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

Thanks.
Surprisingly there is a relatively good support system for the 8 cylinder Facels. Many drivetrain parts can be found at Napa, rubber seals and stuff is available. The internet has allowed many of the previous concerns to be overcome.

 

Yeah, AlsAncle. I AGREE. Larry may have a "secret weapon" in his favor here! I never even heard of a FV until I went away to college and a Philly boy mentioned them. Auctions can be fickle, BUT if it's well advertised (and this is), there may be some hungry, motivated buyer out there. TWO would be better! Good luck, Larry!

 

Larry, just wondering why you chose Russo & Steele over Gooding or RM? I think of muscle-cars more with R&S and high end stuff with the two latter houses.

 

Seems all auction houses had a Facel this year . Why ?????????? We originally contacted Gooding but they seemed to think they would upset a old customer that listed his Facels for the auction a couple days ahead of our contact..yet they kept trying to get a contract from me for Amelia Island in March . Barrett just isnt the place for one of these. I wasn't impressed at the results of RM at the Speed & Style auction at the Petersen in September. The way I look at these events is this. The type of guy who would buy this car will be in Scottsdale at the time of all of these auctions. He will look at all the inventory and buy the best of what he likes. I'm sure the car will stand on its own merits and attract the buyer wanting the nicest Facel there.

 

You were smart to to put it in BJ. Not the right venue at all. Seems to be quite a few beautiful Facels in Arizona this year. I'm sure you will do well. Here is one of the Gooding cars:

 

Interior of the Gooding FV1



FV4 interior

​

 

What year is this FV, if I may ask ?

 

Delectable “Seabiscuit” Buick

This Custom Bodied 1932 Buick Towncar was once owned by Charles S. Howard, the legendary car salesman who was also famous as the owner of the race horse Seabiscuit



Howard presented the car, with a body made by Murphy, to Anita Zabala Howard, his daughter-in-law, on her 28th birthday in March of 1932.

Howard was the original Buick distributor on the West Coast and became more famous as he was portrayed in the movie “Seabiscuit” as the horse’s owner.

After spending most of its life in California, the ’32 Buick was purchased by Chuck Bidwell, a prominent car collector in Hamel, Minn. He moved it to Minnesota in 1999, where an 8,000-hour restoration was completed to bring the car back to show-car condition. In August 2003, the car returned to California, winning a major award at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as that event honored Buick’s centennial.

There was in article on this car in an early '80s Car Classics or Car Collector that claimed when this car was first found, it was thought to be a Duesenberg as all they could see was the rear of the car through the window of where it had been stored. It will be in the Gooding Auction in Scottsdale along with several other of Charles Bidwells Buicks.

http://www.goodingco.com/auction/product.g&c?pid=76
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The Howard Family

Charles S. Howard turned an early career as a bicycle repair shop owner and part-time race car driver into a life-long relationship with Buick and General Motors that made him one of the wealthiest men in California – and certainly the greatest Buick salesman of all time. In the early years of the American automobile, he orchestrated an unprecedented deal with Billy Durant to become the sole West Coast distributor for Buick automobiles. With headquarters in San Francisco, the Howard Automobile Company flourished for decades under his guidance, and his special contract with GM made Mr. Howard the largest automobile distributor in the world. So powerful was Howard that, in 1915, he lent General Motors around three million dollars to help avert financial difficulty. In return, his General Motors stock skyrocketed, further augmenting his extraordinary wealth.

While both his passion for automobiles and his business acumen made him a fortune, his love for horses contributed equally to his family’s fame. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Howard family raised and trained one of the greatest stables of racehorses in American history. Their most notable thoroughbred was the triple-crown champion Seabiscuit, known to many as the best horse in America. Son Lindsay, or “Lin,” shared his father’s passion for horses, and became a widely regarded polo player and known sportsman.

In 1925, Lin Howard formed a very successful business partnership with best friend Bing Crosby and married socialite Anita Zabala, a descendant of one of California’s first Spanish families. During the ensuing years, the Crosbys and the Howards worked and played together, building successful venues such as Binglin Stock Farm and several racetracks in central and Southern California. Other business partners included notables like Gary Cooper, Clark Gable, George Raft and Oliver Hardy. There is no question that the Howards led an exceptionally glamorous life.

Walter M. Murphy Coach Builders

In the late 1920s, Anita Howard was considering the purchase of a new Duesenberg. Her father-in-law, however, would not allow such a thing; the appropriate alternative was to have a beautiful custom-bodied Buick built to suit her decadent lifestyle. In California high-society, if a person of status were to have a custom body made for a Duesenberg, it is most likely that it would have been sent to the famed Murphy workshops in Pasadena. It stood to reason that the Buick was deserving of the same prestigious coachwork.

As it so happened, Charles Howard was a noted patron of the Murphy coachworks and had already commissioned an elegant Mercedes 630 Town Car, as well as the only Bugatti to be given Murphy coachwork, a lovely Type 38 Roadster. In the early 1930s, he also had a handsome Cadillac V-16 built for his use and, remarkably, all four cars survive today.

The resulting Murphy Town Car was a perfectly proportioned design with a refreshing exuberance uncommon in a typically formal body style. The design is reminiscent of the work of Frank Hershey, and shares many themes and details from Murphy’s greatest Duesenberg bodies. Somewhat smaller than a Model J, the Buick Town Car has a lovely close-coupled appearance and possesses the youthful flair associated with Murphy’s California style. The spectacular polished aluminum belt, cowl and hood reflect the Duesenberg Murphy Boattail in their execution and, together with a steeply raked windshield, accentuate the elegant nature of this formal car. The Buick was further personalized with a crest discretely applied on the rear doors and Anita Zabala Howard’s monogram was mounted in place of the Buick emblem between the headlights.

The elegant custom body was first mounted on a slightly stretched 1930 Buick six-cylinder chassis by Murphy in 1930, as is shown in an early photograph. When the larger Series 90 Roadmaster became available in 1932, the body was remounted on the deluxe chassis and was complete with Wizard Control automatic clutch and Ride Regulator adjustable shock absorbers. It has not been determined who accomplished the body mounting, as Murphys body drafts and specifications were lost in a 1932 fire. However, it has been suggested that the remounting may have been done by another coachbuilder or by one of Howard’s capable dealers. Completed in early 1932, the transformation was a total success, and took full advantage of the advanced Murphy styling with the updated Buick fenders, hood sides and grille.

Subsequent History

On her 28th birthday in March 1932, Anita Zabala Howard was presented with this one-off custom Murphy-Bodied Town Car by life-long Buick man, Charles Howard.

The Murphy Buick spent virtually its entire existence in California, first at the Burlingame home of Anita and Lindsay, where the car made frequent trips into town as well as to the equestrian fields on the Monterey Peninsula for the many polo tournaments at which the Howards were frequent participants. When Charles and his wife, Marcella, maintained a Pebble Beach home, Anita and Lin stayed at the Del Monte Lodge, known today as the Lodge at Pebble Beach.

When Anita and Lindsay divorced in 1938, she retained her one-off Buick until she married George Vanderbilt III some years later. The custom Buick then found its way to the Fleishhacker family of the San Francisco Zoo fame, in whose care it remained until 1958. At that time, Mr. Moomjeans, proprietor of the Merced, California, Packard dealership and two upscale steakhouses, discovered the special Buick in a South San Francisco garage and immediately purchased it. When it was found, the one-off Buick was in a state of disrepair, but still carried Anita’s monogram on the rear doors and front badge bar. After the car was made roadworthy, it was used with some frequency by Mr. Moomjeans’ son, Dennis, who recalled that he and his friends would drive around the country roads of Merced and use the open driver’s compartment for hunting!

In 1975, the Moomjeans sold the Buick to a gentleman with a restoration shop in Turlock, California. It is believed that the car was subsequently restored and shown at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, but for the next quarter century it remained relatively secluded.

It wasn’t until the late 1990s that the car was discovered by its current caretaker, a Buick aficionado who was then in search of a significant restoration candidate. In August 1998, shortly after its acquisition, the car was shipped to Minnesota where it was brought up to a roadworthy standard so the owner could enjoy driving the car before it was restored to its former glory.

Before any restoration work was begun, an unparalleled amount of research was carried out to verify the history of the car and to better understand the details of its commission. A professional researcher and historian was even hired to travel to San Francisco and search through city and newspaper archives for any mention of Charles, Anita or Lin.

Only after the crew at Odyssey Restoration, Inc. of Spring Lake Park felt entirely confident that they had a firm grasp on the original appearance and features of the Buick, was work begun in earnest. The current owner eagerly took a hands-on approach and participated in the restoration process as an apprentice, sanding the bodywork before paint preparation and preparing the parts.

Wherever possible, original components that could be rebuilt or restored were retained, and an exceptional amount of attention was paid to the accuracy of the finishes and materials used. A host of new processes were developed for dealing with certain aspects of this one-off car, including a photo engraving process to accurately reproduce the deep-varnished wood appearance for the metal dashboard parts. In all, a staggering 12,500 man-hours were consumed in the course of 46 months of restoration.

The body was completely stripped and, before painting, areas that had not been previously re-painted or exposed to the elements were used to identify the correct black and green colors. When attending to the delightful ornamentation, the polished trim was beautifully remade to the exact specifications of the original, and the mahogany trim was replaced and varnished in the old-fashioned method. The overhead-valve eight-cylinder engine was completely overhauled, blueprinted and refinished in the correct 1932 color. The communication system between the passenger and the driver was made functional and rare Dunlop blackwall tires were sourced to add the final touch to its marvelous period-correct appearance. It is believed that the Buick logo never appeared on this car, only a single “B” appears on each hubcap however, a small Buick badge was affixed to the taillight to appease the judges.

The result in an extremely accurate presentation that offers a contemporary vision of what these magnificent coachbuilt automobiles were like in their heyday.

In August 2003, Anita’s Buick returned once again to the Howard family’s former playground, the polo fields of the Monterey Peninsula and the Pebble Beach Golf Links. Appropriately, the Town Car was awarded First in Class and earned the CCCA Trophy, impressive honors by any standards.

Arguably one of the most significant Buick automobiles ever constructed, Anita Zabala Howard’s exquisite Town Car is an irreplaceable piece of automotive history with significant connections to famous public figures and a gorgeous Town Car body assembled by one of the most esteemed American coachbuilders. Exhaustive research and the immaculate restoration have done justice to a most deserving Buick and have guaranteed the preservation of this stunning automobile.

Formerly the Property of Anita Zabala Howard

1932 Buick Series 90 Town Car

Coachwork by Murphy

Chassis No. 2611454

Engine No. 2762235

One-Off Murphy Design and Long-Term California History

Exceptional Provenance and Documentation

Sensational 12,500 Hour Restoration

A Pebble Beach Multiple-Award Winner During the Buick Year

Displayed at the AACA Museum in Hershey

One of the Most Significant Buicks Ever Built


344.8 CID OHV Inline 8-Cylinder Engine

Single Marvel Carburetor

116 BHP at 3,200 RPM

3-Speed Manual Gearbox with Wizard Control

4-Wheel Drum Brakes Solid Axles, Leaf Springs and Friction Shock Absorber Suspension



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Jim the FV1 is a 1955.

 

Thanks, Larry!

Group, WHILE we are on the subject of Facel-Vega, please read the following:

I believe we previously discussed the last-ditch efforts to resurrect Packard for '57 and forward. Those efforts included approaching FoMoCo for permission to share the chassis and inner-body panels of the '57 Lincoln Premier, except powered by a 440-CID Packard engine and Dual-UltraMatic tranny. (Ford declined that concept.)

Point: There was another concept offered, as well, one that I've never seen mentioned. As we know, Studebaker-Packard became the sole distributor for Mercedes-Benz cars in the U.S. in 1958. But, according to Wikipedia (and this is a direct, short quote): "In the early 1960s, Studebaker-Packard was approached by French car maker Facel-Vega about the possibility of re-badging the company's Facel-Vega Excellence sedan as a "Packard" for sale in North America.

"The proposition was rejected when Daimler-Benz threatened to pull out of its 1958 marketing and distribution agreement, which would have cost Studebaker-Packard more in revenue than they could have made from the badge-engineered Packard."

These seemingly little bits of info do speak reams, don't they? It was all about how the last of the U.S. independents kept dropping by the wayside.



<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width=400 align=center><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>
</CENTER><CENTER> </CENTER><CENTER>Sincere appreciation is expressed to Publications </CENTER><CENTER>International, Ltd. This is a general concept by Dick </CENTER><CENTER>Teague, presumably drawn during the last days in </CENTER><CENTER>mid-1956 during the time "in the bunker," as </CENTER><CENTER>Teague termed the experience. How a new </CENTER><CENTER>full-size Packard might have looked, say, on a </CENTER><CENTER>Lincoln Premier chassis. For a great detailed </CENTER><CENTER>write-up see HowStuffWorks on the internet.</CENTER></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Larry, I like hearing that about NAPA. I rather recently got a voltage regulator for my '55 DeSoto from NAPA. I had to go to their warehouse ('cause I was in a rush), but they'd have just brought it to my local store.

My point, try THAT with "TWO-GUYS-WHO-SELL-CAR-PARTS, INC." !!! LOL

 

Parts availablity for old cars should not be all that difficult if you know what you need and what it was shared with. Many of the young counter guys dont knowwhere the pages are hidden in the new computer systems that stores use today. The mechanical parts availability issue for V8 Facels and even the Dual Ghias is not difficult. The electrical systems, heater controls, many interior switches , knobs and levers, windshield wiper motors , trans linkage are all mid 50's Chrysler. Bearings and seals should not even be a thought for just about anything if you understand the crossreferences guides.

 

Streamlined beauty is on the road again


Labatt's restored Streamliner is touring Canada on its way to the winter Olympics


By TED LATURNUS
[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Tahoma]An article The Vancouver Sun on Friday, February 8, 2002[/FONT]
If you were a beer drinking truck aficionado 50 or 60 years ago, you might have been lucky enough to see what some consider to be the most beautiful truck in the world. For almost 20 years - from 1936 to 1955 - the Labatt Streamliner was a common sight trundling around Canadian cities. It was especially welcome by those who have a taste for the barley sandwich, as it was used to haul beer from brewery to bar.
More than that, the Streamliner won a "Best Design" award at the 1939 World's Fair in New York and was the first tractor-trailer rig in Canada equipped with air brakes and an anti-jack-knifing device.
It was, by anyone's standards, an art nouveau masterpiece, guaranteed to stop truck drivers, beer drinkers, vintage car buffs, and just about anyone else in their tracks.
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top align=middle></TD><TD vAlign=top align=middle></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top colSpan=2>[FONT=Arial,Helvetica,Tahoma]The sight of the Streamliner will revive memories for many Canadians. The truck has a wind-cheating shape and a high-gloss white oak and birch wood interior.[/FONT]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky, who also conceived the landmark 1935 Chrysler Airflow and 1933 Nash, the Streamliner was meant to be a kind of motorized goodwill ambassador for Labatt's, and its drivers were trained and expected to assist other motorists with breakdowns, flat tires, and so on.
Constructed specifically for Labatt's, the Streamliner was also meant to give the company "instant identity" and "provide a viable alternative to rail." Originally co-built by the White Motor Company of Canada, Fruehauf Trailers and Smith Brothers Body Works, the first Streamliner delivered in 1935 - was the world's first truly aerodynamic truck. Only one survives - the bright red 1947 model pictured on this page - which, after a seven-year restoration project, was put back- on the road again in 1984. It is now touring Canada on its way to the winter Olympics, in Salt Lake City, Utah.
To get the Streamliner back to its original specs was far from straightforward. Despite the fact that the restorer, Joe Scott, posted a reward for any information leading to the recovery of a tractor unit, none surfaced. Nor were there any blueprints or diagrams available.
This meant the truck, frame, interior, and just about everything else had to be built from scratch. To come up with an authentic streamliner body, Scott downloaded photos of the original trucks into a computer and slowly put together a set of drawings.
The finished product is apparently accurate to within one-thirty-second of an inch. The trailer unit, surprisingly, was found almost intact in a field in Ontario, serving as an office for a construction company.
Because of its unique aerodynamic design, the Streamliner has a wooden body tub, with rolled aluminum sheathing tacked in place. Hundreds of individual pieces of wood were used in the body construction, as well as 30 different hammers to pound the metal into the right shape. The interior of the cab and trailer are finished in white oak and birch wood, and originally, beer was carried around in wooden barrels. The paint job consists of five coats of primer, five coats of bright red, and five more coats of clear-coat, with real gold leaf lettering. Power is delivered by a White Mustang 386-cubic-inch in-line six-cylinder "flathead" gas-powered engine that develops 135 horsepower. It's mated to a five-speed transmission and a single reduction rear axle. It has air brakes front and back, and the cab is fitted with a hydraulic hoist that allows the driver to tilt it over for engine access. Empty, the Streamliner and trailer weigh 10 tons and can haul another 8.5 tons of cargo. Benny DiFranco, the Streamliner's manager and driver, says that it has a top speed of about 80 km/h (50 mph), which, for its day, made it quicker than just about everything else. What a concept: The fastest beer truck in the country.

<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=6 cellPadding=0 width=702><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=text>By Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky from the January 63 issue of Popular Mechanics magazine

Now that we've all had more than a first glimpse of all the new cars and can spot them a block away, let's really look at them, find out if they really deserve that backward glance you gave them when they first rolled down Main Street. Which 1963 styling ideas &#8211; inside as well as outside &#8211; could become worthwhile new trends in automotive design as opposed to purposeless reshaping of sheet metal or trim? Which changes in design detail best reflect their functions, the jobs they are supposed to perform? To answer these questions, Popular Mechanics asked famed automotive designer Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky to select and illustrate what he felt were the most meaningful new design features on the '63 cars. For over 30 years, Count de Sakhnoffsky's designs have been synonymous with excitment and innovation in automotive styling and his clients have ranged from the down-to-earth White Motor Company truck to special-bodied sportsters and the sky blue dream of the Preston Tucker car. "Pick out," we told Count de Sakhnoffsky, "the most significant new elements in styling you can find in the '63s." He has done this on the following pages (shown below). See if you agree with his choices.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=6 cellPadding=0 width=702><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width=342>
Famed automotive designer Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky offers some insights into the appeal and practicality of some of the 1963 cars. Includes four detail drawings of the Avanti. </TD><TD width=342>
The hoods grow longer &#8230; Emphasis presses forward in '63 as Riviera's long look ahead and "broadshouldered" fenders demonstrate. A kind of marine-like curvature to fenders and hood center accents Corvette Stingray's classic, long-hooded look of the 1930's. Avanti's sleek, clean hood is a perfect symbol of the powerful, sporty car. It's single wide-trim headlamps link it to heroic sports cars of the past.</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=342>
Comeback for the fastback could be in prospect if the Avanti, left, and Corvette's styling prove popular. Elegance, comfort and convienience meet in Mercury with its deep bucket seats, swing-away wheel, and chrome trimmed pedals. Buick Riviera's transmission tunnel has a purpose in life, to house ash trays and curtesy lights as well as cover up the car's drive line.
</TD><TD width=342>
Ford's experimental Mustang could be a trend setter in sports car styling with its engine behind driver's seat and needle-nosed, snub-tailed lines. Instrument panels like Valiant's left, Mustang's below, prove that useful layouts can be beautiful as well as readable. </TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width=342>
Overhead switches on Avanti are practical as they reduce clutter on lower panel and keep driver's eyes near the road. Deep-dished massive wheels as on Plymouth Fury and Pontiac are functional symbols of speed and power. Corvette's panel below is as practical as it is handsome.
</TD><TD width=342>
Safety combines with style in tail lamps of four new cars, Avanti left, Lincoln above, Mercury and Olds, bottom left and right, as they are visible from side as well as the rear. Lark's Wagonaire offers the airiness of a convertible for rear passengers of its wagons thanks to ingenious sliding roof panel.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

 

Weird. I just had a bunch of computer jibberish show up after the LaBatt's Streamliner post. I hope it's just my crazy computer and nor the thread going off on us for osme crazy reason.

 

Yeah, hell, must have just been on MY end. Ignore.

BUT the LaBatt's piece is AWESOME!!! Jeez, WHAT a defining '30s/'40s visual !!! Takes me back to the Loewy Streamline trains discussed a few days ago. KEEN period stuff.

 

He was amazing in automotive design work.... having designed for Austin, Bantam, Cord, Auburn, Packard, the '33 Nash, the '34 LaSalle, the 1935 Chrysler Airflow, the 1937 D-35 Jungle Caravan, and notably, the 1934 12cyl Packard 1108 Sport Phaeton (for LeBarron), said to be one of the most beautiful designs of an American coachbuilder.... however he may be most easily remembered and revered for the design of the LeBlatt's Beer trucks. Beer and alcohol advertising in post prohibition was hghly restricted in Canada and the Labatts Company needed public attention so they commissioned him to conceive a tractor-trailer that would both haul huge loads efficiently and serve as an instantly recognizable travelling billboard, and with customized "cab over engine" White Motor Company tractors pulling brilliant red and gold streamliner trailers. Vicktor Schreckengost (who replaced him at Murray Ohio Bicycles) assisted him in the design of the first-cab-over-engine truck for Cleveland's White Motor Company.

There is reference to his design of furniture, and interior home elements like radios. He also had been the chief bicycle designer for Murray-Ohio prior to 1938. He was perhaps the greatest pedal car designer of all time... in 1937, Steelcraft, the Cleveland-based pedal car division of the Murray Ohio Manufacturing Co claimed as much anyway, and he was the winner of the Grand Prix at Monte Carlo for six consecutive years in the Elegance Contest for his "juvenile automobile" designs. His 2nd version for LaBatt, produced in 1936, was the winner of the &#8216;Best Design&#8217; award at the New York World&#8217;s Fair in 1939.


Esquire magazine, in 1934 hired de Sakhnoffsky to become the technical and mechanical editor. The magazine immediately became a showcase for Sakhnoffsky&#8217;s design concepts of cars, trucks, boats, bathtubs, movie theatres with alternating seats for more legroom http://www.lepoix.de/html/reference/sakhnoffsky_streamine_design/inner_circle_streamline_architecture.htm , a swimming pool with rubber escalators, executive desks, and an air-conditioned jungle caravan. Joining the US Army in WWII he rose to the rank of Lt. Col. at war's end.


He even published a book "A Portfolio of Antique and Modern Horseless Carriages"
http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008_09_07_archive.html#ixzz0ccOnAqWs

 

That beer truck story made me thirsty...........
Labatts is one of my favorites.......

 

sunroof, I have the catalog at home and that Buick is one of my favorite cars in the whole auction. Just beautiful.

The Labatts truck is freakin cool.

 

I watched that Buick being restored. Chuck Bidwell is selling all his Buicks due to the economic effect on his business and he doesn't even get the money. The bank does. Thinks he's got at least three other Buicks in the auction besides that one.

I've always liked that Labatt Truck. Very Cool.

Here's a mystery car. What is it???? Al already knows the answer I'm sure, so he has to sit this one out. LOL Sorry Al.

 

I've seen an Avanti here in San Diego. They're pretty interesting looking cars!

 

I'll make a quick-guess here. Special-bodied Pierce Arrow (but for the headlamps, I'd have guessed same thing only Marmon).

 

Good guess. Actually, It's heavily customized and has been restored back to original now. When originally built (as in not customized) , it was one of 5 built.

 

Not to suund like a sociologist here, but I honestly feel that designs like this on what had been mundane, everyday things helped lift the spirits of the ordinary American citizen and infuse at least a general sense of faith that even the "oppression of the Great Depression" could not hold us back as a nation. (Yeah, I meant that.)

 

This is about an EXTINCT car -- a very, very special extinct car! In fact, it was the first car (with the first gasoline-powered engine, too) to ply the streets of what was to become America's "Motor City."

To me, this is one of the greatest car stories I know of (as I said, I love to read about the PEOPLE behind the cars, too!).

But first, about the car's creator. Charles Brady King was not Henry Ford -- thank goodness. And without King, there may well never have been a Henry Ford, at least not the automotive icon Ford!

Today, few would know King's name if you asked them on the street -- or even at a major auto show! But with automotive firsts and over 40 automotive patents to his credit, the GIANTS of early American motordom held Charles King up as one of their giants. In fact, King was not only recognized as an auto-engineering genius, his contemporaries -- any many fields -- hailed him as a real American " renaissance man." Among King's many successful areas of endeavor were fine artist, architect, engineer, inventor, musician, patriot, activist, organizer and visionary.

Late one evening in March 1896, King motored out of his shop and proceeded to tour the streets of Detroit. Following him on a bicycle was a friend, whom King had also helped invent a car of his own . . . none other than Henry Ford. But Ford's first working car wouldn't roll under its own power for another three months, so King and helper Oliver Barthel were the center of attention as, gradually, the streets lined with hundreds, then thousands, of curious citizens, in awe of the first horseless carriage they'd seen.

This went on for some time, with King puttering along at 5 mph -- some bragged the car pushed 6 mph, though. When the hour drew near 11 p.m., a police officer finally came forth and threatened to ticket King for the public disturbance. Apparently not wanting to add "World's First Traffic Ticket" to his resume', King retired for the evening!

Afterward, King, unable to find backing to produce cars, disassembled his car and moved on to other profitable pursuits. He sold the chassis of his car to another inventor by the name of Carter, eventually to gain a good measure of fame for the CarterCar (that's another fascinating story, and it can wait 'til another time!).

King experienced business successes before serving in the navy as an engineer during the Spanish-American War, then studied art and architecture in Paris. He returned and, in 1910, started an automobile company that would remain in business until 1923 ('25, including some cars assembled in England). King cars enjoyed a good reputation for reliability, and in 1916, King introduced America's first affordable V-8, three weeks after Cadillac debuted its own, more expensive, V-8. Thereafter, Kings only used V-8 engines.

For the 1946 50th anniversary of King's first drive through Detroit, a reenactment of the event -- complete with King, 77, at the tiller -- was arranged for Detroit's Automotive Golden Jubilee. Among those also present were early auto luminaries Edgar Apperson, Frank Duryea, 77, Charles Nash, 82, Barney Oldfield, 68, Ransom Eli Olds, 86, and King's old friend, Henry Ford, 83.

Not surprisingly, several of these old-timers would be dead in one to five years, but it seems so fitting that they should unite to celebrate one of their own!
Now, in keeping with the theme of this thread, the 1896 King car -- having been disassembled and parted out -- is EXTINCT. So, what I am wondering is: DID SOMEONE keep the repro King car and put it in a museum (Ford, maybe?).



Sincere appreciation is expressed for this photo of Charles Brady King and helper Oliver Barthel which accompanies a fine article on King, written by Kit Foster on his online magazine, Carport. King was highly respected by his contemporaries, including personal friend, Henry Ford. Please read King's fascinating story in Kit's article, entitled "King of Kings." There is also an excellent life summary of King's life and accomplishments by Hemmings at: hemmings.com/clubsites/kingmotorcar/king.html

 

That is a shame. The auctions this year are going to be very interesting.

On the mystery car you give me too much credit. I think I can make a pretty good guess but I'm not 100% sure. Don't get thrown off by the Cadillac styling cues.

 

Well, Al, being a CCCA member, I thought you would know as it was in the May 2009 Bulletin. The car is of special interest to me as Dad used to tell me it was the spark plug for the 4 stack Cords but that's another story.

This car was shipped to St. Paul Minnesota on January 11th 1933, original owner unknown. The engine number is 5000011 and the original color was tan and rich green with a highland green chassis. Out of 126 V-16 Cadillacs built in 1933, only 5 were Convertible Coupes. This car was evidentally the rarest of them all as it was the only Fisher bodied V-16 convertible coupe produced in 1933.

The car was customized in the mid '50s and fitted with 1947 Cadillac bumpers and lower grille, fender skirts, Pierce Arrow type lights molded to the front fenders and the eight exhaust pipes fitted to both sides. It was owned by George B. Pumphrey Jr. in the early 1950"s but it is unknown if he was the customizer.

This 1933 V-16 Cadillac Convertible Coupe was restored to concours condition by Dick Shappy Cars of Providence, Rhode Island from 1998 to 2005 and now resides in a private collection in Southern California.

You can see pics of it's restoration here;

http://classiccars.ws/projects/1933cadv16convcoupe/index.html

I sure would like to learn the complete history of this car.

 

1933 V-16 Convertible Coupe

The Great Depression continued to effect the automobile industry. Cadillac announced that it would limit 1933 production of V-16’s to 400 motorcars. Only 126 were manufactured. 70 body styles were offered. 35 different body styles were actually built. Interior iterations constitute the slight differences between body styles. Half of the V-16’s delivered were 5 or 7 passenger sedans. The largest number of similar body styles delivered was 32 units.

The majority of Cadillac V-16’s bodies were built by Fleetwood. The example on display is the only Fisher Body convertible coupe constructed in 1933.

V-16's were built on a 149” wheel base, had the Vee-shaped grille/radiator shell, skirted fenders, and no-draft ventilation common to the full line. Detail distinction was achieved with a new, winged goddess mascot; large, spinner hub caps; absence of crankhole cover in the grill; and an awkward, four-bar bumper. Hood side panels carried two vertical doors plus three stylized horizontal louvers. Vertical louvers on front fender skirts, shown in promotional literature and used on
mockups, were replaced in "production" by three horizontal louvers matching the hood louvers.

Mechanical changes were few. A higher compression ratio was available to utilize improved gasolines. Except on early production, wheel size was reduced from 18" to 17".

 

The Cadillac V-16

<!-- START SPECIFIC CONTENT --> By Jack Nerad for Driving Today

The story of the Cadillac V-16 is the tale of not one but two colossal engines. The irony of the story is that these two luxury car powerplants, among the most impressive the world has ever produced, were spawned during the world's most far-reaching and destructive economic collapse.

Of course, during the heady days of the Twenties, when speculators in the stock market gave no thought to "how high is up," the idea of a 16-cylinder engine for the ultimate in luxury machines seemed quite logical. The millionaires of the bathtub gin decade seemed more than willing to display their wealth, and there were plenty of car companies, in the United States and abroad, that were perfectly willing to help them in the endeavor.

So it seemed just another step in the evolution of the luxury car to build a 16-cylinder engine. After all, if eight cylinders were good, then 16 cylinders must be twice as good. It was as simple as adding eight plus eight.

Mammoth multi-cylinder engines were nothing new in the aircraft industry. Spurred on by the impetus of the Great War, Ettore Bugatti designed a 16-cylinder engine for aircraft use in 1917. Before the war's end several luminaries in the post-war auto industry became involved in a similar project for the U.S. Army Air Corps. Howard Marmon, the builder of the Marmon line of luxury cars, was in charge of the government's feasibility study, and when he gave the high sign, the Duesenberg brothers, Fred and August, won the production contract. But before many of the engines could be produced the War to End all Wars ended, and the design went into the junk drawer.

As the Teens turned into the Twenties, there the concept remained dormant. The European luxury car makers, like Rolls-Royce and Hispano-Suiza, seemed perfectly content with six-cylinder powerplants. Meanwhile, on this side of the giant pond, Cadillac offered its customers a V-8 engine, and Packard had its vaunted Twin Six V-12. Stutz, Chrysler and Duesenberg competed in the luxury fray with straight-eights.

When Larry Fisher took control of General Motors Cadillac division in 1925 he had a simple goal; to differentiate Cadillac from all the other high-priced marques that were crowding the marketplace. One way to do that was to build an automotive engine unlike anything ever seen before; a V-16.

To execute the project, Fisher turned to Owen Nacker, Cadillac's head of engine development, who was already noodling with the idea of a V-16. Nacker drew up a design that wrung all the inherent smoothness and power that could be derived from 16 cylinders by placing them at an angle of 45 degrees. To produce prodigious amounts of low-end torque, one exhaust and one intake valve were fitted per cylinder, activated by pushrods and rocker arms from a block-mounted camshaft.

Though formidable, the Cadillac V-16's displacement was right in line with other luxury car engines of the day. With a 3 x 4-inch bore and stroke, the Cadillac powerplant displaced 452 cubic inches (7.4 liters), while the contemporary Rolls-Royce six cylinder had a displacement of 470 cubic inches (7.7 liters). The straight eight in the Duesenberg J displaced 420 cubic inches (6.9 liters), though it did boast dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder.

Peak output for Nance's Cadillac V-16 was 165 horsepower at 3,500 rpm. Those are respectable figures for those low-octane, low-compression days, but the real goals of the V-16 were smoothness and torque, and both were delivered in spades.

In the Twenties and Thirties, most ultra-luxury cars were sold as chassis and then fitted with custom bodies by independent coach makers. Cadillac in that era, however, was blessed with the inimitable talents of Harley Earl, who was not just the division's chief stylist but was also the founder of the styling studio design process that virtually all auto companies use today.
Earl's heavy hand on General Motors design would extend well into the Fifties, but as the Thirties opened he was still relatively fresh from California, where he catered to the rather over-ripe tastes of silent movie stars and studio heads. Subtlety was not their watchword.

Earl's designs for the Cadillac V-16 reflect that grandiose style. Some of the influences are European, most especially from Hispano-Suiza, but there is also a fore-square Americanism to the designs. Though a mammoth car with a wheelbase of 148 inches and a curb weight of more than three tons, the V-16 manages to avoid the leaden stodginess of its European counterparts. With a lilting swoop to its front and rear fenders the V-16 looks light on its feet while at the same time feeling as substantial as an ocean liner.

The tragedy of the V-16 is that it was a car tailor-made for the exuberance of the Twenties that was launched after the stock market crashed in October 1929. Cadillac and its affiliated Fleetwood body works built nearly 3,000 of the cars in 1930, but production was curtailed very sharply thereafter. Between 1933 and 1937 fewer than 350 V-16 Cadillacs were built.

While other luxury nameplates like Stutz, Cord, Duesenberg, Peerless and Pierce-Arrow reeled during the Depression, Cadillac had General Motors' other divisions as a cushion against bankruptcy. But even Cadillac was not immune from the cost pressures created by the decade long economic slump, so Nicholas Dreystadt, who replaced Fisher as head of the division in the mid-Thirties, sought out ways of saving cash while maintaining the prestige of the V-16.

The result of his efforts was an entirely new V-16 engine that offered similar output to the original but was very different in most other respects. Rather than a 45-degree vee, the cylinder banks were grafted at a 135-degree angle, which retained the engine's smoothness but facilitated the installation of a single intake manifold between the banks. In addition the block and crankcase were cast as a single unit, saving further production costs.

With a displacement of 452 cubic inches (7.1 liters), the new V-16 was 250 pounds lighter than its predecessor and significantly less costly to build. Beginning in 1937 it was installed in a series of vehicles that were somewhat less distinguished than the first series but still had a great deal of presence on the road.


Cadillac's V-16 engine was considered an aesthetic triumph.

 

1934-1936 Cadillac V-16s and the Aero-Dynamic

<!-- dtl_id=463891 //--> The Aero-Dynamic was an early example of how GM used show cars to presage and test future styling ideas. Among its features that later went into production were an all-steel roof, elegant flowing fenders without sidemounts, and GM's first trunk containing a built-in spare tire compartment.

It also featured a recessed, illuminated rear license plate housing; a gas filler built into the top of the taillight (adopted in production in 1941); chrome window edges; and a chrome beltline molding to emphasize its unified lines.

<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><center>
A stylish newcomer to the 1934 lineup was
the Fleetwood-bodied Aero-Dynamic coupe.

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>Of the Aero-Dynamic, designer Dave Holls has written: "Cadillacs were much later than 1933 in form. . . . It was fine styling -- if you hold your hand over the front end and look at the car from the back, you begin to see a fair resemblance to the Cord Beverly. . . . This was a time when Cadillac began to make bold, yet careful steps toward change, while Packard hung tenaciously onto its long heritage, making only limited changes. A lot of people went along with them at the time, but the practice established a position, and they were stuck with it, later on with disastrous results."

<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><center>
The Aero-Dynamic coupe was an early
example of dream-car design as a preview
to production cars; the first Aero-Dynamic
appeared at the world's fair in Chicago in 1933.

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>In 1934, horsepower was raised to 185 and wheelbases lengthened to 154 inches. Production versions of the Aero-Dynamic Coupe were offered on all chassis; of the mere handful made just three were Sixteens. The division announced that it would build 400 Sixteens for the model year, only to fall embarrassingly short at 56.

All 1934 Cadillacs were distinguished by rather odd biplane bumpers separated by twin bullets, while Sixteens carried the first assembled eggcrate grille. The grille was retained, but a more conventional solid bumper substituted on the 1935 model, which was otherwise so identical to its predecessor that it retained 452D model designation.


<table align="center" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td><center>
The Aero-Dynamic coupe's 'banjo' steering wheel
would be copied by other automakers.

</center></td></tr></tbody></table>All-steel "turret top" bodies were introduced on smaller Cadillacs in 1936, and eventually on the Twelves and Sixteens as well, but multicylinder sales remained minuscule.

Although 1936 Twelves received hydraulic brakes, they weren't fitted to Sixteens until 1937, the year production bottomed at 49 and the year after the model received a new designation, Series 90. Now formidably priced (more than $9,000 for a Fleetwood town cabriolet), the Sixteen had become a prestige item: too famous to drop, too costly to be profitable.

Those early owner-drivers who had delighted in examples of unbridled flamboyance like two-passenger Fleetwood convertibles had mostly disappeared. The majority of Sixteens were seven-passenger limousines (24 of the 49 made for 1937, for example). Nevertheless, a broad assortment of body styles was still offered, all of them now Fleetwoods.

Production included five beautiful convertible sedans and a lone Aero coupe, the last descendant of the 1933 Aero-Dynamic.