More weirdness from the coachbuilder Lancefield: "Lancefield was a respected firm of coachbuilders located in a hotspot for that industry a**** the west London boroughs. Their usual clients were those with large cars and deep pockets but they did occasionally turn their hand and their design skills to building bodies for lighter models. Here are two examples of their Parallite body for the Wolseley Hornet. The 1933 saloon version can be seen in the top image, while their earlier 1932 two-seater FHC can be found below. At the time these designs were deemed to be fururistic by some, while the p***age of time has confirmed that in reality they were always ugly. (Lower image from the LAT collection Motor Plate 777-23 – courtesy of Motorsport Images)" https://www.prewarminor.com/isotw-no-621
I think this fits here: the Persu Streamliner, designed and built in Germany in 1922. Inspired by the new science of aerodynamics, the car was built to mimic the most efficient shape: a teardrop. Believe it or not, the car was driven over 75K miles, survived WWII and still exists today. More here: https://www.autoevolution.com/news/persu-the-rain-drop-car-31151.html is
On Facebook today, 1934 Holtom Aero Streamline New York City taxicab prototype: These seem to be the only images in existence, and details don't quite correspond between them. I'm not entirely convinced. I'm not sure if the fact that a Google image search also turned up a different and fancifully unhistorical AI mash-up counts for or against this being real. In any event, apart from some gratuitous formal flamboyance there doesn't seem to be much remarkable about this design.
Here's a little info and one of the taxi pictures you posted from the Time Magazine site. I think the article was from 2015, so probably not AI. But no real information about the Holtom Aero taxi prototype. https://time.com/3913127/checker-cab-photos/ Even Checker turned out a few weirdly bizarro taxi designs over the years. They were designed with durability and comfort in mind, as well as ease of maintenance and the ability to quickly change a flat tire. Front of the fenders getting regularly crumpled and pushed into the tires? Well then let's just cut the front foot or so off the fenders! (Edited to add forgotten link)
The top pic shows a deluxe version with a higher roofline for p***engers wearing hats. It looks like it has wire wheels with wheel covers. The lower spec, lower pic has a standard roofline and Willys artillerys. I wouldn’t be surprised if it was built on a Willys ch***is. Given the size of the top car’s wheels, its probably also built on an economy car ch***is, maybe Plymouth?
Anyone post one of these yet? Lol. Im not one of the delusional ones that they would have been successful. Also not a fan. At all lol
^^^ I *am* a fan, would like one - if I had the funds, they are very neat cars. Siting in one was interesting - uncramped, comfortable, & easy to see out of. I also like a lot of the engineering used. But that's just me... I'd own one, or more, if I could, for a # of reasons... . Marcus...
Yeah as a kid I was interested in them after seeing the movie. Then I saw one in person at the traveling Smithsonian exhibit. Quickly lost interest in them lol
Loved them since I was young enough to know what one was. Read what I could find back then. Eventually the movie came out, not 100% accurate - but that's hollywood... Yrs ago, thru & w/a friend, got to meet an old junk-yarder named Whitey(btw, his son currently does some of the best remanufacturing of steering-gear available), nobody got into the yard unless he knew you - & were on good terms w/him. Odd, but, hey??? Guess my friend was(& apparently he liked me, I wasn't complaining - I found him nice-to-me & loaded w/interesting info), & so as we talked cars, esp independents, he was surprised I knew of, & about, them. Seems he liked them better than the big3. Also turns out he had Tucker, Burnt Orange, that he had finally sold, not too long before we stopped in. ;( . I couldn't afford it back then, anyways, either, but didn't stop me from wanting one. Amusingly enough, also yrs ago & after the jy episode, one showed up for display on the main floor of a mall in dwntwn mpls(which I rarely went to/thru), so I talked to the guys - who didn't know much about it, other than it was the movie director/producers' personal car, & they were shuffling it around the country for some exhibits n publicity. ??? W/in a few minutes, they directed the various Q's to me... stating "he knows more about this car & it's history than we do". oh well... . So I spent the next couple hrs around n in the car. These were not small cars. . 3 adults comfortably in the front seat, & same in back seat. Which actually used the same swappable bottom cushion. Actual disc brakes, torquey flat 6, roof/door-top cutouts, some other safety-based-ideas(that kinda didn't pan-out as well as hoped - but unlike the rest, they were tried & there) etc, all by '48. No, not all the ideas in it were excecated perfectly - but that can be said of most of the big 3 stuff, + some independents too. So, as far as Ugly goes - this *should* be compared to (all the)other 1946->1948 auto designs. For those that don't know, this was right after WW2, & most car companies only brought out slightly modded versions of what they were offering in 1941. Stude was one that did new-design(1st new design after the war, iirc) & really got it w/the Smoothie in '53; Tucker was another(started in ~'46, but also had to create an *entire* car-organization-system from scratch - & due to a # of reasons, didn't succeed); Kaisers' swoopy didn't come 'till ~50/'51. Ford waited 'till '49 - & that was mostly & almost completely, designed by (an unacknowledged)Bob Bourke(done privately as a favor, since still employed by Lowey) on a kitchen table to help out a friend get a job at Ford Styling; Chevy didn't get into the low-jet-age 'till '59. I suppose I could go on, but why??? There were only a few "streamlined-type" bodies out there after the war, & even into the '50s. <shrug> . Yeah, well... So I've got strange taste(s)... . Why be normal... . Marcus...
I happen to like them, too. My father worked for Tucker. He was a regional manager for whatever that is wo. In fact he owned #24 which is the one that is now in the Museum of American Speed in Lincoln, NE. I was born in the Fall of 1948 and family lore has it that I came home from the hospital in it. It was a car that was definitely ahead of it's time.
The Jalopy Journal
