369ci L-Head Inline 6-Cylinder
Single Updraft Carburetor
3-Speed Manual Transmission with Reverse
Semi-Elliptic Leaf Spring Suspension Front and Rear
2-Wheel Mechanical Brakes

*Large horsepower Brass Era car
*One of the brand names of its genre
*Well-known post-WWII history
*Older restoration

THE LOZIER

The Lozier name is one that immediately conjures images of the swashbuckling era of Brass automobiles, chains thrashing, dust flying from huge capacity sporting automobiles, it sits in the immortal category alongside Simplex and others of its ilk.

While some were interested in the mass market, Harry Lozier was always firmly directed towards the luxury and sporting genre. In 1910, one of his cars was entered in the first running of the Indianapolis 500 driven by Ralph Mulford, a driver who would become synonymous with the race. On the day he placed second behind the local favorite Marmon, but many felt victory had been his and questioned the timing and scoring of the race. They went one better winning the Elgin Cup that same year and in 1911 secured the Vanderbilt Cup. These successes filled the order books and so with capacity peaked out at his Plattsburgh factory, he was convinced to follow the industry to Detroit in 1910.

Results like this, a reputation for quality, and limited production which rarely exceeded 600 units in a calendar year put Lozier's name in the history books such that it still resonates strongly today, but the move to Detroit changed their fortunes. Harry was thrown out of the company in 1912 and the loss of chief designer Frederick C. Chandler in 1913 heralded the 'beginning of the end'. By 1915 the company folded.

The Model 82 is one of their renowned models dating from the final years of Lozier's production. Much like a Rolls-Royce, it featured a six-cylinder engine cast in two blocks of three, totaling more than 6 liters in displacement. This motor was coupled to a three-speed transmission, with final drive by shaft. It would have set its first owner back some $3,250 when new.

THE MOTORCAR OFFERED

This impressive and imposing machine caries with it an incredible history that is a testament to how lucky we are that any of these machines have survived as long as they have! While little about the car's early history is known, it was discovered by Frank Faust, its antepenultimate owner, in 1951 at a garage in Wycombe, Pennsylvania belonging to Bill Fleming. The Lozier was sitting along the railroad right-of-way and Bill had been given an ultimatum to dispose of the car or have it hauled away. Finding the bones to be good, Frank bought the Lozier.

It was not a pretty sight at the time. Its original body had long since been discarded and years of outdoor storage had weathered just about everything else. Crudely fitted, at the time, with a Cadillac body and a wooden box pickup rear end, Frank went about working to save the car. The first thing to go was the body. A new Speedster body was created based on pictures of a 1913 Lozier Roadster owned by a friend. Further research proved the year and model based on the surviving identification plates on the engine and chassis.

Restoration progressed swimmingly until August 1955 when a flood in the Delaware Valley all but nearly destroyed the car once and for all. With a property near the water, and wheels that had not yet been fitted with tires, Frank swiftly wrapped the wheels with newspaper pads and enlisted the help of neighbors to push the car to higher ground. The car was saved, but the flood swamped the garage and machine shop, setting back the restoration by several years. It would be over two decades before the restoration was finished in 1977, just a few months before Frank's passing.

Frank's son Raymond inherited the Lozier and maintained it as a testament to his father. He would later lend the car to the Don Garlits Museum of Drag History in Ocala, Florida in the late 1980s and write a detailed article about the car (including a picture of it prior to restoration) for the July-August 1990 issue of Antique Automobile magazine.

The Lozier joined the Tupelo Automobile Museum's collection in March of 1992. Among the documentation accompanying the car are a copy of the aforementioned magazine article, correspondence between Ray Faust and the Don Garlits Museum, a certificate from the Don Garlits Museum, pictures of the drag racing legend in the Lozier, and a letter from Ray Faust to Frank Spain. With precious few of these Cars of Kings surviving, one must not let this Lozier motor on by!