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1909 CHRISTIE RACER - the Barney Oldfield car

11/15/2011

7 Comments

 
Walter Christie built one last race car in 1909, and it was his best.  The car was a masterpiece of clever packaging, with many examples of one part serving more than one function.  For example, the engine block formed part of the chassis frame rails. 
The engine was  a V4 configuration, with his usual large displacement of 20.2 liters. In case you don't have your calculator handy, that would be 1237 cubic inches! 

Christie had apparently learned that the GP car was carrying too much weight on the front wheels, so he shifted more to the rear with an extreme rearward inclination of the cylinders.  This also gave the car a very low hood height, especially when compared to other inline 4 cylinder racers of the period.  Christie finally gave up on atmospheric inlet valves, and used a SOHC with 2 large valves per cylinder. Ball bearings were used throughout the engine.  Multiplate disc clutches replaced his old cone clutches.
Christie remained faithful to his patented system of direct front wheel drive with independent front suspension.
Walter Christie beat Barney Oldfield and others with his new car at Gross Pointe, Michigan in August of 1909.  However, Walter gave up on his automobile business in early 1910. The car apparently sat idle until Barney Oldfield bought it in 1912.  Barney would use the car for 4 years for some legitimate track record breaking exhibitions and match racing with Lincoln Beachey's airplane. The car was a real money maker for Barney.  Amazingly, the old Christie survived World War I and was raced by Lou Disbrow until 1919.  It was unfortunately scrapped in Chicago that year.
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7 Comments
hire forklifts link
9/28/2012 07:12:07 pm

I really appreciate your work especially the research part of it which made the whole point very easy to understand.

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Wayne Carroll Petersen link
5/11/2014 08:56:48 am

Walter Christie was one of the true pioneers of the American automobile industry and a shame the Christie was scrapped. Hopefully the Christie Racer will be resurrected one of these days and a biography will be done on this pioneer.
Keeping American Automotive History Alive!
Best regards,
Wayne Carroll Petersen
Barney Oldfield Great Great Nephew

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Mark Dill link
2/17/2015 09:58:34 pm

This is great information Lee and the images are very nice as well. This was the car Barney used to turn the first 100 MPH lap of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was an exhibition run he worked out with track President Carl Fisher as the car wasn't even close to conforming to the rulebook of the day. Keep up the great work and here's a link to an image of the medal old Barney was awarded for his milestone feat.

http://www.firstsuperspeedway.com/photo-gallery/barney-oldfield-gold-medal-first-100-mph-lap-indy

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www.eliaandponto.com/michigan-auto-accident-lawyer/ link
10/22/2018 04:17:37 pm

I read your blog frequently and I just thought I’d say keep up the amazing work!

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Tony Eby
9/14/2019 02:46:45 am

Lee it's great to see where your passions taken you, keep up the great work. Tony

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Karen W link
1/9/2021 09:15:46 am

Great readingg

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Giles Burt link
7/27/2024 04:35:57 pm

Graateful for sharing this

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    Lee Stohr (b.1957: Delaware, USA) is an American race car designer and owner of STOHR DESIGN

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