Hugo continues to seek out material on Russells and shares this. It is captioned as 1914, but could be 1913. Can anyone shed further light on this one?
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Hugo continues to seek out material on Russells and shares this. It is captioned as 1914, but could be 1913. Can anyone shed further light on this one?
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Update from John:
The Russell is indeed a 1914. It was first collected and “restored” by Joe Gest, and I think he found it in Montreal. It probably went from him to Herb O’Connell, also of Montreal, then to a collector in Victoriaville, QC. He had a collection that included a two cylinder Ford, maybe a Hupmobile and several other early-ish cars, mostly poorly restored. After his death, a lawyer/old car guy who lived nearby sold the cars on behalf of the estate. The Russell was advertised in Hemmings at a time when I was between cars. I flew to Montreal and took a rental car to look at it. It was really quite a beautiful car with nice original upholstery, huge brass headlights (well, brass with nickel rims) and an impressive brass radiator. At my request, they had it running. It has a 24 volt Bijur starter-generator incorporated into the flywheel. It started noiselessly, then ran very quietly. There was some smoke, but it wasn’t horrendous. It had a working pressurized fuel system, Warner speedometer, and a bunch of other nice features.
I put in an offer which was promptly used as a starting point to get a higher bid from a member of the Russell family (a Mrs. Anderson, perhaps?). The car was professionally restored by someone who didn’t know a whole lot about early cars, but it looked nice when completed. It was subsequently donated to the National Science Museum in Ottawa, and it’s still there, in storage.
I really liked this car and was sorry when I didn’t get it.
John