Monday, February 17, 2020

The car in the last post is identified! A Simplex Crane Model 5

Thanks to SAH members Arthur Jones, Kit Foster, and Louis Fourie!
I

 believe this is a Simplex Crane Model 5 designed by Henry Crane who later went to General Motors as Alfred Sloan’s technical assistant.  It was built circa 1917-20 in very small numbers in New Brunswick and later in New York City in the Brewster plant.  A very expensive car with a 563cid six cylinder engine. 

The license plate is California, 1918.

Regarding Crowley's Launches:

This definitely is a Simplex Crane but because I have some images on the SAH Website dated 1915, I decided to do some checking.  Kimes and Clark identify 1915 as the date of the Model 5 introduction with all Simplexes from 1913 onwards built at New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Supposedly production ended in October 1917 because of war demands at which time 467 units of all types had been built.  After the war no attempt was made to resume production but existing components continued to be assembled in 1919.

I believe this particular car is a 1915 model because it lacks side hood louvers and the front of the dumb irons have a more downward curve than later models.  Both these features appear to be unique to 1915.



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