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

A Never Wuz Imperial Speedster built for the 2011 Detroit Autorama to compete for the Riddler Award;

http://murraypfaff.wordpress.<wbr>com/

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=562505

 

now even rockauto.com does have collectible "orphan" car in their magnet serie:
My "Elli" Edsel is nr 80 Magnet

 

Now that is one sweet Imp tribute car, SunRoofCord! THOSE guys
get to look under the hood. I wish we could see what THAY see!

 

Hey Jimi;

That's not an Imp

It's an Imperial

This is an Imp.

LOL

 

LOL! Sorry, bro! My Cali friend sold his Imperial to Australia, and "Imp" was how he referred to it! I guess it stuck in my brain!

Anyway, the Imp was one of the many, many cyclecars and low-price cars Henry Ford drove out of the market, eh?

 

It's amazing how many cars I come across that are not extinct makes but have models within that are one-off or low production.

Some of these are extinct vehicles and some are 1 of very few left or unique in there own way.

The June 2011 Hemming's Classic Car Magazine is a Station Wagon issue and has features on some very interesting one's. One is a 1958 Studebaker Silver Hawk Provincial Wagon.

According to the feature on this Wagon, there were just 2,412 built for the 1958 model year. This one is possibly 1 0f 1 as the original owner did not want the standard 180 H.P. cubic inch Studebaker engine, so instead he ordered the 289 Cubic inch solid lifter Studebaker Silver Hawk V-8 that produces 225 H.P. with it's Carter WCFB four-barrel carburetor backed by a three speed manual with a twin traction differential.

This unique Wagon is all original including the paint after sitting in a garage for over 15 years, covered in bird poop.

Sincere Thanks to Jeff Koch of Hemming's Classic Car for the above information.

I don't believe the pictures below are of the feature car but they could be as it is the same color.

 

More on the Imp Cyclecar:

The Imp Cyclecar was produced from 1913 through 1915. These belt driven vehicles were powered by motorcycle-like engines. The vee-twin 15 horsepower air-cooled engine was mated to a friction transmission. The car had a wheelbase of 100 inches and weighed a mere 600 pounds.
The Imp Cyclecar was William B. Stout's first automotive venture. He would later build the Ford Tri-Motor airplane and the Stout Scarab. The Imp was his first idea and he sold it to the McIntyre Company. The W.H. Mcintyre Company set up a new division, the Imp Cyclecar Company.
It is estimated that less than a thousand Cyclecars were produced.

The Imp Cyclecar had many original and unique features, particularly in its spring construction.
Instead of having axles there are two flat springs set crosswise of the frame and with their ends attached to yokes between which the wheel spindles are fitted.
Those in the front being attached to a pivoted steering knuckle, while those in the rear are fastened to a rigid arm.



1913-14 Imp Springs<center> </center>

Imp Cyclecar Factory - Auburn, Indiana

Cyclecars are rare and uncommon, but they have been in the automobile since nearly the inception of the automobile. In England, they were a ways to avoid taxes, and in the United States, they were a welcomed alternative to the larger cars of the day. The tandem seating allowed for two individuals and the lightweight design allowed for low-powered engines that rewarded the owners with excellent fuel mileage.

There appears to be at least one survivor of a 1913 Imp.

 

SunRoofCord/Jim said: It's amazing how many cars I come across that are not extinct makes but have models within that are one-off or low production.

Some of these are extinct vehicles and some are 1 of very few left or unique in there own way.


Jimi: Truer words were never spoken. The V-16 Peerless and a "sunroof" Cord come to mind!

 

Take a look at this thread on cyclecars.

 

Another RARE bird! As if the U.S. '57 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser isn't scarce
enough, HERE is a Canadian '57 Ford MONARCH Turnpike Cruiser!!!

The most costly Merc for '57 was this maxed-out version of the high-end Merc
Montclair. The Turnpike Cruiser -- alone among '57 Merc offerings -- had the
Lincoln 368-CID 4-B 290-hp V-8, as well as a Continental kit and every gadget
available in the opulent tech-crazy late '50s!

These GREAT, well-lit photos were taken and posted on flickr by member
CustomCab, June '09. He did a GOOD job, and I thank flickr and him both!



1957 Ford Monarch Turnpike Cruiser. Is that a dimmer switch at the roof there?





What can I say? 1957 was THE year when Detroit, South Bend, Kenosha, etc., took excess
to -- well -- EXCESS! All for LOOKS, the Continental kit must have made loading luggage
in the trunk quite a trial!!!





Sold in Vancouver!



Try finding THIS fender script in a junkyard!

 

A very impressive thread. I'm even more impressed that it has 11 pages so far.

About the Turnpike Cruiser, I've heard that the two vents at the top corners of the windshield were notorious for letting in the rain while driving.

 

I just looked at the Cycle Car Thread and came up with 29 pages. You must of missed some.

 

Oops! I did miss a bunch. I realized how I got only 11 pages. The first page showed pages 1, ..., 11 but the red bar next to it shows 1 of 29. Duh! I jumped around the various pages and I stopped at 11.

 

Thanks to ConceptCarz, here are three fantastically well-done photos of a U.S. 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser, in the Indy Pace Car special edition. This edition was only in "Moonmist Yellow" (or was that "Sunglitter"?) and with all the Indy 500 stenciling you see here. This spectacular specimen is AS presented at the Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance. A worthy showing, I'd say!


Now, the production numbers start to bamboozle me on this rare model, folks. Of this Montclair special flagship ("halo") edition, apparently only the Indy version came standard with the spare-tire treatment. The source I saw said that Mercury only made something over 1,200 of these -- meaning only about ONE for every 2.5 Mercury dealerships in the country. That makes it a pretty rare car, AND about on par with the PREVIOUS year's '56 DeSoto Adventurer Indy "Pacesetter" edition.


Cool, but then, another source says that 1,200-plus '57 Indy Turnpike Cruiser convertibles were made, PLUS another 7,000+ two-door sedan Turnpike Cruisers, plus 8,000+ four-door sedan Turnpike Cruisers. Photos of other '57 supposed Merc Turnpike Cruisers DO NOT HAVE THE CONTINENTAL KITS. In addition, a third source shows that Turnpike Cruisers could be had in more than a dozen colors (though the Indy edition supposedly ONLY came in Moonmist Yellow). So, in reality, how many actual '57 Merc Indy Edition Turnpike Cruisers were built??? Is it as simple as: 1,200 Indys, THEN all the OTHER "Turnpike Cruisers" could be had in MANY colors AND with/without the Continental kit???







Note the diff between the Canadian and U.S. grilles and trim. PLUS, the FRONT fender script here seems to say "ConvertibleCRUISER." Interesting!




FANCY Merc! LINCOLN engine!

 

1923 Cadillac

Research by the owner shows this car to be one of two extant. It is a four-owner, all-original, unrestored gem with 83,000 miles, retains the original aluminum V-8 and body, This car has an original owner’s manual, original tools, and a maintenance log.

 

Absolutely gorgeous!

Something I have to point out though, it's not a Ford monarch, or a Mercury Monarch, it's just Monarch, it was it's own brand apart like Mercury or Lincoln, and we never call those Ford Lincolns or Ford Mercury's...

Same goes with the Meteor.

The food chain on them is like this: Ford, Meteor, Mercury, Monarch, Lincoln. (I post this because I have seen a couple websites that are very anti Canadian saying that these were really cheap under priced cars because apparently we wouldn't spend the money for a real Ford here... but in reality they actually cost quite a bit more normally)

 

Hi, Ryan. Glad you clarified it. I doubt many HAMBers think Canadian-made cars and truck are, or were, cheap.

The site I borrowed the photos from ID'd the car as a "Ford" Monarch. Maybe they mistakenly thought it was somehow associated with FoMoCo. The car surely doesn't look cheap to me. They cost as much as a Lincoln Capri in the U.S., so I should think they were not cheap in Canada in 1958, either.

Do you happen to know if the Monarch Turnpike Cruiser had a 348 engine in it? And the item I read didn't even say where in Canada the car was made. The license holder and dealer script seem to indicate Canadian roots. Can you fill us in where it was manufacturerd? Thanks, bro.

 

Those air vents were pretty unique.
They had the antenna(s) in the middle of them.
So many gadgets and things to go wrong.............

 

WOW......
I've never heard that one before!
I've always been interested in the Canadian versions that were available.
I never heard they were cheaper, and from what I have seen, they were always nicer versions and I've never seen any few stripper models. The Canadian versions really seemed dolled up with extra chrome, and nicer interiors
In fact, in Western NY, the Canadian versions are much sought after and several have found their way to this side of the river by enthusiasts.
Including a couple really nice Mercury pickups, and some Canso's and Acadians.

Only real plane jane one I've seen, is a Fargo pickup.


This Monarch Cruiser is a really rare bird. Have seen a few Monarchs, but not a Cruiser before.

 

Thanks, SWI, for mentioning the radio antennae in those pods over the windshield! It jarred a memory of my dad mentioning this. He was still in his 20s in the mid-'50s. And because he'd worked quite a while in his uncle's garage in the '40s, he was a NUT for the new models every year!

The first Turnpike Cruiser he saw "in the flesh" was when he worked at a township garage here in Ohio. Out working with a road crew one day, they came to an accident scene. No injuries, just a bruised ego. Seems a new Cruiser owner couldn't handle the 290 horses of the 368 (correct CID; I stated it wrong earlier) Lincoln motor and ran the car off into a ditch, at some considerable speed.

Anyway, AMEN on the auto GIZMOS! But, people loved them. The ones that didn't work well or were trouble-prone faded away pretty quickly. Only MoPar seemed to make push-button trannys work well. Tri-tone paint soon left the scene. Strange AC systems got weeded out in favor of the all-under-hood system developed and refined by Nash-Kelvinator. Dual antennae, wide whites, chrome overkill, even fender skirts largely faded away or got toned down considerably. Fins? Let's not go there! LOL

 

Hey, speak of the devil! These must be pretty rare. Looks to be all stock, save for the wheels.
What's the fender script saying? Fairlane, Frontenac, Futura, other? Somebody
knowledgeable wanna jump in with some info?

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HAMBer Dog429 (Glenn) posted this snapshot over on the well-known "Vintage Shots" thread. THANKS!

 

Instant custom grill!

Here's a '50 Mercury Meteor at Woolcock Antique Auto.



1950 Mercury Meteor ad
​

1950 Mercury Meteor club coupe shot by flickr's CustomCab

 

Sweet! And it must be scarce. '50 Mercury Meteor pickup, located with Curator Mike Pratt
at Sunbelt Antique and Classic Automobiles, Las Vegas. They state that the Merc Meteor
trucks were available from '46 through early '68.

 

Ford of Canada 1956 Ford Meteor Rideau.

.....................................................

Ford Australia in 1957 and 1958 had models that were "different" .....



http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/3366756525/



http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiefordadverts/5031832053/

 

This one is not extinct, but it is very rare. Best of all, for a "one of", it is not in a museum or locked away in a temperature controlled garage. This car still appears regularly at events and is driven in competition.

VALANO GT 225:









http://wwwbollyblog.blogspot.com/2009_03_01_archive.html

 

The car and it's current and long term owner:












My photos taken at Speed-on-Tweed.

.........................................

 

Some other photos from another site:

http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20635&sid=eb3bd3870eb579326cf32dc4d48b4477

............................................................................

A very rare, original car still being used as it was intended.

PS. The JWF Milano molds still exist.

A "new", but open top, version built to similar specifications as VALANO is not out of the question.

 

Hey, Jimi. Is this your friend and his "Imp"????



.............................................

Henry Ford may not have succeeded.

Chrysler Rootes Britain (must be some reason they don't use those three words in that order) actually brought back an Imp in 1963. It was just slightly smaller than the U.S. "Imp" and it was powered by a WW2 fire pump (Coventry Climax 875cc).



http://www.imps.me.uk/History/TimeLine.html

 

That slant 6 is leaning the wrong way.

 

This reply has taken all damn day because my internet keeps going out.

LOL, the model is Rideau (like the Rideau Canal in Ottawa which is a 7 km skating rink in the winter)

Once again not a mercury Meteor, just Meteor, the grill is a Mercury item as far as I know and the cars often had Mercury engines too!

What?? There were no Meteor trucks, this is a Mercury.

Some further clarification, Meteor was a Canadian model till 1961 when it was offered as a low priced Mercury Meteor in the US (and I figure that is why people often mistake the earlier ones as Mercury Meteors, but they were not a Mercury before that) The Monarch was a Canadian model till 1961 as well when it was just dropped due to low numbers, 1961 Monarchs always have been and still are very rare to find.

Here is my 1 of 497 built 61 Monarch Richelieu 4 door hard-top, I was shocked to find this car sitting in a field locally last year, bought it and 8 other cars and trucks for $1200 on the spot, it till has all of the impossible to find emblems and even the hubcaps which were in the trunk. I will be driving this car this summer.

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