The fascinating history of American cars . . .one story at a time.
The annual Kearney Cruise Nite Classic Car Auction starts at 7:00 PM tomorrow (July 16th) at the Buffalo County Fairgrounds in Kearney, Nebraska. See the Rhynalds Auction website for a preview of some of the classics going on the auction block!
I have wanted to write something about legendary race car driver Barney Oldfield for some time, but I don’t think I can do better than his own words. I found this interview with Oldfield from 1911, and it is such an absorbing account that I am just going to present it as written. Note that it starts out with the question, “Is the game worth the candle?” I had to look that one up. It is a saying that originated when people had to illuminate with candles when gambling after dark, so the potential winnings had to be sufficient to warrant the expense of the candles. Oldfield also refers to a pilot named Hoxsey and Colonel Roosevelt. He is referring to Arch Hoxsey, the pilot who took President Theodore Roosevelt for a flight and made Roosevelt the first American president to fly in an airplane. Hoxsey died tragically in a plane crash a few months later, but Oldfield lived until retirement and beyond, not dying until 1946, so I guess, for Barney Oldfield, the game was worth the candle.
This adorable turquoise and white Metropolitan was sold at a recent auction in our area:
This is a 1958 model, but the Metropolitan was first introduced by Nash in 1954 after 11 years of research in the small-car field. It was not intended to replace the family car but to “provide a discriminating answer for the suburban housewife” as a second car. The diminutive Metropolitan had a wheelbase of only 85 inches, an overall length of 149.5”, width of 61.5” and height of 54.5”.
In order to keep production costs down, Nash farmed out the manufacture of the Metropolitan to Austin in Birmingham, England. It was initially powered by the A-40, a 4-cylinder OHV 42-hp Austin engine, had a top speed of around 80 mph and achieved 40 mpg at “normal highway speeds”. The A-40 was replaced by the larger 52-hp A-50 in 1956.
In 1954, the hardtop sold for $1445 and the convertible for $1469. The Metropolitan incorporated many of the styling details of the full-size Nash automobiles, but was said to feature “the foreign look” (as if that were a good thing) while still being built to American standards.
The Metropolitan survived Nash’s merger with Hudson and the creation of the American Motors Corporation, but it’s styling was dated by the time the 1960s rolled around and the last Metropolitans were sold in 1962.
Sources:
“Nash Motors Unveils New Small Car.” The Chattanooga Times, 18 March 1954, p. 45.
“Nash Motors Unveils the Metropolitan.” The Selma Times-Journal, 21 March 1954, p. 25.
“Nash Offers Newest Small Car.” The Miami News, 19 March 1954, p. 20-A.
“Nash Unveils 40 Miles Per Gallon Model.” Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph, 18 March 1954, p. 8.
“New Nash Metropolitan Features Economy, Ruggedness, Fine Styling.” The Knoxville Journal, 18 March 1954, p. 12.
“New U.S. Cars Combine Beauty, Style, Economy.” The Iola Register, 11 March 1954, p. 12.
Minden, Nebraska, hosted a car show around the town square this weekend, and it was a beautiful setting for the gathered classics. Minden is the county seat for the area in which my family homesteaded after immigrating from Germany in the late 1800s, and it has a stately courthouse, a beautifully restored 1891 opera house and other interesting architecture. The gorgeous automobiles posed in front of the buildings just make them look that much better!
1936 Ford with the Kearney County Courthouse in the background. This picture doesn’t do justice to the deep burgundy paint job!
1949 Mercury with suicide doors (courthouse in the background).
1976 Bronco in front of the “Clearman” building.
1964 Chevelle camped out in front of the Opera House.
This 1936 Dodge four-door sedan was hands down my favorite entry. In ’36, the Dodge was powered by an 87-hp six-cylinder L-head and was touted as “The Beauty Winner of 1936.”
I have noticed many reproductions lately based upon the above hood ornament. The jet fighter ornament pictured is part of my own collection, and it is an original. The manufacturer was Univex and a patent was granted on the design of this hood ornament in 1948:
Mine has some other markings on the wing, and I was once told that the inventor, Lucian Ring, put his initials on the ornament in a similar fashion to pin-up artist George Petty whose name appears on the wing of the flying goddess hood ornament he designed for Nash. To be perfectly honest, however, I can clearly see the “L” but I’m not certain it is followed by an “R”.
I am also not too clear on who Lucian Ring was, exactly, I found a short obituary from 1957 that stated he had died at the too-young age of 55 . He lived in Detroit for most of his adult life and was a die cast engineer. There were a number of other patents related to die cast equipment granted to him in the 1940s and 1950s, but the jet fighter was the only hood ornament. It was an aftermarket ornament that could be purchased from vendors like the one in this 1949 advertisement for Economy Auto Stores:
It was advertised as fitting a 1946 Ford and could be purchased for the low, low, low price of $2.49:
An original, like mine, is marked with the manufacturer’s name, Univex, and the patent number 149,443.
A beautiful remnant from the dawn of the jet age, originals are currently selling for around $100 (but beware the reproductions)!
The excerpt below was taken from a 1923 story featuring an interview with Walter Chrysler before THE Chrysler, when he was with Maxwell. It has some interesting facts regarding the state of the American automobile industry in 1923. Notice the complete dominance by Henry Ford at that point in time:
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I was driving past the Central Auto Electric building in Kearney the other day and just had to stop and snap a photo of this ’62 Chevy sitting out front and completing a striking tableau:
This building is just about my favorite in all of Kearney and, thankfully, it remains unmolested with ugly “updates”. It was built in 1946 by Bierman’s Auto Electric, and they moved into this building, their new location, the following year. The business handled GM parts, and this incredible double-sided United Motors Service sign still hangs out front.
Bierman’s didn’t just service GM products per this 1945 advertisement with an emphasis on Studebaker:
Bierman’s advertised their shop as the place to take your car if you wanted “action in your battery, pep in your plugs and power in your engine.” Who doesn’t want those things?
“We owe this freedom of choice and action to those men and women in uniform who have served this nation and its interests in time of need. In particular, we are forever indebted to those who have given their lives that we might be free.”
-Ronald Reagan
Using a vintage Chevrolet station wagon as a billboard is a genius piece of marketing. What could be a more effective method of getting the attention of the masses?
This particular wagon is advertising the Comstock Windmill Festival which is actually a music festival that takes place in the rolling hills of a Nebraska pasture, this year from June 10-12.
The ’54 Chevy wagon was powered by a 6-cylinder 235.5-ci “Blue-Flame” engine and was available as a One-Fifty or Two-Ten Handyman or the Bel Air Townsman:
Rural Nebraska is home to the friendly “finger wave” as well as amber waves of grain, but you’ll need to drive awhile to find the type of waves that will allow you to use that surf board. As we say in Nebraska, “Long time, no sea.”
