An amazing driving experience awaits the next owner, and their discovery of how almost magically easy this car is to drive. In what would be discussed today as perfect human factors, all controls are located exactly where the hand would fall, creating perfect control for fast shifting and secure braking. Its triumph was its light weight, smaller size, and low center of gravity, resulting in remarkable agility in an era when cars were much larger and ponderous. – S.M.

At first blush the T-head Mercer Raceabout, an iconic American automobile of the Brass Era is an odd fit to the Sam and Emily Mann Collection, one so focused on large, powerful cars with abundant curves and bold personalities. A Mercer, on the other hand, is a small engine, scarcely 330 cubic inches, mounted on a frame with a steering column and a pair of seats. Not only are there very few sensual curves to a Mercer, there is very little to a Mercer at all—and that was the point.

In motoring’s teenaged years, when getting better performance out of a car usually meant making the engine larger and larger, designer Finley Robertson Porter had gone a different route. His T-head four-cylinder engine with its cross-flow porting produced an unprecedented nearly 60 brake horsepower from scarcely 300 cubic inches—but the Mercer’s nearly supernatural abilities on road and board track were largely drawn from its lightness. It was smaller, yes, but also more nimble, almost shockingly so, and extraordinarily easier to drive than the over-engined beasts that ran against it. Not for nothing did it prove difficult to beat in competition, official and otherwise, running against the storied likes of Stutz Bearcats and Nationals.

In sum, it was the height of advanced engineering and design for its day, to a degree comparable only to today’s hypercars. Before carbon fiber and Kevlar, there were two bucket seats—and nothing else.

THE ENTHUSIASTS’ CAR

By the time that T-head Mercer production ended in 1914, Mercer Associates historians estimate that only around 1,830 cars had been built, with fewer than a quarter being Raceabout models.

The Mann Raceabout is a late-production 35-J, actually recorded by Mercer Associates as the latest known 1913 model, and was thus equipped from new with the sought-after four-speed manual transmission. Its history has been traced back to July 1939, when it was purchased by the very early enthusiast Paul Cadwell of West Warwick, Rhode Island, at the time the very first vice-president of the Veteran Motor Car Club of America, who reported his acquisition of a “Mercer Raceabout” in the April edition of The Bulb Horn. According to correspondence from the late David Brownell, who researched the car for Sam Mann, it was acquired from a storage garage in the presence of pioneer collector Smith Hempstone Oliver, who negotiated between seller and buyer the heady price of $62.50.

Mr. Cadwell eventually sold his Mercer—it is believed by 1943—to his contemporary Webster Knight II, an heir to the Fruit of the Loom undergarment empire and a significant, active early figure in American car collecting, who eventually acquired numerous great Brass Era automobiles. It was listed under Mr. Knight’s ownership in the 1954 and 1957 editions of the Antique Automobile Club of America’s roster, duly recorded as a “Raceabout.”

After some years of enjoyment, Mr. Knight eventually sold his two Mercer Raceabouts, this car and an earlier 1911 model, to Ed Saczawa of Manchester, Connecticut. Following Mr. Saczawa’s passing, the 1913 Raceabout was sold by his widow to Burt Upjohn of Kalamazoo, Michigan, a real estate investor and prominent local philanthropist, at the time building a small, well-chosen, thoroughly impressive collection focused on Brass automobiles and Full Classics. The Mercer remained one of the centerpieces of the Upjohn collection for the rest of its owner’s life.

In the late 1990s, Sam Mann found himself at a car event in Northern California, and was invited to go for a ride in a friend’s T-head Mercer Raceabout. He was utterly smitten by the experience—something common to everyone after their first Mercer ride—and set about looking for a similar car for himself. In the serendipitous manner that things seem to fall into line for the Mann collection, as luck would have it the Upjohn family was preparing to sell their Raceabout, and it was soon acquired for the collection in August of 1999. In writing to a friend who facilitated the transaction, Mr. Mann joyfully described his new car as “painfully original.”

Well-admired and respected by Mercer connoisseurs, the Mann Raceabout is not only of the ultimate four-speed specification, but is an unusually intact car, still wearing the antique paint that has clung to it for virtually all of its known enthusiast life, with a rich and welcoming patina. Inspection shows the original engine and gearbox numbers in their proper locations, as well as the original frame number still stamped into the rear cross-member.

In fact, the car is believed to be mechanically wholly original and intact save only for the front axle, which was replaced some years ago by a 1912 unit, of slightly different design. However, the original front axle for the car was in the stores of noted Mercer enthusiast Fred Hoch, and Mr. Mann was able to acquire it some years ago; it will accompany the Raceabout to its new owner. Mechanical restoration over the years has included a 2007 engine rebuild and additional work by Zakira’s Garage of Ohio, invoices for which are included in the file. Recently the car was also fitted with new tires in preparation for the sale.

Mercer owners, like those of Bugattis and “W.O.” Bentleys, are well-known to drive their automobiles with enthusiasm and brio, and the Manns are absolutely no exception to the rule, having enjoyed their Raceabout on numerous tours and rallies all over the country in over three decades of ownership. Some eight or nine iterations of the Mozart Tour were undertaken in the car, as well as one of the Friends of Ancient Road Transportation rallies and many journeys around the Englewood area. It has, further, captivated crowds in its occasional concours appearances, including in the Prewar Preservation class at Pebble Beach in 2016. Well-known in the close-knit Mercer community, it has also occasionally been shown in their events, most prominently in the 2016 Mercer Reunion held in the former factory location at Trenton, New Jersey.

Its simplicity is its elegance, and its driving thrill is its novelty. – S.M.