Preserving Motoring Legacy
Who or What Is An Autoneer, & Where Did They Get That Name?
The Autoneers is a regional group of the Horseless Carriage Club of America. Our regional group formed as a reaction to the inaction of local old car clubs. Skip Carpenter and Steve Cook, members of the Worcester Old Car Club, loved driving their Brass Era cars. However, local clubs rarely, if ever, toured. They knew that there were other early auto owners who wanted to drive their cars as well. Taking matters into their own hands, they contacted every brass car owner that they knew of, and invited them to meet on Skip’s back porch. That meeting was the birth of our group. The attendees generally came from the central Massachusetts area. They called themselves the Massachusetts Brass Touring Association, or MBTA. As members joined from a much wider area, the name seemed less appropriate. It was decided to move forward by looking backward to find a name that would be distinctive and of the era when the cars were new. The drivers of motor cars were called many things by different people. Some of the names were more flattering than others. At that time drivers of steam locomotives were called “engineers”. The term ‘autoneer” was found in some of the literature of the time by Barbara Carpenter, who was a librarian and wife of one of the founders of our group, Skip Carpenter. The group chose to rename itself The Autoneers, and has kept the name ever since.
So what is an Autoneer? An Autoneer is someone who owns and drives an automobile that was manufactured prior to 1916. We refer to that era as the Brass Era. During the Brass Era most automobiles that used water-cooled engines had polished brass radiators, and polished brass lamps and such. Electric and steam powered automobiles were likewise fitted out with polished brass accessories. Even a basic auto of the era looks richly appointed when rolling down the road. At that time automobiles were a work in progress. There were literally dozens of manufacturers who used their own engineering skills to build cars to suit the roads and expectations of the day. Some autos might look like a buckboard, some like a toboggan, and they might have a tiller or a steering wheel. Some were wooden bodied, some had leather fenders. Some autos had one cylinder, some two, three ,four or more. Early cars often came without windshields or tops. Most were hand cranked, though some had “self starters”.
Drivers of early cars are usually pretty self-reliant, and able to handle small repairs as needed. Brass Era autos are surprisingly reliable. Quite a few have driven cross country. However, Autoneers generally drive on tours of 70 miles or less. Most tours are laid out on less travelled roads in scenic areas.
What is it like to drive a Brass Era Auto? That might be hard to explain. I can report that when I get behind the wheel of my 1914 touring car I am seated high up, as in a horse drawn buggy, and I have an unobstructed view impossible in a modern car or truck. I drive slowly, about 30 miles per hour on back roads. In 1914 this would have been break-neck speed. I focus on the road ahead, as I must adjust my spark and throttle properly if I am going to make the next hill in high gear. I feel the wind on my face. I listen for any unusual noise, and try to feel any unusual vibrations as my car does not have a single “idiot light”. Even if my motor sounds like two skeletons tap dancing on a tin roof while in the garage, on the road it can be so quiet that I can have a conversation with my passenger, and hear birds singing as I pass by. Travelling the back roads, I can also smell flowers in the fields, or fresh mown hay. In some ways I am traveling in a rolling time machine, especially when there are other early cars in sight. Onlookers often are amazed to see my car, and ask questions about it. People seem to come out of nowhere when I drive an old car. I have met interesting people and seen special things simply because I was driving an old car.
Taken as a whole, there are people who restore and own old cars. Some keep them in pristine shape in a garage. Some people own old cars and roll them onto a trailer only to roll them off again at a car show. Autoneers drive their old cars on tours. Their cars may or may not be in pristine shape. They may or may not take their cars to car shows. Autoneers do keep their cars road ready and regularly drive them.
