Racing an Essex special in Toronto

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Photographs always capture a moment in time, and this one does it in a grand way. Look at those men with their hats and ties, quietly appreciating the racing car which is rightly the centre of attention. Smartly dressed for the occasion? Of course not, this is just what men wore a century ago. If you were a racing driver you just turned your hat around for aerodynamics and put on a pair of goggles…

The picture is said to date back to 1924, so it’s just a year short of being 100 years old. The Essex Motor Company, which provided the basis for this special, even if we’re only able to identify it from the prominent writing on its tail, had made a good name for itself in next to no time. The company started trading in 1918, producing relatively small family-oriented cars. In 1922, it became a subsidiary of the Hudson Motor Car Company and also had a connection with Studebaker, which leased its factory for the production of Essexes.

Racing was, of course, a great way to prove performance, durability and reliability and Essex cars made some good efforts to establish its name, relying on those qualities. Glen Schulz won the 1923 Pikes Peak Hill Climb behind the wheel of one such car. Another completed a 3,037-mile (4,888 km) endurance test averaging 60.75 mph (97.77 km/h) in just over 50 hours. It paid off, or so it seemed. By 1929, Essex was third in sales in the USA, behind Ford and Chevrolet. Three years later, the name disappeared as quickly as it had risen to prominence.

We don’t know the background of this Essex racing special or the cool guy behind the wheel, but we understand the picture was taken in Toronto, Canada. Essex happened to have a production plant in Canada, so this might have been a locally-built car. Who knows?

Words: Jeroen Booij: picture: Toronto Public Library via Canadian Racer
 

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