Franklinsinthenews.htm

The H H Franklin Club, Inc.

If you read a story or an article about Franklin cars, company, members
please let us know where it is. In many cases we will not be able to print the article for copyright reasons but it would be great to let club members know where they
are able to read the story.

Send your article to: Franklins in the News

Up-Dated 01.16.10

Jan. 16, 2010

We have received this video many times, everyone tells us there are 2 to 5 Franklins shown in the video, can you find them: Click here to watch it.

Jan. 10, 2010

Pages 64 through 67 of the February 2010 issue of "Hemmings Motor News" contain an article on the 17th Annual Palos Verdes Concours d'Elegance. This article includes a picture of Franklin Club member Dave and Teddie Oatey's 1922 Franklin Cloverleaf Roadster on page 67.

Thanks to Franklin Club member Bill Charpier for the heads up.

Jan. 7, 2010

Hemmings Motor News' 2/2010 issue has a one-page article entitled "Franklin's Valve-and-a-Half" describing the auxiliary valves on early engines. It's on page 73.

I enjoy reading all the updates on the website. Thanks.

Thanks to member Jay Wilhelmi for letting us know.

Nov. 19, 2009

This past summer a local historical society had its' annual strawberry festival at the historic Benson Hammond house in Linthicum, MD. Dave Phillips called them to see if they would like a vintage car. The original intention was to take only the 27 11B but Mark Straitz asked to drive the Olympic with his mom as a passenger. Eddie Fowler, Dave's 19 year old junior Franklin mechanic, rode with Dave. This has been the first and ONLY time that Dave have had both of his Franklins at an event together. Eddie was hoarse by the end of the day from telling spectators about the wonderful features of Franklin Motor Cars! As you can see, the Franklins were the hit of the car show. (It looks to the webmaster as if all the other cars left as the Franklins were receiving all the attention. OK Dave, we know your two Franklns were the only cars on display!)

Nov. 1, 2009

An informal gathering of some Franklin People recently occurred in East Run Pennsylvania.
John, Joyce and Joseph Rendemonti recently drove up to Northern Indiana Co. for a weekend visit with Bill Woodcock and Jon Perry.
The weather was very cold and we had rain, but the fireplaces were lit and the house was warm and cozy.
John and Joyce arrived in the late afternoon on Friday from the West Chester area of Pa., and Joseph arrived a short time later from the Pittsburgh area.
After dinner on Friday, we played some early cylinder recordings on the Edison record machine, and explored some of the antique automobile books in the library while sitting in front of a warm fire.
Saturday after breakfast we all piled into the car (not a Franklin, due to the rain) and drove up to Punxsutawney and looked in on "Punxsutawney Phil" in his habitat, gathering information for his big day of weather forecasting on Feb. 2nd.
From Punxsutawney, our group went over the mountain to the Coolspring Power Museum, and enjoyed seeing the huge gas and steam engines running before the fall close down of the museum. www.coolspringpowermuseum.org
Back to the house for the rest of the afternoon, and getting dinner together. During cocktail hour, dinner and the rest of the evening, John R. kept everyone entertained with stories of his childhood and family adventures with antique cars. He is full of great tales of his early adventures with the Franklin Club and some of the Treks from years gone by.
Sleeping in was the plan for Sunday morning, then a big brunch, more great music on early Victrola machines and exploring at Bill and Jon's home. The other cars in the garage were looked over, great discussions about some of the "projects" Bill is working on yielded very some sound advice.
The sun finally came out and so did the 1925 11A sedan for a "publicity" shot of the "gang" infront of Bill and Jon's home. After all, it isn't an official Franklin Gathering, unless there is at least one photograph with a Franklin involved !!!
We hope to see more of our Franklin friends up in this part of Pennsylvania soon...
Bill and Jon

October 27, 2009

Your WebMaster recieved the following report:

Within the past few weeks there have been several confirmed sightings of two Franklin cars in Canada's capital city. They were spotted, travelling in convoy, inside the city of Ottawa and at several scenic view spots within the nearby Gatineau Park. At one viewpoint a Franklin picnic basket was seen on a running board while smiling people stood around with champagne glasses, apparently offering toasts to each other, to the cars and to the autumn leaves. Friends and relatives filled the cars on most trips. On one of the tours there was a near breach of international protocol when the Fanklins entered a lane which passes within 100 feet of the US Ambassador's residence. In spite of a sign reading 'Private Property, No Trespassing' the cars pressed on until coming nose-to-nose with a police car which was blocking the way. Andre Audette, the alleged driver of the first Franklin, apparently convinced the officer that he, the other driver (alleged to be Wes Mattie) and all occupants were harmless to US interests, so the police car was crowded into the bushes to let the Franklins pass. The following photos show the police car scene, the Franklins in front of a venerable pub in Ottawa's market district and other views captured by our anonymous informant.

September 26, 2009

Your WebMaster heard of a car show in Bedford Nova Scotia that a club member, Jim Stevensontook part in with a few of his Franklin.

Here are a few pictures: As you can see Jim loves "V" windows" Franklins these are 1922 10A & 10B

August 30, 2009

New Club member Cole Headley of Syracuse, NY loves Franklin history, here are a few pictures of before and today. April 1919 the Gillette Safety Razor Company purchased a large number of new Franklins. A picture was taken May 1, 1919 at a wall a long S. Wilbur St. to show the world. To day the wall and a very tall sugar maple still stands. See below:

Also, the Franklin Club placed a marker at the site of the Franklin Manufacturing Company in the early 1990s. The marker has been move but it is still proudly standing. See below

August 22, 2009

Here are a few others from the Concours d'Elegance le Mirage -
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Click on picture to see a larger one

August 16, 2009

Concours d'Elegance le Mirage - Sunday while sweating in our costumes at Celine Dion's fabulous golf course. We were lucky though, being with the privileged cars under tents. Some of the 200 were outside in the sun. I have attached a photo of Andre Audette with his parents by his 1925 series 11A Touring that he drove the the Trek in Cazenovia, NY.

Sept. 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car: 4 pages on the Franklin Museum, Robert Harrison, with 10 color photos and much about his Franklins. This is a super subscription folks !!!!

Robert Harrison collects 1930s Franklin automobiles
May 29th, 2009Robert Harrison, of Exeter, has a collection of 1930s Franklin automobiles. The Franklin, manufactured in Syracuse NY from 1902 to 1934 . Franklin was an innovator in the automative industry offering features like an air cooled engine with aluminum parts. Providence Journal video by Steve Szydlowski -

Click here to read Bob's news story - Click here to watch the vido

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July 2009 issue Hemmings Classic Car: 4 pages of "Franklin in the Twenties".; 6 photos.
From Richard Dryman

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I wanted to let you know that Bill and Jan Charpier's 1928 Series 12B sedan won an award at the September 2008 Galt Old Car Festival. The Galt Area Historical Society sponsors this annual one day event at the McFarland Ranch which is near the City of Galt (about 5 miles south of Sacramento). The show features vehicles that were manufactured before 1943. To be entered in the event, the cars must be original and must be able to be driven into the viewing area.

The awards that are presented include the People’s Choice which is for the vehicle receiving the highest number of votes cast by the spectators, the Best of Show which is for the vehicle receiving the highest number of votes cast by the show participants and the Best of Class awards which are presented to the vehicle with the highest number of votes in each class. For 2008, our 1928 won the Best of Class award in the Classic Class.

You can check out the following link for the 2008 Galt Old Car Festival awards information:

http://galthistory.org/carshow/awards.htm

If you click on “2008 Photos” you can see a photo of the car (last row, IMG_4867). Under “2008 Winners,” there is a photo of Jan and Bill accepting the award (3rd row, IMG_5024).

We were gratified to see that an unrestored Franklin garnered this award in a field of prestigious cars.

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Tom Rasmussen will be conducting a seminar at the A.A.C.A. National Meeting in Philadelphia. The attachment is a copy of Speedster, an A.A.C.A. national on line publication. Check out the CSI Minnesota article at the bottom. "CSI Minneapolis - This restorer spent over 5 years working to meticulously restore a 1932 Franklin V/12. He describes the "automobile forensics" necessary to make it all happen. This is a presentation of a very thorough restoration and he describes what it takes to do a car in his words, "to high authentic standards. Not the quick & easy route."February 12-14 - Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA ~ Seminar Link

In the latest edition of Automobile Quarterly - Volume 48 #3, on the last page is a nice article about Bob Kern's Custom-Built V/12 Dietrich Speedster, with a handsome photo of the finished car and the engine compartment. The article covers a bit of Franklin history and then Bob's thought process that lead to the development of his special V/12.
On page 110, credit for the article is given to Bob & Mike Carr and also a nice plug for the FACHC and Bob's generous donation. Automobile Quarterly is "Big-Time" - so this is great press

See pp 66-67 about Rollie Kemp in AACA Antique Automobile Sept/Oct! (by Anne and Barb)

Gilmore news letter tag here to read: The Herald

From Tom Rasmussen August 31, 2008 Very nice press release in the current issue of Old Cars Weekly regarding the new Franklin Automobile Collection at Hickory Corners. Page 3 - nice photo of the Marshall v12

From Tom Rasmussen Jaruary 3, 2008: Hemmings Classic Car Magazine Feb. '08 copy. Very nice long article and interview with George Staley. Features him, his car, Norwich. A must - see.

From Tom Rasmussen on January 3, 2008: There is a really nice article in the current Old Cars Weekly (Jan 3, 2008) edition, written by Gerald Perschbacher, titled IN FAVOR OF FRANKLIN Buying the 'new' 1909 Franklin. A half page period photo of a 1909 D Touring is followed by a very well-written fictional account of an automobile purchase in 1909.