Читать книгу 60 Years Behind the Wheel - Bill Sherk - Страница 25

Russell Torpedo, Toronto, circa 1911

THIS IS THE FIRST CAR that the late Marjorie Morton of Toronto could remember riding in. Her future brother-in-law’s father, Roy Deitch, is standing in front of the car. He was a university student at the time and was hired as a chauffeur for the family that owned the car. The photo was taken “around 1911” on Roxborough Avenue at Chestnut Park in midtown Toronto. The houses in the background are still there, now with many beautiful shade trees. Marjorie (born in 1901) could not remember the name of the car when interviewed by the author in 1995.

The identity of the car was supplied by Glenn Baechler (coauthor of Cars of Canada):

The car in the picture is a 1912 Russell model ‘22’ Torpedo, built in West Toronto by the Russell Motor Car Co., Ltd., and with a price tag of $3100.00.

A close examination of the picture shows the passengers are wearing hats and overcoats and there are no buds or leaves on the trees, suggesting a late fall scene in 1911. A possible caption … “Local man takes delivery of the first of the new 1912 Russell models.”

Russell created a distinctive angular design for this model and the styling was considered very modern and racy, easily earning the title of Torpedo. The beauty of the stylist was further enhanced with wire wheels. This option was only shown on the model 22 in the 1912 catalogue.

Russell offered four basic chassis in 1912. The Russell 30 was a 4 cylinder regular valve engine while the sleeve valve Knight powered cars came in three sizes. The ‘38’ for its 38 horsepower, the 26 a mid-size model, and the model 22, our subject car with 22.4 horsepower.

The enclosed artists’ sketch of the model 22, four passenger touring is from the 1912 Russell catalogue and gives us a view of the other side of the car.²

The first Russell cars were known as the Model A. They were launched in 1905 and featured a flywheel with built-in fan blades and a gearshift lever on the steering column (which did not appear on most other cars till the late 1930s). The cars got bigger as time passed, and by 1912 the Russell was firmly established as Canada’s leading luxury car.

Unfortunately, production problems plagued two new models introduced in 1913. The following year, war broke out in Europe and the company began the switch to armaments. Then John North Willys of Toledo, Ohio, began building Willys-Overland cars in the Russell factory in West Toronto, and production of this fine Canadian car came to an end. How fortunate we are that someone took the time to snap a photo of the Russell Torpedo we see here.