ELDON —
One by one, Stanley Steamers nearing 100 years in age rolled into Eldon Tuesday morning on one leg of the Southeast Iowa Steam Car Tour.
The tour, held this week through Friday, was coordinated by Nancy Roach, of Libertyville, Ill.
Al Moody, also of Libertyville, drove in with Tyler Roach, Nancy’s son.
His Stanley Steamer was built in 1914, the last year non-condensing cars were built, Moody said. Non-condensing cars needed a gallon of water every couple miles since the water only runs through the vehicle once, compared to later condensing cars, which could get to 10 miles per gallon.
Stanley Steamers were built around the turn of the century until 1924, Moody said, popular cars until the internal combustion engine was fully developed.
The Stanley Steamer was invented by the Stanley twins, Francis and Freeland, of Kingfield, Maine. The twins formed the Stanley Motor Carriage Company in 1902 and produced steam-powered cars in Newton, Mass., until it ceased production in 1924.
Moody has to stop every 40 miles to fill up the vehicle with 40 gallons of water. The car can go 60 mph, he said, but it’s not safe to drive that fast.
“We normally drive at 35 to 40 mph,” Moody said.
The American Gothic House Center sees quite a few car tours, said Holly Berg, the center’s administrator, but never anything this specific — and they’ve never seen a convoy of Stanley Steamers.
“We always try to market ourselves to tour groups,” Berg said. “We like to draw these tours in because it’s a good economic stimulus for the area.”
Berg said it brings people into the community who otherwise would not have come.
Berg said she didn’t know much about Stanley Steamers before the event, though some Googling taught her the basics.
Moody’s particular car has had four to five owners in its lifetime, he said, and has never been restored, only maintained, since the cars take a lot of maintenance.
“It can take half an hour or longer to start the car in the morning,” Moody said.
First, the driver needs to heat different parts of the car, then light the pilot light and let it burn for awhile. The main fire is then turned on, which will boil the water like in a tea kettle. The heat from the fire runs up through tubes, heating the water quickly and creating the steam needed to power the car.
Dennis Heisdorffer, a farmer northeast of Ottumwa, said his interest in machinery brought him to Eldon Tuesday morning.
“The old thresh machines were going out when I was 5 to 6 years old, when I was a water boy,” Heisdorffer said.
While he had been around steam engines before — his father used a steam machine for a couple of years — he’s never driven one himself.
The steam cars and their owners hailed from Washington, Kansas, Illinois, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Florida, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
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Stanley Steamers visit Eldon as part of steam car tour
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