The name says it all.
It's not every day that a car tells you exactly what it's made to do just by reading its name, but that's exactly what this Race-About does. Built by Mercer, the Series 5 is one of the more unique cars of the 1920s as they didn't make very many of them. The one you see in the listing was made in 1922 and uses its extraordinarily bright yellow body to draw the eye with a Powertrain that spits out impressive power and exhaust sound for its time. It also holds quite a few pieces of mechanical Innovations that other cars could only dream of competing with. So, what makes this Mercer so special?
First of all, the 298 cubic inches inline engine is a very impressive Powerhouse that was able to push out a lot of power compared to similarly specced powertrains of the time. It was able to do this with the L-head design in this particular Powerhouse is numbered properly per the chassis. On top of the head design, it also has a single updraft carburetor that let it suck in a lot of power back in the day. Another cool feature the car has was the two-wheeled drum brakes which were great for stopping on a dime.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this vehicle has to be its original owner, a Venezuelan General in the 1920s. If you know about that time, Juan Vincent Gomez had control over the area making it a very difficult time for most Venezuelans. Because of this, it was likely the only sports car in the entire country and now it shows its age gracefully as such. Overall, this is more than just a piece of automotive art, it's history that should be preserved. The only question left is who will be the one to do that?
For all those enthusiasts and collectors eager to buy and sell great cars this spring, the road leads right back to Auburn, Indiana, the original “Classic Car Capital of the World” and birthplace of the collector car auction industry in America.
Our next catalogue sale is The Enthusiast Auction taking place from April 29 at our Indiana headquarters. Many consignments will be offered at no reserve, including stellar car and memorabilia collections. This auction will be presented as a simultaneous live and online event. Join us!
