Part of the fun of studying automotive history is finding an instance of a company implementing a different idea.  While everyone else was using liquid cooling, Franklin Automobile Company stubbornly clung to the idea that air cooling was the way to go.  Despite proving the concept, the company became one of the many that went under during the Depression.  Almost 100 years later, very few surviving examples of this company’s innovative work are left to examine.  Are you looking for a project car vastly different than the usual prewar automobile?  This 1929 Franklin Model 130 sedan for sale on eBay in Stockton, California may meet your approval.  With its air-cooled engine and aluminum body, Franklins were decidedly different.  Do those differences make this car worth the $10,000 buy-it-now price, or would you rather take a chance on bidding, which is currently languishing at $1,000 with exactly zero bids?  Can the desire for something different sustain you through what will be an arduous restoration project?

The Franklin Automobile Company produced its first car in 1902 and managed to stay in the automobile business until 1934.  While there were hundreds of automakers at one time or another before World War II, Franklin stubbornly stood apart from its competitors.  Their philosophy concerning automobiles was that an air-cooled automobile would be simpler, have fewer parts, and thus, less weight.  They further reduced the weight of their cars by using aluminum in the bodies of many of their cars.  While the Syracuse, New York automaker had its loyal followers, poor decision-making going into the Great Depression set the company up for failure.  According to Franklin historian Sinclair Powell, the company stubbornly clung to such practices as building cars using craftspersons instead of implementing mass production strategies, using aluminum when steel would have been cheaper, not outsourcing when necessary, and clinging to a poorly distributed dealer network.  The final nail in the coffin was the development and production of a twelve-cylinder engine, air-cooled of course, during the depths of the Depression.  When automobile production ended in 1934, the Franklin name and all of the company’s assets were sold.  Interestingly, the air-cooled engines the company was famous for continued to be produced under the banner of Aircooled Motors of Syracuse in one form or another until 1975.

When you look at the logic behind leaving the radiator, water pump, and all of the casting headaches that come with the necessity of water passages behind, one has to wonder why air cooling never gained a foothold in the market until the Volkswagen Beetle came around after the war (with the Corvair close behind).  Henry Ford experimented with air cooling, as did Charles Kettering with the infamous copper-cooled Chevrolets.  Even Chrysler worked on prototype air-cooled engines in their “Star” cars, which developmentally became the Airflow.  Franklin made the concept work well, but perhaps they were bound by the restraints of being a luxury car manufacturer.  A lower-cost automobile manufactured efficiently may have worked, but there is no indication that the company ever explored this option.  There was also the issue of metallurgy.  Air-cooled engines rely heavily on aluminum and copper to efficiently radiate heat.  Aluminum production was in its infancy at the time and was notorious for the impurities that were found in the finished product.  Copper was, and always has been a relatively expensive metal compared to the cast iron used in most engines of the time, and its heat transfer abilities could be hampered by inevitable corrosion.

The 1929 Franklin Model 130 sedan you see here is a fascinating study of just how far along Franklin was with air cooling.  Equivalent to the Packards and Cadillacs of its era, this car is now in sad shape with diminished chances of being restored.  Conspicuously absent is the hood and grille assembly that made the car resemble its water-cooled competition instead of the Renault-like hoods worn by older Franklins.  The removed parts sit forlornly inside the body of the car.  In the ad, we are told that “Most all the components required to restore this beast to its former beauty packed inside the passenger compartment.”  That is not a reassuring statement given the complete lack of available Franklin parts on the market today.  The only good news is that 3D printing is making great leaps in providing hope to the owners of orphan automobiles when it comes to simple parts.  If that doesn’t work, then machine shops are everywhere.

The seller tells us they can trace the ownership of the car back to 1980.  All of the owners they are aware of were from California, and the car does appear to have been from a dry climate.  Of course, there is no rust to deal with considering that the body is made of aluminum.  That extensive use of aluminum was one of the reasons that Franklins of this era weighed around 2,800 lbs.  The engine is believed to be a 274 cubic inch inline six-cylinder backed up by a three-speed manual transmission.  There is no mention in the ad of the engine’s condition internally or if it rotates.

Franklin produced 14,289 automobiles in the fateful year of 1929.  It makes you wonder just how many survivors there are out there.  Owning such a car would be interesting, and you would have to become an amateur history teacher duty bound to inform everyone who came up to you to ask about it at shows.  Too bad so few people know about Franklins.  It seems that air cooling was an idea that should have flourished.  Ironically, it took a few decades for a former enemy to show us just how practical and economical such engines could be.  Hopefully, a brave soul steps forward and restores this Franklin to help keep the name and story alive.

Have you ever heard of a Franklin?  Why do you think the idea of air cooling never caught on domestically?  Would you be brave enough to undertake this restoration?  Please share your thoughts in the comments.