The Strange Triumph of Abner Doble (Invention & Technology Summer 1998)

[Lewis of Avila]

These are the recollections of an 82 year old of his early memories as a young boy in the late twenties. I often visited the shop in Hollywood where Howard Hughes had set out to develop an improved steam car.
Sometime in 1925, my father Howard B. Lewis and his friend Bruce Burns both recent Cal Tech graduates accepted Hughes' offer to work on the project.
As a young child I often visited the shop with my dad. I I had no idea about exactly was going on. There was something fascinating about the chassis of a Stanley Steamer and two beautiful Doble convertibles, and the tools and machines that cluttered the shop. . My dad had access to several fine cars in Hughes' collection among which were the Dobles . I still have images of the cars and the experiences associated with them.
The car attracted interest where ever it went. At the gas station, a crowd gathered to wonder as water was added water at the rear where the gas should go, and gasoline was added beneath the seat. The upholstery was thick leather, the dash board contained a variety of gauges and indicator lights, the throttle was a smaller ring inside the steering wheel. The only sound seemed to come from the boilers under the hood and a gentle shoosh from the rear. Can you imagine being driven to school in such a car?
The Gray Doble is on display at the beautiful Nethercut museum in California,the color is the same, but the upholstery is white rather than the original black. and the last I heard, the Green car was somewhere in the collection at the LA Museum of Sciene and Industry.