[Bill Powell]

RWBlue nailed it. The owner's name was Walter Christie and he was the inventor of the Christie suspension for armored vehicles. He built the first front wheel drive car in 1900 in hopes of building a commercial taxi. He was also heavily involved in the Vanderbilt Cup races on long island.

For the 1906 race he had shown up with a twelve hundred cubic inch V-4, front wheel drive racer, which he planted hard into a tree. Where the touring car comes into play is as follows. He didn't have time to repair the race car so he dis-assembled the touring car, transferred the rear brakes from the racer to the touring car. The problem the car he created was a 50 hp car and the wrecked racer was a hundred hp.

The photo is the car he created by tearing apart the touring.

[aircarver]

My first impression said 'Edison' ... But Googling it only came up with Edison electric cars ....

.

[Bill Powell]

dammit, pushed the wrong submit button. here's the car.

the second pictuce is the car hewrecked. 1267 cu in V4

[Bill Powell]

Here's the most famous use of the Christie suspension.