Vintage shots from days gone by!

I am studying the picture in the area of the frame rail and it just doesn't look normal to me. It looks highly reflective. Anyone else see what I'm talking about ?

 

Cant you just see the joy of life in their smile................

Doc.

 

Thanks!

 

Looks like she's really keeping things clean! Love this!

 

G.M.'s early attempt at downsizing their cars was unsuccessful.

 

Link has a post-war Buick in the photo here. Someone who is more knowledgeable about this era tell us what year please.

 

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This pic of the '34 Terraplane is just a show-stopper. Grille and body work as nice as anything on the road that year. Curb weight about 2,500 lbs., 80 hp flat six (at 3,600), coupled to a 4.55-to-1 rearend (Ford had 4.11 gears). All in a package at or under $700.

Hudson had really fully fledged the Terraplane by '34 out of the dowdy old Essex line. It was a tough car, able to run with or beat about anything in its class. Terraplane popularity grew, bolstering overall Hudson sales and health during the depression, though Terraplane often outsold its higher-priced parent make! (Sounds a bit like what killed off LaSalle, doesn't it?)

A Hudson lover, I have a real fondness for the era-defining Terraplane (who'd name a vehicle THAT today?). Their single biggest draw for me is the style from '34 through '38, which tended to give them an identity separate from their Hudson counterparts! In the price range, only Graham's style held a candle, IMO.

Incidentally, Connecticut portrait artist Chris Osbourne had done a MULTI-award-winning painting of Delta blues guitarist Robert Johnson, posed before a blue '35 Terraplane. I mention this so interested HAMBers can look it up and see this arresting piece. It's not VINTAGE and, besides, Chris needs to make a living, so I wouldn't show the painting here without her okay. You can see Robert and the Terraplane at her site, www.chrisoart.com.

 

Amelia Earhart helped launch the "new" Terraplane line in 1932. Photo thanks to AtDetroit.


Hudson had begun the metamorphosis of Essex into the Terraplane brand in '32 and '33, badging them as Essex Terraplane, playing off the public's mania for aviation at the time. Aviatrix Amelia Earhart introduced the "new" line in July '32, and aviation pioneer Orville Wright was one of the very first Terraplane customers. Because of the favorable power-to-weight ratio of the eight-cyclinder '33 models, they were popular with desperadoes like John Dillinger and Pretty Boy Floyd, both mad-dog killers and bank robbers. The eight was not available for the '34 models, though the six performed admirably with 80 hp at 3,600 rpms.

 

In those prewar years when companies still offered a plethora of body styles, Terraplane helped pioneer the station wagon, though they did not gain much popularity until after WWII. Terraplane was also available some years as a pickup, a coupe-pickup and, in Australia, as a ute.




'37 Terraplane Super wagon, intro'd December '36. Photo thanks
to Automania.




'33 Terraplane with body by Cantrell. Photo thanks
to Coachbuilt.com.

 

The Buick looks like a 1952. Great picture!

 

That is painful to look at .....especially since that is a 1960 Edsel sedan on the right. Ouch!

 

Hudsons and Terraplanes were also very popular in the U.K. They had an assembly plant in London where the cars were assembled from kits. The plant was in the "Golden Mile" an area famous for its Art Deco buildings (most of them are gone now) several American car companies had facilities in this area. A small bore version of the six cylinder was sold in this country to get round the horse power tax. The horse power tax was introduced in 1920 to discourage people from buying American cars which were far superior to and better value than the domestic products.

 

^^^^^http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tU0d3DVcKoY

 

Sad to see all of those planes rotting away and by now gone and turned into scrap.