Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2020 i Hemmings Classic Car

Ply-Wood WHILE TAKING IN A RECENT CAR SHOW IN TEMPE, ARIZONA, READER JIM CONNAUGHTON came across an apparently unique woodie postwar Plymouth sedan. “This car was in unrestored condition, some wear and tear, but in good presentable condition,” Jim wrote. He wasn’t able to track down the owner while at the show, so is left wondering what we know about it. The answer: Not much. Plymouth did offer wood-bodied station wagons after World War II — along with its first metal-bodied station wagons — and Chrysler did famously offer its Town & Country wood-bodied sedans, but we don’t see any wood-bodied Plymouth sedans in our reference books. Without seeing the car in person, it’s hard to say whether the wood here is an aftermarket applique, like what was available for…

A COUPLE OF MONTHS AGO, I talked about desirable rear-wheel-drive 1980s cars. A friend remarked that I did not mention this month’s International Underdog, although I did mention the Pontiac Catalina. There were a couple reasons for that. I was saving it, and it was only sold for a few years, (and if I remember correctly) mainly in the lower 48. The Parisienne name was familiar to Canadians since the 1950s, gracing the fenders and dashboards of some very desirable automobiles. I still lament the loss of Pontiac; from the mid-1950s through the late 1970s, it built some of the most beautiful American cars of all time. Unfortunately, as the years passed, they looked too much like upscale Chevrolets and lost some of their luster. Fortunately, the cross-brand family resemblance…

I love the 1942 Lincolns, especially the Zephyrs, for their rarity and styling. It’s an extraordinary privilege to own a car like this one. It drives and handles exceptionally well, and its V-12 engine is a hallmark of its era. Since it’s one of only about seven convertibles currently known to still exist, I only take it out to show it at national events. My admiration for these cars came from my dad. He bought several of them secondhand when I was growing up. Until my retirement from the U.S. Navy in 1986, my family and I moved around a lot, but I still collected and enjoyed driving vintage Lincolns, and have continued to do so since then.…

America is a melting pot, where immigrants from different societies come together and create something altogether new. Like an alloy of metals or a mongrel dog, such combinations are often more than the sum of their parts. It was that kind of philosophy that created America’s first postwar supercar, the Cunningham C-3. Although intended primarily to homologate racers for Le Mans, the road-going versions of Briggs Cunningham’s eponymous automobiles were themselves adept and luxurious grand tourers. They coupled American V-8 power and rugged American independent front suspension systems to carry them with race-bred chassis developments like a De Dion tube rear suspension and handsome, handcrafted bodies from Carrozzeria Vignale. The chassis were built in Florida and the bodies in Turin, Italy. Italy is where one of the two main competitors…

When it comes to automobiles, you can’t get any more organic than a woodie. Lathered in lively tones of cellulose fibers, they’re America’s longstanding symbol of fine automotive craftsmanship. Embodying a natural elegance of unsurpassed, welcoming warmth, wood-sided automobiles have long been associated with the skill and artistry of woodworking craftsmanship. And thanks to the songs of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean, woodies have become an intrinsic part of American pop culture, too. While wood-sided automobiles were mass-produced like their all-steel counterparts, lots of time-consuming, painstaking craftsmanship and woodworking techniques were involved in assembling the structure that made up the woodie body. Compound curves, finger-joints, bevel angles, dovetail joints, edging, veneering, and refinishing are what were required to produce wood bodies. It was the art of industrial carpentry…

The engine ticked softly, cooling down as the Imperial Custom sedan took a well-earned rest in the Hemmings Motor News parking lot on that summer afternoon. This be-finned barge, a rarely seen relic of upscale mid-century modernity, had just ferried the Douglass family without complaint from their hometown on the Canadian border of west-central New York, a drive of hundreds of miles on highways and back roads that took more than five hours. It was still relatively new and unproven to Richard and his boys, Lloyd, Zeb, and Asa, but the Mopar flagship had concretely demonstrated its comfort and reliability. Before that evening’s Cruise-In was finished, it would inspire hours of questions and reminiscences, and much to its caretakers’ surprise, also earn them an award. For an ultra-low production, hand-finished…

Uncle Sam’s War Department wasn’t the only agency interested in jeeps during World War II — the Department of Agriculture had its eye on the iconic four-wheel-drive, quarter-tonner as well. What if, officials wondered, after victory overseas, surplus jeeps could aid farmers in crop production and help meet increased demands for food? The State Department, too, had a stake in this: What if liberated countries around the world could use surplus jeeps to help increase their food production after the war? In the spring of 1942, the Department of Agriculture procured a pair of military jeeps, one from the War Department and the other from Willys-Overland. The jeeps were turned over to the Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry and Engineering, which put them through their paces at the Farm Tillage Machinery…

FORD HAS BEEN CIRCLING THE WAGONS FOR NEARLY FIFTY YEARS, NOW OFFERING 10 options spread among the Pinto, LTD, Fairmont, and Club Wagon lines. Whether you are in the mood for work or play, versatile and spacious station wagons are available to meet your ever-changing needs. With wheelbases ranging from 94.8 inches on the Pinto to 138 inches on the family size Club Wagon, Ford has you covered for all of your activities and hauling needs. Countless interior and engine options are available, and Ford wagons start as low as $3,794. SALES RACE (total model-year production) 1. Chevrolet .....................2,197,861 2. Ford ............................1,929,254 3. Oldsmobile...................1,015,805 4. Pontiac...........................900,380 5. Buick .............................803,187 6. Mercury ..........................635,051 7. Dodge ............................424,934 8. Plymouth ........................383,935 9. Cadillac .........................349,684 10. Chrysler ........................303,019 EXPENDITURES (per capita) Auto parts ...........................…

A’s National Convention THIS YEAR’S MODEL A FORD CLUB OF AMERICA NATIONAL CONVENTION WILL take place in Kerrville, Texas, from June 21 to 26. The regional “Alamo A’s” will take the reigns and host the convention at the Y.O. Ranch Resort Hotel. The show will include a huge swap meet that will be perfect for locating hard-to-find parts and items for your Model A. Touring trips to explore the heart of the Texas Hill Country, and a judged Model A concours, are also part of the festivities. Applications are now available, so be sure to visit www.alamomodela.com for more information about the event. Texas Packards PACKARDS WILL CONVERGE for the 43rd Annual Texas Packard Meet in Salado, about 50 miles north of Austin. It will take place April 3-5 and…

Kansas City Dealings MECUM WRAPPED UP ITS ANNUAL DECEMBER AUCTION AT THE KANSAS CITY Convention center with an impressive $9 million in overall sales and a sell-through rate of 70 percent. Among the many eclectic cars to change hands in the “City of Fountains” was this 1939 “shark nose” Graham Series 97, one of only 3,600 produced. Finished in Egyptian Ivory with a new saddle leather interior, the prewar rarity sold for $22,500. Other highlights included two 1950s Corvettes: a ’57 model, which sold for $94,600, and a ’54, sold at $78,100. Two solid 1947 trucks also changed hands: a Dodge Power Wagon with a period-correct winch and dump bed went for $14,850, and a dependable Studebaker M5 sold for $17,050. Full results are now available at www.mecum.com. Palm Beach…

SPECIFICATIONS PRICE BASE PRICE $2,274 PRICE (AS PROFILED) N/A OPTIONS (AS PROFILED) Radio, vacuum antenna, heater, hydraulic windows, overdrive, whitewall tires, Custom interior ENGINE TYPE H-series 75-degree V-12; cast-iron block and L-heads DISPLACEMENT 305-cu.in. (currently 296.21-cu.in.) BORE X STROKE 2.937 x 3.75 inches (currently 2.895 bore) COMPRESSION RATIO 7:1 HORSEPOWER @ RPM 130 @ 3,800 (currently N/A) TORQUE @ RPM 226 lb-ft @1,800 (currently N/A) VALVETRAIN Hydraulic lifters MAIN BEARINGS Four FUEL SYSTEM Two-barrel downdraft carburetor, mechanical pump LUBRICATION SYSTEM Gear-type pump ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 6-volt, dual-point ignition system EXHAUST SYSTEM Single TRANSMISSION TYPE Three-speed manual, overdrive RATIOS 1st 2.33:1 2nd 1.57:1 3rd 1.00:1 Overdrive 0.70:1 DIFFERENTIAL TYPE Torque-Tube, hypoid drive gears, Three-quarter-floating drive axles GEAR RATIO 4.44:1 STEERING TYPE Worm-and-roller RATIO OVERALL 18.4:1 TURNING CIRCLE N/A BRAKES TYPE Four-wheel, hydraulic,…

Wood-sided automobiles started out unglamorously, usually sold by body builders based on a commercial chassis. Ford initially lumped station wagons in with its truck lines in the catalogs, in fact. Fitted with side curtains in lieu of windows and stretched-canvas tops, they were ever only meant to be functional — rough-hewn custom bodies that were a means to an end. But despite the Great Depression, automotive advancements came thick and fast; once General Motors’ all-steel car bodies arrived on the scene for 1936, the days of wood seemed numbered. Yet steel, with all of its strength, durability, and manufacturing efficiency, failed to eliminate wood altogether, at least for a while: Rather, the handwork-intensive timber-bodied models were driven upmarket. Pontiac’s wood-bodied station wagon was a $1,015 proposition in 1940; a year…

Station wagons, also known as depot wagons or depot hacks, give an accurate depiction of the body style and function of the vehicle they represent. Horse-drawn wagons were used to deliver people to train stations and depots before the invention of the motor car. Almost immediately upon its invention, the automobile would see commercial application for businesses that needed to move products, goods, and people. Station wagons would shuttle people and their luggage primarily between hotels and train stations, but it was soon realized that they could also be useful to transport goods and larger families and their belongings much easier than a less spacious car. One of the most prolific builders of station wagon bodies was J.T. Cantrell & Company of Huntington, Long Island, New York. As a successful…

Let’s talk Oldsmobile numbers for a moment. It’s no secret that the division’s A-body line was immensely popular, particularly those models that wore a Cutlass emblem. The upscale trim name appeared in 1964 and quickly attained 64,415 buyers. It proved to be the proverbial tip of the freshly calved iceberg. By the end of the 1970 model year, more than 998,000 examples had been built, including Cutlass S and Cutlass Supreme models (we’re not even factoring in the base F-85, or the 4-4-2 muscle car, both of which used the same basic platform). Of those, more than 236,440 originated from the top-of-the-line Cutlass Supreme series alone, including this attractive 1970 Azure Blue convertible. According to the car’s few surviving documents, the Cutlass Supreme was sold new through the now-defunct Money…

IN 1966, AFTER HIGH SCHOOL I landed a job at Sterling Aluminum, a subsidiary of Federal Mogul. It was operating a piston manufacturing plant on an airbase that the U.S. Air Force had abandoned after World War II. The base had been left to the City of Malden, Missouri, and some commercial companies used the airplane hangars to house their operations. Every operation of piston making was done at that plant, although more than one building was used. We made pistons for big-block muscle cars and small “Airtemp” pistons for Chrysler air conditioner compressors. Everything started at the foundry, where melted aluminum was poured into molds, in the very rough shape of a piston. The highest paid machine operators worked in this department and they earned every penny they got.…

CAR 1936 Cadillac Series 70 Fleetwood convertible coupe AUCTIONEER Mecum Auctions LOCATION Kissimmee, Florida DATE January 11, 2020 LOT NUMBER S121 PREAUCTION ESTIMATE $125,000–$150,000 AVERAGE SELLING PRICE $75,000 SELLING PRICE $126,500 CADILLAC’S V-8 MODELS WERE REDESIGNED for the 1936 model year and offered in two displacements, both with engine block and crankcase cast enbloc. Cadillac’s top V-8, an alternative to pricier V-12s, would become a measuring stick for the brand’s technology for years to come. This Series 70 Fleetwood convertible coupe is a well-preserved restoration that was completed in 2015. The correct engine bay carries the larger 346-cu.in. V-8, fed by a Stromberg carburetor, capable of producing 135 hp at 3,600 rpm. It is mated to a three-speed manual transmission with “triple-silent Helical-cut” gears for all forward speeds. The restoration…

FREDERICK PATTERSON’S FATHER was born a slave in Virginia in 1833. He escaped in 1861 and settled in Greenfield, Ohio, the next year, where he found work as a blacksmith for a carriage builder, Dines and Simpson. By 1870, the elder Patterson had risen to the position of shop foreman and the next year Frederick was born, the youngest of four children. Within two years of Frederick’s birth, his father had partnered with another local carriage builder to open a new concern — Patterson and Lowe. Encouraged by his parents to educate himself, Frederick graduated high school in 1888 and enrolled at The Ohio State University where he was the first African-American on the school’s football team. He left school before graduation to take a job, not in his father’s…

Possessing engaging streamlined styling and the only V-12 engine in the medium-priced field, the Lincoln-Zephyr advanced the recovery of Ford’s luxury automaker in the years following the Great Depression. Those attributes made upmarket buyers take notice when it was introduced for the 1936 model year to compete primarily with the Cadillac, La Salle, and Packard One-Twenty. Priced lower than the larger, stately Model K Lincolns, the new Zephyr line would successfully draw interest and higher sales volume to the division. In the years leading up to 1942, the Zephyr had become the cornerstone of Lincoln. The higher priced and more lavishly equipped Continental and Custom series were based on it and the Model Ks, which fell out of favor, had been discontinued. Primary competitors that year were the Cadillac Series…

Forget “Ford versus Ferrari.” It’s hardly a compelling story when the second-largest automaker in the world decides it wants to embarrass a boutique maker of race cars. Instead, it’s far better when the hero is a scrappy, upstart David against the Goliath of international sports car racing. That’s the story of Cunningham cars. Briggs Cunningham was a gentleman sportsman of the type no longer fashionable in America. Raised in wealth and privilege, he spent his days pursuing strenuous adventure. He loved cars, thanks largely to an ex-Rough Rider uncle with a Dodge Brothers touring car re-powered by a World War I-surplus Hispano-Suiza aircraft engine. His mother and first wife preferred something less dangerous for him than auto racing, so for most of his youth, he contented himself with yachting —…

A cursory glance at the collector-car hobby through today’s rose-tinted glasses would have you think that the postwar domestic industry made a mint on mass-marketed two-door hardtops. Artistically conceptualized ads often featured such coupes that oozed sporty, open-air excursions to the country from deep inside concrete-n-steel cities and burgeoning suburbs. Attractive as the hardtop coupe was though, four-door sedans were the biggest seller, while the real country excursion cruiser, better suited for the whole family, was the station wagon. Without question, the biggest purveyor in the station wagon market was Ford. Although the phenomenon started with the division’s Model T-based depot hacks, the first mass-produced, formally named “station wagon” was unveiled in 1929 as part of the critically acclaimed Model A line. More than 11,300 woodies were built during the…

It’s the topic of our times, an ongoing discussion that involves some handwringing and gnashing of teeth: Who will care for our more than 120 years of automotive heritage, as the world of personal transportation evolves into forms we can’t yet conceive? Since the turn of this century, there have been groups and individuals who have stepped up to offer solutions and support for new generations of automotive technicians and preservationists. The RPM Foundation, now in its 15th year and enjoying enhanced assistance from numerous motoring institution allies, is an organization that is at the forefront of the push to ensure a secure outlook for the old-car hobby. RPM Foundation — its name short for “Restoration. Preservation. Mentor-ship.” — grew out of the Collectors Foundation, a 2005 directive of the…

I’ve restored a lot of A-body Oldsmobiles to a high standard, but I knew I could do this on a budget. I wanted to make it right and look good, but not spend any more than I had to. Take, for instance, the drum brakes. I prefer front discs, which were an option, but swapping out what was already functioning would have added cost. It was more important to me to make sure the power accessories and A/C worked, and that it would drive as nice as it looked. If you go into a project like this, it’s important to remember your end goal. If it’s going to be a driver, don’t spend extra money to make it too perfect. I didn’t go nuts adding decals under the hood. Seems…