1908 Welch Model 4-L Touring

The history of this Welch Model 4-L has a known history that dates back to the late 1900s when it was owned by Louis H. Perlman, the company's distributor in New York City. Perlman used the car as a test bed for experimenting with new inventions he developed, such as a wheel rim that could be removed (demounted) from the car to facilitate tire changes and repairs. Mr. Perlman is credited with the idea for the very first demountable rim and this was the automobile he developed and tested that feature.

The car was in the care of the Perlman family until 1951 when it was acquired from his nephew's estate in Montrose, New York by Ralph Stein and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. In the Teens, the car had been fitted with front doors and the rear of its body covered with a piece of metal. Apart from these modifications the car remained largely intact and had not moved since the mid-1920s.

Ralph Buckley was tasked with restoring the Welch for Mr. Stein, preserving the original bodywork, installing a correct top and windshield, and rebuilding the engine and drivetrain. In the early 1970s, the car was acquired from Mr. Stein by Wayne and Carl Leonard, and then by Don C. Boulton.

The car has an electric starter to ease its operation. The 336 cubic-inch single overhead cam four-cylinder engine has Hemispherical Combustion Chambers with two valves per cylinder. It produces 50 horsepower and there is a three-speed selective-shift multiple-clutch manual transmission and rear-wheel drum brakes.

By Daniel Vaughan | May 2019