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| The Green Dragon |
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| The Wheel Problems of 1905 |
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Page 1 of 4
Racing With PeerlessMan has always raced what ever he could get his hands on. Someone always wanted to be the fastest. As soon as the horseless carriage came on the scene men were racing them. Many automobile pioneers started by racing their machines and this gave them National recognition, Peerless being one of them.
The first 2-cylinder Peerless was introduced by the factory at the Brighton Beach races and did quite well. Racing was good publicity and could prove the durability of their machines. Louis Mooers was hired in July of 1902 and built a 40-HP 4-cylinder T head race car.
“Superintendent Mooers of the Peerless Mfg. Co., who paid a fine of $25 for scorching, recently was again reported a day ago as breaking the speed ordinance in Cleveland.”
Two 40-HP racers were built and competed in the eliminating trails, April 1903, for the Gordon Bennett race to be held in Ireland. Louis Mooers won with the Peerless and was one of the manufacturers from the United States represented at the race. Only one car was taken to Ireland and it had been painted green. At the weight in the Peerless was too heavy and some things had to be removed. The exhaust system was one of the first things to go. Here was this monstrous green car with its large 4-cylinder engine, roaring and belching fire and smoke from the four exhaust ports in the side of the hood. The Irish thought it resembled a fire eating green dragon, and the name stuck. Peerless used the Green Dragon name for years.
Note: There have been articles listing the first Green Dragon as a 60-HP and another listing it as an 80-HP. The fact is it was a 40-HP, Mooers did put two 40-HP motors into a race car making it 80-HP but it was not successful.
The Green Dragon was not successful in the Gordon Bennett race; Mooers killed the engine on the start and had several mishaps during the race. He didn’t finish and said they were outclassed by the European cars. The American tires weren’t designed for road racing and on a sharp curve the tire would roll off the rim.
