For the folks at Barrett-Jackson, Reno is a market filled with passionate automotive fans, and for show attendees, Reno is a new venue that allows many of them to attend a Barrett-Jackson auction for the very first time. SPEED …
SPEED executive producer Rick Miner, who heads the massive effort to televise every Barrett-Jackson auction, said the same intensity will be dedicated to the coverage under FOX Sports as it has been with SPEED.
This is my latest segment. It will be a frequent blathering of car stuff – current and maybe some old stuff. I hope you enjoy it.
I’ve visited the Bowling Green assembly plant a few times and it never grows old. The last time I was there they were expanding the plant to include Chevy Volt production and (not releasable at that time) and this as well:
The new Corvette Stingray will be built at GM’s Bowling Green, Ky., assembly plant, which underwent a $131-million upgrade, including approximately $52 million for a new body shop to manufacture the aluminum frame in-house for the first time.
I did a post from a car show down on the border and covered a corvair with a Ralph Nader for President bumper sticker which was a hoot. (See it here Corvair – The Last Car .) But one Corvair I haven’t seen in years at a car show or anywhere is the Lakewood.
1962 Lakewood
There’s a good reason for this. These Corvair station wagons were only made in 1961 and 1962. Only 33,271 wagons were produced in those two years. A subset of those were the Monza of 1962. Only 2567 of those wagons were produced.
A there were a couple of engine the 80 horse power Turbo Air and a 98 horse powered Super Turbo Charge.
That makes me think I need to do post on just Corvairs.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
1954 Corvette dream cars – Corvette Corvair fastback, Corvette Nomad wagon and Corvette convertible coupe http://t.co/OrJk5A2sX1
As promised we are going to take closer look at the Golden Hawk Gran Turismo (GT).
I really like the Golden Hawk it has very cool lines.
I love the roof line and I live the molding on the pillar, just above the quarter panel.
I love the ‘muted’ fins…there but not huge…The tail lights are great looking as is the slope of the trunk lid.
Love the curve of the fender that are topped with Chrome,
The Gran Trisumo emblem it spectacular and I like the unique placement. Notice the Studebaker emblem on the mirror.
I love the way the fenders end in a single headlight. The grill…well….I wouldn’t have done. What I do like about the front end are the vents that end in signal lights.
I like indications of a hood scope and the taper for the hood. I especially like the way the top fender molding has a slight curve and tapers at the end, above the headlight. The vent on the front fender is very cool old school!!!
Last but not least….I would not have those wheels on it…I’d rather have steel wheels and poverty hub cabs.
It’s monsoon season in Tucson and hence we are in a drought as far as car shows go. So today was a great day – clear blue skies, with thunder storm beginning to pop up over the mountains (yes we have mountains in Az).
My son is a photographer and I’m a want too be. So wanting to de-stress for a day I choose to check in with him and see if he had time to drag the old man around for a photo shoot. He often takes a weekend day and tools around with his camera, which is fun and with no specific agenda, just what the doctor ordered.
I picked him up and we headed to a park, that normally has an abundance of water. Yes we have lakes in Arizona (although many are man-made or at least get a lot of help from managed care). This place normally is home to fish, turtles and various water fowl (YES we have ducks here too!!!).
As we approached the entrance a car turned out of the park and I didn’t immediately recognize and as we entered the park a see a 1920’s 4 door sedan, looking mostly original. I was still not sure the maker. As we entered the park and drove the round to the parking in back I spotted a rare hawk and it’s companion.
Yes that is a Golden Hawk GT… by Studebaker. (Right)
1937 Coup – split rear window.
Just our luck, during the Arizona car show drought season, we ran into the tail-end of a local Studebaker Club breakfast!!!! And just my luck – only two cars were left, out of the 30 that showed up earlier and I missed maybe one of the oldest Studebakers I may every see in person. A 1933 Sedan!!!
I got to speak to one of the members and inquired as to how many were in their club. He believed that there were 30-40 with a total of just under 1oo exampled of the Studebaker legacy. He himself owned these two car plus two more.
We’ll take a closer look at these two cars in the next couple posts.
This car is a nicely preserved / restored Studebaker GT Hawk. This is not the type of car I would buy, but it’s a car that makes me think… If Studebaker had been in better financial shape and remained a player in the US auto …
Survivor 1959 nomad wagon, with a 348 big block and factory air conditioning. Rust free 2 owner Colorado car. Original interior in VERY NICE condition.
Sometime ago I purchased a MAC tool box from a family member. This one:
It’s vintage 1980’s all steel MAC Tools tool box – it’s Godzilla heavy – about 5.5 feet tall. A month or so a go I was moving tools around in it and got to a section I hadn’t cleaned yet. So I emptied the contents of that section and found an interesting object and I tucked it away thinking I’d do something with it later on.
I re-found it today and hence this brief article. Oh…what is it? Here ya go.
It is a DeSoto Adventurer key blanks
I can’t tell what year it is from.
It folds up like a pocket knife and pictures the likeness of an Adventurer.
Not a bad looker! But they got even better later on!!!
Was I lying? Better looking 2 years later!!
So I thought…hmmm what don’t I know about this car…a lot.
I do know that the 1956 Adventurer is a rare car – only 996 of these were produced and cost about $4k back in the day. It was powered by the 320 horse powered 341 Hemi (considered their high performance model…well…yeah!!).
Here’s some stuff I didn’t know about DeSoto’s Adventurer model:
– They were first produced in 1956 and sported the Hemi 341 with dual exhaust.
– They were often referred to as the “Golden Adventurer” that year and had power brakes, power front seat, electric windows, windshield washer and dual exterior rear view mirrors and dual radio antennas (rear mounted).
– In 1956 they only came in a hard top.
– They were produced from 1956 to 1961 which was not only the
Adventurer’s last year but DeSoto’s as well.
OH…Hold the Presses!!! Didn’t I see one in person not too long ago? Yes, I did. It was a convertible!! Now I recall. I was at….Barrett Jackson Auction with……
….
and we saw this……
CAR!!!
…go for BIG MONEY $$$$.!!!
Here’s the rear end…
Please don’t ask me ‘why’ this is the only pic I took….!!!
In fact the a car above was a 1957 and there were only 300 convertibles made that year. Heck there were only 1650 hard top made that year as well.
In fact, again, they were all low production models:
– 350 hard tops and 82 convertibles in 1958
– 590 hard tops and 87 convertibles in 1959
– more cars in 1960 and 1961 – but they added a 4 door. What!!?!?!?!?!?! Boo!! Hiss!! Yup you could still get the 2 door version, yeah, in hard top only!!! (No convertibles…Double Boo!!! Triple Hiss!!!)
– All the Adventurers came with the most powerful engine DeSoto offered every year – always over 300 horse power, but just barely in 1960 and 1961 when it topped out at 305. (Another article coming up with some engine specifics for this cool model.)
Thanks for reading. If you know what year these key blanks are from drop me a note. If you own an Adventurer, drop me a pic @ timsweet@cox.net.
Danbury Mint 1956 DeSoto Adventurer Diecast Car 1:24 Scale Black/Gold w/Box http://t.co/v0RYpqnz2O
Unique and beautiful machines seen on the streets of New York. Monday, July 15, 2013. 1958 DeSoto Adventurer, First Street and Eighth Avenue. Posted by Cartorialist at 06:56. No comments: Post a Comment. Older Post Home. Subscribe to: …
I love writing Engine Line Up pieces. I learn a lot doing the research.
Back in 1946 there wasn’t a lot of imagination when it came to naming cars. Packard either named their cars after the engines that powered them or their engines after their car models plus the cylinder count. This led to the following models names:
Clipper Six
Clipper Standard/Deluxe Eight
Clipper Eight
Custom Super Clipper Eight
The engines available for the Packard line up included one 6 cylinders and two 8 cylinders.
First up is the 6 cylinder dubbed – Clipper Six. This was an inline (straight) L-Head 6. (Note: An L-Head is a type of internal combustion engine having both inlet and exhaust valves on one side of the engine block – making the shape of an “L”.) The engine displaced 245.6 ID and had a bore and stroke of 3.5×4.25 and a compression ratio of 6.7:1. It had four main barrings and solid lifters. Top it off with a Carter WA1 single barrel carb (Model 530S) and you’d get 105 hp.
Clipper Six Engine – 1947 would be the last year this engine would be used in the Packard
Next up is the inline eight, referred to as the Clipper Standard/Deluxe Eight. It was an L-head as well that displaced 282.04 (yes .o4) cubic inches. It’s bore and stroke were 3.25X4.25 inches and the compression ratio was 6.85:1. It had five main bearings and solid lifters all topped with a 2 barrel Carter (WDO) Model 512S. On a good day you could coax 125 hp out of this configuration. Consider that the average weight of the Packard’s for that year 3,922 lbs with the heaviest being almost 5,000 lbs (4900), you’ll need all those horses to get these beautiful pieces of steel moving.
Last is the Super/Custom Super Clipper Eight. Again it was a straight (inline) eight cylinder and an L-head. This power plant was 356 cid with a bore/stroke of 3 1/2×4 5/8 inches, 9 main bearings and hydraulic lifters. Topped with a Carter’s (WDO) two barrel Model 531S it produced 165 horse power.
Posted Dec. 14, 2014 @ 6:08 pm. “Snow” created by the movie production crew, frosts the 1946 Packard police cruiser at Chatham Fish Pier. Staff photo by Doreen Leggett. By Doreen Leggett dleggett@wickedlocal.com. Posted Dec. 14, 2014 @ 6:08 pm.
Si quieres hacerte con un trocito de la historia automotriz de Estados Unidos y Detroit, dentro de poco se celebrará una subasta donde tendrás oportunidad de hacerlo. Las antiguas instalaciones de Packard saldrán a subasta por 21.000 dólares, …
