That is fuckin hilarious! least it’s easy though maybe not in your best interest should you decide you want off this ride
I have seen a number of shortened coupes from 4 drs that were goofy, but I like that '56 open tub wagon look.
How about this one? Have we seen it here, yet? Hispano-Suiza HB6 Landaulette - 1926 "Part of the Dick Van Dijk collection since 1995, this particular example began life as a two-door drophead coupe. Bodied by coachbuilders Hooper, it was proudly displayed on their 1926 Olympia Motor Show stand. Subsequently purchased by the afore-mentioned pioneer motorist and aviator Lt Commander Montague Graham White, it proceeded to enjoy a successful career as a concours entrant throughout both the UK and Europe winning awards at Cannes, Monte Carlo, Le Touquet, Southport, Bournemouth and Brighton. However, at some stage prior to his death in 1961, Graham White chose to discard the drophead coupe bodywork and stretch the H6B's wheelbase by 3ft 6in to 15ft 7in. Entering a period of limbo thereafter, it was still in its lengthened, denuded state when acquired by Peter Hampton in 1966. Apparently inspired by a similarly extravagant Lanchester 40hp-based creation (made to order for an Indian potentate) he had the Hispano fitted with a genuine Brewster Landau carriage body that once belonged to the Woolworth family. Known thereafter as 'Peter's Folly', this unique car is a true child of the 1960s. Finished in black over yellow with varnished wooden wings, its driver's bench and rear postillion seats are trimmed in beige leather, while the landau itself carries beige cloth upholstery (complete with wicker seat bases and embroidered door panels etc). Still sporting a Brewster & Co, Broome St New York plaque, this 'horseless carriage' is further adorned with fork-mounted nickel plated Marchal headlamps, a combination of SPN Scintilla / Toby Baxton Ltd (London) Diver's Bell rear lights, a CAV horn (nearside running board), Boa-type horn (offside running board) and faux ivory dashboard stocked with Hispano-Suiza instruments. Retaining its trademark Flying Stork mascot, the radiator also wears a discreet plaque celebrating the car's participation in the Grand Prix Concours d'Elegance, Monte Carlo 1927. Driven by Mr Van Dijk on the occasion of his daughter's wedding, the H6B is said to handle surprisingly well. Indeed, it has been credited in the past with "a top speed well in excess of 70mph". Utterly unique, its road presence can have few equals."
Powell sport about made in California 49 through 56 or so from refurbished Plymouth chassis and drive train.
Ah, yes. Powells are like a poor man's Mohs. The built-in fishing rod compartments really suit that vibe.
Didn't help that he picked the 1941 Plymouth chassis; just different enough from the 40 and definitely different from the 46 so that he had a finite number of source cars unless he changed the body mounting points
There is an Ag mfg company here that made spray rigs the same, way using refurbished Plymouths from the flat head days. The differential in my 47 came from such a spray rig.
Asked the owner of one of the first auto parts stores I worked for why he stocked full gasket sets for the 216 flathead six Plymouth engine; he said he kept them in stock because Yale forklifts had lots of those engines AND they used fluid drive transmissions. Apparently we had a lot of Yale forklifts in the city!
How did I miss Espenlaub for an entire six years?! Recently posted on Facebook: A Google translation from German Wikipedia: "In 1944 [15] [16] or, according to other sources, in 1948 [17] [18] , Espenlaub probably built one of the most unusual vehicles in automobile history. [19] The vehicle was exceptional from almost every point of view: The car had a strict pontoon shape in the " one-box design ", that is, without a separately detached bonnet or separate trunk, comparable to a minibus , van , omnibus or scooter mobile; the wheels were - as with his streamlined vehicles from 1928 and 1934/35 - completely hidden under the body. With a width of about 2.50 meters, the vehicle was only about 1.20 meters high, and was therefore unusually wide and extremely flat according to today's and even more so according to the ideas of the time (hence the name “ flounder ”). The vehicle was designed as a nine-seater; all the panes were arched into the roof. At the front, an axle with a normal track width , but non-steerable wheels, was used, while at the rear, closely spaced steerable twin wheels were used. No information has been handed down on the engine. Unusual was also the source of significant technical components: Much as especially chassis parts, came from dive bombers of the type Junkers Ju 87 ( "Stuka") from the Second World War. [17] [18] "The background was that Espenlaub had many spare parts for this type in stock in his aircraft repair shop in Wuppertal: During the war, his operation was relocated to several bomb-proof railway tunnels in the area by the " Organization Todt " ( U relocation ) [20] [21] ; Towards the end of the war there was hardly any use for these spare parts, as many aircraft in use had been destroyed or fallen into the hands of the advancing Allies, or there was a lack of personnel, fuel and logistics to bring damaged aircraft to Espenlaub's temporary plant. "Distant parallels to the four-wheeled “flounder” model with its nine seats can only be found in the American Stout Scarab (1935–1939) , which was only built around nine times, and the Dymaxion automobile by the American Richard Buckminster Fuller from 1933, also to a limited extent at the ALFA 40-60 HP Aerodinamica , as Count Marco Ricotti had it made as a one-off piece at the Castagna body shop in 1913/14."
This 1934 Renault Nervasport "Aeroprofil" by Grümmer is mechanically conventional enough, Renault having finally abandoned the cowl-mounted radiator in 1930. The front is wholly Chrysler Airflow: what interests me more is the greenhouse. The need to work around flat glass is not only the thing which imparts the weirdness here, it also imposes a discipline which, if handled well, vastly improves these pre-WWII designs no matter how weird they are. Upon investigation I find that Grümmer built similar coachwork on other chassis: Alfa-Romeo Delage D8: deeply weird but strangely satisfying front end treatment Peugeot Another Renault, more conventional but a year later than the one in the first pics of this post. Hotchkiss Also on a Hotchkiss chassis, this indubitably weird Torpedo, with tailfin spare: Grümmer also did some lovely non-weird stuff, the most dramatic of which must be this "Hirondelle" sedanca coupé:
This is very surprising to me. I've been looking at car pictures intensively for 70 years, and I have NEVER previously seen any of these cars with the wrapover, flat glass windows in the doors. I'm amazed to learn that a large number of cars were designed and built that way.
Usually when I get a shopping cart, I end up with one that has the square wheels. I sure hope he didn't use one of those!
Connecticut’s Eisenhuth Horseless Vehicle Company was formed by John Eisenhuth, a New York man who claimed to have invented the gasoline engine and had a nasty habit of getting sued by his business partners. His 1904–07 Compound models featured an inline three-cylinder engine where two outer cylinders powered an unignited, “dead” middle cylinder with their exhaust gases; the middle cylinder provided the engine’s output. The outer cylinders were huge, with 7.5-inch bores, but the inner, at 12 inches across, was larger still. Eisenhuth claimed a 47-percent increase in fuel economy over a standard engine of similar size. He also went bankrupt in 1907. Go figure. Strange name, sure, but the engine is even weirder. The 3.3-liter Commer TS3 was a supercharged, opposed-piston (each cylinder has two pistons with their crowns facing each other, and there are no cylinder heads), single-crankshaft (most opposed-piston engines have two), three-cylinder, two-stroke diesel engine. The Rootes Group dreamed up this beast to power its Commer-branded trucks. The TS3 offered ingenious packaging, connecting-rod rocker arms the size of a small cat, and at 270 lb-ft of torque, more grunt than many larger diesels of the time. Think the Commer was smart? This one puts it on the trailer. England’s Lanchester Motor Company was founded in 1899. The firm’s Lanchester Ten, introduced a year later, featured an air-cooled, twin-crankshaft, 4.0-liter flat-twin driving the rear wheels. One crank lived above the other, and each piston had three connecting rods—two light outer ones and a heavier one in the center. The light rods went to one crank, the heavy rods to the other, and the two shafts counterrotated. The result was 10.5 hp at 1250 rpm and a remarkable lack of vibration. If you’ve ever wondered what engineering elegance looks like, this is it. https://www.caranddriver.com/features/a15128493/the-10-most-unusual-engines-of-all-time-feature/
Here is the one and only running COMPOUND from 1906. It was in a New York collection, then went to Harrah's were it was restored, came back to Connecticut for a while in a great collection. It is is a centerpiece in the Fountainhead collection in Alaska. I saw at Harrah's in 1974 and again here in Connecticut, wouldn't mind seeing it again in Alaska with all its friends. Bob 1906 Compound - Fountainhead Museum - Fairbanks Alaska - YouTube
The Fountainhead Museum is truly special. The entire collection is made up of some of the most unusual and rare autos ever built. You would never expect to see something like this in a city the size of Fairbanks. It's a must see if your in Alaska.
It is a "Bucket List" place for me to visit. Don't know if the cars in the collection were picked by one person or a committee, either way they did a fantastic job. Bob
I have been lucky enough to visit many times. One of my dads high school buddy's helps to maintain the collection. Last time I was there they had a 34 Offy powered Midget racer in the shop for so maintenance. What a cool little ride. What I find most impressive is that every car in the collection is driveable.
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