Hi All!
No actual iron, Tim, but I have a filing cabinet full of photos, research and literature and the privilege of having driven or touched some of the earliest stuff. And here I go raising cain in one of my earliest posts....
Sorry, but the the Spyker wasn't the first 4x4 vehicle. It certainly was the first with the drivetrain layout that became the standard, and still is until today, but I can think of several four-wheel drives that preceded it. The Brits get first dibs on that, with the 1824 Burstall & Hill steam coach. Yes, that's eighteen-twenty-four. There was the 1899-1907 Twyford and the 1900-1903 Cotta "Cottamobile." You could argue about the 1900 Lohner-Porsche. I'm not partisan about these things, just relaying the facts.
I would love to see the Spyker up close. Especially the front axle. Would like to see how much resemblance Otto Zachow and Bill Besserdich's steerable front axle in the 1908 prototype has to it. That first steam powered car, with an engine change and a body, would become the legendary Four Wheel Drive Auto Company's "Battleship,"one of the cars I have had the privilege of driving (along with the Nancy Hank).
I look forward to conversing with a group of like-minded "spurgear-heads!"
Right now, I am researching the Militor, the short-lived, low production US Army standardized truck developed at the end of WWI and used for a few years after.