BIG MOTORCYCLE
Written by Paul Tennyson, TN Chapter “A”
As most of you know, I have Landing Gear (or training wheels as most people call them) on my bike, but I was a long way from the first one to have them. Here is a 1913 Scripps-Booth Bi-Autogo that also has them. This was the world’s first large, experimental, two-wheeled automobile. It was designed by James Scripps, beginning at the age of 20, and intended to be produced as an exclusive sports car for select clientele. It has two pairs of landing wheels, which were used to maintain balance when motionless or when traveling less than 25 MPH. While the engine and drive mechanism worked perfectly, the steering was problematic and could not be remedied. It featured an aluminum body, the first in-the-steering-wheel horn button, and the first disappearing arm rest and invisible door hinges. It is powered by the first automotive V-8 engine built in Detroit, a water-cooled V-8, with a displacement of 332 cubic inches and horsepower of 45. It has a wheelbase of 140 inches and a weight of 3200 pounds.
The Bi-Autogo was steered by a steering wheel rather than handlebars. It made one test run and was great going straight, but they had trouble turning it. I would imagine that handlebars would have been better but apparently it was never tried.
This motorcycle/car is located at the Owls Head Transportation Museum near Rockland, Maine. If you are ever in the vicinity stop and tour the museum. It has about 50 pre-WWII cars from an 1893 Duryea to a 1940 Ford Station Wagon, 28 aircraft from an 1804 Cayley Glider to a 1946 Piper J3C Cub and including a Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk Flyer replic,a as well as 8 motorcycles from a 1919 Harley-Davidson to a 1953 Whizzer. There are also several horse-drawn vehicles such as carriages, wagons, surreys and sleighs and over a dozen bicycles and tricycles dating from 1868 to 1935. Most of what they own is started and driven regularly. Other than the Bi-Autogo, the one that fascinated me the most was a glider (airplane) with a sail. It was towed up in the air and tried one time, but they found that the sail could not work in the air as it does in the water. It was never flown again.
Besides the items that the museum owns there are usually many others on display that are on loan from individuals. At the time I was there, they were preparing for their yearly auction so I got to see many more than are normally there, but I didn’t get to see some of their own as they had to store them in order to get the cars to be auctioned on the floor for viewing. We also went to an air show that they put on several weekends during the summer and saw many more antique autos as well as airplanes. They demonstrate some of their own planes and have other people who come in with their own aircraft to participate in the show. If you bring an antique you get in free, so there were about 100 cars on the tarmac and other antiques, such as snowmobiles, washing machines, bicycles and engines along the edge. Even Linda enjoyed it and she is not interested in going to antique car shows. The museum’s web site is: www.ohtm.org