News & Features February 9, 2007, 2:24PM EST

1911 Mercer 35R Raceabout

Mercers command much higher prices than a comparable Stutz, proving that a Raceabout is the most desirable pre-WWI car built in America

by Ken Gross

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1911 Mercer 35R Raceabout

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Restored from a highly original and complete car, this is one of very few authentic Mercer Raceabouts. Like the 1911 Simplex in the Chandler Collection, it was once owned by Rhode Island collector Webster Knight III, then acquired by Ed Saczawa in Connecticut, who planned to restore it.

But this never took place, and Massachusetts collector Charles LeMaitre bought it from Saczawa's widow in the 1970s. It was then sold to George Wingard in Oregon, a historian, racer, and collector of early sports and racing cars. Wingard restored it, retaining as many original parts as possible.

The Mercer won Best of Show at Forest Grove Concours in 1988, the Briggs Cunningham award for the most exciting car at Pebble Beach and, also in 1988, First in Class at the AACA National Meet at Hershey, and the AACA Best Restored Mercer award. At a Mercer Associates gathering in Trenton, New Jersey, it was named Best Mercer in Attendance.

In addition to its rare 100 mph speedometer, this car carries a rare, period Warner tachometer. During the restoration, front spindles were reproduced in 4140 steel for high-speed safety and aluminum pistons installed to relieve strain on the crankshaft. It comes equipped with its original and very rare Stewart carburetor and Bosch magneto.

The thorough restoration makes this the best Mercer Gooding & Company has ever driven. It is extremely taut, and one feels completely secure pitching it into a corner at high speed. Every drive was memorable for the first owner 95 years ago, and will be for the new one. (Courtesy of Gooding & Company)

The SCM Analysis

This Mercer sold for $1,595,000 at Gooding & Company's Otis Chandler auction on October 21, 2006.

Think that's a great deal of money? We don't. Here's why.

In 1999, Christies offered a 1913 Mercer Model 35J Raceabout, #1285, with a four-speed Brown & Lipe gearbox, and documented engine and crankcase modifications by Harry A. Miller. A three-owner car with known history, repainted the correct yellow in the 1940s, it was presented in unrestored, well-preserved, good running condition.

As Director of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, I suggested to Robert E. Petersen that he buy the car, since a great Mercer would probably be the first American Brass Era car to top $1 million. "Pete" was the successful bidder at $926,500, but questioned if he'd paid too much. Noting that the under-bidders were a "Who's Who" of top collectors, I told him he'd done just fine.

Seven years later, the late Otis Chandler's superb 1911 Mercer Type 35R brought $1.5 million, making Petersen's purchase look very good indeed.

Say what you will about Stutz Bearcats, but the pre-WWI Mercer Raceabout is the premier American sports roadster. Ninety-five years on, I had the pleasure of driving Petersen's 35J. It was nimble, surprisingly quick, and aside from its feeble, two-wheel mechanical brakes, it possessed the agility and grunt of a more modern machine. After a driving lesson from David Gooding, whose dad, Ken Gooding, owns a superb Raceabout, I could toss the Mercer into a four-wheel drift, steer with the throttle, and blow bystanders away.

In 1911, Mercer designer Finley Robinson Porter received carte blanche from Washington A. Roebling II, scion of the Roebling family (builders of the Brooklyn Bridge) and the Kusers, another prominent New Jersey clan, to create a thinly-disguised racing car for the street. Built in Trenton, in Mercer County, the Raceabout sported a high-strength steel (the Roeblings were bridge builders, remember?), ladder-type frame, with just a hood, vestigial fenders, a pair of bucket seats, and a crossways-mounted 25-gallon gas tank. There was no starter, no body, no windscreen, not even a top. Some owners retro-fitted a natty monocle windshield.

Sparse instrumentation, a pedal exhaust cutout and an outside-mounted gear lever (in 1911–12, Mercers had three speeds; by 1913–14, there were four), and flickering Rushmore acetylene lighting were all a sporting blood needed. The footbrake operated (feebly) via a contracting brake shoe on the transmission.