7500 Miles In 30 Days A Story Of A Remarkable Trip As Told By The Men Who Drove 250 Miles Averaged Each Day For 30 Days With The Mitchell Reliability Stock Car The Light Four

MITCHELL-LEWIS MOTOR COMPANY

Other works by MITCHELL-LEWIS MOTOR COMPANY

Publication: Mitchell-Lewis Motor Co, 1915, Racine, Wisconsin

Original printed stapled wrappers, 32 pp., including a full-page map and illustrations from photographs. A rare account of an epic, early American automobile trip, covering much of the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeast, and venturing as far west as Kansas and Nebraska. The Mitchell-Lewis Motor Company, based in Racine, only existed from 1903 to 1923, but it was an incredibly active two decades, with steady growth in production, vigorous marketing efforts, and participation in a number of distance driving contests to show the quality and reliability of their cars. The trip documented herein, in a 1915 Mitchell Light Four, began in Chicago on September 23, 1914. The drivers, William H. Halsey (of the Williams-Halsey Motor Car Company and an accomplished cross-country driver), Ray Barnett (who had previously driven a Mitchell Six a record distance without a stop), and Frank Zirbes (of the Mitchell Company, and the trip's navigator) were challenged to go as far as they could in a month, and covered 7500 miles, averaging 250 miles a day. The map shows the route taken by the car, as far north as Portland, Maine; down to Washington, D.C.; twice across the Midwest; and westward into Nebraska and Kansas. The first portion of the text gives a general overview of the journey, followed by a day-by-day account of the car's travels, including conditions that tested the car's cooling system, suspension, ability to cross muddy dirt roads, and other challenges. Profusely illustrated throughout with illustrations from photographs, showing the many cities visited, the car in front of Mitchell dealerships, stuck in mud in Kansas, traversing a primitive road in Missouri, and much more. As this journey only went about halfway across the country, it does not qualify for inclusion in Bliss's Autos Across America, though the total distance covered is certainly that of a trip from coast to coast and back. A bit of light sunning to the wrappers, else a near fine copy.

Inventory Number: 53665