The Kay Fleischmann Special – A Jewel-Like Early Supercharged Racing Car

[The Old Motor]

The Kay Fleischmann Special – A Jewel-Like Early Supercharged Racing Car: This very interesting photo shows the Kay Fleischmann Special parked next to a Duesenberg straight eight apparently just before the start of a race. It appears that the Fleischmann Special was built by Green Engineering and it is equipped with one of their superchargers as seen out in front of the Miller-style radiator. See and learn more at The Old Motor.

You can also see 100's of auto racing photos from 1895 - 1942 here on The Old Motor.

[exfasteddy]

Love those rear tires.

[NoviVespa]

I like those snubbers.

[Bruce Spencer]

I like the skull and crosstools.

[D-Type]

I like those snubbers.

Snubbers? Translate please!

[NoviVespa]

Snubbers? Translate please!

In the top picture, between the frame rail and the wheel, there is this rod connected to a round part. That is a snubber. this was before liquid shock absorbers. Actually, it is called a friction shock absorber. In the round part are friction disks. as the axle goes up and down, these disks rub against each other, thus slowing the rebound of the chassis spring. Without a shock absorber your car would go bouncing along the road. More details.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction_disk_shock_absorber

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By tightening, or loosening a nut on the round part, you can control the dampening affect.

[D-Type]

Thanks. I thought it was something like that but simply didn't know the term. Was it only used for friction (as opposed to hydraulic) shock absorbers / dampers?

[NoviVespa]

Thanks. I thought it was something like that but simply didn't know the term. Was it only used for friction (as opposed to hydraulic) shock absorbers / dampers?

It was the only thing they had before liquid shock absorbers.

[The Old Motor]

It was the only thing they had before liquid shock absorbers.

We started a series of posts covering the history of the shock absorber that starts with the invention of the friction shock.