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Did you get a photo of the Regal? We've owned a 1911 Regal Underslung for a couple of years now, and I'd be interested in seeing the coachwork on the one in the Netherlands.

BTW, my wife taught in Rotterdam for a short period of time. Even learned the language, unique as it is. She boarded with a family, and the father was a fairly well-known yacht designer.

Thanks.

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Hans, Thanks for posting photos of your car. It is indeed a rare car in Holland I am sure! My wife is Dutch and we have been to Holland several times and also to Het Loo palace as well. Is the big Minerva limo belonging to Queen Wilhelmina's husband Prince Hendrik still in the garage? My uncle visited Holland in 1944-45 with the Canadian Army also and stayed for many years in neighbouring Belgium!
Lovely country and wonderful people. Living on that inland sea of Lake Superior in Ontario Canada, 8 hours driving west gets me to the western boundary with Manitoba and 20+ hours east gets me to the Quebec province boundary although we don't have a 140kph limit as you do! . No roads go north more than 4 hours from here but beyond is several hundred miles of roadless wilderness accesssible only by aircraft. Size isn't everything though, as we all know.... tot ziens!

The only photo I could find of the Regal Underslung 1912 which was on display at the Loo Concourse! I did not take any pictures myself so I had to search on the internet, the first photos of the event are appearing now.

The owner of the Regal recently discovered and bought a rare Dutch Spyker 15-22 from 1906 in French Guyana. The condition is about the same as the Regal. Only about 15 Spykers survived, most of them are in the Dutch Louwman Museum. One of them is a Spyker C4 Torpedo from 1924. As a matter of fact I rented the car as our wedding transport 33 years ago, this would be absolutely impossible now. Nice wedding pictures though!!

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Hans, I really like your owatrol oiled clipper. I used that oil on a few parts for my car like the hood hinges.

Anyway, am I the only one that finds it funny that the fiat is 'up on blocks'

regards, Tobs

Hi Tobs,

Quite a spectacular find, this Fiat. The car is actually an non-runner in original but rough state. The owner Jan Bruin lives in the north of Holland and has his private museum.
He showed up at the Concourse with a fully restored vintage Fiat, a fine specimen.
He parked the car right in front of his Tipo 5 and never ever lost sight of both cars.

His plans are not to restore the Tipo 5 but leave it in this condition, maybe only get the engine running and make it a drivable car.

Research in the Fiat archives in Turin pointed out that this Fiat was delivered in 1913 as a chassis only. The body is probably built by Rothschild in Paris. It must have been impressive to see this huge car roaring by, as one of the fastest cars of its time: nine litre engine, open exhaust and cardan drive. Add the 180 litre tank and the double rear wheels and this car must have been a strong and intimidating partner for White Russian commander Wrangel.

I the garage pictures -as well as at the concourse- the car is on stands probably to make life more easier on the 99 year old suspension. Interesting are the solid rubber tires and ropes around the wheels. I guess at some moment in the car's life normal inflatable tires were not available? The rope is probably a recent addition to make the car transportable.

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Please tell us more about the double rear tires. It appears that there is just one hub, but two rims???? Or is there just one rim as well, with two different "beads"??? Anymore photos that show how that works?

Are there any other cars in the world that have a similar two-tire wheel.???

Awesome car!!!

Hi West!

This is some text I found on this particular Fiat.


About FIAT Tipo 5

The 50/60 HP Tipo 5 was FIAT's flagship model. Tipo 5 (shaft drive) and Tipo 6 (chain drive) were made from 1911 to 1916. Both cars competed with the best of arch rival Mercedes. The total production (1911 1916) amounted to 457 cars of Tipo 5 and 86 cars of Tipo 6. Wrangel's FIAT was build in 1913 and the production that year was only fourteen cars. Wrangel's Tipo 5 is provided with a 50/60 HP Tipo 55A engine of 9,025 cc. As a special order the car was provided on the basis of the short Tipo 6 chassis, but with the driveshaft of Tipo 5. FIAT put the steering column in the most sportiest mode, as was usual for cars that were to receive a sporting body. As an additional feature, the chassis had double tires/wheels at the rear.


It looks as if there are two single rims, connected together with a flat steel strip, creating one solid double spoked unit. To be honest I had not seen that until you asked me the question. I just thought there were two separate rims, bolted together like you see on modern pickups or trucks.

Looking closely at the picture of the rear wheel you can see a small hole in the lower part of the rim, which could be there for the tire valve indicating that the car was originally meant to stand on pneumatic tires. My guess is that maybe solid tires were more reliable (punctures) on Russian roads or that pneumatic tires were unobtainable at some time. Another guess is that the double-rim configuration reduced road pressure thus improving the driveability on bad muddy roads and reducing the risk of getting stuck. Always a unwanted situation in wartime!
On the other hand, Wrangel could also have been a sporty driver as the steering wheel is in the lowest (sportiest) position.

But again, that is my guess. I will try to get in touch with the owner as he should be the one to maybe give more precise information. To be continued...

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Should anyone be interested, the Clipper's appearance at the Loo was on Dutch TV.


rtl.nl/xl/#/u/623828c2-daa5-40f8-9d50-4ead47bbf5da/

The Clipper comes on at 09:35.