The fascinating history of American cars . . .one story at a time.
Whatever the job, this awesome 1949 Studebaker 1 1/2-ton truck would make the work more enjoyable. Studebaker described it as husky, handsome and trustworthy, and I can’t disagree!
Notice that iconic Studebaker “rocket” hood ornament:
Studebaker also touted the “roomy, big-vision” cab:
Studebaker’s big trucks like this 1 1/2-ton and the 2-ton were powered by a 6-cylinder “Power Plus” engine and were available in four wheelbases:
The grille on this Chevy was part of the “Diamond Crown Speedline Styling” that was new for 1937. Chevy’s tagline was “The Complete Car – Completely New,” and other innovations like all-steel unisteel bodies by Fisher and new six-cylinder high-compression valve-in-head engines were enough to make Chevrolet the best-selling automobile that year.
And just like that, Nebraskans go from needing amphibious Amphicars to needing something like this:
That’s right, Nebraska, still not recovered from massive flooding, was treated to a blizzard this week. This Ford Model A snowmobile would be very handy for traversing the snow-covered roads, and it was actually called a snowmobile by inventor Virgil White. White was a New Hampshire Ford dealer, and he patented this special attachment for Ford cars and trucks in 1917.
The front wheels were replaced with runners that were 5 feet long and 18 inches wide. The rear axle was extended and wheels were added to hold the caterpillar tread. The kit sold for around $175 and was very popular, particularly with rural mail carriers and doctors.
Sources:
Constable, George N. “Snowmobile Ideas Began Drifting Around in 1913.” News Journal [Mansfield], 21 January 1986, p. 1-B.
“Ford Turns Out the Snowmobile.” The Calgary Daily Herald, 7 March 1925, p. 20.
“Snowmobiles for Automobiles is New Idea; Scheme Tested.” The Windsor Star, 10 January 1925, p. 3.
The Snowmobile. Advertisement. The Burlington Free Press, 6 October 1923.
Although this Amphicar was not American-made, it was marketed primarily to Americans. It was an amphibious automobile invented by German Hans Trippel and was produced from 1961 to 1968.
Twin propellers (located under the rear of the car) were easily engaged with a shift knob.
The front tires acted as rudders and special seals around the doors and engine compartment kept the water out. It had stamped steel body panels, a Porsche transmission and suspension made by Mercedes-Benz. Power was supplied by a rear-mounted 43-hp 4-cylinder Triumph engine. Newspaper accounts vary, but top land speed was around 65-70 mph with water speed somewhere around 10-12 mph.
The Amphicar was apparently seaworthy, crossing the English Channel from Calais to Dover in 5.5 hours in 1962. Back in the states, a salesman demonstrating one at a lake in Texas said, “Most of the time people think I’m either a drunk who has run his car off into the lake, or some crazy nut.”
Another story about the Amphicar from 1962 asked, “Who needs bridges anymore?” Good point! With many bridges destroyed by historic flooding, thousands of Nebraskans would find an Amphicar extremely useful about now.
Sources:
“Amphicar Demonstrator Discovers People are Curious.” The Irving Daily News Texan, 7 October 1962, p. 9.
“Amphicar – Hans Trippel Knew How to Make Hope Float.” Fort Myers News-Press, 6 October 2004.
“Chemist Goes by Water in His car.” The Sidney Herald Morning Sun, 25 April 1965, p. 17.
Hill, Michael. “What Has Four Wheels and Floats?” Chicago Tribune, 8 January 1995, p. 6.
“Hope Wasn’t Enough to Make This Idea Float.” Chicago Tribune, 24 October 2007, p. 2.
Ianfield, Peggy. “Amphicars Startle Cape Coral Area.” Fort Myers News-Press, 29 July 1962, p. 5-C.
McGuire, Michael. “Cars Ahoy, Hail Drivers During Plunge in Lake.” Chicago Tribune, 1 August 1965, p. 1.
“Sports Car – Boat Too.” The Nashville Tennessean, 7 October 1962, p. 6-C.
This story appeared in the May 24, 1936, edition of the Los Angeles Times. The speed being made in L.A. was the mighty Offenhauser, the engine that revolutionized racing, and it was named for this man:
And yes, I know there are others that share the credit for the Offenhauser (or “Offy”), men like Miller and Goossen, Meyer and Drake. The definitive story about the men who built the Offenhauser has already been written by Gordon Eliot White (Offenhauser: The Legendary Racing Engine and the Men Who Built It), and if you haven’t read it, you should. I’m partial to Fred Offenhauser himself, however. Quiet, steady, practical and competent, he isn’t the type of flamboyant showman who usually gets the glory in automobile industry history.
Fred Offenhauser was the son of German immigrants and he was drawn to machinery at an early age. Employed as a machinist from the age of 14, he worked his way up to plant superintendent for racecar designer and builder Harry Miller. So, for instance, when famed racer Frank Lockhart asked for an engine to use in challenging a world record in 1928, Offenhauser and crew made up a powerful 8-cylinder by hooking two 91-inch 4-cylinder motors together. With skills like this, Miller’s staff created engines that were dominating the race tracks by the end of the 1920s. When Miller went bankrupt during the Depression in 1933, Offenhauser bought Miller’s equipment and set up shop. He made changes to the Miller, redesigning connecting rods and blocks, improving the crankshaft and crankcase and giving other new twists to the motors to enable them to withstand faster speeds and new fuel restrictions. Offenhauser had never driven a race car himself, famously saying that he rode in one once as a mechanic and that once was enough. His engines did revolutionize racing, however.
On the midget track, outboard motors, motorcycle engines and even washing machine parts were used before the Offy, often with disappointing results. According to a 1937 newspaper story, once Fred Offenhauser turned his attention to the problem, “midgets began going places”. The sport mushroomed and crowds were sometimes so large that spectators had to be turned away.
By 1936, Offenhauser had been building engines for Indy for a score of years, but he didn’t witness his first Indy race until 1936 when ten of his engines were competing. The previous year, his engines had finished first and second. By 1937, he was ten for ten. An Offenhauser won in 1941, the last race before interruption by WW2, and in 1946, when Indy started up again, 16 of 53 cars were powered by Offys. Offenhauser sold his business to Miller and Drake in 1946, and they continued to dominate the world of racing. One 1948 story about Indy put it this way: “As usual, it will be Miller, Offenhauser, Meyer and Drake against the world – with the world a minority.”
So what made the Offenhauser so special? It was a high-horsepower, reliable, 4-cylinder twin-cam engine. The cylinder head and cylinder block were all one piece, making gaskets unnecessary. One 1936 story described the original engine as weighing 345 pounds and having a displacement of 225 cubic inches (4 ¼ bore and 4 ½ stroke). It was capable of producing 5200 rpms. The crankcase was made of an aluminum alloy and the crankshaft was cut from a solid piece of steel and hollowed out for lightness. The types of materials used were so important that Offenhauser was quoted as saying “I could give another machinist a complete set of our plans and he could not turn out the kind of motor that we do.” The engine was also heat-treated three times to remove stresses within the metal, to keep it from literally flying to pieces.
In the 1950s, the 251.89 Offy could produce 420hp. After some alterations by race teams, the engines could produce up to three horsepower per cubic inch in an age when muscle cars were aiming for one. The Offy’s domination of racing made it a target of jealous rivals, and so the engine was the victim of rule changes throughout its existence. You’ve heard the saying, “If you can’t beat them, join them”? With the Offenhauser it was more like, “If you can’t beat them, change the rules”. As a result, the Offenhauser today can mainly be seen in museums and vintage groups. They are still a draw, however, and people frequently refer to the sound, that distinctive growl. It must sound like the song of the siren to some, and that brings me to the story of this vintage 220 Offenhauser sprint car:
The most recent chapter in this car’s story begins with my friend Steve Lowe, who, like Fred Offenhauser, is a pragmatic and responsible type. So pragmatic, in fact, that it is somewhat surprising he was inspired to rescue this Offy. The car was located in Sooke, British Columbia, and he discovered it one night while surfing the net. Sooke isn’t exactly down the street from Kearney, Nebraska, so he approached his friend Bill, thinking Bill would talk him out of it. Instead, Bill assured him that it was a completely awesome idea (everyone should have a friend like Bill), and they were off on a 3400-mile round-trip road trip to pick up this vintage Offy. Which, by the way, was in pieces. Literally. The rear end gears were in an old milk crate, and another milk crate held motor mounts and a shifter. Still other parts were packed into plastic tubs, but at least it was a beginning.
Lowe contacted Bill Akin in Tennessee, whose name he had seen in Hot Rod magazine, and told him he needed someone to put the pieces together. Akin told him “I’m not that guy,” and put him in touch with Steve Truchan of Gary Bridge & Iron in Gary, Indiana. Truchan assembled the engine, and work on the chassis was performed by Jim Mann.
Consider, though, for a moment, the amount of racing tradition associated with this one sprint car. First, it is powered by an Offenhauser, likely the greatest racing engine of all time. Steve Truchan has worked on many Offenhausers and, in fact, had worked on this one before (a former owner apparently took it apart just to see how it worked, and then couldn’t put Humpty together again). Truchan himself grew up around the racetrack because his dad, also named Steve Truchan, was a racecar builder and driver. The elder Truchan was the real deal, and his name was all over the racing pages of newspapers throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Reporters described him as a “tall, sturdily built speedster,” an “ace of the flat track” and, in 1939, as the “sensational youngster who defeated a fast field at Hammond raceway yesterday”. The cars he raced were powered by Offenhausers, Millers or a “Truchan special” that he built himself. As if all that weren’t enough, Lowe has done his own research and has concluded that this car was actually one of the “McNamara Specials” owned by Lee Elkins and driven by racing legends like Mike Nazaruk. Talk about being steeped in history.
This finished product is nothing short of a work of art. And no, Lowe doesn’t want to race around a track any more than Fred Offenhauser did. He simply enjoys the beauty and craftsmanship of this growling, gleaming piece of racecar history that he now owns, and that makes perfect sense to me.
Sources:
Burgess, Dale. “Facts on Speedway Set Out For Junior.” The Arizona Republic [Phoenix], 30 May 1948, p. 2.
“Elkins Sends City’s Third Auto to Memorial Day Race.” The South Bend Tribune, 6 May 1951, p. 3.
“Familiar Race Faces Appear at Speedway.” The Dayton Herald, 6 May 1941, p. 17.
“Fred Offenhauser Builds Ten Racers.” The Indianapolis Star, 30 May 1936.
Hamilton, Andy. “Speed – Made in Los Angeles.” Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, 24 May 1936, p. 3.
“It’s Offenhauser Motors Against World Again in Indianapolis Race.” The San Bernardino County Sun, 13 May 1946, p. 8.
Kimbrough, Bobby. “Offenhauser. The Greatest Racing Engine Ever Built?” Enginelabs, 24 December 2012, https://www.enginelabs.com/features/offenhauser-the-greatest-racing-engine-ever-built. Accessed March 1, 2019.
“Mighty Midget Builder Mad.” The Los Angeles Times, 7 November 1934, p. 21.
Moore, Charles. “Offenhauser V-8 Prepared for Shipment to Indianapolis.” .” The San Bernardino County Sun, 22 April 1941.
“Ready for Next Races.” The Terra Haute Tribune, 5 October 1952, p. 49.
“Star Drivers Will Appear at Playland.” The South Bend Tribune, 3 July 1939, p. 6.
Swanson, Bob. “Cracker Box to Mighty Midget.” Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, 22 December 1935, p. 8.
“Truchan First Entry on Race Card Tuesday.” The South Bend Tribune, 28 June 1939, p. 1.
White, Gordon Eliot. Offenhauser: The Legendary Racing Engine and the Men Who Build It. Brattleboro, Vermont, Echo Point Books & Media, 1996.
Packard’s production numbers soared in 1937, and with a grille like this, it’s easy to see why. The Packard was offered in four models in ’37, the Twelve, the Super Eight, the 120 and the new Packard Six.
The Twelve was powered by a 473.3 cubic inch V-block engine. Both the Super Eight and the 120 had straight-eights, with 320 and 282 cubic inches, respectively, and the new Six featured a 237 cubic inch inline-six.
The Six was the bargain of the bunch with prices starting at just $795. Prices started at $945 for the 120 and $2,335 for the Super Eight. The Twelve was the luxury model with prices beginning at $3,420 (that’s around $60,000 in today’s dollars)!
Sources:
Kimes, Beverly Rae and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, 1985.
“Packard Announces Four Complete Lines of Cars for 1937.” The Detroit Free Press, 6 September 1936, p. 8.
Packard. Advertisement. Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph, 18 September 1936, p. 33.
Packard. Advertisement. The Enquirer [Cincinnati], 15 November 1936, p. 12.
Driver Sam Hanks in 1943, looking handsome in uniform:
Prior to the war, Hanks had primarily been a midget racer although he had appeared in a couple of Indy races. He had also worked as a “technical representative” for Fred Offenhauser. Once the war started, Hanks joined the ranks of automobile mechanics, designers, builders and racers who used their skills to help America win the war. The author of this particular story put it this way:
“The boys who used to used to roar around a dirt track in midget automobiles taking their lives in their hands everytime they sat behind a steering wheel of the bouncing bantams now are proving their worth to the war effort.”
When this story was written, Hanks had joined the army and was stationed at Wright Field where he was applying his technical knowledge of motors to aircraft engines. When asked about his post-war plans, Hanks replied that his racing equipment was in storage, and that he was heading back to the tracks once the war was over. He did just that and went on to win Indy in 1957. He retired after that win and was Director of Racing at Indy from 1958 to 1979.
Source: Howard, Bob. “Sam Hanks Stationed at Local Field.”Dayton Sunday Journal Herald, 20 June 1943, p. 2.
Spotted this car at a local museum, but what’s wrong with it?
The front end of thiis 1937 Model 812 Cord earned it the nickname “coffin-nosed” Cord. It was powered by a V8 engine and featured retractable headlamps that folded back into the fenders. And if you don’t love the look of this one, you better check your pulse!
Henry Ford took his experimental automobile for a spin through Detroit in June of 1896, but he wasn’t the first to do so. That honor belongs to Charles Brady King. King and Ford were friends and collaborators, and Ford followed on a bicycle as King drove the very first car ever seen on the streets of Motor City. On March 6, 1896, King left his machine shop at 112 St. Antoine and sputtered up the street in a wagon with a high seat, rudder-like steering lever and a long brake lever on the side. It was powered by a 4-cylinder gasoline engine, the first of the “block” type motors.
In a 1946 interview, King humorously recalled that the noise from his new vehicle didn’t cause his neighbors to even raise their eyebrows because they were used to the noise generated by one of his other inventions, the pneumatic hammer. King was a successful inventor and the owner of many patents for things like transmissions and steam shovels. Many of his patents were purchased and used by other automobile manufacturers. The neighbors may not have noticed, but the police did. He was once arrested on Belle Isle and warned to keep his “infernal contraption” away from there because it scared the horses.
King helped Henry Ford obtain the parts Ford needed for his first car before King left to serve in the Spanish-American war as chief machinist on the USS Yosemite. Ford assembled his creation in the coal shed in back of No. 58 Bagley Avenue. According to King, “It was like the fellow who built the ship in his basement! When he got it done, it was too big to take out the door.” In order to get it out, Ford and friends had to tear out, and then later repair, part of the shed.
King and a partner founded the Northern Manufacturing Co. in 1902 and began building cars including the “Silent Northern”.
While at Northern, King designed the first automobile to have three-point motor suspension and the first with one universal joint between transmission and rear axle. In 1908, Northern merged with another company which was then taken over by E.M.F., but King had already left with the goal of building cars that carried his own name. With that objective in mind, he spent two years in Europe studying the best foreign cars.
King Motor Company was incorporated in 1911. Marketing at the time claimed the automobile was unique because it only had about 450 parts while the average automobile at the time had 1500-1600 parts.
It was initially powered by a long stroke 4-cylinder motor with a 3 13/16” bore and 5 1/8” stroke. The company had financial problems almost from the beginning, possibly due to expanding too quickly. One Indianapolis Star article from 1912 states that the company had already moved twice into larger quarters during its short existence. The company was purchased by a New York man, King stayed on as an engineer, and production continued. A King “8” was introduced, and its tagline was “The car of no regrets”.
The company was sold in 1923, but King had left in 1916 to serve with the US Army Signal Corps as an aeronautical engineer during World War I. During that time he designed the King-Bugatti 16-cylinder airplane engine that can be seen at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum website. King had served in two wars, and such service was a family tradition for King. His father, John Haskell King, was a general in the United States Army and served for the Union during the Civil war.
King died in 1957 at age 89. His obituary states that he was a painter and etcher with works exhibited in Washington’s National Gallery, a practicing architect, a yacht designer and an accomplished musician on the flute and a half dozen other instruments. He was also a pioneer of the American automobile industry, and for that he should be remembered.
Sources:
“Builder of Detroit’s First Auto Arrives in City for the Jubilee.” Detroit Free Press, 25 May 1946, p. 9.
“Builder of Detroit’s First Auto Arrives in City for the Jubilee.” Detroit Free Press, 25 May 1946, p. 9.
“Charles Brady King Dies, Designer of Early Auto.” St. Louis Post Dispatch, 24 June 1957, p.21.
“Charles Brady King Drove First Car on Detroit Streets.” The Port Huron Times Herald, 15 November 1939, p. 16.
“Detroit Will Have New Auto Factory.” Hartford Courant, 20 May 1911, p. 19.
Kimes, Beverly Rae and Henry Austin Clark, Jr. Standard Catalog of American Cars 1805-1942. Krause Publications, 1985.
“King Motor Car Company Goes Into Receivership.” The Indianapolis Star, 4 Sept. 1912, p. 7.
“King Motor Car Company Invades Auto Field.” Buffalo Courier, 7 March 1911, p. 21.
“Offer Made in King Motor Case.” Detroit Free Press, 18 Sept. 1912, p. 10.
Stark, George. “Detroit Saw First Auto Just 50 Years Ago.” Muncie Evening Press,4 June 1946, p. 8.