1910 Stanley Steamer With Delicate Parts Gets First Wash In 17 Years

The US (and the rest of the world) is going electric but more than a hundred years ago, there was a similar transition that happened in the subject of mobility. From horse-drawn carriages, we moved on to motors, and that has been on for quite a while until the impending move to battery power.

However, there was a transition from horse power to gasoline-fed mills, and that's where the Stanley Motor Carriage Company came in. The American company was a maker of steam cars, also called Stanley Steamers, which used steam as the motor's main propellant instead of gasoline.

Two existing Steamers were brought out of hiding in this latest video of Ammo NYC, and they were in dire need of much-needed love from professional detailers.

According to the owner, these two classic Steamers, model years 1910 and 1911, were built from scratch out of a home shop in 1988. However, they haven't moved out of the garage for 17 years.

To be fair, these two weren't in bad shape at first glance. Sure, there were dust and cobwebs, along with other natural things you could expect from aging storage. But at least they look like they could run at any time; they just need some TLC.

The challenging part was how delicate the parts were, somehow affecting the process of how they were going to be cleaned. Remember that these machines were old – even older than the Ford Model T – made from materials that might be sensitive and have already deteriorated over time.

As such, Ammo NYC didn't use a power washer to clean off the Steamers' parts with water. Instead, chemicals were used along with special brushes that should not scratch the paint. There were brass parts as well, which needed a different type of technique and chemical for cleaning.

After much hard work (and the gross cleaning of mice nests in some areas), the two Stanley Steamers were brought back to good shape. It's unknown whether these two will ever hit the road again on their own, but we sure do hope they do – for old-time's sake.