Aug 9 (edited)

A Very Cool Steam Car For Sale 1922 Stanley 740

In the sellers family for 60 years. He frequently posts driving videos to Facebook. Unfortunately he has stage 4 cancer and is forced to sell the car. Look like sale is already pending. As far as later condensing cars go this is a rare and cool body style.

It was pointed out that Jay Leno had the same car on the AACA nsbrassnut corrected as follows: Clarification. Jay Leno's green '22 Stanley is listed as a 735F in the Stanley Register. The most visible difference between 735 and 740 is the rear wheels. The 735 has the 12 bolts in a circle. The 740 has additional secondary bolts on every second spoke. Jay's green Stanley appears to have a 740 style mechanical oiler and oil indicator added to replace the original 735 "winker" oil indicator.

The model 740 has some other desirable features over the 735. Heaver rear axle, more conventional rear wheel hub design (better) and larger "modernized" mechanical brakes (vs the 735) and a larger boiler (increased steam reserve).

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/4665370870409757

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Aug 9, 2026

Reply to mparadise…

Replies (23)

· Aug 9

Here is Jay Lenos.

· Aug 10

I'm sure you have seen it but Jay has a great video on this car.

· Aug 9

I went through a big time steam phase because of @TomLaferriere.  Fortunately, I did not buy anything but I know enough to be dangerous.

The non-condensing cars are more popular than the later condensing cars like this one.  Mostly because they all have the same engine but the later cars are bigger and heavier.

I drove in a snow storm to see this car on my way to visit my daughter in Virginia 3 or 4 years ago.   My friend Dan Hayes in California ended up buying it.  This is a 740 Limo.

· Aug 9

I especially liked it because of the wire wheels.

· Aug 9

You played that perfectly AJ, you can ride in Tom’s and if his boiler is ever low, you can play the big shot and pull out your credit card and tell him you will spring for the water and top it off for him if you can continue to ride shotgun.

· Aug 9

John, steam cars are much like boats in that regard. What's better than owning a steam car? Having a friend with a steam car!

YouTube ↗

· Aug 10

That looks like so much fun.
I would love to have a customer with a steam car.

· Aug 10

They are very cool but you marry them even more than other old cars.

· Aug 10

I just love the audible sounds. They are so much a part of the experience. Most of us that have old cars recognize the sounds it makes much like you’d remember the sounds of a friend‘s voice. Unique, characteristic, unmistakable.

I marvel at the guys that were playing around with this type of engineering 125 years ago.

· Aug 10

Road locomotives is what they are. The last hold outs in the 1920s were railroad men who were very comfortable with steam.

· Aug 10

One thing I was wondering is if you need to somehow lock the throttle lever on the column when parked (and still with steam pressure). If someone bumped that it would start to move if/as it overides the parking brake. I presume dumping 600 psi and then building it back up when taking it somewhere for a quick stop would be a pain....Maybe not the safest for a Starbucks run.

· Aug 10

Dan, I'm not expert but I believe there is always a lock. I can ask @TomLaferriere what it is on his but my recollection is that its a screw sort of mechanism. What you are describing is a real risk because until you steam it down there is always pressure in that boiler.

· Aug 10

On that note, some of the later cars had foot pedal throttle like the Doble. Wondering how those locked? This was allegedly the last Stanley built. It has the condenser from the steam bus and a body from an Elcar. It sold in a small auction down in Alabama I believe. It has a foot pedal throttle.

· Aug 12

@ShawnG Is "I would love to have a customer with a steam car." a variation on the "friend with a boat" idea?

· Aug 12

Exactly.

· Aug 10

This is the one I really wanted but the owner decided not to sell. A 750 coupe. I think they made 2 or 3 of them. The 750 was the final and best iteration of the condensing cars before they went bankrupt and sideways with the SV models.

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· Aug 10

Funny how color and other visual features matter. I much prefer the look of the subject car to the Jay Leno car.

Interesting cars though in general.

· Aug 10

Steve, the wheels look small on Jay's car for some reason. I like the subject car too. I went hard on Steam for a few years and bought every book. I'm fortunate to have a very good friend that owns a Doble so I'll get to compare.

· Aug 10

Maybe the coolest steam car I've actually got to touch (or better said push) was the White that Don Hoke bought in Massachusetts and I helped extract for him. Jim Crank in his Doble book says the White was the best steam car ever made.

· Aug 11

White's came in 20, 30 and 40 HP variants. 90% of them are the 20. I think Jay Leno has a 40. They are HUGE. This is the 30 HP that came out of the Mark Smith Estate. Had not run in years and I think it brought about 360k.

· Aug 10

Do you know the whereabouts of that White today? I’d love hear more about that car.

· Aug 10

John, google Don Hoke Steam cars. He is in Texas I believe. Wrote a great book on Stanleys and now is working on a white book.

· 2w

Don is still advertising his Model OO which he is replacing with the older White.