New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-02-28


/, now eonnso,,d With n. ". Owen 4 Co. Ran.
dllns the Owen nasnstle car. the latest end en'
Of the most psmislns o. the ospaH"fe' NV" @o
oeptsd s0tamonils pfaeiIee
No. BY ERNEST s. PARTRIDGE.
Ny introduction 10 the automobile
industry 1--WE didn't call 1t that at the
time), was through taking an interest
in a gasolene engine, invented oy
man whose name ! have forgotten
Clarence Wyckof was with me IN the
venture. That was in 1897, before gas
olene motors had been developed IN
a practical way for the propulsion Oh
vehicles Ii cost US lot OF time ana
considerable money to learn that we
were on the wrong tack, and we gave
it up. .,
The motor was two cylinder, double
opposed affair, and in comparison with
the others that were being developed
around that time il looked good. we
were right in believing that a practical
gasolene engine would be long step
forward over the steam type.
This motor Of ours ran all right,
but it was too noisy TO allow or con-
versation while il was in operation.
When we wanted to talk about 1t while
IL was running we walked around the
block. | recall one gentleman-an
old soldier-who came to inspect II.
A few minutes after we started. the
motor he beckoned to me to come 70
the door, and yelled in my ear; II
sounds like the battle OF Gettysburg.
/ was there"
Nv enthusiasm for the motor cooled
greatly when we found that its faults
could not be corrected, and for some
time | became an onlooker while tne
industry developed. Along about 1899
or 1900, with quite a number OF cars
on the streets, new makes coming 70
light frequently and plenty Of wealthy
people apparently ready to buy any
thing that they believed would keep on
running, all my old enthusiasm re-
turned. and il took the form of believ-
ing that a magazine devoted to motor
ing would yield big returns. There
were others at the time-"Auto Topics"
and the Automobile Magazine | recall
but mine was TO be a de luxe affair:
So started the New Centaur." Half
man and half machine was my idea,
rather than half man and half horse
and | had an illustration on the front
cover that brought it out nicely, A
clever friend of mine, George Gallup,
who is long since dead, grew so enthu-
| siastic over my talk of the fast ap-
preaching horseless era that he wrote
a poem illustrating his idea of what 1t
would be. | don't remember it all, but
I The final stanza still sticks in my mem
| DRY. Here it is:
| ooh. may this be that chariot OF hre,
/ Whose breath of fame the prophets
long foretold;
! The steed Of centuries new, with speed
! of wings,
The centaur new, new-fsbled from the
old"
In its style and cost Of production
! the New Centaur" was years ahead OF
| its time, and when three issues had
gone through the presses | was broke.
| Malcolm Ford was my editor, and his
tragic death precipitated the closing
of our Offices in the Park Row Build
ing. -,
At any rate, | remember with some
| pride that | engaged a well known
| writer of the time-his name, also, has
gone from me-to write an article ad-
vocating the building Of a great trans
continental highway from New York
/ to San Francisco. The idea was in
| dorsed strongly by General Nelson A.
| Miles, who said that such ighway
would be of great military value in
case Of necessity. So we antedated By
about twelve years the Lincoln High
way project, only we didn't start to
build it.
The early automobile men were
optimists of the first degree. Many Of
/ the advertisements in the New Cen
/ taur," | remember, showed the motor
! car driving horses into oblivion, or
were built along such lines. The
! horses are still with US, and l suppose
! they always will be.
Mr.. Wyckoff and | organized the
| Standard Automobile Company in 1901,
and engaged a salesroom on Thirty
eighth Street, our first car being the
| Elmore. Imported cars had the call,
/ however. and before long we had taken
became agents for the c. G. V. and
| the English Daimler.
What prices we got for those heavy,
! clumsy old cars! The Decauville sold
up to $4,000, and we sold an elaborate
! c. G. V. for $4,000 and thought the
price was reasonable. European pro-
| duction was small, and it wasn't always
easy to get deliveries on this side. As
/ a result | made many trips TO France
and England to arrange for deliveries
to customers; in fact, believe | have
sold as many foreign cars to Americans
] in Europe as at home.
Guy Vaughn came to us about 1903
to learn the business, and we developed
| him into one of the best racing drivers
America ever saw. We had q big ga
rage in Thirty-ninth Street, at least
il was big then, and Guy worked
around there and in the salesroom. The
garage burned down the day before
Christmas, 1904, and it was spectacle
| lar blaze.
The Decauville people had won an
important race in F.snce with q 40
horsepower car driven by Henri Page
/ in 1904 or 1905, and we imported that
car. He hired the Empire City race
track for a 24-hour endurance test in