Re: Swan song, with accompaniment

[Bruce Taylor <Bruce.Taylor@domain.elided>]

I see that the Swan Car at http://wwwecp.cern.ch/swancar.jpg is still
getting frequent visits so I've left it there for a few more days and
added some more pics of details of this extraordinary vehicle currently
at the Geneva Motor Show.

http://wwwecp.cern.ch/horn.jpg shows the 8-tone horn, operated by the
exhaust gases and controlled by cables from keys in the passenger
compartment of the car.
 
http://wwwecp.cern.ch/ejector.jpg shows the swan's, err, rear outlet
cited by John Hertzman in AD7-548. It also has a cable-operated control valve.

http://wwwecp.cern.ch/cab.jpg shows the driver's cab of polished brass controls.

http://wwwecp.cern.ch/head.jpg shows the swan's head, with steam jet for
crowd dispersal and crystal eyes which are illuminated at night.

The Swan Car was created in 1909 by Brooke of Lowestoft, England, for a
British engineer working in India who wanted to upstage the extravagant
cars of the maharajahs.  According to an engraving on the dashboard, the
car reached Calcutta in April 1910.  At its appearances buffalo, cows,
elephants and camels fled, causing "indescribable panic" according to
one police report.

Shocked by the appearances of the car in Maiden Park, it was denounced
by "polite society" and declared by the authorities non grata in
Calcutta.  The car was subsequently acquired by the Maharajah of Nabha,
a collector of unusual vehicles.  It has a 6 cylinder in-line 25/35 HP
engine (cylinders cast in pairs), 4 gears (3rd direct), multi-disc
clutch and transmission shaft with Cardan joints. Max speed 70 km/h.

http://wwwecp.cern.ch/rlss.jpg shows the Alfa Romeo 1925 3-litre
Castagna-bodied RL Super Sport, also at the show, which many Alfisti
will have already seen at its normal home in the Museo Storico at Arese.
 The Aga Khan, no automobile neophyte, is reported to have described it
as "one of the best cars I have ever driven".

Bruce Taylor

http://www.cern.ch/TTC/montreal.html

------------------------------