The search for E.K.S., a Simplex mystery | Hemmings Blog: Classic ...

The only clue I had when starting this researcher?s odyssey were the faded letters, ?E.K.S.? on the car?s back doors, and the fact that the car is part of the famous Richard C. Paine Jr. collection. Richard C. Paine Jr. amassed one of America?s great transportation collections, buying, selling, and trading automobiles and motorcycles with a passion over a span of thirty plus years. Although I never had the pleasure of meeting Richard Paine, by all accounts he could be quite charming, had an encyclopedic knowledge of automobiles, was mythic within the collector-car hobby, and was rather eccentric ? an affliction I am told that affects most of us in the car-collecting hobby. Richard didn?t mind exaggerating or telling a tall tale when talking about his cars. He also never kept notes or records; his car?s histories being perfectly ordered in his mind and, with his passing in 2007, going to the grave with him.

Filling in the blanks, establishing provenance, and learning the histories of Richard?s treasures became a challenging quest for me, at times frustrating, always fascinating. For many of the cars, establishing their provenance was easy. Cars like James Melton?s 1913 Peugeot Type 160 ?Skiff? or Bill Harrah?s favorite car, the 1915 F.R.P., are so well known and have been written about so extensively that their histories were evident. Others, like the ex-Henry Austin Clark Jr. 1904 Knox or the ex-Isabel Weld Perkins 1911 American Victoria Underslung from the Briggs Cunningham collection, proved more challenging. But of all the Museum?s cars that I have had the pleasure of researching to date, the most challenging, and the most elusive, proved to be that rather nondescript-looking Simplex, Crane Model 5.

Richard Paine naturally acquired examples of Simplex and Crane automobiles for his collection, including a 1908 Simplex 90hp, a 1912 Crane, and Simplex, Crane Model 5, Car Number 2308. Looking at the Model 5, you may well wonder why tracing its provenance became a bit of an obsession for me. The car is in unrestored, original, condition; it has a rather military look to it, and certainly compared to the other magnificent cars in the Museum, like the 1912 Crane, is not particularly pretty. Yet the car?s very mass and wonderful patina spoke to me and begged to have its history revealed. The fact that visitors seemed curious only heightened my curiosity, and so the quest began.

By its very nature and cost, a Simplex, Crane Model 5 would have been owned by one of America?s wealthiest of families. Frederick W. Vanderbilt owned one, as did Alfred Atmore Pope. The Rockefellers owned several?. Could the car in the Museum possibly have been one of the Rockefeller?s? John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his descendants are inexorably tied to Mount Desert Island, the carriage roads in Acadia National Park, and by living there today. Penelope S. Wolfe, Richard Paine?s former wife, is related to the Rockefellers through her aunt ?Elsie,? who married William Goodsell Rockefeller. The Model 5 must certainly be one of the Rockefeller cars, or so I thought. A query to the Rockefellers was in order. The Rockefeller connection was quickly dashed, coming from Erwin Levold, Senior Research Archivist, Research & Education, Rockefeller Archive Center.

?Dear Mr. Rodriguez: Thank you for your inquiry of February 11, 2010. Both John D. Rockefeller Senior and Junior owned a number of Crane Simplex motor cars. A vehicle inventory from April 1926 lists a 1917 Touring (Motor Number 2358) and a 1918 Touring (Motor Number 2512) as being at the Pocantico Hills estate in New York. A 1915 Limousine (Motor Number 2070) and a 1917 Touring (Motor Number 2529) were located at the family?s home in Maine. Following the death of JDR Senior in 1937, cars #2358 and #2512 were donated to the Boston Museum of Automotive Conveyance, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. As far as I know, this institution no longer exists. The fate of the other two cars is unknown. In addition, JDR Junior purchased a new Crane Simplex Model 5 Tourer (Motor Number 2489) in 1918. This car came with a Brewster phaeton body, and originally also had an interchangeable custom sedan body that allowed for winter driving. This vehicle was purchased by Nelson A. Rockefeller from the Winthrop Rockefeller estate in 1976. The car is now part of the vehicle collection on display at Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate and a National Trust property. Best wishes, Erwin Levold.?

Not wanting to give up completely on a possible Rockefeller connection even if obscure, it occurred to me that the ?S? in those ?E.K.S? initials on the car might be for Stillman, Penny Wolfe?s maiden name. Penny?s father, Ernest Goodrich Stillman, was wealthy and certainly of the class that would own a car like a Simplex, Crane Model 5. The ?Stillman? connection could easily be confirmed, thanks to Mrs. Wolfe?s frequent visits to the Museum. ?Penny, does this car have any connection to your family,? I asked. ?Absolutely not, and it?s the ugliest car Richard ever bought,? came the quick reply. Shortly after the Rockefeller and Stillman connections were quashed, I received a note from Tina Weeks, Richard and Penny?s daughter. Typed out on stationery from Richard Paine?s Seal Cove Garage, the car?s ownership was clearly spelled out. The ?Crane-Simplex? had originally been a parade car having been owned by General Cushing. Richard was offering the car for sale through his place of business, the Seal Cove Garage, for the huge asking price of $75,000. At that price, the car needed an important provenance. As noted, Richard was known to exaggerate on occasion, and so it was with this impeccable credential. Brigadier General Caleb Cushing, U.S. Attorney General 1853?1857, died in 1879 a full 37 years before the Model 5 was built.

With the General Caleb connection dashed, I was at a complete dead end. Now it would take luck, serendipity, and the real secret to researching ? networking ? to solve the riddle of the elusive ?E.K.S.? In March of 2010, I attended the National Association of Automobile Museums and Society of Automotive Historians joint Conference in Tupelo, Mississippi. Networking is one of the objectives of such conferences, and so it was that I met Kit Foster, automotive historian, writer, and past president of the Society of Automotive Historians. At the conference dinner, seated beside Kit, our conversation naturally turned to cars, their histories, and inevitably the ?Simplex Crane.? Kit and I kept in touch via email, and it wasn?t long after the conference, and my sending him all the details about the car that I could at the time, that I received in part the following note:

?Roberto, Everything I can find suggests that serial and motor numbers are the same. None of the sources gives a location for the ?motor number? other than on the dashboard plate or right frame member. The 1920 Branham Automobile Reference Book allocates numbers as follows: 1914: 1311-1498, 1915: 1499-2079, 1916: 2080-2253, 1917: 2254-2500. Grace Brigham?s Serial Number Book for US Cars 1900-1975 agrees through 1916, but give 1917 as 2254-2299, and 1918 as 2300 up. She lists Model 5 in 1917-18 only. I forwarded your email to Bill Bell, a Simplex researcher in Upstate New York. He says he has some info on your car. I expect he may be in touch with you. Kit.?

I immediately sent an email to Bill Bell and, in just over a week, his reply arrived.

?Hi Roberto: Sorry about my delay in getting to you, but have been very busy preparing my 1912 Simplex for the upcoming touring season. You may be interested to know that I?ve been collecting Simplex automobile and Simplex owner information for a number of years and have to date found 42% of the total production by car number and 25% of the original owners. Have found over 2,500 Simplex owners so far and add information continually. As far as #2308 is concerned, I don?t have much, no early owners: This car was road tested by the Simplex Test Driver on 2/27/1917 and delivered on 3/1/1917; unfortunately I don?t know to whom. If it was E. K. S., I have no one in the 2,500+owners with those initials. As I find new information, I might just hit upon EKS! It was tested as car #2308, motor #2295, Carb #311, with gunboat 4 pass. body (various test bodies were used). I?d be most interested to know if the motor is still #2295 or if it was changed? It was owned by Pauline B. Snook of Schodack Center, NY, 1947, perhaps earlier, to 1962 when she died. She and her husband, Frank E. ran a garage there starting in 1929. She was very active in antique car circles in the area.? ?Frank may have then owned the car as he survived her, I don?t know. Their son Gordon F. Snook of Castleton, NY, owned it in 1981 (can?t document any other years). I believe he sold it to Paine when he moved West. The earliest date I have documentation for Paine ownership is 1999.?

This was a huge breakthrough! Wonderful details about the car?s development and, best of all, a definite link in the ownership. Now I had the Snooks of Schodack Center, NY, and by gosh? Could the ?S? in ?E.K.S? stand for Snook? If only I could track down Gordon S. Snook, all my questions would be answered. No Snooks listed for Schodack Center, no Gordon Snook popping up in the usual car club memberships or forums? So close but no brass ring, another dead end. Never underestimate the power of the internet and the power of the car-collecting fraternity. On April 23, 2011, I posted the following to the AACA Forum looking for Gordon Snook. Call it luck, serendipity, or divine intervention, but on October 19, 2011, the following email showed up in my inbox?

?Mr. Rodriguez: Looking at Crane Simplex on internet & saw reference to my family and a Crane Simplex we owned. My parents were Frank & Pauline Snook. Item mentions a Kimball chassis ? Car we owned with a C.P. Kimball chassis had a ?baby carriage? top over rear seat + removable cloth top, also recall the rear exhaust manifold was welded. Car did not have a Kellog air compressor. If I am describing the car you have, might be able to fill you in on info. Or another C-S?? Thru years my parents owned 5 Crane- Simplex cars. Gordon F Snook, Scottsdale AZ.?

Amazing! A quick email back to Gordon Snook immediately confirmed that the Simplex, Crane Model 5 at the Seal Cove Auto Museum was indeed one and the same as the car once owned by his mother. Detail after detail about the car, the Snooks, and their Crane-Simplex automobiles started to flow in, including a photograph of the car when under their ownership. From Gordon?s recollections, the story of the car?s acquisition in Massachusetts by his parents and its provenance began to come to light? Gordon remembered his father telling him that on the day he went to get the car in the 1930s, a maintenance man at the estate told him that a maid in the house had seen the original invoice on the day that the car had been delivered new ? $10,660 for the chassis and coachwork. Gordon went on to tell me;

?My Father said that E.K.S. stood for Ethel Katherine Salsbury (or Salisbury?? If car had ever been repainted, those initials would have been lost. Thus I believe E.K.S. was original owner and my parents the 2nd owners. During late 1930s & WWII years, the car sat (next to 2 other Crane Simplexes) in a frame garage behind my father?s repair shop. Not driven. In ?46 or ?47 Glidden Tour Revival started in Albany NY. No Interstate highways then, participating cars coming up from NYC (Rt 9) or from MA (Rt20) would be going past the garage. My parents got a couple of the Simplexes running & parked them out near highway. Recall Opera Singer James Melton was one of several who stopped & chatted with my parents. 1950s, we drove the C-S to local AUHV (Automobilists of Upper Hudson Valley) meets around Albany/Troy & western New England. My Mother passed away in 1962. 63 or ?64 my Father sold the car. I seem to recall the purchaser?s name was Morgan. From NJ, truck they hauled it away on had NJ plates. I often looked, but never knew anything further about it until coming across you message in AACA blog.?

Was Ethel Katherine Salsbury (or Salisbury) the elusive E.K.S.? If so, who was she and how did she come to own such an expensive automobile? The final chapter in my quest was finally about to be written, thanks to Victoria Salvatore at the Lenox Historical Society. Having absolutely no luck in finding anything about Salsbury (or Salisbury), I played a long shot and on October 25th sent a letter to the Lenox Historical Society. Less than a month later, I received the following email?

?Dear Mr. Rodriguez: I am curator of Lenox Historical Society and our Museum of Lenox History and received your recent letter regarding the 1916 Simplex-Crane automobile formerly owned by a Mrs. Ethel Katherine Salsbury. I?m very curious about the Salsbury family and although the name is not familiar to me, I will check all of our records and files in hopes of finding some background information to share with you. I?ll also contact the Lee Historical Society in the event Mrs. Salsbury lived in Lee, rather than Lenox. I?ll keep you posted on my findings. Thank you so much for contacting us. Sincerely, Victoria Salvatore.?

On November 28, 2011, Christmas came early in the form of Ms. Salvatore?s next email?

?Hello, Roberto: The term ?Salisbury Estates? recently came to my mind. I associate it with what I think is the name of a retirement facility in neighboring Pittsfield, MA. I asked my 81-year-old mother-in-law if she was familiar with the facility or the name ?Ethel Katherine Salisbury?. She is not familiar with the name but recalled that Hillcrest Hospital in Pittsfield is on the site of the former Salisbury estate. I goggled Hillcrest Hospital and found an amazing history of the property! I may be way off the track, but I?m wondering if E.K.S. stands for Evelyn Kimball Salisbury who, with her husband Warren M. Salisbury, owned the property. I suggest you check out Hillcrest Hospital Pittsfield, MA, then look for Berkshire Health Systems then BMC/Hillcrest Hospital Merger. From there you?ll find a link for Hillcrest Hospital: A History.? ?Evelyn Kimball may be the daughter of William Wallace Kimball who was born in Rumford, ME in 1828. He was the founder of the Kimball Piano and Organ Co. in Chicago. Warren Salisbury, Evelyn?s husband, eventually became Pres. of the company, according to the history of Hillcrest Hospital. Who knows? Perhaps Evelyn is the woman whose initials are on the car! Wouldn?t that be amazing?? ?I have a busy two weeks ahead of me but will try to research the Salisbury ?mystery?. I?m very curious about the family. In Pittsfield, the Berkshire Athenaeum is a wonderful resource. Their Local History room is a wealth of information and, according to the Hillcrest website, the athenaeum supplied information on the history of the property. If you call the Athenaeum, their staff may be able to answer some of your questions.? ?I hope this information is helpful to you. Please keep me posted on your search. I?m looking forward to hearing from you again. Sincerely, Vickie Salvatore, Lenox Historical Society.?

But of course! Evelyn Kimball Salisbury, it all makes perfect sense; wealth and pedigree through a direct connection to the coach builder, C.P. Kimball & Co., of Chicago. The search for E.K.S., solved at last. I like to think that Richard C. Paine Jr. knew exactly who E.K.S. was, and was simply playing a prank when he identified General Caleb as the car?s original owner.

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Source: http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/10/31/the-search-for-e-k-s-a-simplex-mystery/

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