Magnificent men in their racing machines: speedsters tailored for Terry-Thomas

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One can't very well imagine that these propeller-driven contraptions would pass any inspection in today's health and safety-led culture, but back in the 1910s, when we expect these photographs were taken, things weren't quite so strict. Such machines would have been a dream come true for old Terry-Thomas. "I say, Courtney..."

What exactly are we beholding here? You may well have come across the propeller-driven Hélica by French engineer Marcel Leyat, one of which was restored in recent times and has since been attracting a lot of attention from visitors to motoring festivals. That, however, has its propeller mounted at the front, and it was encased within a cage to prevent it shredding everything which came too close. This one is mounted at the back with no protection whatsoever. "Courtney, be a good man and find out how to get that thing started, would you..."

The banked wooden track in the first photograph may indicate that car running on it was intended for record-breaking, but we haven’t been able to find any further information about it at all. The closest we could get was a vehicle named the Overland Wind Wagon (pictures two and three), which was made by the Overland Automobile Company and supposedly demonstrated at Indianapolis in June, 1910, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Aviation Show. Its eight-foot wooden propeller gave it a 53mph top speed.

That, however, is clearly a different car. Are we able to determine the base vehicle of our main monster with its big four-cylinder engine?

Words: Jeroen Booij

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