Steam Car Blog

​George Hounslow writes: 
Both the 1900 Mobile and 1923 Stanley passed their boiler inspections yesterday. Now Ready for another year's steaming!

Despite rain we all enjoyed an excellent route in excellent cars.

We left Melle on day 3 and headed towards a new hotel, 60 miles away, through beautiful countryside with beautiful weather.

Glorius weather accompanied a brilliant route for today’s run. The majority of the cars ran very well through the beautiful countryside around Melle.

Day 1 commenced at 10am, with great weather and great cars. 30 plus cars are attending, 9 steamers with the rest being Internal Combustion Engined cars. 7 Brits attended along with their cars.

George Hounslow writes: 
"Nice run out in the 1901 Porter today to the Vintage and Nostalgia festival at Stockton. Lots of very interesting cars, lovely weather and a 30 mile round trip. Photo courtesy of Ros King and Peter Hounslow."

George Hounslow taking his 1901 Porter Stanhope on it's first run on the open road.

The Dordt in Stoom event in Holland has begun. A number of steam cars are present, including 3 from England.

9th April

Cleaning cleaning cleaning. What a wondrous job an ultrasonic tank and citrinox does for cleaning this 100 year old stuff!! 2 more pump shaft to make and start assembling!

Not a ton of work but progress is progress. Chromed water pumps rods are fully assembled. Need a new fuel piston and support slider yet. And a bunch more cleaning.

14th April

​The car hit some sunlight today! The dash went back in after the windshield frame repair a while ago. The kidney gauge is back installed. A bunch of things cleaned up and working on mounting the condenser to see how plumbing will fit. We are making progress now!

Billings Cooke Writes "Took a "field trip" with the local SACA chapter to the Orange Historical Society. Saw two Grouts and got a bit of information for Tilly."

George Hounslow recently test drove his 1901 Porter Stanhope around a local country estate, just after a complete restoration. Photos courtesy of Mary Gray.

Wanted 1908 White L Driveshaft Universal Caps

Hi I'm looking for some (3x) of the caps that screw on the universal on the driveshaft of a Model L. They look like bottle caps but I think they are hardened to prevent the pins from working their way out. I can make some put just putting this out there as I have 1 but if someone has some it would save me a bit of time to get this back on the road let me know.

Contact Tim Jones-tim.jones@aut.ac.nz

RON ROGERS ( ROGERSMACH@YAHOO.COM )
George, Congratulations!

Check out this video of the 1906 White F when owned by Saxon Littler at the 1955 West of England Steam Engine Society Rally. The car is now owned by Richard Hounslow. Video Courtesy of the West of England Steam Engine Society.

Basil Craske races his 1909 Stanley R up Prescott Hill Climb in 2012.

Check out this video of the Jimmy Built Steam Car, being prepared for the 2017 Sema Show in Las Vegas.

Founded in 1900 by Major D Porter of New York, inventor of the Porter Electric Motor, the Porter Motor Co. of 950 Tremont Building, Boston Massachusetts, claimed to build “The Only Perfect Automobile”. In that case, perfection was too much for the average American of the time, as the company folded in 1901.
Many claims were made by Major D Porter (Major being his Christian name, not a rank). Automatic water control, a perfect burner, a fuel and water supply that will last 60 miles; all to be made in a 100 ft x 35ft factory “within a mile of the business section of the city” that is “well fitted for building motor carriages”.
All wishful thinking. Further research carried out by my friend Keith Burton during his visit to Boston revealed that Major D Porter’s occupation was a “Patentor”, writing patents for other people’s inventions for a living hoping to live off the royalties. His own inventions included the before mentioned electric motor and a Fibre Container, very similar to modern day Cardboard Milk Containers. However, at the time, it seems his income was slight; he and his family shared a modest house with another family in Boston; the company office of 950 Tremont building, was in fact a hotel-9th floor, 50th room. It seems that a factory, of the type previously described, was built, the building surviving until recently. However, it appears Major Dane Porter was ultimately arrested for Larceny of upward of $3000 . A Canadian by birth, he attempted to repatriate to Canada towards the end of his life, and indeed, died there in 1918, aged 59.