favorite cars of the golden era

[imoldfashioned]

Look at the curves on the front fender and the way the grille curves at the bottom with the middle of the front bumper curved out too. And then the windshield curved back in the opposite direction. That's just industrial poetry.

I also love this one! 1934 Plymouth:

 

[Forgotten Man]

I totally agree! It is poetry for the eyes... and think, that is a Plymouth! The low price car of the Chrysler Corp! They were priced higher then Ford's but, not by much. Just goes to show that even the "avarage man's car" dosen't have to lack class and grace because he didn't have a lot of bread in his bank!

Love the '34 Plymouth... I will own one! But, the '46 is just fine for now.

 

[imoldfashioned]

Amazing! Too bad they don't put that much effort into their designs these days.

I've seen so many pictures of your Plymouth on the Lounge I feel like I know it! If I ever get out to the West Coast again I'll have to beg a ride.

I totally agree! It is poetry for the eyes... and think, that is a Plymouth! The low price car of the Chrysler Corp! They were priced higher then Ford's but, not by much. Just goes to show that even the "avarage man's car" dosen't have to lack class and grace because he didn't have a lot of bread in his bank!

Love the '34 Plymouth... I will own one! But, the '46 is just fine for now.

 

[David Conwill]

RE: Auto styling

Car guys all claim to hate enviornmental controls, swearing that's what ruined cars, but I beg to differ. It's the Naderist safety movement that decreed that we should be able to drive like total idiots and survive that killed styling. Maybe if there were more chrome bumpers and fewer collapsable steering columns, people would slow down, take it easy, and pay attention to their driving.

This is why I want an old car to update. I get the styling, the simplicity, and the ability to pick and choose which modern features I want, without a lot of government-mandated coddling.

-Dave

Oh, and the refrigerator comment got me thinking. Perhaps old cars are about as excitingly styled as refrigerators too, just the refrigerators of the era looked a lot better as well. Nowadays fridges look like they're styled by accountants. But that's another thread.

 

[jamespowers]

Car guys all claim to hate enviornmental controls, swearing that's what ruined cars, but I beg to differ. It's the Naderist safety movement that decreed that we should be able to drive like total idiots and survive that killed styling. Maybe if there were more chrome bumpers and fewer collapsable steering columns, people would slow down, take it easy, and pay attention to their driving.

This is why I want an old car to update. I get the styling, the simplicity, and the ability to pick and choose which modern features I want, without a lot of government-mandated coddling.

-Dave

Oh, and the refrigerator comment got me thinking. Perhaps old cars are about as excitingly styled as refrigerators too, just the refrigerators of the era looked a lot better as well. Nowadays fridges look like they're styled by accountants. But that's another thread.

Both cars and refrigerators are designed by accountants nowadays.
Nader is a moron when you consider he can't even drive. :eusa_doh:

 

[Forgotten Man]

Nowadays fridges look like they're styled by accountants. But that's another thread.

lol lol lol

You mean men like this?

 

[jamespowers]

lol lol lol

You mean men like this?

Yes but with smaller glasses they can look down their nose at you with.

 

[cookie]

My favorite car is definitely early to mid '50s Cadillacs and my own '49 Buick Roadmaster.

link to pic.
http://tinyurl.com/9gmupa

What are you doing with my favourite car? :eusa_clap

Where did you find it Down Under?[huh]

The Ultimate Art Deco/Streamline Automobile

The origins of the Roadmaster name date to 1936 when Buick renamed its entire model lineup to celebrate the engineering improvements and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buick's Series 40 model range became the Special, the Buick Century took the place of the Series 60 and the Series 90 — Buick's largest and most luxurious vehicles — became the Limited. Buick's Series 80 became the Roadmaster.

Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest wheelbase and shared its basic structure with senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957, the Roadmaster was Buick's premium and best appointed model, and was offered in sedan, coupe, convertible and station wagon bodystyles between 1936 and 1948. In 1949 a hardtop coupe, designated "Riviera" joined the model line up; a four-door hardtop joined the model range in 1955.

http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/565424/1949_Buick_Convertible_feature http://imcdb.org/vehicle_1934-Buick-Roadmaster-76-C-1949.html The one in Rainman.

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_88950-Buick-Roadmaster-1949.html One seen in Lost City

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_39869-Buick-Roadmaster-1949.html As seen in Mulholland Falls

 

[Jerekson]

Hey Aussies -

This reminds me of a question I'd been meaning to ask.
If I were to move to Australia and had money to spend, how hard of a time would I have finding a 1950's American car?

Is there any consistency I should know about?

 

[Chrome]

My car was brought from California in '84.

Most visible '49 is in movie Rainman...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKC3W0awjm0

Mulholland falls is absolutely fabulous movie. their hat squad rules

I guess Australia has good car scene:
http://users.bigpond.net.au/kustoms/koa.html
http://www.hot-rod.com.au/

 

[cookie]

Hey Aussies -

This reminds me of a question I'd been meaning to ask.
If I were to move to Australia and had money to spend, how hard of a time would I have finding a 1950's American car?

Is there any consistency I should know about?

To be truthful you don't see as many around these days as I remember in my youth as anyone who "had made it" drove one then. My brother had the big finned Chrysler Torque Flite with the push button automatic in the dash. That was some car! That is one brand you still see.

 

[Flivver]

What are you doing with my favourite car? :eusa_clap

Where did you find it Down Under?[huh]

The Ultimate Art Deco/Streamline Automobile

The origins of the Roadmaster name date to 1936 when Buick renamed its entire model lineup to celebrate the engineering improvements and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buick's Series 40 model range became the Special, the Buick Century took the place of the Series 60 and the Series 90 — Buick's largest and most luxurious vehicles — became the Limited. Buick's Series 80 became the Roadmaster.



Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest wheelbase and shared its basic structure with senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957, the Roadmaster was Buick's premium and best appointed model, and was offered in sedan, coupe, convertible and station wagon bodystyles between 1936 and 1948. In 1949 a hardtop coupe, designated "Riviera" joined the model line up; a four-door hardtop joined the model range in 1955.

http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/565424/1949_Buick_Convertible_feature http://imcdb.org/vehicle_1934-Buick-Roadmaster-76-C-1949.html The one in Rainman.

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_88950-Buick-Roadmaster-1949.html One seen in Lost City

http://imcdb.org/vehicle_39869-Buick-Roadmaster-1949.html As seen in Mulholland Falls

I've wanted to own a Roadmaster since I was a kid. Maybe some day...

To me, the name Roadmaster is the best model name ever created.

As Cookie said, the Roadmasters often shared their body with senior Oldsmobiles. But, sometimes, Cadillac bodies were used too.

For example, in 1950-51, buyers could choose a Roadmaster sedan with *either* the B-Body (Olds 98) or the Cadillac C-Body, at a slightly higher price. Both models shared a powerful 320 C.I.D. "Fireball Straight-Eight".

And don't forget the second coming of the Roadmaster in 1991-96. These sedans and station wagons were truly worthy of the Roadmaster name. Built on GM's body-on-frame B-Body, these recent Roadmasters used a Chevrolet 350 small block V8. For 1994-96, it was the LT1 version with dual exhaust and 260 HP. They still have quite a following.

 

[lady]

Hey Aussies -

This reminds me of a question I'd been meaning to ask.
If I were to move to Australia and had money to spend, how hard of a time would I have finding a 1950's American car?

Is there any consistency I should know about?

There are a lot of 60s american cars, not as many 50s but if you looked hard enough I'm sure you could find one near Sydney or Melbourne. My grandfather collects golden era english cars, like armstrong sidleys, bentleys etc so I know you can definetley get a lot of those ones!

 

[David Conwill]

The black "mystery car" is actually a 1962 Chaika, produced in the Soviet Union. Post-war Soviet cars usually looked like copies of American cars from years earlier, as is evident in this case. Obviously someone at the Chaika design bureau saw a mid-50s Caddy and thought that is what a luxury car should look like.

Actually, that's not Caddy inspired, that's a copy of a '55 Packard. I don't know about the '62 Chaika, but some 1950s Zil limos actually were made with old Packard toolings that had been sold to the Russians.

As for the Gaz, they were part of a cooperative effort Henry Ford made with the Soviets in the 1930s.

-Dave

 

[Hemingway Jones]

I'm sure we've all read about the 1937 Bugatti Type 57S that was found in a barn and sold for $5 million or so. That is one of my favorite cars ever.

It was stylish, sleek, extremely well-made and represented the height of automotive technical achievement at the time. It was a scalpel in a meat clever world. Truly beautiful.

 

[BruceTracy]

1937 Cord

1950 Studebaker

1940 Woody Lasalle 8

More pics of cool retro limousines can be found on this site:
http://my.net-link.net/~dcline/limoclas.htm

I've never seen this one before, but it looks awesome! Does anyone know the make of it?

Does anyone know the make of either of these?

 

[up196]

Automobile IDs

[/IMG]
I've never seen this one before, but it looks awesome! Does anyone know the make of it?

Looks like a modified PT Cruiser.

Does anyone know the make of either of these?

1951 Ford

1948 Tucker

Tom

 

[BruceTracy]

Thanks Tom.

 

[up196]

Re: Automobile IDs

You're welcome.

I should have added that the '51 Ford is also customized. It looks like the roof has been lowered and has a custom grill treatment.

The Tucker appears to be it its original 1948 configuration.

 

[BruceTracy]

Does anyone here have any info on this car? I stumbled onto it on Google images and the link says 1940 Ford.

The text of original link, so you can see what I mean:

DETROIT-MUSCLE-1940-FORD-SE.jpg