favorite cars of the golden era

[Mr. 'H']

Some random shots I took an hour ago of my car....

I think the first two highlight the aerodynamic "torpedo" look - the look that the car is moving even when it's not.

Oh, and she's a peach to drive!

Parked up:

 

[Sapphire]

Wow, a really wonderful car (Buick if my eyes don't mislead me?). It looks even more impressive being parked next to the Mini...

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Mr. 'H']

In 1941?

 

[Forgotten Man]

Yeah, that '41 Buick is something else! And next to a Mini... HAHAHA Really does seem like a big car next to one of them death traps! lol

I parked my '46 next to a friend's late 80s Toyota once... My car made that poor thing look like a child's toy. lol

Gotta love it!

 

[Mr. 'H']

Yeah, that '41 Buick is something else! And next to a Mini... HAHAHA Really does seem like a big car next to one of them death traps! lol

I parked my '46 next to a friend's late 80s Toyota once... My car made that poor thing look like a child's toy. lol

Gotta love it!

Just for you Rob:

Mini vs. Buick....

Must be mental telepathy or something - I was checking out your myspace page earlier and reading your blog!

 

[Warbaby]

Well spotted... it is a 1947 Riley RMA 1 1/2 litre. Got some more photos in this thread: http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=39717

Yours seemed to be a RMB 2 1/2 litre? At least the bonnet looks longer on the photo.

Cheers,
Tom

A good spot on your part as well. Yes, it was a 1952 2 1/2 litre. I got it in a trade for another car I wish I still had - a 1953 Morgan +4.

Great photos of your Scotland trip and a beautiful Riley indeed. Do you still have it?

 

[Forgotten Man]

Just for you Rob:

Mini vs. Buick....

Must be mental telepathy or something - I was checking out your myspace page earlier and reading your blog!

In this corner, weighing in at 4200 lbs and a Length: 21 ft we have the... Buick!

And in this corner, weighing in at 2634 lbs, 12 feet 2 inches we have the...
mini lol lol lol lol

Say Brian, what blog were you reading on myspace?

 

[jamespowers]

Yeah, that '41 Buick is something else! And next to a Mini... HAHAHA Really does seem like a big car next to one of them death traps! lol

I parked my '46 next to a friend's late 80s Toyota once... My car made that poor thing look like a child's toy. lol

Gotta love it!

That's because it is.

 

[Mr. 'H']

In this corner, weighing in at 4200 lbs and a Length: 21 ft we have the... Buick!

And in this corner, weighing in at 2634 lbs, 12 feet 2 inches we have the...
mini lol lol lol lol

Say Brian, what blog were you reading on myspace?

That's hilarious! Just co-incidental I parked alongside the
mini.

Blog I was reading was "Underwood No. 3" etc. on your page....

 

[up196]

I posted this old photo in the "Vintage Family Photos" thread, but thought maybe this would be a better place to try to get my question answered.

Judging from the cars in the photo, when do you think this old photo was taken? I guess I'm looking for something like "what's the newest model car you see". My guess is sometime between 1928 and 1932, but I'm certainly no old car expert.

Any thoughts?

I second Flivver's idea that it's around 1929. There is a '28 or '29 Ford Sedan parked in the lower right of the picture, second car from the corner. It has a rear mounted spare wheel but no tire, indicating that it may be a new car. They came that way, and the owner may not have purchased a spare tire for it yet.

 

[Old School QD]

Since Mr. H. brought it up, here's another 1941 Buick. It was my friend's car that was loaned to us for our wedding. I used to shine and show this car
(one of 4 Buicks he owned in a larger collection) while a teenager in the 1990's. I believe it was the General Eisenhower edition. The brakes went
on me the next day and I had to drive it around the countryside very carefully with the handbrake. No small feat, but spare parts were fortunately on hand.

 

[chanteuseCarey]

just saw the link to this older thread...

I saw this many many years ago in the Harrah's collection;
a 1940 Packard Cord I believe it was. Hope I'm remembering that name correctly. It was PURPLE, wow I never forgot it.

Then of course I always have liked the 1934 Stutz Bearcat. In 9th grade Creative Writing class I wrote a long story where the main character (me) owned and drove one.

Even then, I wanted an Art Deco era car!

 

[StraightEight]

Some random shots I took an hour ago of my car....

I think the first two highlight the aerodynamic "torpedo" look - the look that the car is moving even when it's not.

Oh, and she's a peach to drive!

What a fabulous looking car. :eusa_clap That torpedo-back sedan body was a honey. Just watched the '41 Bogart flick "All Through the Night" and there's one very similar but fitted with wheel spats in a chase scene. Great movie, by the way. Bogart doing comedy, a very young Jackie Gleason, a very of-the-moment story on 5th columnists.

 

[Big Man]

I second Flivver's idea that it's around 1929. There is a '28 or '29 Ford Sedan parked in the lower right of the picture, second car from the corner. It has a rear mounted spare wheel but no tire, indicating that it may be a new car. They came that way, and the owner may not have purchased a spare tire for it yet.

Thanks for the information. I didn't know that about the spare.

 

[JimInSoCalif]

I saw this many many years ago in the Harrah's collection;
a 1940 Packard Cord I believe it was. Hope I'm remembering that name correctly. It was PURPLE, wow I never forgot it.

Then of course I always have liked the 1934 Stutz Bearcat. In 9th grade Creative Writing class I wrote a long story where the main character (me) owned and drove one.

Even then, I wanted an Art Deco era car!

I believe that you misremembered the name as the only thing that Packard and Cord had in common that I can think of is that they both built some very nifty automobiles in the 1930s.

The last Cords were built in 1936 and 1937 and were the 810 and 812 model. They were the same except the 812 had a supercharger. I had a pal who drove one when I was a young teen and they are one of my all time favorite cars still.

Packard built some V-12 engined cars in the 30's and I believe some were more desirable and more prestigious than some Cadillacs. There were no new cars for civilians during the War, so for a few years after, the car companies did well, but by the 50's neither Packard nor Studebaker were doing very well and they merged. As did Nash and Hudson.

Some of the late 50's Packards were rebadged Studebakers and as I recall, all four makes were gone by sometime in the 60's and some earlier than that.

All I know about Purple cars is that it was a color that was popular with the folks who built custom cars in the late 40s and 50s.

Cheers, Jim.

 

[Flivver]

Packard built some V-12 engined cars in the 30's and I believe some were more desirable and more prestigious than some Cadillacs.

Cheers, Jim.

That's certainly true!

Actually, in the 1920s and 1930s, Packard was considered more prestigious and desirable than Cadillac. At the time, Cadillac was viewed as something of an upstart.

But, General Motors was determined to put Cadillac at the top of the luxury class. The stunning 1928-29 models were a good start, followed by the Cadillac V-12s and V-16s in the 1930s.

But it wasn't until the Postwar era that Cadillac captured the top spot in luxury car sales and desirability. By 1955, Cadillac was outselling all other luxury brands combined. And at that time, owning a Cadillac meant you had really "made it".

 

[JimInSoCalif]

I have a framed poster of a cutaway of a 1931 16 cylinder Cadillac dual cowl phaeton on my wall. A very impressive beast as is the art work, The poster did not cost a lot - wish I could say the same about the framing.

For what that car must have cost when it was new, I think I would have preferred roll up windows, but it was a different world back then. A few posts above this there is a photo of a very nice 1941 Buick with the cowl vent open - I had forgotten about those although my 1941 Plymouth may have had one.

GM did a good job of getting Cadillac to the top of the heap and as you point out, post war it became the most desirable American car. At one time, our language included the phrase 'It is the Cadillac of <whatever mechanical device one is praising>. It has been a long time since I have heard that accolade - Pity!

Back in the day, the U.S. built over half the cars in the world from what I have read. Now, it would be nice if we could build half the cars sold in this country - or if we can continue to even have an auto industry. We seem to be following the lead of the Brits - I think the only cars that they make by a home owned manufacturer are Morgans.

 

[Sapphire]

What a fabulous looking car. :eusa_clap That torpedo-back sedan body was a honey.

I was never that much into American cars - most of them that you see here are either fintail cars from the 50s or later MOPAR cars, which are not very interesting for me. However, these 40s Buicks really look great...especially the torpedo-back. Pity that the garage is full and the pockets empty (and maybe the wife's patience also reached its limit ).

So keep'em coming if you have more pictures, also of the interior or other details.

Below a photo of our 1956 Armstrong Siddeley Sapphire, which was built outside the 'golden era', but has a lovely conservative design, even with front doors attached to the B posts. The car is 4.90m (16'1") long, but I guess that a Buick would even break the 5m mark?

Cheers,
Tom

 

[StraightEight]

So keep'em coming if you have more pictures, also of the interior or other details.

Ask and ye shall receive. Torpedoes away!
(Sapphire, those are some beautiful old cars, by the way)

My pal Mark at the wheel.

 

[Sapphire]

StraightEight,

Yeah, that looks really great! I love especially the photos at the coast. Just looks as if the car belongs there. Simply stunning design!

As power steering was only invented later, I assume you have the same "body building" steering that I have on the Sapphire, even though the Buick is certainly still a lot heavier? Anyway, once it is rolling all should be fine.

Cheers,
Tom