An eight-horsepower, three-speed, 1951… elephant?

Convinced that the world needed gasoline and electric-powered mechanical elephants, British theatrical prop builder Frank Stuart founded a company called Mechanimals, which put these powered pachyderms into production in the early 1950s. Though estimates vary, it’s believed that a total of 10 were built before Stuart declared bankruptcy, and few survive today. On Saturday, September 3, a recently restored 1951 Mechanimal named Wendell (formerly Jumbo) will shuffle across the auction stage in Auburn, Indiana, as part of Auctions America’s Auburn Fall Sale.

Stuart was reportedly inspired to create his mechanical contraptions after watching donkeys run on beachside sand, though the exact correlation between the two escapes us. Filing his first British patent in June of 1949 (followed by four more in the span of a year), Stuart then began assembly of his first mechanical elephant, powered by a 933cc, eight-horsepower Ford Anglia four-cylinder engine mated to a three-speed transmission with reverse.

The actual drive mechanism devised by Stuart was complex, consisting of hydraulic ram “legs” driven in diagonally opposed pairs via a series of wheels and chains.  To move forward, a pair of legs (one front and one rear) would release the brake on a wheel contained in the bottom of the foot, allowing the assembly to slide forward. Upon reaching the limit of travel, the brakes would again lock while the brakes on the opposite legs released. Next, the drive mechanism would pull the front legs rearward, delivering the forward motion.

Reverse operated in a similar manner, and turns required varied braking to the wheels contained within each foot. As if this system wasn’t sophisticated enough, Stuart even designed a leveling mechanism to ensure the elephant wouldn’t change elevation (and pitch a rider off) during its forward or rearward motion. Though the advertised top speed was said to be 27 MPH (a truly terrifying thought), speeds of 15 MPH were rarely achieved, let alone exceeded.

Convinced of the potential of his Mechanimals, Stuart once boasted to a newspaper that 25 examples would be delivered to the United States alone, in short order. It isn’t clear how many were assembled before the operation ground to a halt, but the website CyberneticZoo.com lays out a pretty good case that 10 were built in total, including two battery-powered Electrophants. Some sources cite a total production quantity of three, but that’s likely the number that could have been assembled at any given time, since even mechanical elephants take up quite a bit of workshop room. While most were purchased as children’s rides or for promotional purposes, one was reportedly bought by actor Peter Sellers; period photos show the Mechanimal wearing the number plate RVX7, potentially indicating it had been modified to be street-legal.

Jumbo, as this Mechanimal was originally known, was delivered to its first owner in the United States in 1951. Purchased by Cunningham Drug Stores, Jumbo was used to promote “Jumbo Photo Prints” and “Jumbo Milk Shakes” until 1956, when the contraption was sold to a new owner. After passing through a few more hands, Jumbo was repurchased by Cunningham Drug Stores in 1961, but used for static display purposes only.

The next owner was a riding stable, who may have acquired Jumbo at a charity auction. Again used as a static display, the elephant was stored out of doors, subjected to the elements and to increasing levels of vandalism. In 1978, Jumbo was spotted by Larry Gavette, who offered the stable $125 for Jumbo and a trailer to haul it away in, a deal that was eagerly accepted.

Thus began a six-month quest to restore Jumbo for the very first time. The elephant’s skin, originally made of a thick, chemically treated paper, had long since sloughed off, requiring Larry to recreate a covering using papier mâché and fabric. The elephant’s four-cylinder engine needed new piston rings, and the majority of the mechanical linkages recovered with generous applications of grease and oil. By Memorial Day 1979, Larry had finished much of Jumbo’s restoration, and to the delight of neighborhood children, offered up free rides.

Larry owned the elephant for a number of years, loaning or renting it out for promotional purposes whenever possible to recover the cost of the restoration. Jumbo passed though one more owner before being acquired by Donnie Gould and Rob Myers in 2013, and by then another restoration was in order. Renaming the elephant “Wendell,” the new owners specified a series of upgrades for Mechanimal 2.0, beginning with a 12-volt electrical system (upgraded from the original 6-volt) and a trunk that sprays water from a five-gallon onboard storage tank.

Reskinned in a thick pebble-grain vinyl, Wendell has been airbrushed to more closely resemble a real elephant, and fitted with recessed glass eyes instead of painted eyes. Now boasting a CD player and speakers, Wendell is sure to attract as much attention as Jumbo ever did, though the pool of potential buyers for a non-road-legal elephant is admittedly small. Still, given the Mechanimal’s rarity and documented history, Auctions America is predicting a selling price between $250,000 and $400,000 when Wendell slides across the stage next month.

For more information on the upcoming Auburn Fall Sale, visit AuctionsAmerica.com.

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