History We ALL Love a DARE! PIX of TRULY Extinct Makes?

I used to own one of these, a 1965 International Scout with the slant 4 cylinder motor (half the V-8) with a factory turbocharger.

From a Scout Forum:
The design is a decidedly inferior pull-through type turbo that ends up superheating the fuel-air mixture. The concept was just as stated previously...to get bolt-on power. The only way to get this power especially for towing and at altitude was the turbo. I have been told that it was adapted from a turbocharged tractor setup but I know nothing about IHC tractors. It gets extremely poor mileage due to the superheated fuel and the fact that you need to run it with a big carb jet to keep it from leaning out and ultimately detonating once it gets really hot. So, all you are doing is dumping extra gas down the pipe. I have never achieved better than 15mpg with the turbo/warn setup.

There are a couple of very intriguing parts specific to this application. Strangely, the turbo is not one of them. It seems to be the same as the Corvair turbo unit. The carb is a standard 1904 but it has a special diaphragm and a bigger main jet. There are aluminum plenum "horns" that the carb mounts to and fuel is pulled through to the turbo. There are special exhaust side pipes, and the exhaust manifold is a turbo-only upturned item with a three-bolt flange. It is not just a standard 152 exhaust manifold turned up. It is probably the most easily replaced unit in that a header could be fabricated to take its place.





I know there are plenty of Scout's out there, but the unique turbocharged model is very hard to find., and may be close to being extinct.

 

HUDSON ITALIA

1954 Hudson Italia <TABLE border=1 cellSpacing=20 cellPadding=5 width="90%" align=center><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD align=left>[FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]In 1952, the Hudson Motor Car Company was in the throes of their biggest postwar gamble, the Hudson jet. Their chief styling designer, Frank Spring, had been given this assignment. Mr. Spring had left Murphy body for Hudson in the 30's and had been instrumental in winning the company the styling award for 1948 with their famous unibody "Step Down" design which contemporary auto makers all have adopted. Because of financial restraints along with top management's outmoded policies, Mr. Spring's original design was so altered that the final outcome was boxy and Mr. Spring had left Murphy body for Hudson in the 30's and had been instrumental in winning the company the styling award for 1948 with their famous unibody "Step Down" design which contemporary auto makers all have adopted. Because of financial restraints along with top management's outmoded policies, Mr. Spring's original design was so altered that the final outcome was boxy and homely.
The main competition to Nash's Rambler in the compact market was doomed from the start, eventually leading to Hudson's financial demise in 1954. Mr. Spring was so upset at what had been done to his design that serious consideration was given to his departure from the company. In order to placate him the decision was made to allow him to "play" with a design for an Experimental Sports Car. The company also intended to test public reaction to some rather radical styling concepts that might be used later in the decade.
Frank worked closely with Carlo Felice Bianchi Anderloni, chief designer of Touring Body Works of Milan, Italy. Using the Jet chassis, they had the all-aluminum prototype finished and ready to display at dealerships across the country by late 1953.The public was enthusiastic about the car, and permission was soon given to build a second experimental car on a full sized Hornet chassis. The design was similar, but the proportions never seeme suited to 4 doors and the bigger size. Soon after, Hudson commissioned Touring to build what is believed to have been 50 of the smaller cars, then dubbed the "Super Jet", and sent the needed components over to Italy.

[/FONT]</TD><TD align=left>[FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]The first run of cars consisted of 10 units. Small changes were made in the first several cars, but by serial # IT 10003 the cars remained consistent and all carried their new name, Hudson Italia.

Bankruptcy and subsequent merger with Nash ended H.M.C.'S commitment to Touring. Any further dealings would have to be made by Touring with the newly formed American Motors. A.M.C. sent letters to all its Hudson dealers announcing that it would take pre-paid orders from customers for the cars remaining in Italy. A deadline was set. Unfortunately, in those days, nobody wanted what was perceived as a loser. When an auto company went broke, their remaining cars depreciated at an alarming rate. Since the Italia was virtually a 1953 Hudson Jet mechanically, and it commanded a price of more than a Cadillac, orders were almost nonexistent by that deadline, and A.M.C. only committed to have another 15 Italias built.
Most of these were sold to the more eccentric customers who lived in the So. Calif. area. Amazingly, of the 26 that were built, 21 have been found to date. It is interesting to note that all but one of the missing 5 are in serial numbers 5 through 10. The two in this group that have surfaced are both in Europe, leading speculation that these 6 cars were never delivered to America. It could have had something to do with Hudson's bankruptcy.
The Italia was truly one of the most uniquely designed American sports cars produced during the '50s, which is no doubt why so many survived.

[FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]</B>FREDERICK J. ROTH
Copyright June 2003
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<TABLE border=1 cellSpacing=20 cellPadding=5 width="90%" align=center><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD align=left>[FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times][FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]Copyright June 2003
[/FONT][/FONT]</TD></TR><TR align=middle HALIGN="CENTER"><TD colSpan=2 align=middle> [FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]This picture was taken in Italy in 1953. This Italia had just been rolled out of the factory shown in the backgrand. Note that the whitewalls are not yet clean.
[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR align=middle HALIGN="CENTER"><TD colSpan=2 align=middle> [FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]The Italia that never was. As far as a convertible model for the Italia got was exactly that, a convertible model. The unusual design would have no doubt had serious leaking problems. The model pictured has never surfaced and is presumed scrapped
[/FONT]</TD></TR><TR align=middle HALIGN="CENTER"><TD colSpan=2 align=middle> [FONT=CG Times, New Times Roman,Times]This is another factory photo of six Italias lined up awaiting shipment to the U.S. Since only 26 were built over a three year period, this is undoubtedly the largest assemblage of Italias ever.

​

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While we are the subject of Hudson; I just recieved this email:

The Hudson Historical Society has purchased a &#8217;39 six cylinder cutaway display engine from the New York Grand Central Palace show. It opened Friday November 11th, 1938, Armistice holiday. We are trying to locate photos of the engine at the show. There is no mention of it in Merksamer&#8217;s History of the NY International Auto Show book. Is there something easy here we are missing? Thanks.

DJ Kava

Any takers on this one?

 

I found this possible source:

This might help.

http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~bak00104

Business Historical Society. Automobile Industry Photograph Collection, 1931-1944 (bulk 1936-1942): A Finding Aid
Baker Library


Harvard Business School, Boston, MA 02163

• Box 17, f. 7 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson Auto Show Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 16 for original folder and text)

• Box 17, f. 8 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson Auto Show Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 16 for original folder and text)

• Box 17, f. 9 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson Auto Show Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 16 for original folder and text)

• Box 17, f. 10 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson New Model Announcement Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 17 for original folder and text)

• Box 17, f. 11 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson New Model Announcement Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 17 for original folder and text)

• Box 17, f. 12 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons. Hudson New Model Announcement Package for 1939 Related Material: (photographs only, see box 25, f. 17 for original folder and text)

Box 17, f. 6 Hudson. 1939 Hudsons

 

The Mopar Fans among us might enjoy visiting Mopar Mel

http://www.moparmel.com/home/home.html

 

Just your average '39 Chevrolet? Not Quite! What's wrong with this car?

 

Checkout posts 911, 913, 914, 918.

 

Hey HJ;

jrblack30 posted this over on this thread.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=4976629#post4976629

Here is an ALLSTATE CONVERTIBLE rotting away in a pile of cow shit. Yes that is all cow shit on the ground not dirt!

 

Detroit Thought Small in the 1930s

<!-- Byline --><address class="byline author vcard">By PHIL PATTON

<!-- The Content -->
</address> Design sketch of the Chrysler Star Car, a small-car concept from the 1930s that was never built.

Detroit was famously slow to explore small cars until forced to do so by rising sales of European imports in the 1950s and Japanese ones in the 1970s. But there were a few earlier experiments, such as the Chevrolet Cadet which was scrapped in 1947. And in the 1930s, with an eye to the Depression and possible overseas sales, Chrysler did research for a small car. Walter Chrysler hoped to create an inexpensive but attractive popular car. It would be called the Star Car.

The name came from the unusual engine, whose 5 cylinders were arranged in a radial form. Two prototypes were built and about 200,000 miles of road testing done, according to an article in Special Interest Autos in 1972.


A A
A model of the Chrysler Star Car.

Ken Lee was the chief engineer for the project, and he hired the young designer Theodore Pietsch to design a body for the car — several bodies, in fact, for a whole line of cars, including a panel truck, and alternate grilles. One car looked striking similar to the Volkswagen Beetle, then under development in Germany.

The Beetle’s creator, Ferdinand Porsche, visited Detroit in the late 1930s and, according to a Chrysler biographer, Vincent Curcio, was welcomed to the design studios of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. He may well have seen the Star Car.

Mr. Pietsch’s drawings for the car were among 1,100 or so inherited by his son Theodore Pietsch III, a professor of ichthyology at the University of Washington.

Some versions of the Star Car looked like a smaller sibling of the ill-fated but innovative Chrysler Airflow. With the economic upturn at the end of the 1930s, incentives for selling a small car faded and Chrysler shelved the project. Plans for possible production in Britain were also canceled. Only drawings and photographs of models and prototypes survive, thanks largely to the senior Mr. Pietsch.

 

I can't tell in the pix if that miight not be a Henry J. I wonder when that pic was taken?

Maybe this is the same car?

The following Henry J convertible pictures were submitted by Ryan Steffey, Naples, Florida and the belongs to his father Robert Steffery who bought the car in 1973. It is a 1955 prototype built for the Detroit auto show but the car was never produced since the Henry J ceased production at the end of 1954. He started the rebuild and now Ryan plans on finishing the project. This car's serial number (Body Number)is #1 as seen on the name plate shown below.
Ryan knows of only three of these cars being built and this one is the only one remaining.

 

That is just outstanding!! That would sure be near the top of my "Bucket List" Kewl

 

HJ: I can't tell in the pix if that miight not be a Henry J.

Sunroof: I was wondering the same thing

HJ; I wonder when that pic was taken?

Sunroof; Maybe Ryan Steffey knows

HJ; Maybe this is the same car?

Sunroof; I'm guessing it very well could be. Never heard of any Allstate Converts built.

The following Henry J convertible pictures were submitted by Ryan Steffey, Naples, Florida and the belongs to his father Robert Steffery who bought the car in 1973. It is a 1955 prototype built for the Detroit auto show but the car was never produced since the Henry J ceased production at the end of 1954. He started the rebuild and now Ryan plans on finishing the project. This car's serial number (Body Number)is #1 as seen on the name plate shown below.
Ryan knows of only three of these cars being built and this one is the only one remaining.

 

I saw an article on the AMC Concept 80 cars in Machine Design magazine back in 1978 when I was a contract designer at Moto-Truc Division of OTIS elevator. I have been searching for years on anything about them. I always liked the jeep concept.


AMC Concept 80 cars in Hemmings Classic Car

Sunday-July 19, 2009 Filed in: concept cars
If you&#8217;re an AMC fan, you need to check out Patrick Foster&#8217;s latest article in the September 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car.Foster tells a great story about his personal trip in 1977 to AMC&#8217;s Concept 80 show in New York City. AMC was showing some automotive ideas to the public, and Foster was there. In fact, he was escorted around the show floor by John Conde (AMC&#8217;s unofficial historian and public relations executive) and styling guru Dick Teague.

The article features all of the Concept 80 cars, but there&#8217;s one total standout: the AM Van. AMC coulda/shoulda built this stylish minivan and beat Chrysler to market by three or more years.

Even though the article features several great color illustrations of the cars, there&#8217;s no substitute for being there. So we dug through the Torq-O Media Archive and found this vintage 1977 news film. (We bought the film from John Conde himself several years back.)

<EMBED height=344 type=application/x-shockwave-flash width=425 src=http://www.youtube.com/v/R48zlQW0Jnk&hl=en&fs=1& allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></EMBED>Tags: AMC, American Motors, concept car
Comments <SCRIPT charset=utf-8 src="//js-kit.com/comments-data.js?ref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.torq-o.com%2Ffiles%2F944b216fd1bf38417be4ccf3082c267c-116.html&randevuId=1267663108946.055&&jx[0]=0&p[0]=%2Frw_unique_entry_id_116_page1&gen[0]=0&srt[0]=date&sp[0]=1&skin[0]=echo&permalink[0]=http%3A%2F%2Fjs-kit.com%2Fapi%2Fstatic%2Fpop_comments%3Fref%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.torq-o.com%252Ffiles%252F944b216fd1bf38417be4ccf3082c267c-116.html%26path%3D%252Frw_unique_entry_id_116_page1" onload="null"></SCRIPT>

 

Jeep CJ Derivations

<!-- dtl_id=466531 //-->For all the many Jeep CJ spin-offs that have appeared over the years, the basic CJ and its concurrent military counterparts stayed remarkably the same. But that's not to say that Willys, Kaiser Jeep, and most recently, American Motors haven't tinkered with the basic concept.


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=400 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>
©2007 Publications International, Ltd.
The unique Jeep XJ001 in 1969 was one of several derivations from the basic CJ model.
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For example, Willys tried grafting a downsloped hood onto a CJ-3B in 1953, with the aim of improving forward visibility. The idea never made production, but a surviving photo from Willys Engineering suggests that it probably would have improved aerodynamics as well, even though the industry wouldn't be concerned with such things for decades.

Some 15 years later, Kaiser Jeep created XJ001, a styling exercise on the 81-inch-wheelbase CJ-5 Universal chassis. Boasting a sporty and very modern fiberglass body with an open back, door-less sides, and sculptured, car-like contours, it was designed in 1969, just before the AMC takeover.
A company press release described it as "an experimental test platform for innovations in the growing recreational field." But according to AMC historian John A. Conde, Jeep's new owners "didn't know what to do with it, not having the finances to tool up for such a radical departure from the Jeep CJ.
"Fate solved the problem . . . On the way back from the Texas State Fair several years later, the truck carrying the model flipped over, caught fire, and the Jeep XJ001 was lost forever."


<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=400 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>
©2007 Publications International, Ltd.
AMC's first downsized Jeep was the 1977 Concept Jeep II.
</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Fuel economy concerns and the industry's embryonic "downsizing" movement prompted the Jeep II of 1977, one of several "Concept" vehicles AMC displayed late in that decade. Its press description was disarmingly honest:

"Concept Jeep II demonstrates Jeep Corporation's exploration of new ways to reduce vehicle size while maintaining usable interior room. This scaled-down version of the CJ-5 preserves the ruggedness and fun-to-drive character of the popular CJ series.
"In contrast to the current-production CJ-5, the Jeep II is two feet shorter and nine inches lower, and the wheelbase, at 76 inches, is eight inches shorter."

With less weight, a lower center of gravity, and more angular front end and fender styling, the Jeep II represented a return to the nimble efficiency and no-nonsense character of the wartime original.

Unfortunately, faltering AMC wouldn't have the wherewithal to rethink the basic Jeep CJ in earnest for another three years. While the impetus likely came from "Energy Crisis II" of 1979-1980, the means were unquestionably provided by Renault, which bought a controlling interest in AMC at about that time and sold Jeep CJs in Europe.
The development effort leading to the new Wrangler didn't get underway until about 1981. Although Concept Jeep II may have influenced its early phases, the notion of simply shrinking the Jeep CJ was soon discarded, and the program was ultimately coordinated with development of the XJ-series Cherokee/Wagoneer compact wagons that arrived for 1984.

Keep reading to learn about the Jeep that revived the CJ tradition.

 

<CENTER></CENTER><CENTER> </CENTER><CENTER>1920s Lea Francis Coventry</CENTER>

 

1968: AMC's Amazing Amitron Electric Car

By James Grahame


Keith Chapman writes, "Electric cars are a subject of increasing interest lately. But, of course, they aren't all that new - work was going on long ago to try to get a modern electric car into consumers' hands.
Way back in 1968, the long-defunct American Motors company showed an interesting prototype called the Amitron. Besides being, in my ever-humble opinion, one of the cooler-looking electric prototypes I have seen, it also had some interesting claims and features.

A dual-battery arrangement, with nickel-cadmium and lithium-nickel-fluoride batteries, made possible a claimed range of 150 miles (241 km) per charge, with a top speed of 50 mph (80 kph). This with a total battery weight of only 200 pounds (91 kg) which is pretty light for an electric car. Regenerative braking was also part of the deal. The small battery pack just in front of the car in the second picture is the whole thing, and was claimed to have the capacity of the entire wall of lead-acid batteries visible in back (behind the 60's chick in miniskirt and go-go boots).
The car, small as it was, could seat three across - and if you didn't need all three seats, you could deflate 'em to provide some luggage space! The car was apparently well-received when shown to the public, but nothing further ever resulted; the price of the rather exotic batteries probably being one of the major reasons. Still - sorta makes you wonder what this thing called 'progress' is, doesn't it?"

 

After viewing all those Bantams, it's interesting to compare, to these early Datsuns, that were influenced by Austin designs from Britain. Couldn't you just picture these as "Fuel Altereds" too. Sorry if anyone gets offended by these. These are from the Nissan factories museum in Japan.

 

A buddy of mine owns a Wildfire. It came with a caddy motor.

 

Sorry my last post was for this

 

Hi, Del ! Good to know your buddy's preserving one of the pretty rare Woodill Wildfires. Here's a nice pic of one of the later ones, which I posted about a month ago.

ALSO, DO YOU HAPPEN TO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE KID-SIZED WILDFIRE, CALL THE BRUSHFIRE??? I got no input when I asked before, SO they must be darn scarce! -- Jimi

PREVIOUS message: It's ALWAYS something, eh? I learned today that Woody Woodill made a KIDS' version of the Wildfire, called the "Brushfire" -- not a joke. I can't find a picture anywhere. Did any survive? Did any even SELL???

Real thing (Note the nice, LATER grille):

 

Hey there, 29BowTie, when you mentioned "fuel-altered" RE those old Datsuns, I immediately remembered HAMBer Rich Venza posting this Fiat 1100 a couple of days ago. YEAH! I think we could easily IMAGINE those little Datsuns doing this trick!!!

 

SunRoofJim, THANKS for posting this. I had never heard about it
before. Asking YOUR WAG: Fresh from the Air Flow near-debacle,
do you suppose they just thought better of ventuing into another
financial quagmire? (And, maybe, all the while mindful that Bantam
wasn't moving too many small cars, as well?)

 

Al those Datsun pictures kind of reminded me of the Ford Model "Y"

Ford model Y (model 19) 8hp vehicles were produced from August 1932 through to November 1937 and the Ford model C and CX 10hp was produced from September 1934 through to March 1937, primarily for the UK market, but exported world wide.

The production of the Ford model Y with 933cc sidevalve engine was incredibly successful in manufacturing 157668 saloons (2 door and 4 door), 30795 commercials and 111 tugs. (figures include built up and knock down units for export). Early models are now designated short rad models (1932 to October 1933) have many styling differences to the later long rad model. There are significant early differences in the parts and components (both body and mechanical) which are applicable, and show developments and improvements to spare and replacement parts.

The Ford model C and CX with 1172cc engine was referred to as the De Luxe or the 10hp model against the Popular for the 8hp model Y. Production was of 2 door or 4 door models and chassis for specialist coach builders. 21340 model C were produced and 37653 model CX which was a subtly restyled model C. Production of a tourer was announced in May 1935, offered from the factory and made in collaboration with Briggs Motor Bodies, but many variations were also offered by specialist coach builders who showed their stylistic flair with such models as Mistral by Jensen Bros, Kerry by Perry's or Arthur E Gould, Cairn by Salmons-Tickford, or those marketed E B Abbott and Arrow Coachworks etc.

The robust and adaptable vehicles found success in trials and races, in either whole vehicles or in components being used. The engines found favour in showing their design strength and ability of being tuned for great power output. The final demise of many was the rot, neglect or the destruction on the stock car/banger racing circuits.

 

The story of Sam Pandolfo's efforts to make the PAN automobile
the economic boon of St. Cloud, MN, is, to me, one of those inte-
resting "people" stories that enrich the backdrop of the early U.S.
automotive scene. It's a little amusing, a little exciting AND a
little sad, in terms of the outcome for both Pandolfo and the town
of St. Cloud which still reveres Sam as a local hero, though he
was sent to prison as a swindler. The locals never saw it that way,
and welcomed Sam "home" after he'd done his years. (How many
"swindlers" would go straight to the scene of the "crime" upon
release from prison, HUH?)

Though a fair number of Pans were built in St. Cloud, few survive
today. One is in the AACA museum at Hershey, and the "Pan-
Towners Club" holds four there. The story of how Sam Pandolfo
ALMOST made St. Cloud, MN, another Detroit is well worth the
read. Info is plentiful on the 'net, one good site being, Pan
Automobile Registry (www.pantowners.org/panreg.html).



Pan, owned by the St. Cloud Antique Auto Club ("The Pan-Towners")

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An actual PAN stock certificate, thanks to Stock Search Intl.,
Tucson, AZ www.stocksearchintl.com/transportation.html

 

Does anyone have access to early (1920 & earlier) issues of MOTOR AGE?

 

A little more to the story of Sam Pandolfo and the Pan Motor Company. The facts come from a book written by John Dominick titled The Legend of Sam Pandolfo, Minnesota&#8217;s Pan Motor Company and Its Legacy.

The &#8220;large factory&#8221; wasn&#8217;t just a large factory; it was a 22 acre complex of buildings with underground tunnels connecting them. These tunnels carried electricity and heat to all the buildings. As well as being able to walk from building to building with out going out into the cold. Some of these building are still in use today. Just across the railroad tracks to the south of the Pan plant no.1, is where Sam Pandolfo started the Pandolfo Manufacturing Company. Here he produced the Combination Compartment Tank used on the Pan Automobile, folding chairs, coffee makers, &#8220;A Table of More Then Ordinary Usefulness&#8221; that became known as a TV tray, and many other utilitarian items.

Sam Pandolfo also built over 50 houses for his employees. These were well constructed, diverse styles and are a neighborhood known today as Pantown. Along with this Sam Pandolfo convinced the city of St. Cloud to extend a sewer line out to this development.

Sam Pandolfo accomplished a great deal, in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in a relatively short time. What is even more amazing is the fact the World War I was happening during this same time period.

Pandolfo also produced forged parts for other manufactures. One of our club members has a connecting rod out of a Chevrolet engine that has &#8220;Pan&#8221; forged on it.

Pandolfo also attempted to produce farm tractors. He designed two different models, one a conventional type and a Tank Tread walk behind tractor. Neither one ever went into production nor as far as we know the prototypes never survived. I&#8217;m including a copy of a photo of the conventional tractor and there is a photo of the walk behind in John Dominick&#8217;s book.

Around 750 automobiles were produced before the Pan Motor Company went out of business.

 

The return of the ''Timbs Special'' roadster

<!--END Page Title --> <!--BEGIN Content Body //--> March 03, 2010




By Ken Gross

Return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when custom cars, as we regard them today, hadn’t yet clearly been defined. In the 1940s, there were still coachbuilders such as Bohman & Schwartz (Pasadena, Calif.), Coachcraft (Hollywood, Calif.), Howard “Dutch” Darrin (Santa Monica, Calif.) and Enos Derham (Rosemont, Pa.) who artfully restyled production cars for clientele who could afford to commission a bespoke vehicle.

At the same time, pioneer customizers such as Harry Westergard (Oakland, Calif.), along with Los Angeles-area craftsmen George and Sam Barris, Gil and Al Ayala, Link Paola and others were chopping tops, stripping off chrome, reworking bodies with fadeaway fenders and significantly altering the appearance of what were then relatively late-model cars. They were joined by countless backyard practitioners whose numbers increased exponentially across the United States, especially after cheap, easy-to-use fillers such as Bondo and fiberglass matting became available.

Customizing techniques were promulgated country-wide in Dan Post’s “Blue Book of Custom Cars,” numerous Fawcett one-off publications and, when Robert E. “Pete” Petersen’s magazine empire took flight, Hot Rod, Car Craft, Rod & Custom and even Motor Trend chronicled the burgeoning custom car scene.

There was another category of custom car that pretty much defied description. It includes the works of talented men who basically designed their cars from the ground up, usually (but not always) using a modified proprietary chassis along with engines from production cars. More often than not, they’d build one car for their personal use, and that vehicle, if it were sufficiently striking, might appear in a magazine, along with information — and even a cutaway drawing — detailing how it was conceived and constructed.

Building a cover car

While many of these scratch-built custom creations were fully backyard efforts with fundamental engineering based on production car technology, Norman Timbs’ car was very different. So was Timbs. He was a skilled mechanical engineer who’d earlier designed the 1947, ’48 and ’49 Indy 500-winning Blue Crown Specials, driven by Bill Holland and Mauri Rose, and worked with the irrepressible Preston Tucker on the Tucker 48 Torpedo design. More on Timbs later, but first, let’s talk about his one-of-a-kind car.



The sleek, aluminum-bodied, rear-engine roadster was featured on the cover of the second issue of Motor Trend in October 1949. A lovely model, standing behind the car, posed in the driveway of a then-contemporary ranch house. The Timbs Special’s immense tapered tail extended toward the camera. The car’s lozenge shape represented a stunning contrast to the era’s domestic models.

Notable features included skirted fadeaway fenders; a close-coupled, contoured cockpit without doors; a raked and split windshield; “Siamesed” dual exhaust tailpipes (like those on a Duesenberg Model J); and ’39 Ford teardrop tail lamps. Its 15-inch wheels were shod with wide whitewall tires and accessory hubcaps that resembled Cadillac “sombreros.”

Without benefit of a four-color cover (early MT covers had black-and-white illustrations), readers couldn’t appreciate the Timbs roadster’s deep, almost Titian red-maroon finish, speckled with gold flake, but they surely must have been stopped in their tracks by this car’s futuristic appearance. In the post-World War II era, Volkswagen, Porsche, Tatra, the Renault 4CV and the ill-fated Tucker all espoused rear engines, but that configuration was still comparatively rare.

The Timbs roadster’s massive aluminum tail hinged just behind the cockpit and opened hydraulically, with a single ram to reveal, and provide access to, a 1947 Buick straight-eight that was fitted with dual carburetors. Earlier, Buick offered “Compound Carburetion” in 1941 on its top-tier models, and that manifold appears on this engine; Timbs reportedly ordered the powerplant as a “crate motor” from a Los Angeles Buick dealer. A chromed valve cover was added for engine aesthetics. The long straight-eight engine was located nearly in the center of the car’s chassis. A spare wheel and tire was mounted directly behind the engine.

Designed by Timbs, the chassis was a unique design using 4-inch-diameter chome-moly tubing that was capped at the ends and pressurized by a small air compressor, allegedly to help stiffen the frame and supply air for the air horns. The solid front axle was a conventional Ford I-beam. The rear suspension consisted of a Packard center section with modified Ford axle bells, centered by a Timbs-designed independent swing axle that was custom-made for this car.

The snug cockpit, accessible via step plates on each side, looked like that of a high-powered luxury speedboat, with a Stewart-Warner five-gauge accessory panel offset to the right that included a rare 0-to-5,000-rpm tachometer. Other instruments, including an Echlin fuel pressure gauge, were mounted in front of the driver. The full complement included a speedometer, vacuum gauge, air and oil pressure gauges, as well as dials for fuel and water temperature, and an ammeter. There was a wood-rimmed three-spoke accessory wheel and a column-mounted Ford shift lever. As the pièce de résistance, the cockpit, dash surrounds, door panels and seat were resplendent in tan tuck-and-roll leather. No top was ever fitted.



The entire front end of the roadster was a single curvaceous piece, with an ovalesque chromed grille reminiscent of a then-contemporary Cisitalia. It was flanked by a pair of very low-mounted inset headlamps that were in turn framed by a plated nerf bar that echoed the shape of a similar two-plane unit on the rear. The radiator was mounted behind the grille. There was no hood opening, there were no doors. The only visible cut line was the thin vertical break behind the cockpit that separated the extended tail section.

At first glance, as there were no chrome trim accents, the entire car appeared to be molded in one continuous form. An underbelly undoubtedly helped its aerodynamic efficiency. The overall effect was quite startling, and for 1949, when most production models were still relatively tall and boxy, it must have resembled a car from outer space. Reportedly, it was inspired by the ill-fated Auto-Union high-speed record-setter, driven by German driving ace Bernd Rosemeyer before his fatal crash on the Frankfurt-Darmstatt autobahn in 1938.



Using quaint language that was typical of the 1940s, Motor Trend described the Timbs roadster as “an unusually streamlined maroon job.” There was no article on the car per se, but the description — really just a photo caption — stated that the car took three years to construct. It was said to be 17-1/2 feet in length with a 117-inch wheelbase, and it had a 56-inch tread and weighed 2,500 lbs. Oh, and the lovely Miss Ethel Williams was a Rita La Roy model.

Apparently Norman Timbs drove the car, but not a great deal. It appeared at a few shows to great acclaim, but little is known of its in-use history. Timbs, who lived in Van Nuys, Calif., at the time, advertised his “two-seater sports” in Road & Track in February 1950 for $7,500. The R&T classified ad claimed the car was capable of speeds in excess of 100 mph and it had been driven less than 5,000 miles.



The path to oblivion

In 1952, the Timbs Special was owned by an Air Force captain named Jim Davis, who lived in Manhattan Beach. Wayne Thoms wrote a story about the car in the February 1954 issue of Motor Life entitled “Almost Airborne.” In the photographs, the Timbs car appears to have been repainted in a light color. Thoms reported that engine and driveline were 1948 Buick, and noted that the steering column and ignition lock were Ford components. His article stated the height of the car at the windshield was 38 inches and that the hand-formed aluminum body, built in sections on a wooden buck then meticulously welded together — had been built by noted LA-area race car fabricator Emil Diedt at a cost of $8,000.

It’s unclear whether Thoms or the author drove the roadster, but the Motor Life article claimed “...the performance is almost as fantastic as the appearance,” that the Buick engine “...had been hopped up to develop in the region of 200 bhp,” and “...a top speed of 120 mph should be no problem.” Thoms made some interesting comments on the car’s handling:
“Fortunately, this car has the essential ingredients — precise steering, flat cornering, positive brakes — all necessary safety factors which are too important to overlook. Suspension is through conventional transverse leaf springs all around. A De Dion-type rear axle provides independent suspension for the rear wheels, needed because the engine, transmission and differential are in line, virtually as a unit, with no driveshaft separating transmission and rear end. If this is confusing, remember that the engine is in the rear; the only thing in front of the driver and passenger being the radiator which, incidentally, mounts a small electric fan for auxiliary cooling.”

After USAF Captain Davis’ tenure, the ex-Timbs two-seater had a few subsequent owners; it reportedly appeared in a TV episode of “Buck Rogers;” it was displayed for many years in front of the Half Way House restaurant in Saugus, Calif., where children played and jumped on its fragile aluminum body; and it appeared briefly in a few frames of the Nicholas Cage film “Gone in 60 Seconds.” Carelessly stored outdoors by an unknown owner in Antelope Valley, in California’s high desert, it was then bought by a man who apparently was a prop man for a Hollywood studio. The famed Norman Timbs Special deserved a better fate. Thankfully, that was about to happen.



Locating and preserving a legend

I first saw the Timbs Special at the Petersen Museum where it was stored prior to a 2002 Barrett-Jackson auction. Exposed to the elements for years, abandoned and forlorn, it was in very rough shape. Gary Cerveny purchased it at that sale for just $17,200. “I didn’t know about the car until I saw it at the auction,” Cerveny said. “It looked intriguing, and when it didn’t seem to be selling, I decided to bid.”

Cerveny, who likes to drive all of his 35 collector cars, simply wanted the Timbs roadster to be a good driver. But ensuing publicity in Mark Morton’s Hop Up magazine and on the Web convinced him that this was an important car, and it deserved a first-class, historically accurate restoration.

“Some time earlier, I restored a belly tank,” he recalled, “and as most of the Timbs car was all there, I mistakenly thought it’d be an easy restoration.” After performing much of the engine work and beginning the body refurbishing, Cerveny realized, “as the process went along, it was more complicated than I thought, and I was in over my head.” Roger Morrison recommended that Cerveny send the car to Dave Crouse’s shop, Custom Auto, in Loveland, Colo.

Crouse, who has restored several important historic hot rods, said the restoration “...was very difficult. This car was built as a concept exercise,” Crouse continued, “so we had to do a lot of work to make it function properly. The tail section is huge, and a previous owner apparently couldn’t lift it up easily, so he cut a large square hole in the top of the rear section to access the engine. He also cut the wheel wells open to change the rear tires. Workmanship on the body is first rate,” Crouse reported, “but there were no stiffening members to help the body retain its shape.”

“Gary and his dad began the aluminum patching and repairs,” Crouse continued, “but they were dealing with huge compound shapes, and their torch work resulted in some panel warping. Once the car was in our shop, Rex Rogers, my metal guy, carefully restored the panels and then fabricated aircraft-style ribs so the aluminum body could maintain its shape and we could paint it.”

“The aluminum was pretty frail,” added Rogers. “The windshield posts were badly corroded, so we recast those. And the dash had been changed.”

“We had to have a system to lift the body up,” Crouse explained. “So we installed an electric motor screw jack that bolts to the frame in the same place as Timbs’ original (and much too powerful) hydraulic strut. This was a practical step; the heavy body has to open for access to the engine and the rear suspension.” The only other substantive change was converting the electrical system from six to twelve volts.

“This car is a monster to work on,” Crouse added. “The nose is fixed; there’s no hood and the radiator is in front, with an expansion tank located behind the cockpit bulkhead. We got all the mechanicals perfected, but it took time. Most of the linkages and controls are aircraft bell cranks. A few of them were missing and some didn’t work very well. There’s a ’46 Ford steering column with a column shift and it goes to the nose of the car. The linkage has to run all the way to the rear and operate smoothly.

“One problem was the Buick transmission,” Crouse said. “Unlike a Ford, with two levers on one side, the Buick has one lever than goes fore and aft and another that goes in and out. Fabricating functional shift, throttle and clutch linkages took some re-engineering. We actually drove the completed chassis around quite a bit to ensure everything worked before we mounted the body on it.

“There were no splash shields behind the wheels to keep water from coming in, so we fabricated those,” he said. “The full belly pans were missing, so we made those, too. Our intent was to build a show car, but make it usable and drivable.

“The original workmanship is incredible,” Crouse enthused. “The De Dion-type independent rear suspension uses Packard U-joints on a Ford banjo with Ford axle bells, anchored by a conventional transverse leaf spring and tubular shock absorbers. But the geometry apparently wasn’t right, so to make it work, someone kept adding more springs. We installed the regular Ford semi-elliptic spring pack and used air shocks powered by the car’s compressor. It works beautifully now.”

Crouse believes Timbs’ intent to stiffen the chassis by pumping air into the tubular frame under pressure was never practical.

“You’d need 1,000 psi or more before you’d notice much change,” he said. “That said, Norman Timbs was way ahead of his time. He was on the inside of the Los Angeles racing fraternity, working with the best race car fabricators, and it shows. They built this car for him. The welds and the machine work on this car are gorgeous. Whoever did the body knew what he was doing. Although there’s no proof, it could very well have been Emil Diedt.

“This restoration wasn’t something we just whipped out,” Crouse explained. “After we finally had the shape corrected, the surface preparation took forever. To obtain a straight, even parting line, we had the tail section on and off. It’s so big you can’t reach across it, so we stood it on one end and built a scaffold to work on it. It’s the weirdest thing we ever had to do, but sometimes you’ve got to get creative.

“My painter outdid himself,” Crouse said. “We had a little chip of the paint from a go-kart that Timbs had built for his son, Norman Jr. After consulting with a few people, Gary Cerveny took it to Stan Betz, who experimented with several shades, and then expertly mixed the correct color with the right gold flakes. We painstakingly sprayed it on in several steps, from base, to color, to the clear finish. It was like painting a 747, because the car is so huge.

“Although most of the parts were there, we had to locate some of the rarer pieces,” Crouse said. “Because we had photographs of the instruments, we couldn’t substitute; we had to find the right ones. There’s a small pressure gauge on the left and we used a magnifying glass to identify it. It wasn’t Stewart-Warner — it had a crimped bezel — and we were stymied for three years. Pat Swanson, an instrument expert from the Pacific Northwest, told us it was an Echlin 0-10-PSI mechanical fuel pressure gauge. Even better, he had one, and he gave it to us to restore. The hubcaps are Lyons accessory items, and it took years before we found a pair to restore.”



A custom comes home

Dave Crouse said he’d known about the Timbs Special for a long time.

“The guy I use to bird dog cars and parts for me said there was ‘...a streamliner in the high desert.’ When he described it, I told him to buy it for me. But somehow he didn’t; the car was used as a movie prop, and the owner at the time thought he’d get a lot of money for it when it came up for auction and Gary bought it. But eventually, it came home to Poppa, and we got to restore it.”

Crouse, who drove the car in test shakedowns without the aluminum body, as well as after the shell was permanently installed, said, “It’s quite nimble for its size and it really feels secure on the road. It’s a little like driving a bus,” he quips, “because you’re sitting so far up front with that long tail behind you.”

Cerveny, who disassembled and rebuilt the engine, said that two cylinders had water in them. He wanted to keep the original block, so he installed a pair of cylinder sleeves, followed by a complete rebuild. Cerveny notes that the crosshatches from the factory cylinder bore honing were still visible, indicating that the engine had been run very little. Modifications include the aforementioned twin carburetors. A pair of factory cast-iron split exhaust headers empty into twin Smithy’s mufflers, resulting in a satisfying rumble from the parallel tailpipes.

Three years later, after a great deal more money was spent, the gleaming, beautifully restored Norman Timbs Special is complete.

“You don’t find a car like this very often,” Crouse said, obviously pleased with his shop’s work. “We’ll tackle anything. But I can’t credit Gary enough. Whenever there was a crunch, he stepped up and we went for quality.”

“I’m really excited about this car,” Cerveny added. “I like European art-deco designs, and now that the car is completed, I’m even more interested in it, and I have no plans to sell it. My wife Diane is unbelievably excited about it, too. It’s going to be the centerpiece of our collection.”

Rescued from the high desert, restored to a “fare thee well,” primed for its first public appearance in decades at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance on March 14, the long-lost Norman Timbs Special is certain to dazzle the crowds.

 

Jim, RE #2732, when one considers ALL that Sam P. did for and in St. Cloud, it surely doesn't sound like a guy setting up a major scam, does it? Heck, the man lived right there in St. Cloud, apparently even after he got out of prison.

Comparatively speaking, I just think these facts (and the adoration of the populace) makes guys like Preston T. look like carpet-baggers. LOL

 

Hands down, the most gorgeous catfish I've ever seen- MAN I love that car!!!