A Reliable Dayton Model D Surrey Highwheeler Pre-16 1916 Brass T Era

This listing is for a fairly complete. partially restored and very rare if not unique 1906 or 1907 Reliable Dayton Model D surrey "highwheeler" automobile. This gorgeous vehicle's has an exceptionally long 98" wheelbase for a highwheeler. That extra length makes it look longer. lower. sleeker and more elegant than the smaller single seat buggy type highweelers. I don't recall ever seeing another highwheeler passenger vehicle with a rear seat other than the 1907 - 1909 International Auto Buggy which had 14" shorter wheelbase that was only 84" long. I have a 1908 International Auto Buggy that is on loan to a museum here in Montana. It is not available to take out of the museum at this time. If it were available. I would like to photograph these two vehicles nose to nose and back to back so you could see how different they really look. There were many different makes of highwheelers back around the turn of the century. Some more common makes included the Black. Schacht. International Harvester. Zimmerman. Kiblinger. Benford. Brush. nbsp;Staver. Winton. Jewel and dozens of other lesser know makes. There were even some Woodburn highwheelers made between 1905 and 1912 in Woodburn Indiana but I believe there are none of them known to exist today. The brass serial number tag (most likely a reproduction) on the front seat heel board lists this very special Model D surrey as having the serial number 97. I have no idea if that number is as real serial number of it someone made the tag and picked a number out of the air. If you have any idea where else a serial number might be on this very rare vehicle. please let me know so I can look for it. The 1/2" high stamped number 707 located above another 1/2" high stamped number that looks like 081090 are located on the top of the left end of the front axle. I tried to show them in one of the last photos of this listing. The number 86 is also stamped in a smaller height in front of and below the above mentioned larger numbers. I suspect the 707 may be a date code of July 1907 placed on the axle by the manufacturer. Please help me figure out what these numbers mean if you possibly can. I suspect they are either a vehicle serial number or more likely a date code and or a part number stamped by the manufacturer of the front axle assembly. I would also like to correspond with any other owners of these very rare early Reliable Dayton automobiles. The smaller Model C of this vintage was a motor buggy with a single seat and an 84" wheelbase. This larger Model D surrey added a rear seat and rode on a 14" longer or 98" wheelbase which is very long for a "highwheeler" of this vintage. The third photo in this listing is of a period magazine ad that shows both the Model C and the Model D vehicles. The first Reliable Daytons may have used a 2 stroke cycle engine. I believe both of the later Model C and the Model D vehicles had 2 cylinder opposed 4 stroke cycle water cooled engines rated at 15 horsepower. As far as I have been able to find out. there is a Model C buggy known to exist but there are no other Model D surreys like this one known to exist at this time. I have owned this car for a few years but only recently found what I believe is a correct engine for this car and it is shown in two photos of this listing. This very nice original engine is not stuck and came from a collector in Colorado so it is not something dredged out of a creek bank somewhere. The previous owner removed one cylinder jug in order to drill out the valves that were stuck tightly and it is not back together yet. I left it that way so that a potential buyer could examine it better. The previous owner of this engine made 4 new valve ports from brass and you can see them in one of the engine photos. These were removable so that the valves could be installed or removed. There was no other way to install a valve in an engine of this design that did not have removable cylinder heads. It would be two year before Henry Ford pioneered the removable cylinder head that was later copied throughout the automotive industry. This engine has no ignition. nbsp;manifolds or carburetor yet. Please help me locate these parts if you possibly can. I have not yet installed this engine in this car yet because this engine needs to be rebuilt. One has to remove the body from the chassis in order to install the engine from above the chassis. A pair of 1-1/2" angle iron engine hangers spaced about 3 feet apart tie the frame side rails together under the front seat. I have shown the opposed twin water cooled 4 stroke cycle engine I have in two photos of this listing. Both of the outer ends of the opposite cylinders have a pair of notches or steps cast into them where they sit on top of the pair of angle iron engine hangers. There is 1/2" bolt hole in each of the pair of cylinder notches or steps and they would line up with the corresponding pair of holes in each of the engine hangers. It appears that both of the engine hangers on the frame of this car were replaced during the restoration. Neither of these replaced engine hangers have any bolt holes in them yet so I don't yet know exactly where the engine is supposed to sit on the pair of engine hangers. Any help with some dimensions for these bolt holes from another Reliable Dayton owner would be greatly appreciated. I will be happy to send you more detailed photos of this engine if you so desire. I can find no cracks or breaks in the crankcase. cylinders or the flywheel. This appears to be a very nice engine to restore. The original jackshaft with the original center mounted differential and the original "block chain" final drives are shown on this car but I have not located a transmission. nbsp;a radiator or any of the brake hardware yet. Please help me locate these parts if you possibly can. This car has 4 individual buggy type steps to make getting in and out of it possible. Three of the four match while the left front step is significantly different. I was very fortunate to be able to find a matching step here on eBay a couple of weeks ago so it is included with this car even though it is not installed yet. The very first Reliable Daytons are believed to have featured rope final drives. This vehicle most likely originally had a "block chain" that ran from the output of a two speed and reverse planetary transmission back to the differential which is mounted near the middle of the jackshaft. Small "block chain" sprockets on both ends of the jackshaft drive two "block chains" that drive larger "block chain" sprockets on each rear wheel. This vehicle still has it's original "block chain" on both final drives rather than the later roller chain that is much more common and much easier to find today. All of the "block chain" chains and sprockets look to be in excellent original condition with no indications of wear that I can find. It appears that all Reliable Daytons used right hand drive featuring a tiller until a steering wheel was introduced on the 1909 models. It appears the all Reliable Dayton vehicles used wood spoked wheels like those used on buggies and carriages of that time. The front wheels are 39" in diameter while the larger rear wheels are 43" in diameter. All wheels feature hard rubber tires which eliminated the tire problems that plagued most of the other early cars and light trucks. This car measures 68" wide by 139" long and is 82" high to the top of the erected folding top or 65" high to the top of the rear seat. I would estimate that this car weighs about 700 pounds without the engine. transmission or radiator. I would estimate that the loose engine with the flywheel weighs around 150 pounds. The world's greatest book on early American cars. "The Standard Catalog Of American Cars 1805-1942" lists the following information about these vehicles and the company that built these very interesting early cars from 1906 through 1909: "The Reliable Dayton Motor Car Company of Chicago was perhaps the only high-wheeler producer in America whose catalog resembled a Kentucky Derby program. The frontispiece illustration was not of any of the varying vehicles the company produced. but was a portrait of a horse to which. Reliable Dayton said. it was the first real "successor". The first Reliable Daytons appeared in the spring of 1906. nbsp;although William O. Dayton did not organize his company. with a capital stock of $25. 00. till late fall. Rope drive and solid rubber tires were featured on the Reliable Daytons. and the first cars had a fin-tube radiator over the front axle. Later models sported a Renault-type hood in front. but the engine remained beneath the seat. the hood housing the gasoline and water tanks. Changes from the traditional at Reliable Dayton were apparently entered into only reluctantly. When the company abandoned its two-stroke for a four-cycle engine. it was - a trade periodical of the day noted - "to meet the demand of the buying public rather than on account of their own convictions. " All engines for the Reliable Dayton were built at the Dayton and Mashey Automobile Works in Chicago. During 1909 the Reliable Dayton factory was taken over by the Fal Motor Company for the production of the F. A. L. automobile. William O. Dayton's immediate movements thereafter are not known. but in 1912he showed up in Joliet Illinois to attempt the automobile industry again with the Matrix. the Dayton. the Crusader and the New Era. " Now for some very interesting history on this gem. I took this vehicle as a trade about 3 years ago from a friend in Oregon who bought it at Jess Blaker's estate auction in Turlock California. Kruse International was in business back then and had that auction sale back in about 2007 or so. I suspect Kruse bought it at one of their many previous sales about 8 years ago or so. They probably offered it along with Jess Blaker's wonderful collection of early cars figuring that that would be a great place to find a new owner for it. My friend bought it then and never did get the stack of documentation that was supposedly with it that Kruse promised to send to him. Some things are constant and never seen to change. During that sale. a rumor was floating around saying that a previous owner of this car lived somewhere in Florida. He had supposedly lavished about $30. 00 on it for a professional restoration even though it had no engine or transmission back then. Supposedly the owner's wife put a stop to the restoration process before then car was finished. Another rumor claimed that this car had been converted to an electric car during WW II and that is why the engine and transmission were missing back then. If this car was ever an electric car during WW II. it would most certainly have been the oldest looking electric car on the road at that time. If you have any information regarding the history of this car or know where to find a transmission. rear wheel brake parts. a radiator or other parts for it. PLEASE contact me here through eBay or call me anytime at 406-799-1847 in Bozeman Montana. Many steel parts on the chassis are quite pitted with rust suggesting that this car came from a more humid part of the country. Florida would certainly qualify as being a more humid part of the country. Of all the steel parts. perhaps the column that supports the steering tiller is the most obviously pitted. Perhaps it can be removed and have the rust pits filled before it is repainted again. The vast majority of the steel parts on this chassis are gloss black in color. It looks as if that finish is of relatively high quality because it has stood the test of time very well. Perhaps that finish is a two part polyurethane or perhaps it is a powder coat of some kind. The eight welded steel fender brackets have only marginal black paint on them. I am certain that all of the wood pieces in the body as well as the spokes and felloes in the 4 wheels is new. The wheels have new hard rubber tires on them that are in excellent condition because they have not seen use yet. I can not see any slop in the wheels but they creak a bit when rolling this car around. That is now doubt due to our semi-arid climate here in Montana that is a lot drier than it is in most parts of this country. I am sure that these wheels will tighten up considerably in a more humid climate than what we have here. The hood upper cover that covers the copper gas and water tanks was missing when I got this car. I recently cut a piece of plastic covered particle board material to size and painted it semi-gloss black to make the cover you see in these photos. It is merely setting in place and should ultimately be replaced with a nice cover made of hard wood. The green paint on the body is still very nice except for some rash at the right rear corner where a strap must have beat on the body while this gem was being transported. The upholstery on both the front and back seats looks to be of leather . nbsp;very well done and still in excellent condition. There appears to be no holes. tears or significant damage in any of the 4 cushions. I think both of the bottom cushions are filled with foam rubber. Both of the back rests make a "crunchy" sound when you compress them so I suspect they are filled with horse hair or one of the modern substitutes. The four patent leather fenders and their eight brackets were included but not installed on this car when I brought it home. They all look similar so they presented a bit of a challenge when I went to install them recently. The front fender front brackets attach to the sides of the hood which is considerably narrower than the body so it was easy to see which brackets fit there. The rear brackets for the rear fenders were longer that any of the rest so I was able to figure out where they went. It was then a process of elimination figuring out where the other 4 brackets went. Each bracket has a pair of holes where it bolts to it's respective fender and the spacing between those pairs of holes is different on each bracket and each fender. The pair or rear brackets for the front fenders appear to be wrong so they will need to be reworked a bit at some time in the future. The folding top assembly appears to be the correct style for this vehicle even though it may have originally been used on a horse drawn vehicle rather than this automobile. The irons that hold the bows are not rusted out but the pair of rear irons are curved a bit from bouncing on the supports when the top was down. It should not be difficult to straighten these irons but I will leave that task to the new owner. The wood bows are not steam bent as they originally would have been but are made by bending thin strips of wood over a curved form and laminating them together. The top material is of a high quality vinyl and the green liner is of a velvet type of material. The sides of the back of the top are hanging free and have not yet been attached to the top of the back seat. I have a nice rear curtain that is not shown in these photos. It has a small rectangular window in it. All of the latching rails on both sides of the top are functional but the left rear one is about 2 inches too long. It appears to have been broken about 3 inches from the end so it will have to be shortened and welded. This top looks loose now but I suspect it will tighten up and look a lot better once the back side pieces and rear curtain are properly attached to the back of the rear seat backrest. Making the left rear latching rail the proper length will also help to tighten up this top quite a bit. The controls for this car are rather un-conventional at best. There were three pedals on the floor but one of them is missing. It will have to be duplicated using one of the other pedals as a pattern. I assume one pedal is a foot brake. one is for low gear and one is for reverse much like a Model T Ford's 3 pedals. I believe the lever that is almost 3 feet long is a clutch lever to control the high speed or main clutch. I had a 1908 Buick Model F years ago that had a similar clutch lever. One had to pull it back for neutral or whenever using low gear or reverse. It had to be ahead only when one was in high gear. There are a pair of small brass control levers on the column that holds the steering tiller. One of them would have been for the throttle and one of them would have controlled the ignition spark timing. The tiller pivots up and out of the way to make entry and exit from the driver's seat a bit easier. The pair of side lamps on this car came with it and I have not been able to find any manufacturer's name or number on them yet. They have a few age cracks as most lamps of this era do. I have secure indoor storage here if you buy this car and want to leave it here for a few months before you pick it up when you visit beautiful Montana this next spring. I also have a lot of friends in the collectible car. truck and tractor hobbies that travel throughout the country. They may be able to safely and economically deliver this vehicle for you. I have a lot more larger and more detailed photos I can email to you if you call me or send me your email address. Please do not expect me to email them to you here through the eBay system because they reduce the size of them and I can only send 3 at a time. This is a very special and most likely unique vehicle with lots of plusses and lots of potential so please give this opportunity to own this gem some very serious thought over the next few days of this auction. Please be sure to check out my other very interesting and unique vehicles I am offering here in the next couple of weeks or so. Thanks a lot. Bob Woodburn - phone 406-799-1847 in Bozeman Montana USA On Jan-17-15 at 14:05:27 PST. seller added the following information: PLEASE NOTE Through a strange twist of fate that had nothing to do with my listing here on eBay. nbsp;the morning after I listed this car here. I received a call from a man in Arkansas that most likely forgot more than I will ever know about Reliable Dayton highwheeler automobiles. We talked for almost an hour and I learned a lot of things that I need to pass on here. He has been tracking Reliable Daytons all over the earth for many years and had lost touch with the owner of this car several years ago. He mentioned that this car is a 1907 because the 707 date code on the Timken manufactured front axle assembly indicates July of 1907 production. He mentioned that a few prototype Reliable Dayton vehicles may have been built in late 1906 and that all production cars are considered to be 1907 or later. The hood was changed from the box style on this car to a somewhat more styled or streamlined hood in 1908. He said that this car was owned at one time by a man in Georgia and that he has photos of this car before it was partially restored as you see it in these photos. He said that the wood was in poor condition but good enough for patterns. He has an original 1907 Reliable Dayton owner's manual that I hope to get a copy of. He mentioned that it is believed that a company by the name of Reeves built the engines which were primarily designed for marine use. A rather common Schebler Model D carburetor with a butter fly throttle was used on vehicles while a similar carburetor with a sliding throttle valve was typically used for marine applications. He also mentioned that the early 1907 vehicles used a two stroke cycle water cooled twin cylinder engine while the later 1907 vehicles like this one used a four stroke cycle water cooled twin cylinder engine. That same basic engine was used on the 1908 and 1909 models except the engine was turned a quarter turn and shaft drive with a bevel gear differential replaced the "block chain" primary drive going back to the round differential on the jack shaft as on this car. Unfortunately I guessed at the operation of the pedals lever and got it all wrong. I believe the left most of the three pedals was the clutch pedal. The center pedal controlled a brake on the left rear wheel. The right most pedal controlled a brake on the right rear wheel. I believe that in 1908 both wheel brakes were actuated together by one pedal. He said that the long lever on the right of the vehicle is the selector that determines whether one is in high. low. reverse or neutral. That lever must have operated a cam mechanism that tightened or loosened the appropriate bands on the planetary transmission. He mentioned that the vehicle serial number was typically stamped somewhere on the wood support for the front seat. Perhaps the original wood for this body was stamped there and that is where the serial number 97 came from for this car. Please feel free to notify me if the above information does not apply to or agree with your Reliable Dayton vehicle. Thanks a lot. Bob Woodburn - phone 406-799-1847 in Bozeman Montana USA