David Reports on the Seal Cove Auto Museum

Thursday July 13, 2017                                                                         Most Recent Posts:
Mount Desert Island,  Maine                                                          A Triple Bag With Nancy and Bill
                                                                                                 Oriental Surprise Overlooking Clark Cove

 

 

David went off to the Seal Cove Auto Museum today on a solo venture.  It’s not that I’m not interested in old cars, I am.  But not AS interested as he is and I knew he would stay longer and even enjoy himself more if I wasn’t around to eventually be impatient.  So off he went and this is his report in his own words with his own photographs. 

 

 

If you like history and old cars then a visit to the Seal Harbor Auto Museum should be on your agenda for a rainy day or any day while visiting Acadia National Park. They not only have a great collection of the first automobiles from the “brass era” (1895-1917), but also exhibit clothing and other items from that era, including a fine collection of early motor bikes and motorcycles & children’s peddle cars too.

If that is not enough to pique your interest, you may find the current exhibit on the controversy over automobiles being allowed on Mount Desert Island intriguing. On one side they show how the controversy played out at the turn of the 20^th century with the introduction of the “horseless carriage”, and on the other side they show how this same controversy is again manifesting in transportation problems today in the National Park.

Too many cars and visitors are clogging the National Park Loop road and overflowing the parking lots & delaying the shuttle buses. What to do then and now? Initially there was strong opposition to allowing automobiles on the island which even involved prohibition for several years. With overcrowding in Acadia today, some are revisiting this question. What should we do about too many cars in the park? What do you think?

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the exhibits at Seal Harbor Auto Museum.

 

Vintage automobiles from the brass era

 

 

 

 

 

A motorized buckboard

 

 

 

A 1908 Rauch Lang Cleveland Ohio Electric Runabout

 

 

1910 White Motor Company Cleveland Ohio Manufactured with either steam or gasoline engine.  This one is called a Pullman Touring Car.  Sherry says “Pretty fancy”!

 

 

 

This rear entrance makes it a Tonneau Style Carriage.

 

 

This is a Maine manufactured buckboard from Bar Harbor.  It’s of the day, but not motorized.

 

 

Edsel Ford’s 1936 Sedan convertible

 

 

 

 

Some vintage ladies wear from back in the day

 

 

 

 

Kid’s peddle cars

 

Most were lost to the metal scrapping efforts during WWII, but here are a few that survived:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early motorized bikes and motorcycles:

 

1903 Indian

 

1912 Fabrique National, Belgium - Notice it has 4 cylinders and a drive shaft!

 

 

1912 Pierce Arrow MC

 

 

And finally the coolest piece of High-Technology for the day, the Jones “Live Map” gizmo that you could buy for whatever your vehicle and attach it to your speedometer cable. Placing the appropriate travel disk for your journey from A to B, it would then show your progress and where approximately you were on your journey and what to expect next! Pretty high-tech for that day and age I’d say.