Mercedes was tired of getting their racing butts kicked in 1936… The W25 racer that year had a flexing chassis coupled with stiff suspension that caused the rear axle to bend 3 to 4 inches under hard braking. It made decent power, but the car just couldn’t hook up and make any traction. 1937 would [...]
History
Germany’s Pre-War Hot Rodding: The Mercedes W125
The Ingalls Special
I’m lucky enough to work within walking distance of a place called Fantasy Junction. No, it’s not the adult bookstore that you might be imagining, but rather an understated brick building that contains the nicest folks and most amazing sports cars in the world. You may remember their Kurtis 500KK that I reported on back [...]
Lincoln’s Greatest Hits…
Perhaps you’ve seen all the auto news lately that Lincoln is being re-imagined and renamed “The Lincoln Motor Company” as they seek to find themselves becoming a true flagship luxury brand once again. At the LA Auto Show last month Lincoln had a number of their most iconic classic models from the past displayed proudly [...]
Leggy Linda
In 1952, Popular Mechanics Magazine released a series of postcards that were made available at gas stations across the country. Each pictured a novelty of one sort or another based around the rapidly growing automotive culture in the US. A few years ago, I was at an antique store and picked up a card featuring [...]
As They Were…
Admittedly, this photo entry isn’t exactly on topic. You won’t see a single hot rod or custom in these images. Instead, you’ll just see old cars as they were – in the setting they were born to adorn. For whatever reason, I have always been drawn to images like these. In fact, I have a [...]
Jack Calori’s ’36 Coupe
You’ve probably already heard the word: The Jack Calori 1936 Ford three window coupe will be up for sale at Mecum’s upcoming Anaheim auction. The Calori coupe is pretty darn significant car in the world of historic customs. The whole story has been told before, but here goes a condensed version: Jack was basically looking [...]
Blast From The Past
I started The Jalopy Journal in 1995 in my parent’s kitchen while on Christmas break from the University of Oklahoma. At the time, I didn’t know a single person into traditional hot rodding. All I had was a stack of books authored by guys like Dean Batchelor and Andy Southard. I read them all and [...]
What’s ZIS? It’s a pre-war Russian Custom…
Russian Automobiles of the 50s and 60s were widely known to poorly copy popular American and Western European sedan designs, and were usually downright ugly as a result. However, imagine a classy, sporty pre-war roadster with a sectioned body, flush headlamps and a sweeping decklid. This straight 8-powered beast is a ZIS 101-A Sport built [...]
The 100 Million Dollar Look: Chrysler for 1955!
American car design progressed rapidly in the 1950s- Just compare any late 40s model to the same one from the mid 50s, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. One of the most radical styling improvements in a single year has to go to the entire Dodge, Plymouth, and Chrysler line up for 1955 after [...]
