Rocket PoweR, InteRstellaR tRavel and eteRnal lIfe

80 The Sunday Telegram, September 8, 1918, reported
Hungerford was driving the car with his wife, mother-in-law
and brother-in-law (Robert Hopkins) on First Street across
the Erie tracks. Hungerford told the police the car “was
‘drafting’ along over the crossing when the train was
approaching from the east….He said he became frightened
and warned the others to get out of the car in a hurry to avoid
being killed, fearing he could not get the car over the tracks
in time.” The police said he thought he could have driven
safely over the tracks before the train arrived. In any case,
“Within a few minutes after the accident occurred the police
heard a junk dealer was on hand ready to buy the remains of
the wrecked automobile.” The 1912 Elmira city directory, p.
47, noted the city was the “Home of a large factory making
Overland Automobile parts.”
81 H. Steven Sekella told the author in September 2008 that he
purchased and retains the 1933 Plymouth. He also bought
from Dan Hungerford a 1925 Henderson race car. The last
was assembled, not by the Hungerfords, from Henderson
motorcycle parts. Sekella recalls “Pete [Oakley], Dan and I
tried to rebuild the engine in the Hungerford side yard.”
Sekella in a November 2008 telephone conversation noted
that short on money, Daniel periodically asked Sekella to buy
things from him. A rifle was among the items Sekella purchased.
82 Quoted in Keith Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second
Street”, Automobile Quarterly, vol. IV no. 2, Fall 1965.
83 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, April 7 (continued on
April 28), 1964.
84 Keith Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”.
85 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, May 20, 1964.
86 Keith Marvin reading an expanded draft of his article in a
tape recording made in 1974. The author made notes after listening
to the tape on June 6, 1992.
87 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”, p. 193.
88 Unidentified, undated newspaper clip, “Car Rocket Lining
Can’t Stand Heat – Inventor Hungerford of This City…”
89 Marvin, “Misguided Missile”.
90 George Mapes to Geoffrey Stein, October 25, 2009. Keith
Marvin had recorded the replacement radiator as a Waco.
91 Keith Marvin, “Misguided Missile”, Special Interest Autos,
February 1980.
92 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, April 7 (continued on
April 28), 1964.
93 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, August 27, 1964
94 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”, manuscript
version p. 20. Marvin did not elaborate which “cams and
gears” were replaced, but George Mapes has related the parts
were for the Gould pump. George Mapes to Geoffrey Stein,
October 25, 2009.
95 Marvin, 1974 tape recording.
96 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”, manuscript
version p. 19.
97 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street” Tom Page in
the Elmira Star-Gazette, June 26, 1994, quoted George Hodge
of Horseheads, who said, “I believe it was first tested on
Westlake Street in a field off Gardner Road.” Hodge’s uncle,
Ralph Hodge, eventually acquired the rocket car as described
in a later chapter.
98 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, April 7 (continued on
28), 1964
99 Marvin, “Misguided Missile”.
100 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”, manuscript
version, p. 19. The car was last registered for 1952 and retains
(2013) that license plate in the rear.
101 Marvin, “The Wizards of West Second Street”, manuscript
version, p. 17.
102 Daniel D. Hungerford to Keith Marvin, July 15, 1964.
103 Actually it was a Detroit Aero Engine that powered the
Bleriot. The note at the Curtiss Museum further quotes Albee
indirectly about the Oriole’s flying characteristics. It would,
reportedly, slide slip as fast as it would go forward. It was a
tricky ship to fly and prone to ground loop. Albee had “a CG
in it”.
I initially assumed the ”Albee” represented in the lettering
on the side of the rocket car was Robert C. Albee, who first
appears in the Elmira directories in 1919 as the manager of
Wolcott Motor Company and later was president of the
Albee Motor Company, Inc. While I had thought Robert
Albee might have been the source of the Chevrolet car,
George Mapes related by telephone on July 24, 2008 he
thought not. Daniel Hungerford identified the source of the
automobile, “…our Ashman Mr. George Reeves – from the
late Mr. F. Brockway Blossom…” See page 33.
104 Taylor, Eva C., “Hungerford Rockets”, Chemung Historical
Journal”, December 1974, p. 2446.
105 Actually there is only one operational rocket engine. The side
and bottom tubes are dummies.
106 “Being rather naïve in big business matters, he simply sent
the plans for his invention to the Otto Bernz Corp., with an
offer to sell the system to them. OOOPS!!!...Needless to say,
there was no offer for compensation and, miraculously, the
‘Bernz-a-matic’ propane lantern hit the market shortly thereafter.”
107 George Mapes to Geoffrey Stein via telephone, July 23 and
24, 2008. The wording in the quotes is approximate based on
Stein’s recollections of the conversations.
108 New York Times, December 24, 1929. Opel had visited the
United States earlier in the year arriving in New York on
April 20 also to “make a study of American methods in manufacturing
motor cars.” The Opel concern had been acquired
by the General Motors Corporation but “the Opel family still
retained a financial interest in the concern, and the factory
would remain in the hands of the German operators” according
to the Times, April 20, 1929. At that point the Hungerford
rocket car had yet to be constructed. The wintry setting of the
Botsford-Hunt photo suggests a later date as well.
Chapter Four: The Hungerford Rocket Car 31