Vintage shots from days gone by!

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Posted by SWI


[FONT=Comic Sans MS, sans-serif]Mart! I can hear the wheels turnin' all the way from here. [/FONT]
[FONT=Comic Sans MS, sans-serif]WHATEVER you're thinking, stop that! [/FONT]

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[FONT=Comic Sans MS, sans-serif](Camp Climax, indeed! Sniff, huff! Well, I never!)
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1952 Motor Trend
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He he he, you nailed it down, Jimi! let's see what's comin' up here!

 

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a blue Renault Dauphine and a blue Citroen Ds lost in this parking lot

 

Yeah! And an Imperial, a Willys woody and a little Rambler! Hey, isn't that a '55 President Speedster front and center???




[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Jack Andrea behind the soda fountain holds a Golden Airflyte Sundae he created to commemorate [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]the 50th anniversary of Nash Motors as well as the '52 Golden Airflyte automobile. Photo thanks to the[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]City of Kenosha site, KenoshaDay.<!--/NORMAL--><!--AGSETUP LastLineEnd=RESET-->[/FONT]

 

This made my day. I met HST's widow recently while in my '66 Bonneville wagon. I started the conversation with "What do you think HST would think of that B!ch!" Got some good stories out of her. She is a trip.

 

For Nash's 50th Anniversary, Pinin Farina restyled the entire line a bit, updating
the styles introduced in fall 1948 as '49 models. Though I AGREE that all the famous
"Bathtub Nashes" were uglier than a bowling shoe , they had state of the art "Wea-
ther Eye" and numerous other creature comforts, leading to some of the company's
strongest sales in decades! (Most Nash customers didn't think like hotrodders or
customizers, needless to say! )

 

Ernest Hemingway’s long-lost 1955 Chrysler New Yorker convertible found in Cuba: Thanks
to UK-based Photographer Tim Scott, we found the story and a film all about Hemingway’s
car which is now being restored with the help of British travel writer Christopher P. Baker
and actor David Soul. Stop by The Old Motor were we have more information and watch the
trailer made for the upcoming film.

 

Here is what Nash/AMC collector Vince Rufalo of Kenosha said on the KenoshaDay site about the often maligned but very successful Bathtub Nash models.

"Airflytes had been introduced in the fall of 1948 as 1949 Nash designs, and the model year would help make Nash-Kelvinator $26 million that year [about $250
million in 2013 dollars]. It was the first mass-produced unit-body-designed car, as well as the most aerodynamic mass-produced car in the world. With the
unit-body cars, there is no frame sitting underneath it like a truck. The strength and rigidity of the car is spread throughout the body. That was the beginning
of the designs with crumple zones in mind.
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"The Airflytes had a number of breakthrough design features: Complete aerodynamic design: After a wind-tunnel study at the University of Wichita, Nash
boasted in its 1950 brochure that 'The Nash Airflyte moves through the air with 20.7 percent less air drag than the average of all other leading makes of cars
tested.' Uniscope instrument dials gave the driver the feel of being in a cockpit, as all instrument dials were grouped in a circular mount just below eye level,
on the steering column. Twin beds: In a flip of a lever, the seat backrests flopped back to leave a flat, comfortable space for sleeping, a feature that kept par-
ents of young motorists awake until their hot-blooded teens came home.

"In 1952 Nash completely changed the car, including switching out the Uniscope for dashboard instrumentation. The Golden Airflyte line in 1952 took the Airflyte
and did a redesign of the car for the Statesman and the Ambassador series. Famed Italian designer Pinin Farina rocked the automobile world with this, his first
American car design with its sweeping continental lines and daring styling. Daring for 1952, anyway. Farina dropped the hood so that it ran below the fender line
and increased the glass area 25 percent and curved the windshield, enlarging it.

They were really big cars. You could seat four in the front. Nash advertising executives told the public they would notice the difference in the 'richness of
living' behind the wheel of a Nash Golden Airflyte. Seat belts became optional on both series, a first for an American car. The Airflyte’s downside was in the
handling, Ruffolo said. They just didn't handle as well as Fords." [Comment: They were so softly sprung that they pitched, rolled and dived if you hotdogged it.
Designed for comfort and ride, not pavement-blistering or sports car performance! ]

"The Kenosha Police Department had Airflytes for their patrol cars," Ruffalo added. "But they purchased two Fords to chase down the kids with the soupped-up
cars." [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][/FONT]


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The young lady in this photo is the actual REAL Gidget (that's Kathy Kohner, if I'm not mistaken). That's Malibu Surfrider Beach in the background ...

 

Isn't that a Stude?In 69400?

 

Who is this? Stalin?

 

Prepping one of the very first AC Cobras in 1962.
Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated would say of the Cobra, "Hairier than a Borneo gorilla in a raccoon suit."


Photo with a BIG THANKS to the site GoodOldValves!


Carroll Shelby personally lent road-nut Steve McQueen an AC Cobra in 1963 -- by then becoming well known by Yankees
as the "Shelby Cobra." Though Shelby was a famous driving champion in his own right, having McQueen take his creation
for a spirited spin obviously wouldn't hurt Carroll's publicty any, eh?



Photo THANKS to SiloDrome!




Carroll and Steve bullshit about wheels before Steve saddles up, 1963.
Photo thanks to 42ndBlackWatch!


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I can't read it, even being able to read Russian, when blowing it up, but it certainly looks like a young Josef Vissiaronavich Jugasvili. From what I recall in our classes at the Army Language School (now the Defense Language Institute) at Monterey, Cal. in the 50s. We were given a good dose of Russian history along with the language. He changed his last name to Stalin (Man of Steel), as we were told.

 

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[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]'58-60 Nash Ramblers got a facelift, but NOT MUCH! In 1958,
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]the musical trio, The Playmates, did a gag record, "BEEP, BEEP"
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif](aka, "The Little Nash Rambler") which went to #4 nationally, [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]staying in the Top 40 for 12 weeks! In it, a lowly Rambler drives[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]a Caddy motorist nuts! To LISTEN to the '58 hit single on You-[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Tube, copy and [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]paste this link to your search function:
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BEEP BEEP ~ THE LITTLE NASH RAMBLER ~ The PLAYMATES ...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=enqNl7tdLR4



'55 Rambler ambles along in "Hotrod Gang," 1958, thanks to Internet Movie Cars Database.


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^^^Wow! Get those narrow front tires down in the trolley tracks and that mother will steer itself!!!

 

Never seen either of these before, music video is great. Thanks for posting

 

How many do you want at this price?

 

Back in the 70s, a buddy who had a rod and I were going fishing in Alameda when we did exactly that, put the wheels in the tracks and he let go of the wheel. We went about 6 blocks before the car jerked to the left and we almost went down a siding. Thank god we were not going fast. True Story.

 

'55 yes but not a Speedster, judging by the single color probably a Champion or Commander with the optional Regal side trim. Could be a President but I personally have never seen any pics of a Prez that wasn't at least a two tone, not many Commanders either. My money would be on it being a dolled up Champion. Those weren't all that uncommon, the Stude sixes had quite a following. Whichever it is I like it......a LOT!!!