Larry Beals in his V-8 Hispano-Suiza aircraft engine powered racing car at Pottsville, Pennsylvania in 1923.  Beals described this car as being “ugly and hard to handle.”  The #6 car lined up next to Beals is the Kennedy Dynamite Hisso.  Beals continued driving racing cars until loosing an eye in a mishap in the Ambler Hisso in 1932.

 

 

Larry Beals can be seen in his #37 Hispano-Suiza powered car against the railing in the background of this photo.

 

 

Larry Beals’ wrecked Hispano-Suiza racing car

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lawrence “Larry” Beals

1898 – 1980

 

 

 

 

“The American Clarence Gary Dinsmore's driver, Wilhelm Werner, went to work for Kaiser Wilhelm in 1906 following Dinsmore's death.  Werner brought some of Dinsmore's cars with him.  These were 60, 70, and 90 H.P. cars (built) 1903-1906.  The chassis of Beals’ cars were at least 1908, based on the design.  For certain, many cars were imported privately at this time and it is possible between 1908 and 1923 this could of happened with the Schiesser cars.  It is also very probably that Wilhelm owned later Mercedes.  There is fairly good reasons to believe that Beals’ cars were ex-Indy cars (Spencer) Wishart (c1888 - 1914) and (Ralph) De Palma (1882 - 1956), that had 90 H.P. I-head engines and 1908 chassis originally, but this is not certain.” - Leland Gohlike 

 

 

The #37 Hispano-Suiza was the same car as the #11 Mercedes that Spencer Wishart qualified in 11th position for the 1911 Indianapolis “500” and then led laps 5-9 before finishing the race in fourth place having completed the full 500 miles at an average speed of 72.648 MPH.  Wishart collected $2,350 for his efforts.

The Hispano-Suiza engine had been installed in the car and the car number changed to 37 by the time that Walter Lozette crashed it to his death at Allentown, Pennsylvania in 1922.

Larry Beals acquired the car and drove it for a time before changing the number to 24.

The car was placed in an Ohio auto collection in 1939 and remained there for over sixty years before being acquired by the Mercedes collection in Germany for $1.2 million.

 

 

Photographs from the Larry Beals collection