The Edmund Fitzgerald- Fifty years ago today

 

                

Citroen DS Cabrioet

 

Only 1365 of these beauties were made by coachbuilder Henri Chapron between 1960 and 1971

A little of this and a little of that

 

1951 Buick Le Sabre concept

Harley Earl was the chief designer at General Motors when the Le Sabre was conceptualized and built. It was powered by a 335hp supercharged V8. As was his practice Earl drove this concept car for years and continued to drive it until his retirement. He put 45,000 miles on the Le Sabre. Read more about the car here.

1956 Palm Beach

 The Palm Beach was a concept car designed for American Motors by Pininfarina. It was suggested that it was thought to be a replacement for the Nash Healey. However, it was not to be, the Palm Beach was a one-off.

Rafting event

 

Crosley Cobra

Crosley automobiles were produced in Cincinnati, Ohio, from 1939 until 1952. The engine was named the Cobra because it was almost entirely made of stamped sheet metal that was COpper BRAzed to assemble the engine. It weighed 133 pounds; about half of a typical cast iron engine at the time. They were reliable and used to power the small cars as well as generators, and some military equipment. They were capable of delivering 50mpg in the Crosley sedan.

At the edge

                          vectorimage

I saw this recently at an apartment parking garage in Rotterdam

 

Autonomous Patrol Vehicle

 On duty in Miami; read about it here.

Sunday morning drive

 

F-650 versus Beat

The Honda Beat (a kei car*)was produced from 1991 until 1996. It was a mid-engine  rear wheel drive vehicle. A total of 33,600 cars were made. Pininfarina designed the car and sold the rights to Honda.

*kei car- a Japanese class of small, four-wheeled automobiles. It is the smallest category of vehicle that can be driven on expressways. Owners enjoy lower tax and insurance rates as well as fuel economy.

 

Road warrior

 

Time off

 

1957 Ford X-2000

 It would appear that Ford turned their design teams loose to come up with a concept and they decided to use the same wheel covers that were supplied with the 1957 Ford line of cars.

Iso Autocarro 500

The Italian Iso company made the Autocarro from 1954 until 1958. This service truck was larger than the more familiar Isetta. It was powered by a 2 cylinder, 2 cycle engine that displaced 236cc and achieved a top speed of 34mph.
 

Mach 5 Speed Racer

 

Prior to the release of the Speed Racer film in 2008 Speed Racer Enterprise decided to build 500 replicas of the Mach 5 to be sold to the public. They intended to raise money and promote safety with the Child Safety Network.

The car was based on a 1984 C4 Corvette and George Barris was involved in the design. The fact that the cars were based on an "old" Corvette and the cost was projected to be $175,000 meant only five were built and sold. The original car resides at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois.

1957 Smyk prototype

Designed as an inexpensive two adult plus two children vehicle for Polish production. Powered by a single cylinder 350cc engine it was capable of 43mph. Apparently 17 were made.
 

1939 Steyr Type 55

Steyr was an Austrian company best known for building precision firearms but in the early 20th century they became involved in producing automobiles. The Type 55 arrived in 1938 as a replacement for the earlier Type 50. It was a bit longer and had a large sliding roof. It was powered by a water cooled horizontally opposed four cylinder engine displacing 1158cc and producing 25hp. The engine was far forward, it had a four speed transmission and rear wheel drive. There were 7,800 Type 55 cars built before WWII when the companies efforts returned to arms production. The Type 55 never returned to production after the war.

 

Sleeping room???

 

1952-56 Austin A-30

 

The FG-75 Electric Shopper

 The Electric Car Company opened in Long Beach, California in 1951. Part of the company did make golf carts but the Electric Shopper was referred to as a pleasure car. 

In 1960 they introduced the FG-75. It weighed 700 pounds and was powerred by a 1.5hp 24v series wound motor. The advertising claimed a top speed of 18mph and a range of 30-35 miles when fully charged. the cars' production ended in 1962 when the company was sold.

1951 Kaiser Sun Goddess

 Alex Tremulis's job at Tucker wound down and he took a position at Kaiser. He designed this prototype two-door hardtop and one was built. There wasn't money in the budget for introducing yet another car since Kaiser was focusing their attention on the Henry J. the Sun Goddess went to a company executive and ultimately was saved and restored.

PVC rear wing testing

 

Getting to where you need to be

 

1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic replica

A Bugatti Type 57 Gangloff saloon that was rebodied in 1996 with a hand built aluminum body. The five year project was part of the Gene Ponder collection. The collection was sold by Sotheby's in 2022. The Bugatti sold for $1,115,000. More information and pictures at Sotheby's

https://rmsothebys.com/auctions/gp22/lots/r0097-1938-bugatti-type-57sc-atlantic-recreation-by-erik-koux/

Eagle Speedster

 Hand built in England and based on the E-type. Why settle for a totally restored E-type for about $100,000 when you can have the Speedster for $500,000? Have a look at the Eagle site to see what they offer.

Ill-prepared

 

Brooklyn cruiser

Just a fun project by the owner of Williamsburg Pizza in Brooklyn. Read a bit more about it here. 

Failed jump attempt

 

Maximus Minimus food truck, Sydney, Austrailia

 

October 1929

 In need of cash after the stock market crash this man put his car up for sale.

1957 Eldorado Brougham

 

The Cadillac Eldorado Brougham was introduced in 1957 and Cadillac boasted that it was the "Standard of the World". The car was priced at $13,074 (adjusted for inflation that is the equivalent of $150,000 today). There were 400 cars made in 1957 and 304 in 1958 when production stopped. Supposedly they lost $10,000 on each car.

1935 Humber 12 Vogue

 

High water Model T

 Trilacoochee Ford in Green Swamp, Florida sold the conversion kit

Bedtime with Dad

 

Over the edge

 

Sleeper

 

1955 Oldsmobile airport limousine