Ford 999

Sometimes I think we invented machines just to go fast.

Fast is, of course, relative. Thousands of years ago, speed was a contest between the men who raced chariots. Hundreds of years ago, countries raced each other on the open seas. 

Now, we send satellites into orbit around our planet—and we send some out to the very edge of our galaxy.

It's difficult to know just how cutting edge the 1904 Ford 999 was, however, unless we compare a few things. For a moment in time, Henry Ford’s creation was the fastest car on earth, period — and to go faster you’d need to be the conductor of a cutting-edge locomotive.

1898

• Fastest road car, Stanley Steamer: 44 km/h (27.4 mph) 
• Fastest manned vehicle on land, Empire State Express No.999 locomotive: 181 km/h (112.5 mph)
• Fastest manned vehicle in air: Airplanes hadn’t been invented yet

1904

• Fastest road car, Panhard as-raced in the Vanderbilt Cup: 41.8 km/h (52.2 mph)
• Fastest vehicle on land, Ford 999: 147 km/h (91.4 mph)
• Fastest vehicle in air, Wright Flyer: 10.98 km/h (6.8 mph)

1924

• Fastest road car, "Green Label" 3-Litre Bentley: 160+ km/h (100+ mph)
• Fastest vehicle on land, Sunbeam 250HP: 235 km/h (146 mph)
• Fastest vehicle in air, Bernard-Ferbois V.2: 448 km/h (278 mph)

That'll give you an indication of how fast the 999 was in its day — it was about 20 years and a World War later until the fastest road cars could match its top speed. In the same time, for reasons just explained, aircraft had more than doubled their speed over land vehicles.

Hopefully the over-explanation gives you some perspective on why 147 km/h (91 mph) was such a big deal in 1904.

Oh, but there’s more.

“As Ford flashed by it was noticed he wore no goggles or other face protection. Humped over his steering tiller, the tremendous speed throwing the machine in zig-zag fashion. Ford was taking chances that no man, not even that specialist in averted suicide, Barney Oldfield, had dared to attempt.” – Detroit Tribune, 1904

To do that speed, Henry Ford had to produce a vehicle at the very edge of automotive construction and material science. 

No bodywork. No suspension. No differential. No steering wheel. (It had a tiller instead.) 4-cylinder, 18.8-litre engine. Between 70-100 horsepower. The modern equivalent is when you see a bare school bus chassis being shipped somewhere, before its body is fitted.

There were two built, one with a red chassis ("999") and one with a yellow chassis ("Arrow"). The first was completed in 1902, after Henry Ford, the car's designer, had sold his stake in the venture to future land speed record seeker Barney Oldfield and bicycle racer Tom Cooper. 

Oldfield won his first race with 999, the 1902 Manufacturers' Challenge Cup, against his rival, Alexander Winton, whose company was backed by the Vanderbilts. Oldfield's 999 would run for another year and be retired.

The money was in the promotion — cards, prints, toys, events — as word spread of the made-in-Detroit land speed record car’s exploits.

Its sister car, Arrow, still raced successfully, until late 1903 when its driver Frank Day crashed the car and was killed. 

In the meantime, Henry Ford had started a new venture. He bought back the wreckage, fixed damage, and decided to overcome his fear of driving the re-christined 999 machine — something he originally did not want to do — and attempt a land speed record on Lake St. Clair to gain publicity for his new firm, the Ford Motor Company that exists to this day.