I know what this is, and where its at now. How many of you "Custom" guys know who built this and its current location?
I think that's a Rambler Marvin, (OOP's Marlin), that was done by the factory as a concept vehicle.I think I've seen it somewhere, Maybe in the collection of that nightclub guy from Waukegan Ill., Joe somebody, can't think of his last name but he has a shitload of old concept cars, mostly GM but some Chrysler and Ford stuff also. Not sure about that but it sure looks like a Marlin. Enjenjo has a Pink one, maybe he knows. Frank are ya there ?????????????????? B B
It's an Italian-built Chrysler show car, and it's in the cargo hold of the sunken liner "Andrea Doria". What do I win?
Sure. If nobody figures it out I'll tell you what it is tonight. I was reading a Book last night that mentioned it and when I looked it up on the Net this morning, I found all kinds of Info, but only these two pictures. There, thats kind of a hint right there...
Jeeze, that didn't take long. You just took all the fun out of it... Yes, its the 1956 Chrysler "Norseman", built by Ghia and its setting under 200 feet of water in the Garage of the "Andrea Doria".
Damn I'm good! I saw drawings of that car once in an article about it but never the actual photos. The lack of A-pillars gave it away. Supposedly there are about 20 Lancia Aurelia B24 roadsters on board as well.
The Book I was reading was Clive Cusslers "Serpent". Cussler is a big time Collector, mainly Packards and other Luxery rides, but he puts cool cars into a lot of his books. In this book, they cut through the Hull of the Ship looking for an Armored Truck(fiction) and saw the Norseman half buried in Silt. Apparently, several Divers really have gotten into the "Garage" and a few have died. They say the worst trouble is the Nets and Monofiliment Fishing line thats snagged all over the ship. Apparently the fishing line is nearly invisible. Divers that make it past all that crap have to deal with Cables, plumbing, and wiring hanging all over the place inside the ship. All that while 200 feet under the Atlantic in the Dark? Not me. No way in hell would I go crawling through that thing looking for a Car or anything else....
The article I read about diving the Andrea Doria said it was the Mt Everest of diving because of the fishing nets and the depth. For what it's worth there's probably nothing left of the Norseman except the glass and chromed brass trim. The photos you found are probably the only ones extant, and were snapped at Ghia right after it was rolled out. Offical photos were to be taken in the US.
Speaking of Clive Cussler, I have been to his "garage" in Colorado. It was '89 and I was making a paint deilvery for the company I worked for at the time. I was dropping off some garage floor epoxy and was given an address which was in a warehouse district between Golden and Arvada. Then there was nothing-now it is a sprawling suburbia. Anyway, I go tromping up to the front door, ring the buzzer and a workman guides me into the huge warehouse. In the dimly lit area I see the glint of chrome here and there and realize I am in the presence of several Deusenbergs, Hispano Suizas, Chrysler LeBarons(Roaring 20's era stuff-not K-Car..), Auburns and a few Cords. I gasp and look around in wonder. He politely invites me to look around at the goods. I wander between the cars and just enjoy the spectacle of being close to such awesome cars without being held back by a velvet rope. One really cool old car that stands out in my memory was a T Speedster with a full on Fronty four in it. Cool to see a Gow Job amongst the royalty.
"He politely invites me to look around at the goods." Who? The Worker, or Cussler? I would love to meet Cussler, mainly because he is out doing a lot of the stuff he writes about, instead of setting in an office just dreaming it up. He has found a bunch of "lost" shipwrecks, including the Confederate Submarine "Hunley". I was looking for the one Cussler book that I have not yet found and saw that they are making his Book "Sahara" into a movie. The way it looks, Matthew McConoughy is playing the lead part. I just hope they do Cussler more justice than they did with "Raise the Titanic"...
Clive Cussler is may favorite author. I cannot wait for his next book to come out although he has started teaming up with another writter and started a spin off series of books based on the same basic format. I like both of the series and am waiting for more.
Yeah, I didn't think much of the "Austin" series at first, but they grew on me. I went to his website a while back and besides all the cool cars, he uses his own money to back a lot of his Ship Hunts. The way I see it he is using his money constructively, instead of just piling it in the Bank. I'll bet if he got hit by a drunk Driver he wouldn't whine and cry and threaten to quit writing like another famous author we all know...
Im another Cussler fan. A 1930 Cord L-29 town car figured prominently in "Treasure" and of course that part of the action took place in Colorado. Altho 200' is no big deal for salvage divers the currents are another cause of deaths at the Andrea Doria site, mostly stupid tourists with a one day diving course.
Cussler's collection is now stored in two warehouses in Golden...the "worker" you talk about was/is my friend Keith Lowden...he's worked for Cussler for a lot of years and restores all of Clive's cars...that's all he does every day...Clive now lives in Phoenix full-time but maintains a residence here in Denver for summers... And he is not a "stay-at-home author", he does a lot of traveling doing research for his next book... R-
BobK, that's Joe Bortz. HotRodJosh sold him a car a few years ago for the dance floor of one of his clubs.
"he's worked for Cussler for a lot of years and restores all of Clive's cars" Then you should use your influence with your friend to turn Cussler into a HAMBer. If we could get a man of his stature and imagination converted to Rods, we would likely see some pretty cool stuff
I'd love to actually be able to sit down and buy Cussler a beer and talk to him about his books. He is my favorite author, simply because he does use old cars in his stories and uses facts in withthe fiction to come up with believable story lines. On the back of one of his books there's a pic of a custom 36 Ford, candy purple. I hope the new movie does Dirk Pitt a bit more justice. The Titanic one kinda was a let down after reading the book.
"The Titanic one kinda was a let down after reading the book. " Thats no shit. From what I read, Cussler was not happy at all about the last movie. Moot point anyway, since Ballard found it broke in two. The website I was looking at said Matthew McConaughy would be playing Pitt, Steve Zahn as Geordino, and Patrick Stewert as Admiral Sandecker. Penelope Cruz is supposedly playing the main female part, and Cusslers daughter is in it too. The site also said Cussler was having a fit because Hollywood was already trying to fuck up the script. He had turned down four different scripts so far and they were trying to go ahead with one of the ones he had turned down.
bftwcs_I doubt very seriously that Cussler would be interested in the HAMB...he spends all his waking time writing and researching his books... Did you know that Clive was once an advertising copywriter for an ad agency here in Denver...that's how he got his start in writing. I met him several times when I sold printing to the agency and another two or three times when he spoke, as a motivational speaker, to the sales club I belonged to...at that time he was a very down-to-earth kinda guy... R-
Yeah, one of the websites mentioned him being an award winning Copywriter before he started doing his Books. I hadn't heard about the motivational speaker part though. Did he live "in a Van, down by the River" like Farley on SNL?
It didn't last long...he wasn't very motivational, preferring instead to talk about the books he'd had published and his writing... And he lived modestly, like the rest of us, at first...and no, not in a van... R-
It didn't last long...he wasn't very motivational, preferring instead to talk about the books he'd had published and his writing... No, he lived modestly, like the rest of us at first...and never in a van... R-
[ QUOTE ] Speaking of Clive Cussler, I have been to his "garage" in Colorado. [/ QUOTE ] YES, YES!! I had been there many times in the early 80s. I never met Cussler, but I did know his partner, Bob Esbonsen(sp?). I worked at an auto parts store in Arvada and dropped off a lot of parts there, I also helped Bob (who died a while ago) find a lot off odd-ball parts back then.
that car is SWEET!! (wheres my sawzall, I SWEAR my car wont have A pillars by morning!) cool story, im gonna try to read the book
The Jalopy Journal
