Martin Family Donates Steam Car to WMSTR!

m kerkvliet

m kerkvliet

WMSTR Past President
Administrator
WMSTR Lifetime Member
A few weeks back a gentleman by the name of Dennis Martin contacted me via this forum, and told me that some of our members may remember his late Father-In-Law Anton Resset. Anton was from Pelican Rapids, and back in the 60's he built a scale model Stanley Steamer automobile. Mr. Martin asked me if our organization would be interested in having the car back on the grounds... permanently this time! The family would like to donate the little Stanley Steamer to our group!

I was pretty excited, and set about to learn everything I could about the history of the little car and WMSTR. I was not able to find anyone who remembered the car, but there were a few that remembered Anton. I guess the 1960's is going back a ways now, and there are a lot of new folks in our organization.

Eventually it occurred to me to call Tom Dillon, a long time WMSTR member, as he is from Pelican Rapids. When I asked Tom if he remembered Anton Resset, he started telling me the story about how he remembered as a 10 year old kid, visiting Anton and watching him build this little car in his basement! (That was before I told Tom about the car and the families intentions!) I was smiling ear to ear as I told Tom about the car, and the Martins wish to donate it to WMSTR, and I later found out the car and Tom are not very far apart! Both are in the Twin Cities area!

Anyway... I have it on good authority that Tom will tell more of the story later in this thread, so I will leave that to him!

For now, here are some pictures of the little Stanley Steamer!!!

First one is on Darlene Martin (Anton Resset's Daughter) driving the car. Dennis Martin, her husband, sent me this picture. She passed away a couple of years ago. Dennis and Darlene's son Dale now has the car.

steamer0.jpg


Tom Dillon went and visited with the Martins, and he took the following pictures.

Steamer1.jpg


Close up of the engine...

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Here is from the drivers seat...

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So... would you all please join me in thanking the Martin family for this very generous gift to our organization? I am really looking forward to seeing it run around the show grounds for many years to come!

How about more info on the Stanley Steamer Tom?
 
Wow, that is great news. I look forward to hearing the whole story and details about the cars construction. Hopefully Tom will fill us in on things like how it is fired etc. This looks like it will be a great addition to the show.

Darren
 
Last week I was checking the WMSTR Community Forum and I had a PM from Mark asking me to call him ASAP, as he may need my help. I gave Mark a call and he asked me if I knew anything about a steam car that was built in Pelican Rapids back in the 60’s. I went on and on telling Mark all about Anton Resset and how I knew him and about his car. Anton and his brother Ted ran the blacksmith shop on the west side of Pelican. I believe that Anton lived in the house right next to the blacksmith shop. Anton and Ted built the skeleton for the big pelican that sits in the river just below the falls in downtown Pelican Rapids. I believe that the town had a big birthday celebration for “Pelican Pete” last year for his 50th birthday. Anton also built a model of the space needle about the same time the space needle was built for the world’s fair in Seattle back about 1960. This model space needle was in a little park area behind the post office for many years. A few years ago when I was home I brought my kids down to the river to see the pelican and I noticed that the space needle was no longer there. I have since found out that Anton’s son David has it with him down in Nebraska.

At some point Anton went to work as a maintenance person at the creamery in Pelican. My dad was an electrician in Pelican at that time and I remember going down to the creamery with dad and when you went to the creamery you always had to have coffee and a roll in the lunchroom with Anton. Anton was always working some interesting project in the maintenance shop and we would always go to the shop to see what he was making. I remember seeing a lot of the parts from the steam car in the shop when I was young. One day when we went to the creamery Anton said we had to go over to his house to see his steam car. Anton lived just one block west of the creamery. When we got there we went into the basement and there was this car completely assembled. Anton was showing dad all of the finer points of the car and all I could think about was the fact that there was no way out of the basement other then the stairs. I was about 10 at this time and even at that age I realized that even a stemm car couldn’t go up the stairs, and even if it could it wouldn’t fit through the door. So after Anton and dad were done talking about the car I just had to ask, “how are you going to get the car out of the basement?” Anton looked at me and said, “It doesn’t take long to take it apart and put it back together again.” I also remember when Anton would bring the car up to Rollag. He would park it in miniatureland and he would take it out once in a while and drive it around in the gas engine area. Anton would always stop and visit with people when he was out and about.

Anton passed away about 4 years after he finished the car I hadn’t seen the car since about 1972. I would ask dad about Anton’s car every year or so and dad knew that some of the family members had the car somewhere in the Minneapolis area. So you can only imagine what a surprise it was for me when Mark told me that the family wanted to donate it to Rollag. Two nights after I talked to Mark I went up to Elk River to look at the car and it was just like I remembered it. I was also lucky in that I made arrangements for my dad to go see the car that night. Plans have been made to pick the car up next week and then it will be brought up to Fargo. We plan to have it running during the Minnesota Steam Engine Association (MSEA) meeting on April 5th at Larson Welding.

If anyone else remembers Anton or his car please share you stories. From what I remember Anton was one of those small town craftsman who could build or fix anything. I didn’t know his as well as my dad did, but I do remember him as a real gentleman.
 
Tom,
Thanks much for that background. Just out of curiosity, is the boiler on that car propane or other gas fired? I could not really tell from the pictures what kind of fuel it used. It really looks like it will be an interesting car to see the engineering done to create it.

Darren
 
Darren,
It is fired with LP. I have not had a chance to look over all of the finer details yet, so I am excited to see how everything is set up. I believe that the burner is from an old water heater. I did see that it has the new style valve on the LP tank and they told me they put new tires on not long ago.

Tom
 
Wow! We are very fortunate to have such a display donated to our show. I remember reading about Stanley Steamers along time ago and I thought they ran at a very high pressure. A little search turned up this page of information about the cars. The page says they had a fire tube boiler that operated at 600psi.

https://www.stanleymotorcarriage.com/GeneralTechnical/GeneralTechnical.htm

The page below is the home page that the page above came from.

https://www.stanleymotorcarriage.com/

Before we all run out and by a steam car, we should know they were rated at 10 - 12 miles per gallon of kerosene. The later cars had a condesor to reclaim the steam and got about 10 miles per gallon of water. This time of the year around here the fuel economy would go way down because the boiler would have to run 24 hours a day.

I am looking forward to seeing this engine at Steam Up and on the show grounds.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
I was just looking on e-bay for steam car information and I came across this picture of a Locomobile steam car. I think this is what Anton based his car on. Note the one spring on the front and the two springs on the back, the shape of the body and the chain drive.

 
Very similar Tom! Was the Locomobile steam car related to the Stanley company in any way? I am wondering why Dennis called it a Stanley Steamer? Maybe it is just a "generic" name that got hung on the car.
 
Mark,
I found the following information on the internet:

The first Locomobile was really a Stanley Steamer. The founding of the company came about as a result of a straight business deal. There were no hard-working inventors and engineers planning a car. There was only a magazine publisher named J. B. Walker. In 1899 the Stanley brothers had an astounding success with their steam car, but they were short-sighted and allowed themselves to be talked into selling all the assets of their company and the patents. Walker purchased the lot and proceeded to manufacture the Stanley under the name of Locomobile. Sales mounted for the new name and the Stanley brothers, now regretting their hasty action, began to build a new steam car. Somehow they forgot that the original patents were no longer theirs to use and the Locomobile company took them to court. But the inventive Stanleys rapidly made enough changes in the car and avoided a legal judgment. They kept on with steam, but the Locomobile executives - realizing that gasoline was the future power source - had a new machine designed. Their engineer was Andrew L. Riker and he was the man responsible for the racing Locomobiles.
 
Martin Family Donates Steam Car to WMSTR

This is very kind of the Martin Family to make this donation to WMSTR.
A very good way to remember thier loved one's and to show what thier loved one's created.
All of us that are members need to thank the Martin Family for this donation.
With all the interest in steam at WMSTR, I am sure it will be looked after by the members of this great organization very well.

Jim out west:):)
 
I just wanted to add a note that I picked up the Locomobile steam car tonight. It will be making it's way north tomorrow. We plan to have it running at the MSEA steam up in Fargo on April 5.
 
I think this is going to be a great display at Rollag. I hope to see it steaming around the grounds during the show. In my mind I see the car being driven by a lady with her 'Sunday best' on. Or a fellow driving with a lady riding and they both have their 'Sunday best' on.

Has someone stepped forward to "take ownership" of the car? By "take ownership" I mean look after the car. That includes getting the car ready for show, showing the car and getting the car ready for winter storage.

Could this be a vehicle that travels to community events and takes part in parades through out the summer? If so, it could be another means to promote WMSTR.

Later,
Jerry Christiansen
 
The "Locomobile" as it will come to be known, is in Cass County, ND! I got to go and fingerprint it tonight! It is one cool piece of engineering. I think Tom is going to do some "reverse engineering" to figure out how to operate it!

Jerry Christiansen said:
Has someone stepped forward to "take ownership" of the car? By "take ownership" I mean look after the car. That includes getting the car ready for show, showing the car and getting the car ready for winter storage.
Click to expand...

At the board meeting today, we voted to (A) accept the donation from the Martin Family, and (B) appoint Tom Dillon as "curator" of this exhibit. Since Tom has a long history with the Locomobile, and knew the man who built it, and has met with the family, this seemed like the only logical choice. Tom was asked about this before hand, and graciously agreed! He will be the point man on this exhibit!

Plans are to have the Locomobile at the Spring Steam-Up at Larson Welding on April 5th. If all goes well, it will be operational by then.

Thanks again to the Martin family!
 
Many thanks to the Martin family for this generous donation! This Locomobile will certainly be a welcomed attraction. Looking forward to seeing it!!
 
When I first seen this thread I knew I had pictures of a Steam Car that was displayed by the De La Vergne on year. I had asked dad if he remembered it and he didnt. Well today I ran across the pictures unfortunatly they are not of the same car that was donated to Rollag. I again showed dad the pictures and still couldnt remember it. The car is similar. I dont know if it is a replica or original but would say replica. Considering when the wooden tank was set up I would say they were taken in 1977 or 78.

Keven
 
ottocollection;3887 said:
Considering when the wooden tank was set up I would say they were taken in 1977 or 78.

Keven
Click to expand...

I saw the car you posted pictures of in a late 70's show book Keven. There is a story about it in that book. Next time I have it out, I will try to find more information.
 
Steam up

Tom
Is the Locomobile going to make it as a running display at steam up ? I know you have been real busy with Jeff"s project.
 
Clayton,
You are correct that I have been very busy with Jeff on his Minneapolis. I was told by the family that the steam car should be ready to go, but I need a day or so to get used to running it. I plan to steam up on Thursday. Should be interesting!

It will be at the steam up, and I hope to have it steamed up.

Tom
 
I finally took the steam car for a "little" spin. It steams up very quick and is lots of fun for about 100 feet. I remember Anton saying that it didn't have much steam capacity and he always would drive for a little ways and then stop and talk to people. Everyone thought he was so friendly, but he was really building up pressure. We may need to build a different boiler or change out the burner, or both. For now we will enjoy it just the way Anton built it.
Tom

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