File talk:1915 Porter-Knight Racer in Port Jefferson, c 1915.jpg
This picture was made for use as a postcard by Arthur S. Greene[1] who owned a photography studio in Port Jefferson.[2]
The postcard exists with different captions. The one in the source reads: Early 1914 F.R.P. Series A Racers - These F.R.P. Series A Racers were equipped with a 4 cylinder engine that developed 52 horsepower and was capable of speeds in excess of 150 MPH. This put this racer in a class of its own as one of the most powerful American Automobiles in the country.[3]
A Port Jefferson website states: 1910 Hill Climb - In town for the 1910 Hill Climb, two Porter/Knight racers are parked in front of the Ardencraig Inn on the east side of Main Street (Route 25A), Port Jefferson. The building was destroyed in a March 1920 fire.
Type: postcard
Date: early 20th century
Creator: Arthur S. Greene
Source: Kenneth Brady Collection
Location: Port Jefferson
Access #: 2011.8.48
Facts are:
- Finley Robertson Porter left Mercer in 1914. Although he immediately started his Finley Robertson Porter Company in Port Jefferson, NY, it is hardly believable that these racers were already finished in the same year.[4]
- The illustrated racecars look different (lack of the bizarre F.R.P. radiator shell, lower body lines, smaller wheels) than the rather stubby F.R.P. Model 45 Series A, which is pictured at the bottom of the same page[3], and also in the Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, 1996.[5] Series A,B, C refer to the wheelbase only.
- While it is correct that F.R.P. got 4 cylinder engines, they developed 100 bhp, not 52. On the other side, Porter-Knight had race-tuned Willys-Knight sleeve valve fours that indeed delivered 52 bhp. So, a 52 bhp care hardly was a "racer in a class of its own as one of the most powerful American Automobiles in the country. After the Indy debacle, Porter developed the mentioned 100 bhp poppet valve, sohc engine.[4]
Given the well-documented production time for the Porter-Knight between 1914 and 1915, it is obviously impossible that the picture shows the racers during the 1910 Port Jefferson Hill Climb. If it's true that the Ardencraig Inn was lost by a fire in March, 1920, we are able to date this picture between 1915 and 1920.--Chief tin cloud (talk) 12:56, 1 March 2017 (UTC)
- ↑ a b Port Jeff Portal: 1910 Hill Climb
- ↑ a b Port Jeff Portal: Arthur S. Greene’s Photography Studio
- ↑ a b c American Automobiles: The F. R. P. Automobile & The Finley-Robertson-Porter Co.
- ↑ a b Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, 1996, S. 619–620 (F.R.P.)
- ↑ Kimes, Clark: Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942, 1996, S. 1238 (Porter)
