1953 Abarth 1100 Sport

 

The 1100 Sport began life as an Abarth 205 competition chassis that featured a body crafted by Ghia. It was powered by a 1.2 liter four cylinder engine that developed less than 100 horsepower.

I don't need no stinkin' tractor

 

Storm chaser

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Talbot-Lago T-26 Grand Sport Fastback

The Grand Sport was displayed at the 1948 Paris Salon. It was one of only two produced and was powered by a 4.5 liter 6 cylinder engine that delivered 195 horsepower. The cars evolved from Talbot-Lago's competition experience.

Lipstick Car

 

Boogie Woogie

 

1960 Ford Falcon

The base price for the 1960 Falcon was $1,912. Adjusted for inflation that would be $20,412 today. 435,000 were sold in the first year which outsold the Mustang in its first year. Power was from a 144 cubic inch 6 cylinder engine.

VW camper

 

Jerrari

Besides owning casinos Bill Harrah owned Jeep and Ferrari dealerships. He was a car guy and had a collection of 1800 vehicles. The Jerrari was a custom built Jeep Grand Wagoneer powered by a Ferrari GTC/4 V12 powertrain. He had two built and he used the Jerrari to shuttle between his home in Lake Tahoe and his businesses in Reno.

1953 Lancia Aurelia PF 200 Spyder

If I were to venture a guess I would suggest that the people who designed the Spyder were looking over the shoulders of the designers at Studebaker.

Campbell-Railton-Rolls Royce Blue Bird

 In 1933 Malcolm Campbell drove the Blue Bird on Daytona Beach and reached the speed of 272mph. That was a test run prior to taking the car to the Bonneville Salt Flats and in 1935 on the two run average required for record attempts he set the record at 301.129mph

1955 Biscayne concept

This concept car ended up in a junk yard in Michigan and sat there for decades before being rescued and eventually restored. It ended up at the Amelia Island Concours D'Elegance. A more complete story on the car is available on Jalopnik. The video below documents some of the restoration.

Psychedelic BMW

 

Major miscalculation

 

1965 Mayan Magnum

The Mayan Magnum is a one off vehicle that was designed and built by Dean Ing. Ing was a science fiction novelist as well as an aerospace engineer. He apparently had 3000 hours in the body alone. It was built on a Volkswagen pan with various Porsche components. It is powered by a six cylinder Chevrolet Corvair engine.

Road worthy bumper car

Dan Hryhorcoff had already built a replica of a Murray pedal car and was looking for another project. He took the measurements of a 1953 Lusse bumper car and doubled them before going to work. He used a 2007 Aveo driveline which he turned around and put at the rear and then used a motorcycle assembly at the front. Read more about Dan's project here.

Enzmann 506 Cabriolet

The Enzmann 506 was produced in Switzerland from 1957 until the late 1960's. It was introduced at the Frankfurt Auto Show in 1957. The company purchased new Volkswagen Beetles and removed the bodies. They refitted the floorpans with their fiberglass bodywork which was produced in a boatyard in Grandson, Switzerland. There were about 100 cars produced. Customers could also buy just the fiberglass bodies and assemble the cars themselves. Performance upgrades were as easy as they were on the Beetle and some owners installed Porsche 356 power plants. Apparently the bodies could still be obtained from the family as late as 2009.

Cami Terra Wind

The company's web page suggests that a Terra Wind built like the one featured in the video would cost approximately $1.2 million dollars. I find it hard to believe that there would be much of a market for a vehicle like this.

Thanks to those who serve

 

1952 Volvo Phillip concept

Volvo was looking to enter the American market and in 1952 they introduced the 3.6 liter V8. The Phillip looked like the brother of a 1951 Kaiser. While the car never made it into production Volvo went on to use the V8 engine in their Snabbe truck line.

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.