1912 Franklin Model D Torpedo Phaeton

In 1912 Ralph C. Hamlin, a Los Angeles Franklin dealer, on his fifth try drove his Converted Torpedo Phaeton Race Car to Victory. Twelve cars started the race from Los Angeles to Phoenix, with Hamlin crossing the finish line in a record time of 18 hours, 10 minutes, and 22 seconds. His original car was destroyed by fire sometime in 1930.

The Replacement Racer was built from an original 1912 Model D Torpedo Phaeton in San Diego in the 1960s. Its large 5,064cc (309 cubic inches) air-cooled engine develops 50 horsepower at 2300 RPMs. With its 37-inch tires and 30-gallon gas tank, it is quite a car to be reckoned with. The Franklin has been, in every detail, reconstructed to match the big number 9 driven by Mr. Hamlin. The Franklin has been raced for many years at the Monterey Historics and was a class winner at the Pebble Beach Concours in 1993. It was one of the featured cars that same year at the Essen Motor Show in Germany. The car also raced at the Chrysler Classic Speed Festival in San Diego; the Pan Pacific Road Race (Los Angeles to Visalia in 2000) and in 1999 was invited to participate in the Goodwood Festival of Speed in England.

Herbert Franklin founded the H.H. Franklin Manufacturing Company in 1893 in Syracuse, New York. In 1902 the first Franklin automobile was introduced with a unique air-cooled engine. Los Angeles was home to renowned Southern California Franklin distributor Ralph Hamlin who, from 1905 through the company's post-Depression bankruptcy, did more than any other individual to promote the brand.

'It was not easy to sell air cooling,' he wrote. 'My competitors, all of whom sold water-cooled cars, would tell my prospects that if air cooling was so good, the rest of the cars would be using it.' So as an aggressive promoter, he decided to race the car to prove it. 'I entered any event that came along. When the Los Angeles to Phoenix desert race was suggested 'the toughest road race ever held anywhere,' it was my chance to put air cooling on top, if I could win.'

The 1910 Cactus Derby race: Hamlin started his campaign in a Model H Franklin 'Grey-hound' at the inaugural 1908 race. He jumped out in front, building a lead of several hours while still in California, but got lost in the desert due to the fact that the race started at midnight. 'The route was across the desert,' he told the Times in 1928. 'The road was pretty fair until we got a little way beyond Pasadena, and then the struggle started. 'The water-cooled boys went out several days before the race to plant barrels of water for use when their motors started to boil in the more than 100 degrees of temperature. All of us wore baseball masks to keep the mesquite and buckthorn bushes from scratching our eyes out. The tires were deflated to half pressure so the wheels would not sink in the sand. Springs were tied down with iron straps to keep them from breaking.'

In 1910 he made some headway in the race, coming in second to Harvey Herrick's Kisselkar with a nonstop 16 hour, 16 minutes, time for the 418-mile Sand Battle: Hamlin and Caris finally won the race in 1912, after coming second to the same winning Kissel team again in 1911.

This Car: The 1911 Franklin Special's history after the 1910 Cactus Derby is surprisingly simple: in 1913, Hamlin sold it to Howard Bonebrake of El Reno, Oklahoma, who wanted a race car. Bonebrake drove it an unknown number of times in the Teens. He eventually stored it upstairs at his Bonebrake Hardware and Implement Company, which is where Don Boulton found it in 1960, selling it 40-some years later to his friend and fellow collector Ted Davis. It remains in its original condition, a time capsule of what it looked like after the 1911 Cactus Derby. Faithfully maintained by the current owner, it still runs and drives as well as it did over 100 years ago.

The air-cooled 4-cylinder engine displaces 5405cc and is backed by a three-speed non-synchro transmission. There are wood spoke, and steel rim wheels.

Source - Vehicle's Owner