The Slower Road

July 31, 2011

name that vehicle, part 4

Posted by Jennifer under Carriage Journal magazine, carriages / carriage types | Tags: postaday2011 |
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Over the past three Sundays, I’ve doled out the lower left, upper left, and upper right squares of the image featured on the cover of the August Carriage Journal.

In case you haven’t already guessed, the vehicle is a Concord Coach.

Here is the full image:

photo by Bob Mischka

This vehicle is owned by Sut & Margaret Marshall, and it’s one of the many in the book The Marshall Collection: Horse-drawn Commercial Vehicles.

Here is Ken Wheeling’s description of this coach, borrowed from the book:

Concord Coach #23

The small, six-passenger Concord Coach was made with one of two types of seating arrangements. A very narrow coach body has three seats, including a middle seat, accommodating two passengers on each seat. The middle seat, unlike the three-piece folding seat found in nine-passenger coaches, was either a single solid board seat which folded forward to permit entry, or a removable, two-part double seat mounted on a stanchion at the center and risers on the outside, such as this coach has. There were five different company configurations, since Lewis Downing founded his shop in 1813. The first of these was Downing & Abbot, founded in 1828. It lasted until 1847, when each of the partners, Lewis Downing and J. Stephen Abbot, founded their own companies: L. Downing & Sons and J. S. Abbot.

This coach is thought to have come from the shops of L. Downing & Sons’ new coach yards across the street from the original shop site. The identifying number “23” is carved into the outermost cross piece of the luggage rack. Since Downing bought coach bodies made in the J. S. Abbot shops and mounted them on his own carriage gear, it is quite possible that J. S. Abbot made the body, at least. The coach, which was originally painted green, was restored by James Morton, owner of the Highway Hotel, Concord, New Hampshire.

July 30, 2011

Bugatti carriages and cars

Posted by Jennifer under carriages / carriage types, miscellaneous | Tags: postaday2011 |
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Those of you who (like me) love beautiful old cars just as much as beautiful old carriages will enjoy the story and photos sent by CAA member Randy Solle:

Last weekend, our Solid Axle Corvette Club (1953–1962 Corvettes) went up to Oxnard, California, which is about an hour up the coast from Los Angeles. There, one of our stops was the Mullin Automotive Museum, which contains mainly Art Deco era French automobiles.

photo by Randy Solle

Among the beautiful collection of vehicles is this $40,000,000 (no, that’s not a misprint) Bugatti:

photo by Randy Solle

I was surprised to find that they still used the term Shooting Break for some of their vehicles:

from the museum label for this 1937 Hispano Suiza K6 Shooting Break: the body type is called a "shooting break," a term used to describe a cross between a two-door sports coupe and an estate car; it was designed for the well-heeled to carry large amounts of cargo, such as dogs and hunting guns for grouse shooting; it is also described as a "woody" due to the wooden exterior paneling; the car also has natural buffalo upholstery and seagrass floor mats (photo by Randy Solle)

I did manage to find a horse-drawn vehicle in the collection. This is one of the three vehicles that were built for Ettore Bugatti by his family’s automobile company. I would guess that this was one of the vehicles that came from the Kluge Collection.

according to the museum label, this vehicle was built in the 1930s by the Bugatti company for Ettore Bugatti, who was an avid horseman; this and two others were intended to be used on the family estate and for short trips (photo by Randy Solle)

I thought that the rear spring angle was rather unusual on this vehicle. In the second (detail) picture of the springs, you can see a wedge that has been inserted under the spring – by the looks of it, some time ago.

photo by Randy Solle

Carlo Bugatti was also very interested in building furniture, which seems to have something of an Asian influence:

photo by Randy Solle

Finally, this was a barn find from northern California. It was in dire need of restoration then, but look at it now!

1930 Bugatti Type 46 Cabriolet (photo by Randy Solle)

July 29, 2011

yee haw

Posted by Jennifer under history | Tags: postaday2011 |
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… and to think this took place in the middle of New York City, and probably even in an indoor riding arena …

from the April 3, 1897, issue of Rider and Driver:

“The Rough Riding Club of New York will give a grand mounted tournament at Durland’s [Riding Academy], on Saturday evening, the 10th [of April, 1897]. In addition to the full-dress military drill, with lance and sabre, there will be contests at tent-pegging between the New York team and a team from the Brooklyn Riding and Driving Club, wrestling on horseback [huh??], single-stick cockade melee [what??], broadsword combat, Cossack riding and vaulting, and as a finale, a realistic attack upon a fort with rifles, artillery, and mounted lancers.”

[Wow.]

July 28, 2011

the Carthusian monks of Jerez de la Frontera

Posted by Jennifer under Spain | Tags: postaday2011 |
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As I mentioned yesterday, the Carthusian (oldest, purest) strain of Spanish horses was bred — starting in the fifteenth century — by the Carthusian monks who lived and worked at this monastery:

The horse-breeding operation is now carried out at a modern facility farther outside of town, and this former monastery is now, we were told, a private convent. Sadly, it’s not open to the public, so we could merely admire the facade and imagine how ornate and beautiful it must be on the inside.

July 27, 2011

hi ho, hi ho; it’s back to Spain we go

Posted by Jennifer under Spain | Tags: postaday2011 |
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Following along from yesterday’s video of a Doma Vaquera performance, let’s go back briefly to southern Spain with our group of CAA travelers. And let’s concentrate today on the horses, because they’re so darned beautiful.

During our CAA trip to Andalusia earlier this year, we toured the Yeguada de la Cartuja. This official stud farm for the Carthusian strain of Spanish horses (the oldest and purest strain) is located near Jerez de la Frontera.

First, we were given a brief history of the Carthusian monks’ breeding program (which began sometime in the fifteenth century) and its evolution into the modern breeding farm we were visiting on that Saturday in April.

Then, we visited the stud farm’s small collection of carriages, two of which you can see here:

Next, we enjoyed a tour of the stables, the hospital, and the rest of the modern facility.

Finally, we attended the Yeguada’s spectacular daily show. It’s held in a covered arena, but one end is open to the outside … all the better for allowing herds of horses to gallop into the arena!

The first in was a large group of yearlings:

Then, after they left, a gorgeous young stallion was given the entire arena to show off:

And then came a lovely group of mares. Each one wears a neck collar, with a bell attached. And the neck collars are all attached to each other, creating a row of mares. The mares’ “handler” is not physically connected to them in any way but controls the entire row with his voice and whip (which is, of cours, snapped in the air, not at or on the mares).