McKeen Motor Car

That is the short version.

is the restoration fairly authentic?  it seems an odd color...

Many railroads ran these cars. I do not know if this is painted in authentic colors of a real railroad or not.

Here is a photo of the long version. It belongs to Navy-Seal and the photo was posted on the SGMA Yahoo site. The 2 other McKeen cars that have shown up on SGMA layouts are long versions also.

I talked to the guy who made these Std. Gauge versions YEARS ago, at what I remember as a California TTOS convention....I was trying to cajole him into make O scale/gauge versions.  He wasn't interested...and we wait...wish I thought I could get that curved body right...Evergreen styrene just doesn't seem up to that task..and then there are the correct trucks and underbody details..this thing is going for big bucks here on eBay..

Jim, thanks for the background.  Sorry I was not specific.  What I meant was, the listing says this car is restored.  Was wondering whether someone who knows these standard gauge cars can tell if this is a good restoration, i.e. restored to original color, trim, and lettering.  I have seen the videos of McKeen cars running on SGMA layouts, and they were very different colors.  

I know nothing really about these cars but am intrigued, they certainly are something different.

Thanks

The seller also has a car listed that goes with the motor car and he says that it is original:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Rich-A...;hash=item43af9b645b

Guys, that eBay McKeen was made from parts created by Dick Mayer of Richart.  Joe Finelli put them together and most likely added anything that is missing.  Joe is an expert builder and artist, if he put it together with parts from Dick it probably runs as well as any car (or better) Dick Mayer had put together.  Thus the McKeen and trailer that you see in the eBay auction were put together by Joe with some raw materials supplied by Dick.  Joe's a good guy and he does make high quality items.

The other McKeens are one off's.  Bob Thon made one of them and another guy (I can't remember his name)  hand made them as well.  Both are very, very rich, high quality replicas of the original McKeen (Arno could probably give more detail as could Navy Seal).  I wouldn't stress too much about accuracy, all of them are outstanding and look really cool running on a standard gauge layout.  Yes, I know I'm leaving out details.  I know a great deal about Richart McKeen's.  Not as much about the custom, hand crafted stuff (except that they are really cool and you can see them periodically at the SGMA layouts).

Marc

Thank you, this is helpful.  "Really cool" is right...  amazing to realize the original prototype design of these is from the 1910's.   They still look futuristic.

The guy in California his first name is Sergio. Jim Kelley-Evans knows quite a bit about the cars also.

One poster said it was at big bucks now. It will sell in the price range of the Brute. $1,500 to $4,500.

In my humble opinion, they are worth big bucks.  The Richart McKeens run off a nice motor but a really funky chain drive mechanism.  It works well enough but it can make a racket if it isn't properly maintained.  The key nice thing about the one up right now on ebay is the trailer.  The trailers are harder to come by than the actual motor cars are.  The guys that invested heavily with Dick Mayer are really old now and quite a few McKeens (if they can be called that, there are probably less than 100) are in barns or collections in basements of houses of guys well past 60.  Some were on the East Coast however Richart's largest following (as was JAD) was most likely in the West were he and others (The McCoy's, John Daniel, etc.) attended TTOS and TCA conventions.

Interurbans and McKeens are really items that have not been reproduced like they should be.  McCoy made some nice Interurbans and the Lionel #10 prewar set is almost mythical (so few were produced, it is really an item that is ideal for reproduction because they were really just modified Daycoach passenger cars).

Gotta love these items, they are something different.  I can tell you too, they never disappoint when you see them run.  No fancy electronics but the way they move and the sound the electric motor makes is fantastic.

Periodically the SMGA runs them and bar none, there layout is one of the best ever.  If you get the chance and you have a camera, I highly recommend getting out to see the SGMA run a McKeen (or anything for that matte).

Marc

Sergio Sanchez and Robert Thon independently completed long-body McKeen Motor Cars using the two sets of car body sides that Robert Thon had fabricated but never completed.   To these both Thon and Sanchez added their own details.  Jim Kelly ran a great article on the building of these two McKeens in one of his Tinplate Times articles.  Here's z link to that article:

http://www.tinplatetimes.com/M...honMcKeen/mckeen.htm

Dick Mayer (RichArt) custom built for me the "long" version RichArt McKeen Motor Car seen in the photo Jim posted above.  Dick's design is based on the research I provided him on the McKeen Motor Car KULSHAN, which the Milwaukee Road acquired during its westward expansion when it purchased the Bellingham Bay & British Columbia Railroad in the Puget Sound area.  In comparison to Dick's short version Mckeens, Dick's long version KULSHAN is around eight inches longer and like Robert Thon/Sergio Sanchez McKeens has an extra cargo/express section added to the car in front of the passenger compartment. 

Dick told me that he made only two long versions of his RichArt McKeen motor car, i.e., my KULSHAN, which was the last McKeen he ever built, and his original prototype for the RichArt McKeen Motor Car, which he donated to the Southern California Chapter of the TTOS for their use as a fund raiser/door prize at their annual show.

When Dick and I were discussing what length he should make the KULSHAN, we talked about making it to scale prototypically.  Unfortunately, at that prototypical length Dick told me that the large "underhang" of the KULSHAN on Standard Gauge curved track would bring it into contact with other trains/objects on curves.  So we agreed that Dick should reduce the KULSHAN's overall length until the underhang became reasonable. 

In the picture Jim posted above of the KULSHAN you'll note it's pulling two different trailers.  In fact, the BB&BCRR never purchased any McKeen trailers to tow behind their KULSHAN.  However, for fun I had Dick make me two in the same livery as the KULSHAN including: a combined RPO/express/baggage trailer, and an observation trailer.  For comparison of the RichArt to the real, below is another photo of my RichArt KULSHAN along with a colorized postcard postmarked in 1912 showing the actual KULSHAN in operation on a street in downtown Bellingham, WA.

Bob 

As an early teen in HO I'd see the brass models of these offered inMRand so have been aware of McKeen cars for years. The three Keilty books on

gas electrics, etc., address them thoroughly, including roads that ran them.  I was

outbid on one in a live auction in O scale brass, which I wildly thought I'd somehow

convert to three rail, after I was reincarnated back into it.  The postcard on here shows no autos on the street, which is a clue to how early these ran.  They were

notoriously unreliable and often reeingined.  Getting one started cold is reported to takea blank shotgun shell fired into a cylinder, also think the ENGINE had to be

reversed to reverse the car.  Try that with any other combusion engine, lawn mower

on up.  Sounded like any model offered would run better than the prototypes.  I have

wanted a 3 rail O scale one for decades....along with steam coaches and other critters.

Thanks Bob.  Definitely one of my favorite Standard Gauge models.  Neat!