Can’t you just see Barney Navarro sitting down at a desk in a dark corner of his shop with an old Bic pen and a couple of loose leaf pieces of paper? I bet he didn’t even take time to wash his hands before he started writing. After an hour or so, he’d take the [...]
What Is One Horsepower?
Posted on June 17th, 2010 by Ryan
Filed under: Tech
Filed under: Tech
Real Henry Ford Plastic…
Some of you Fordophiles already know about the Soybean Ford of 1941, but for those who think I’m joking, here’s the skinny: In 1941 Henry Ford was looking for alternatives to steel for car bodies, which was getting on shorter supply as the war in Europe was heating up. He also understood that plastics could [...]
Corvette Summer
I’ve mentioned my mental incapacities a number of times here on The Jalopy Journal (here and here). To put it simply and frankly, I’m a sick bastard and there just isn’t anyway around it. I thought I was getting a little better, but last night proved to be damn near fatal to my quest of [...]
Les 24 Heures Du Mans
I’ve always considered the 24 hours of Le Mans as kind of the Olympics of auto racing. Car crazy and wide eyed lunatics from all over the world gather in a small town a couple hours outside of Paris and literally fight each other for 24 straight hours. The fumes, the adrenaline, and the lack [...]
Your Favorite 49-52 Chevrolet
So on my way to work this morning, I passed a clean and stock little ’50 Chevrolet coupe. Of course, I mentally went to work customizing the car – mild stance, tasteful shave, and maybe even a haircut. I’ve always thought those early Chevys looked best with a minimal approach and I spent the rest [...]
The 1955 Chrysler Falcon
Much like the Hudson Italia, Chrysler also had a stunning factory two-seater meant to compete with the Corvette and the Thunderbird. This sweet roadster, like the Italia, had an American designer, Virgil Exner (the Falcon was often referred to as Virgil’s Viper), and an Italian coach builder (Ghia, in this case, which had a long-standing [...]
III La PanAmericana
About ten years ago, I was browsing a street vendor’s merch in Rosarito Mexico. By pure chance, I found a post card featuring the image above (and below in higher resolution). The back of the card simply read, “III La PanAmericana.” That’s all I have on this extremely weird example of Mexican ingenuity. If I [...]
The 1954 Hudson Italia
Ah, what might have been… By the early 50s, post war Hudson was falling behind in sales, and taking a major gamble on a little car- The boxy and somewhat awkward Hudson Jet. The studio’s chief styling designer was Frank Spring (the man who brought ‘step down’ style to Hudson!), and he was pretty upset [...]
1949 Ford Unconvert
Cotton Woodworth was a typical Oklahoman. He ran a body shop in Oklahoma City. He spent his weekdays fixing the fenders on ranch trucks and the bumpers on family sedans and his weekends watching football – namely, the national champion Oklahoma Sooners. For the most part, it was a solid yet unremarkable life relative to [...]
Through the years we’ve had some pretty amazing articles pop up here on The Jalopy Journal. The following is just a few of them:
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Tom Cobbs
The story of Tom Cobbs, his legacy, and his hot rod roadster. Read: Part 1, Part 2, or Part 3.
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The Bob Roddick Story
The story of a set of lost photos that literally take us all back into time. Read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, or Part 4.
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The Ferrari Shoot
Comparing and contrasting three very different cars with three very different purposes in life. Read It >>
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Inspiration
This post is actually a continuation of two other posts that were written in 2006 (Part 1 & 2). The stuff you guys came up with is breathtaking.
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Gary Howard
Gary is one of my heroes and after interviewing him, I got to check off an item from my dream list. Read It >>