Dora Duck’s drawing room on wheels

Did you know that a 1914 car is immortalized in a cartoon that is still loved by millions of children over the world today? It’s Grandma Duck, or Dora Duck, who remains much-attached to her now well over a century old car, which fits her so well: a Detroit Electric.

1914 Detroit Electric Model 47 Brougham

There’s one coming up for sale at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia on the 11th of October and it looks to be an absolute time-warp car. Popular under women thanks to its operating simplicity and silence rather than complicated, smelly and noisy, this particular car, a Detroit Electric Model 47 Brougham, comes with unknown history. But it is unrestored and retains its curved glass, decorative interior trim, vis-à-vis seating and tiller steering. Make that running, please don’t polish it and take your own grandmother on a trip to Disney World, making it a drive of her life and bringing joy and instant recognition to all the children attending.

1913 Rauch & Lang Model J Electric Coach

Another electric car dating back to the same era is least as interesting, too. This is a Rauch & Lang Model J, built in Cleveland in 1912/1913, unrestored and owned since 1957 by the seller. Dubbed a ‘drawing room on wheels’, the Rauch & Lang was favoured by wealthy women, supposedly since they were easy to drive and operated quietly. This particular car is reported to be purchased by Bertha Honoré Palmer when it was new. She’d married millionaire Potter Palmer of Chicago in 1870 and was known for her spendthrift. The Model J looks great in its original maroon and black outside with matching maroon cloth with ivory piping and pull-down curtains. The car’s original batteries have long since been removed, but with just 10,651 miles on the clock, virtually every other element of the vehicle appears to have been preserved. It’s just a matter of time when we all drive electrics and this will be the undisputed star of any show.

There are many more interesting petrol powered vehicles in the sale, too, several of which come in unrestored condition. Oh - and there’s a fine collection of radiator mascots – non-Laliques for a change.

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures courtesy of Bonhams Auctioneers / Disney.

Publiziert:

Mittwoch September 30th, 2020

Grimmo

03 Oktober 2020, 18:13

The benefits of electric automobiles were ‘mansplained’ in North American publications in June 1906. Better for husbands than “entrusting their womankind to the vagaries of the gentle family horse or to an expensive and dubious chauffeur”, and ultra simple to drive “even for a woman whose nerves were not the best”:

“To get all the use out of this electric auto that an expert chauffeur gets out of the big, imported cars, milady has to remember just three processes: Push a lever with the left hand to start or slow. Press down with the foot on a pedal to stop. Steer with the right hand on the steering bar. Apart from this ultra of simplicity in operation, these electric autos require no further bother on the part of the chauffeuse than an occasional glance at the volt-register, which looks like a gas-meter's dial. That shows when the batteries are nearly exhausted; and when they are, they can be quickly and cheaply renewed anywhere there is electric light.”

Fitting a steering wheel presumably made them easy enough for a cartoon Duck. As Henry Ford worked for the Detroit Electric Company in the 1890s; worked with Edison on early electric cars and Edison’s family used them, including a 1911 Rauch and Lang, and a 1914 Detroit Electric Type 47 Brougham, consider Mrs. Ford and the second Mrs. Edison to be prototype Grandma Ducks.

Weiter lesen

Dora Duck’s drawing room on wheels

1914 Detroit Electric Model 47 Brougham

1913 Rauch & Lang Model J Electric Coach

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