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Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Details and Images Of The 1905 Glidden Tour

It was a NewEngland event., held July 11-22, 1905. The Beginning and end of the tour was the Automobile Club of America headquarters on 58th and 5th Avenue in Mew York City. 
The Night Stops were:
July 11 -- Hartford
July 12 -- Boston
July 13 -- Portsmouth
July 14-18 -- Breton Woods
July 19 -- Concord
July 20 -- Worchester
July 21 -- Pittsfield
July 22 -- back to NYC

The rules included the the owner must either driver the car or direct the car.
The winner would be determined by a vote of all clean scoring cars, at the one "Who has done the most consistent touring."


Entries:
Elliot C. Lee, Boston, White
W.C. Temple, Pittsburgh, Pierce
L.R. Speare, Weston, MA, Winton
H.W. Whipple, Andover, MA, Peerless
C.J. Glidden, Boston, Napier
Augustus Post, NewYork, White
James L. Breese, Southhampton, LI, Mercedes
C.J. Edwards, Brooklyn, Cadillac
B.P. Scott, Baltimore, MD, Peerless
Carl H. Page, New York, White
George O. Draper, Hopedale, MA, Packard
W.R. Hurlburt, New York, Packard
A.W. Church, New York, Decauville
Percy Pierce, Buffalo NY, Pierce
H.Pope, Hagerstown, mD, Pope-Tribune
G.E.Walker, Hartford, CT, Pope-Hartford
Benjamin Briscoe, Tarrytownb, NY, Maxwll
Col. K.C. Pardee, NY, Maxwell
S.E. Hutchinson, Philadelphia, Panhard
Joan Newton Cuneo, LI, White
Edwin H. Woods, Noston, Napier
E.C. Gilmore, Boston, Rambler
George H. Lowe, Boston, White
Walter White, Cleveland, White




View of George Otis Draper and passenger in Packard car no. 10 parked in front of the Wentworth Hotel in New Castle, New Hampshire during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Stamped on back: "N. Lazarnick, 29 West 42nd Street, New York." Handwritten on back: "No. 10, George Otis Draper of Hopedale, Mass. in 22 h.p. Packard. Tours--Glidden Tour, 1905."


View of Augustus Post and passenger in White Steamer car talking to a man during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Stamped on back: "Photo by F. Ed. Spooner, 1536 B'way, telephone 6536-38th St., New York, N.Y." Handwritten on back: "#6 15 h.p. White Steamer, Augustus Post. Tours--Glidden Tour, 1905.

From Flink, pp. 41-2, 51, American Adopts the Automobile, 1895-1910.


"The reliability run reached its zenith in the famous Glidden reliability tours, run annually for handsome trophies between 1905 and 1913. The motivating force behind the tours was Charles J. Glidden,  Boston millionaire and automobile enthusiast. The Glidden Tours were open to members  of the American Automobile Association and any club it recognized. Since Glidden's aim was to promote touring by private owners other than to give publicity to manufacturers, he stipulated that each car entered must be driven by its owner. This turned out to be of little poetical consequence, however, because any executive of the automobile industry could comply with the rule by driving one of his firm's most recent models himself. Thus most contestants in the Glidden tours were representatives of the automobile industry.

 The first Glidden tour was held from July 11 to July 22, 1905, and covered 870 miles from New York through New England and return. Twenty-seven of the thirty-four entries finished, and the cup was won by Percy P. Pierce, who had driven a heavy Pierce touring car the carried five passengers. One of the participants summed up the results: "The tour ads proved that the automobiles now almost foolproof. It hasproed that American cars are durable nd efficient. It has shown the few who took part how delightful their short vacation may be, and it has strengthened our belief in the permanence of the motorcar."

One result  of he great increase in demand for automobiles after 1906 was that manufacturers became markedly less interested in demonstrating their products in cross-country reliability tours. The number of starting cars in the annual Glidden tours dwindled from forty-nine in 1907 to thirteen in 1909. One of the 1909 Glidden officials explained the that decline occurred because automobile manufacturers "were enjoying too much prosperity. They said, "why should we enter this contest when we rae unable to supply demand now? The advertising will do us no good."

Although the Glidden tours were held until 1914, the 1910 tour from Cincinnati to Chicago via Dallas, Texas should be considered the culminating event. It involved a strenuous daily schedule over abominable southern roads and was conducted under stringent technical rules that were designed to ensure the stock-model status of the entries. This Glidden event and a major tour sponsored by Frank A. Munsey in September 1910 (actually August 1910 -- see previous post!!!) from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. via New England and the White Mountains, were the last tours of national importance that could conceivably have had any effect upon stimulating the adoption of the automobile through demonstration of its reliability. 



Focus on the humanity in these photographs. Each person was on a unique journey captured in space and time.

View of motorists posing in Locomobile car no. 27 during the 1905 Glidden Tour. 


View of Ralph Colburn and passengers in Maxwell car no. 41 during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Spectators stand nearby. 

View of wreck of White Steamer car, driven by Joan Cuneo, during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Men surround car in ditch next to wooden bridge; other men stand on bridge. 

From Motor Age: "The first day of the Glidden tour brought to the fore a display of daring and ability on htepart of Mrs. Joan Newton Cuneo, who was driving a White steamer. In order to escape running into the Peerless car, driven by Harlan Whipple, Mrs. Cuneo attempted to go to a small hole on the left, across a bridge and thereby escape possible injury. In this she was unfortunate, as she was forced into these of he bridge, ripping off several boards and causing the machine she drives to drop a distance of 7 feet. The car turned over in the descent but fortunately injuring none of the party,... The condenser of the car was ripped from its fastenings, but the plucky woman continued on her way to Hartford and upon her arrival here was accorded a grand reception."


An Amazing Photograph: View of horse approaching motorists in car on rural road during the 1905 Glidden Tour.

Front view of motorists in Reo cars lined up in street during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Commercial buildings in background. 


View of W.C. Temple and passenger in a Pierce Great Arrow car no. 2 during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Motorists in cars are lined up in street.

View of men and women on roadside, surveying an automobile accident, during the 1905 Glidden Tour


View of motorists in cars lined up road during the 1905 Glidden Tour. Handwritten on back: "Tours--Glidden Tour, 1905."


From: https://vmcca.org/resources/1905-13Glidden.pdf

The Glidden Tours provided numerous people with their first glimpse of a horseless carriage; and in many towns and villages along the tour route, citizens came out in force to wave at and welcome the drivers and their automobiles. The Glidden tourists were not received as warmly everywhere and were often greeted by local constables lying in wait in speed traps. Drivers often lost their way when the confetti trails marking routes were changed or eradicated by locals, and they also had to be on the lookout for more serious practical jokes such as poles being placed across the road. 

The first AAA Reliability Tour to bear Charles Jasper Glidden's name began in New York City on July 11, 1905. Thirty-three contestants started on this first Glidden Tour which concluded on July 22. Glidden and the Touring Committee of the AAA drafted a set of rules for the tour that assumed sportsmanship and proper conduct on the part of the participants. The comfort of the Glidden tourists was a prime concern; and the excellent preliminary work done by the AAA included a thirty-two page tour packet with detailed maps, road directions, and pertinent information.

The 1905 Glidden Tour was a social event as well as a motoring contest; but although Glidden's intent was to attract owner-drivers to a sporting test of their machines, the tour attracted a large number of factory entrants eager for the publicity the tour generated. The scoring system allowed many contestants to achieve a perfect score at the end of the tour and participants were asked to vote for the three Glidden tourists they felt had accomplished the best all-around touring. Percy P. Pierce, who drove a Pierce Great Arrow, received more than twice the votes of any other contestant and was presented with the Glidden Trophy.



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