BellyTank
I'll Lock Up
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- 7,061
Told you so! 
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favorite cars of the golden era
- Thread starter Styles
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Carlisle Blues
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- Beautiful Horse Country
I thought I just told you
David Conwill
Call Me a Cab
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- Bennington, VT 05201
Carlisle Blues said:
By what measure was the American Austin a success? Seems to me that American Austin struggled for its whole existence, went bankrupt, reorganized, struggled some more as American Bantam, and never resumed production after World War Two.
Admittedly, we have Bantam to thank for the Jeep, but that poor little company didn’t even get the contract to build their own creation!
I still dig Austin 7s. Cool little cars.
-Dave
Carlisle Blues
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^
^
The story continues~~~~~~~~~
Sir William Lyons used the Austin 7 chassis to build his own car, the "Swallow" which gave him the knowledge and profits to form Jaguar in 1935.
The American Austin sold fairly well, but the deepening of the Depression, and a resistance to tiny cars, brought the American Austin into bankruptcy in 1934. A top American Austin salesman, Roy Evans, bought the bankrupt American Austin, renaming it to American Bantam in 1935, but had no money left to build cars. It wasn't until 1938 that the first Bantam "60" passenger cars and trucks began rolling off the production line.
Evans updated the body and put in a new engine to avoid having to pay royalties back to Austin. Improvements to the Bantam engine included changing the main bearings to a babbitt type, increasing the compression to 7.0 to 1, and using a different type of carburetor. Full pressurized lubrication was employed, along with a pump circulated cooling system. Horsepower increased from 13 to 19, with an increase in torque.
Still, the Bantam couldn't make a significant American market penetration, even though by 1938 the Bantam was on a par with Chrysler, Buick, and Mercury as far as quality, reliability, and appointments were concerned. With five new models added to the line in 1939, prospects seemed bright. In the following two and one-half years, the company produced approximately 6700 cars and trucks, but at an average loss of $75 per vehicle.
In 1941 the Bantam Car Company developed the Bantam Reconnaissance Car, the prototype of the Jeep, in response to a U.S. Army request for an all-purpose military vehicle. It was rigorously tested by the Army for several weeks, and then declared to exceed expectations, but the government decided that the American Bantam Company’s plant was too small to produce the numbers of vehicles it needed and gave the contract to Willys and Ford.
In May of 1943 the Fair Trade Commission charged Willys with false and misleading advertising by claiming that Willys had created the Jeep. The court determined that the Jeep was fostered and conceived in Butler, Pennsylvania, by the American Bantam Car Company.
^
The story continues~~~~~~~~~
Sir William Lyons used the Austin 7 chassis to build his own car, the "Swallow" which gave him the knowledge and profits to form Jaguar in 1935.
The American Austin sold fairly well, but the deepening of the Depression, and a resistance to tiny cars, brought the American Austin into bankruptcy in 1934. A top American Austin salesman, Roy Evans, bought the bankrupt American Austin, renaming it to American Bantam in 1935, but had no money left to build cars. It wasn't until 1938 that the first Bantam "60" passenger cars and trucks began rolling off the production line.
Evans updated the body and put in a new engine to avoid having to pay royalties back to Austin. Improvements to the Bantam engine included changing the main bearings to a babbitt type, increasing the compression to 7.0 to 1, and using a different type of carburetor. Full pressurized lubrication was employed, along with a pump circulated cooling system. Horsepower increased from 13 to 19, with an increase in torque.
Still, the Bantam couldn't make a significant American market penetration, even though by 1938 the Bantam was on a par with Chrysler, Buick, and Mercury as far as quality, reliability, and appointments were concerned. With five new models added to the line in 1939, prospects seemed bright. In the following two and one-half years, the company produced approximately 6700 cars and trucks, but at an average loss of $75 per vehicle.
In 1941 the Bantam Car Company developed the Bantam Reconnaissance Car, the prototype of the Jeep, in response to a U.S. Army request for an all-purpose military vehicle. It was rigorously tested by the Army for several weeks, and then declared to exceed expectations, but the government decided that the American Bantam Company’s plant was too small to produce the numbers of vehicles it needed and gave the contract to Willys and Ford.
In May of 1943 the Fair Trade Commission charged Willys with false and misleading advertising by claiming that Willys had created the Jeep. The court determined that the Jeep was fostered and conceived in Butler, Pennsylvania, by the American Bantam Car Company.
BellyTank
I'll Lock Up
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If you're interested, check out the Austin Seven connections with BMW and Nissan, among other "marques".
Oh- and Lotus, too.
The humble Austin Seven was responsible for a lot of automotive imagination and development, globally.
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Oh- and Lotus, too.
The humble Austin Seven was responsible for a lot of automotive imagination and development, globally.
B
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Professor
A-List Customer
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Nethercutt Collection
Tucker
Delahaye (the most beautiful car ever!)
C.B. DeMille's Cadillac
Packard
Grand Salon
It's the damnedest thing, I had posted photos of the Nethercutt (in a separate thread), but must've used the wrong HTML code 'cause now they don't show and I can't fix it. Anyhow, here are some cars for your viewing pleasure...John in Covina said:
Tucker
Delahaye (the most beautiful car ever!)
C.B. DeMille's Cadillac
Packard
Grand Salon
Carlisle Blues
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BellyTank said:
Yes thank you for the information....
DodgeDeluxe
New in Town
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- 28
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- Central New York
dhermann1 said:Here's my grandfather's '39 Dodge in 1951. (Not the avatar granddad, the other granddad.)
My grandmother has just come back from some errand and I'm helping her carry stuff back to the house. My little brother greets us.
At the left you can see the remains of the garage, which had been blown down by a hurricane (as I recall the story) the previous year. This is in Bangor, Pa., just north of Easton.
This is a detail of the original photo, which was taken with my dad's 1937 Voigtlander Superb twin lens reflex camera, which I still have. Wish I had the Dodge!
That's an awesome picture. Is that a black 4 door? My '39 Dodge originally came from PA.
Dan
Carlisle Blues
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Davis Divan
DAVIS MILITARY 494X1
When millionaire and part-time Indianapolis 500 racer Joel Thorne commissioned a custom roadster in 1941, few could have imagined that the outrageous three-wheeled result would serve as the blueprint for a production car. Then again, few were as quick-thinking and fast-talking as Glenn Gordon “Gary” Davis, a former car salesman who befriended Thorne. Davis saw potential in the one-of-a-kind creation—nicknamed the Californian—which had been designed by Frank Kurtis, Thorne’s shop foreman at the time and the future founder of the Kurtis-Kraft racing outfit that dominated the Indy 500 in the 1950s.
Post-World War II America was ravenous for new cars.
By 1946, Davis was touring the United States, using the Californian roadster to promote his fledgling Davis Motorcar Company. When the Californian became tatty from constant use, Davis had prototypes built at the company’s new factory in an aircraft hangar in Van Nuys, California. Now called the Davis Divan, the two-door sedan had one 15-inch wheel up front and two 15-inch driven wheels out back and was powered by a 47-hp, 132.7-cid Hercules L-head four-cylinder engine (soon changed to a 63-hp, 162-cid Continental four) mated to a Borg-Warner three-speed manual. A removable hard top, covered headlights and a body shaped like a bar of soap completed the $995 package.
The company closed down in 1948 as workers and engineers were not being paid, and lawsuits were threatened by investors and dealers. Former employees then filed suit for back pay, and the company was being investigated by for fraud. Soon after the Davis plant was shut down. Gary Davis was later convicted of fraud and sent to jail. lol
DAVIS MILITARY 494X1
When millionaire and part-time Indianapolis 500 racer Joel Thorne commissioned a custom roadster in 1941, few could have imagined that the outrageous three-wheeled result would serve as the blueprint for a production car. Then again, few were as quick-thinking and fast-talking as Glenn Gordon “Gary” Davis, a former car salesman who befriended Thorne. Davis saw potential in the one-of-a-kind creation—nicknamed the Californian—which had been designed by Frank Kurtis, Thorne’s shop foreman at the time and the future founder of the Kurtis-Kraft racing outfit that dominated the Indy 500 in the 1950s.
Post-World War II America was ravenous for new cars.
By 1946, Davis was touring the United States, using the Californian roadster to promote his fledgling Davis Motorcar Company. When the Californian became tatty from constant use, Davis had prototypes built at the company’s new factory in an aircraft hangar in Van Nuys, California. Now called the Davis Divan, the two-door sedan had one 15-inch wheel up front and two 15-inch driven wheels out back and was powered by a 47-hp, 132.7-cid Hercules L-head four-cylinder engine (soon changed to a 63-hp, 162-cid Continental four) mated to a Borg-Warner three-speed manual. A removable hard top, covered headlights and a body shaped like a bar of soap completed the $995 package.
The company closed down in 1948 as workers and engineers were not being paid, and lawsuits were threatened by investors and dealers. Former employees then filed suit for back pay, and the company was being investigated by for fraud. Soon after the Davis plant was shut down. Gary Davis was later convicted of fraud and sent to jail.
lol
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- 11,579
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- Covina, Califonia 91722
3 Wheelers
The three wheel configuration comes up now and again, but the single front wheel for steering is a pretty unstable set up. Morgan switched the set up with 2 wheels in front to steer and a single drive wheel in the rear which handles better than the other style.
Out this way is a company that is making a roadster that is more motorcyle than car with the two wheels in front set up and they look pretty cool. I have seen one on the road, but mostly seen their sales team with sample vehicles at an outdoor mall like Victoria Gardens for people to try.
The three wheel configuration comes up now and again, but the single front wheel for steering is a pretty unstable set up. Morgan switched the set up with 2 wheels in front to steer and a single drive wheel in the rear which handles better than the other style.
Out this way is a company that is making a roadster that is more motorcyle than car with the two wheels in front set up and they look pretty cool. I have seen one on the road, but mostly seen their sales team with sample vehicles at an outdoor mall like Victoria Gardens for people to try.
Carlisle Blues
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When I take a look at this, John, I have a difficult time imagining it handling on the highway. Then again as a utility vehicle for the military. But it was clocked at 116 MPH/186.68 km/h . Very scary.
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- Covina, Califonia 91722
The single wheel in front can go fast but only in a straight line, it's the turns that gets it in trouble. The tricycle design (trike) has that difficulty, and why it's fairly rare to see those. The sidecar set up is a bit different but still high speed cornering is hazardous unless the sidecar occupant is skilled such as the "Monkey" in motorcyle sidecar races. I've seen a few sidecar road races and that is awesome, moto-X with sidecar seems insane, but hey somebody has to do it.
Post War Deuce coupe
How about a post war deuce coupe ? I'm a newbie here. Been floatin around in here for a while now. I'm building a 40's period hot rod. It seems everytime I google, for examp;e 40's mechanic boots, this site pops up and I usally find what I'm looking for.. My name is David and I hope I will be welcome.
How about a post war deuce coupe ? I'm a newbie here. Been floatin around in here for a while now. I'm building a 40's period hot rod. It seems everytime I google, for examp;e 40's mechanic boots, this site pops up and I usally find what I'm looking for.. My name is David and I hope I will be welcome.
cookie
I'll Lock Up
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Racecar Dream Deferred by His Rip Van Plymouth
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/a...-NYT-MOD-MOD-M127-ROS-1209-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/a...-NYT-MOD-MOD-M127-ROS-1209-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click
Talbot
One Too Many
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dsiddons said:
David,
Anyone building a 40's period gow job is OK in my book. I pop my beer in your general direction and salute you!
Talbot
BinkieBaumont
Rude Once Too Often
- Messages
- 3,324
Citroen Light 15
"I have always loved this car, I remember my father was considering buying a 1940 model he saw advertised for $100.00 in 1971!"
This was a Display of French cars, held in the Swan River Colony on the Esplanade, a few weeks ago"
"Love this colour although I realise its not its original colour"
"This was a sort of "Stretch" version with an amazing amount of leg room in the rear compartment"
"I thought this had "Too Much Going on" around the Radiator Grill?"
"Basic Black"
"I have always loved this car, I remember my father was considering buying a 1940 model he saw advertised for $100.00 in 1971!"
This was a Display of French cars, held in the Swan River Colony on the Esplanade, a few weeks ago"
"Love this colour although I realise its not its original colour"
"This was a sort of "Stretch" version with an amazing amount of leg room in the rear compartment"
"I thought this had "Too Much Going on" around the Radiator Grill?"
"Basic Black"
Dixon Cannon
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This one doesn't get mentioned very often...
http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/kaiser/kaiser-00001.html
The 1954 Kaiser Darrin Roadster. What a beautiful and unusual automobile. Now with a $100,000.00 price tag!
-dixon cannon
http://www.remarkablecars.com/main/kaiser/kaiser-00001.html
The 1954 Kaiser Darrin Roadster. What a beautiful and unusual automobile. Now with a $100,000.00 price tag!
-dixon cannon
David Conwill
Call Me a Cab
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Dixon Cannon said:
You know, call me uncultured, the only Kaiser-Frazer product that has ever appealed to me* is the 1951-design Kaiser club coupe.
The Darrin roadster is just too gimmicky for me.
-Dave
*I probably wouldn’t turn down ownership of any K-F, but it would be more out of a respect for their history and novelty than for an appreciation of their beautiful design.
Silver Dollar
Practically Family
- Messages
- 613
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- Louisville, Kentucky
I have to say that my "Golden Era" starts with about 1930 to 1955. It's so hard to pick one car because style, reliability, fun and cost don't necessarily seem to go together. If style is the big thing, then it would have to be the some of the European marques out of the 30's and 40's like the Delahaye, Talbot Lago and Bugatti. For American style, it would have to be the Deusenberg, Auburn and Cord which are all connected anyway. For the more affordable (way cheaper) cars, which would have been in my budget at the time (maybe) it would be the Caddies, Oldsmobiles and the Pontiacs.
