0 Archival Photos and Provenance of Our Compound Automobile

by Nancy DeWitt
© Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

As the historian for our museum, it doesn't get much better when a piece of history is found for one of our automobiles. Or, in this case, some vintage photographs.

Awhile back, Albert Nippert sent us the negatives of some photos of our 1906 Compound Model 7 1/2 light touring car. The photos were taken in 1940, and show the car "as purchased" by Nippert's friend Walter Levino, owner of the Levino Auto Shop in Peerskill, New York. It was complete and in good, unrestored condition.

Levino was this Compound's third owner. Its original owner was John Unser, the chief engineer and supervisor of the EHV Co. (manufacturer of the Compound). Unser quit driving it in 1912, and in 1934 sold it at auction for $17 to Howard S. Hall. Hall displayed the Compound in the the showroom of his father's Nash and Dodge dealership in Carthage, New York. It was there where Levino, a Pine Camp soldier, discovered it. He was able to buy it from Hall's widow in 1940.

Courtesy of David Bishop

Levino held onto the Compound until 1951, and then sold it to Henry Austin Clark, owner of the Long Island Auto Museum in New York. Clark described it as "one of the cleanest original cars" he had ever seen and claimed that he "ran it as is." The registration states the car was green in color, as shown at right.



In 1964 William Harrah purchased the Compound at an auction of Clark's autos. While in the Harrah's Automobile Collection in Nevada, the car received one of their no-expense-spared, Gold Star restorations beginning in late 1964. It was painted gray and upholstered with burgundy seats. Bill Harrah is shown at right (seated next to the driver) after its restoration. My notes show that General William Lyons of California was the Compound's next owner, but I have been unable to confirm this.

Photo at Magee Museum in 1993
 courtesy of David Bishop

The Compound traveled back to the eastern U.S. after being acquired by Bill and Doug Magee. The Magees had a collection of pre-1915, Connecticut-made automobiles and a small museum at their Meadowview Farm in Middlefield, CT. They installed a new top and side curtains, painted the wheels, added gray Michelin tires, and totally rebuilt the Compound's motor. They took it on a VMMCA 1 & 2-cylinder tour in the mid-90s in Barstow, KY, but it broke down.

Carl Schmitt of Walla Walla, Washington bought the Compound at an auction of Magee automobiles in 1998. We purchased the car from Carl Schmitt's estate in 2008, and are very happy to have this unique car in our collection. We are also delighted to have such a detailed history of its ownership, and thank Albert Nippert and David Bishop for sharing their photos with us.


Coming to Fairbanks to see the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and other area attractions? Support the museum by staying right here at Wedgewood Resort. All guests receive half-price admission to the museum!

Detail: Archival Photos and Provenance of Our Compound Automobile

0 Our Year in Review

by Nancy DeWitt
© Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

What a year! Each one just gets better and better, and 2013 was full of accomplishments. Most notably, we had our best year ever for attendance and gift shop sales. Based on direct feedback and on-line comments, our visitors were very pleased with their museum experience. In fact, their reviews on TripAdvisor earned us the top ranking for Fairbanks attractions for the second year in a row! It's never too late to submit your review, which you can do by clicking on this link.

Other highlights from 2013 include:

• We hosted a number of school field trips at the museum and offered rides in the Snow Flyer to almost 50 children during Tired Iron week.

• Historic fashion consultant Abigail Cucolo joined our staff for several months and accomplished a whirlwind of projects. She led fashion tours, wrote blog posts, organized our storage room, cataloged over 700 items into a database, repaired garments, and added over 30 new outfits to the galleries. She also curated our "Beauty and the Bird" exhibit and created several new displays, including ones on undergarments, Fortuny gowns, and WAVES uniforms.

• Our docents continued to provide valuable support, from educating visitors and providing security during private receptions, to dusting cars and helping Willy with innumerable repair projects in the shop.

• We worked hard to improve the visitor experience and began offering free audio tours with admission. One guest wrote of the audio tour: "Very good and really adds to the experience."

• We acquired J. Parker Wickham's library and now have a wonderful collection of resources for research.

• We participated in the Vernon L. Nash Antique Car Club annual show, Golden Days Show and Shine, and a fairly soggy Golden Days Parade. We were delighted to be selected to carry the winner of the Miss World Eskimo Indian Olympics pageant and her court in our 1919 Pierce-Arrow.

• We added a number of videos to our YouTube channel, which receives about 2,500 views a week.

• We had five articles published in national magazines, including The Bulb Horn, Horseless Carriage Gazette, Air-Cooled News, and The Classic Car. The museum was also featured in articles in Alaska Magazine, The Ruralite, and Old Cars Weekly.

• Our historian attended the National Association of Automobile Museum's annual conference in Lincoln, Nebraska, and was elected to the NAAM board of directors.

• Our manager attended a number of national and regional events, including the Chickasha and Bakersfield Swap Meets, the Scottsdale auctions, and the Hershey Swap Meet.

• With the help of some great volunteers, we got one of Fairbanks's first Dodge automobiles running again and helped drive it to Valdez to commemorate the first automobile trip to the coast. The story is posted here.

• In July we hosted a full house for a presentation about the 1908 Great Race by Jeff Mahl, great grandson of the winning car's driver, George Schuster. He gave a fabulous program and we thank everyone who came (and NAPA for sponsoring the event!).

• We added three automobiles to the Fountainhead Collection, including a 1902 Knox, 1906 Pope-Toledo, and 1910 Schacht. The Pope-Toledo won several awards before we shipped it north, including First in Class (Antiques) at the Kirkland Concours d'Elegance, and Third in Class (A-1 Antiques) and the Ansel Adams Special Award at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.

• The majority of the museum automobiles got a tune-up and some road time this year. Here are a few out getting some exercise--can you identify them all?

Thank you all for another great year!

Coming to Fairbanks to see the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and other area attractions? Support the museum by staying right here at Wedgewood Resort. All guests receive half-price admission to the museum!

Detail: Our Year in Review

0 The Unusual Compound Automobile

by Nancy DeWitt, Historian
Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

It's easy to overlook our 1906 Compound (#168) as just another Brass Era automobile, but in my opinion it is one of the most interesting cars in the museum. Its color isn't very exciting and it lacks flashy brass fittings, but underneath the hood is a design that was quite innovative for its time. In fact, you could say the Compound was one of the first "green," internal-combustion automobiles.

The Compound was named for its unique engine that expanded--or compounded--the exhaust gases through two stages. Compounding steam engines date back at least as far as 1781, while a limited number of internal combustion compound engines were patented or built later in the 19th century to run mills, boats and streetcars. In 1903 the Graham-Fox Motor Company exhibited a prototype automobile called the Graham-Fox Compound Engine Car. The following year it went into production as the Compound under the Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle (E.H.V.) Company in Middletown, CT.

The Compound's engine has three cylinders, but note the size difference. The outer two, 4-cycle high-pressure cylinders "explode alternately" and exhaust into the larger, 2-cycle low-pressure cylinder rather than into the atmosphere. Here the exhaust gas expands further and drives the piston down before exiting through a small muffler. This compounding of the exhaust gas allowed for more complete combustion that allegedly resulted in a cleaner, odorless and very quiet final exhaust. It also increased fuel economy.

According to Willy, this is a car that requires lots of attention from the driver, from starting to applying the brakes. "First, if you follow a series of minor details, the car starts rather easy, much more so than you would expect. Once you step into the car you need to stay focused on what you and the car are doing. As you select a gear (it has a sliding gear transmission, with the pattern to shift being in a straight line), one must be very careful not to miss a gear or you could cause some damage. The engine does not like to idle for long periods, as it tends to load up the center cylinder. Then when you put the car in motion and speed up the engine, it will smoke a little and begin to give a little pop from time to time until it clears the center cylinder. At that point it becomes very smooth and you can feel the power increase. All in all, this is a rather fun car to drive and exciting to see and hear run."

Dennis Gage from the Speed Channel drives the Compound
while filming an episode for "My Classic Car"

Of the 300 Compounds produced, this Light Touring Car is the only one known to survive. It is also one of the few cars in the museum whose provenance can be traced all the way back to its original owner, John Unser, chief engineer at the E.H.V. Company. After Unser sold the car in 1934, it passed through a number of owners, including Henry Austin Clark (Long Island Automotive Museum), Harrah's Automobile Collection, General William Lyon, Bill and Doug Magee, and Carl Schmitt. While at Harrah's, it received one of their famed Gold Star restorations.

Another unique feature of the Compound is its power brakes, which operate on pressure from a small engine-driven air pump. Also, the rear section (tonneau) of this Compound can be removed and replaced with a "tuxedo," or rear deck and trunk. This simple operation converts the Compound from a tourer to an open roadster. Despite all of its novel features, production of the Compound automobile ended in 1908 after a brief, final run under the Eagle Motor Company.

Detail: The Unusual Compound Automobile