire during the 50-miler, finishing second to a Corbin. The competition effort firmly launched, Grant and the Berliet, with colleague Frank Lee, competed at other nearby tracks, easily making a name for themselves and the Alco. Management took notice, and finally acquiesced to Grant's persuasive arguments about the merits of racing. The factory engaged Grant as driver, with Lee as his riding mechanic, to campaign a six-cylinder Alco. The car did not start at the October 1909 Fairmount Park races in Philadelphia, but made a bold entry for the storied Vanderbilt Cup race, to be run on Long Island the following month. The Vanderbilt Cup was the brainchild of automobile bon vivant William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. Hoping to make motor racing the cause celebre it was in Europe, "Willie K" put up a cash prize and loving cup to attract both European competitors and American manufacturers. Attracted they were, George Heath winning the inaugural 1904 event, run on public roads, in a Panhard. French cars, Darracqs, also won in 1905 and 1906, the latter race marred by unruly crowds and death of a spectator. As a result, there was no 1907 Vanderbilt. By 1908 Willie K had abated local resistance by building a private race track in the form of the Long Island Motor Parkway, a nine-mile toll road that formed part of the course. George Robertson won in Locomobile "Old 16," finally bringing the Cup home to the host nation. The 1909 Vanderbilt entered by Alco was an event already on the wane. Engines were restricted to 301-600 cubic inches and the course was shortened. Crowds, upwards of 250,000 at the ill-fated 1906 race, numbered fewer than 25,000. The reduced popularity was credited to the revised formula whereby the race began at nine in the morning, rather than at first light as it had in prior years. The early start made the race a fitting conclusion ? or continuation ? of a night of merry-making, rather than an early start to a normal day. The very next year returned to the dawn start, and the crowds returned in quantity.Returning to the 1909 event, Grant ran a strategic race, holding his own as faster cars dropped like flies. On the 19th lap, the leading Chalmers-Detroit overheated and Grant took the lead, finishing five minutes ahead of Ed Parker's Fiat. Returning with the same car in 1910, he again ran a steady race, taking the lead on lap 18 when Marmon driver Joe Dawson struck a group of spectators and stopped to render aid. Despite a flat tire some twelve miles from the finish line, Grant made repairs and drove the Alco "Béte Noir" (Black Beast) to a neat win with a 25-second margin. Grant's accomplishments should not be minimized. While running tortoise-and-hare races, he had managed the first consecutive American victories and raised the average Vanderbilt speed above 65. It was, however, Alco's last competition hurrah. The 1911 season, despite a larger factory team, was disappointing. In August the company pulled the plug on racing.For 1913, only the six remained in Alco's catalog, and suddenly in August the New York Times reported that "Alco Makers Quit Automobile Field." Company president W.H. Marshall told stockholders that the car business was "unprofitable." Historian Beverly Rae Kimes pinpoints Alco's miscalculation: "Locomotives are bought; automobiles must be sold." The company had put too little effort into marketing. Alco built steam locomotives until 1948, and made a successful transition to diesel-electrics, starting in 1924. Never again, however, did it dabble in automobiles. S/N: 101901 "Béte Noir", the Black BeastThe factory claimed that Harry Grant's race car was a "stock six cylinder chassis, taken from production". While that may in fact be the origin of the car, there is no doubt that several modifications were made after that point. The engine was moved back seven inches, and several leaves were removed from the springs, which were then tightly wrapped in cord. The controls were moved back, and of course, the body was removed, a minimalist pair of seats and a fuel tank installed in its place.After its final race at Elgin in 1911, the Alco was retired. Its immediate fate is not known, but the car was discovered in a barn in Cleveland during the Depression, along with several other Alcos, most of which were sold off during the liquidation of the Alco plant after the end of production. A fire damaged several of the cars, and the remains were purchased by noted Ohio collector Joe Loecy in the late 1930s. In an interview with the writer during the research conducted for this catalog entry, Joel Finn describes the car when he bought it from Loecy in 1968. "It was pretty much a complete car, a rolling chassis with all the major mechanicals in place." Asked about the body, he said "there wasn't much left, but then again, there wasn't much body to begin with". Finn had no doubt about the importance of what he had found. He agreed on a comprehensive ? and very expensive ? restoration by the guy he considered the best man for the job ? Tom Lester, with the assistance of Chuck Ptacek. The restoration was a monumental one, requiring not only the normal rebuilding of surviving components, but manufacturing missing or unrestorable ones, like a full set of wheels, and countless linkages, brake rods, and other parts.It is interesting to note that the displacement of the car, as measured during restoration, turned out to be a whopping 690 cubic inches ? in a car entered in a class limited to 600 cubic inches! The story of this car is well presented in a 26 page article published in Automobile Quarterly in 1973 (Vol. 11, No. 2). Included in the article is a 1968 letter from John S. Schenke, who was a mechanic with the Alco team in 1909 and 1910, addressed to Joel Finn, the car's owner at the time. In it, he describes several of the unique characteristics of the Vanderbilt cup car. One of these was that after the engine failed at Indianapolis, Schenke recalled that the original connecting rods were no longer available, and as a result, the engine was repaired with rods of another type. Almost sixty years later, during the restoration, the engine was found to have four rods of one type, and two of another!As a result of these rods, and a variety of other identifying characteristics which are still present today, Schenke concludes by saying "based on the data and photographs you have, I feel certain that the Alco racing car you now own is the actual machine that Grant drove to victory in the 1909 and 1910 Vanderbilt races, and certify the same by my signature". In the mid 1980s, Finn sold the car to the legendary Harrah's Collection in Reno, Nevada. Although initially, Harrah apparently had questions about the origins of the car, according to Joel Finn, he was quickly satisfied. "I went to visit Harrah, and gave him a dossier of information on the car. After reviewing it with him, he seemed satisfied, and that was the last I heard of it". Tragically, this dossier has been misplaced by Harrah's or a subsequent owner, and is no longer with the car.The car was sold during the liquidation of the Harrah's collection by Holiday Inn Corporation, in a three part sale in the mid to late 1980s. The car was purchased there by an unknown collector, who later offered the car for sale via the UK based auction house COYS in the mid 1990s, where it was acquired by the vendor.The first decade of the twentieth century must have been a tremendously exciting time to be associated with racing. Speeds and technology were advancing rapidly, drivers (and their mechanics) were brave, and the crowds were large and enthusiastic in their support. The most fearsome of all were the unlimited class racers, with their massive engines and minimalist bodywork. With more than eleven liters of engine, and less than 3,000 pounds of car, the Alco was the ultimate weapon. In the hands of Harry Grant, it accomplished what no other race car had ever done ? winning the same event, with the same driver, two years in a row. It is a tremendous shame that Alco withdrew from automobile production ? but an incredible gift that ultimate Alco should survive to attest to the skills of the men who built it ? and the man who drove it.To Be Or Not To Be.Or in the case of the wonderful Alco presented here, "believed to be". Unfortunately, history is not an exact science, and determining the provenance of a car is not as simple as it would seem.A number of individuals have suggested that some ? or all ? of the Alco presented here did not originate with the Vanderbilt cup racer driven by Harry Grant. Unfortunately, none of these individuals are able to offer more than second or third hand opinions. While it is certainly possible they are right, it does not seem likely, given the following: ? By all accounts, the car offered here is all Alco parts, correct for the model. ? As an active race car, it is likely that many parts were changed during its life. ? As far as we can determine, no other car claims this history. ? Joel Finn, the only living past owner, says he has never doubted its history. ? John S. Schenke, the Alco mechanic on this car, certifies in writing that this is the Vanderbilt cup car. ? The author of the article in Automobile Quarterly, while he acknowledges rumors to the contrary, clearly concludes in support of the car's provenance.Nothing in life is certain. Regardless of how much of the original car remains with it today, it is the only surviving Alco race car, and based on the evidence, it is "believed to be" the very same car that a courageous and highly skilled Harry Grant drove to victory in two successive Vanderbilt cups ? a feat never before achieved.