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Willys Aero

When most people hear “Willys,”  they understandably think of jeeps, but Willys first manufactured passenger cars.  In fact, during the early 1900s, Willys was second only to Ford in production of automobiles.  In the midst of the roaring twenties, Willys produced over 200,000 units in 1925 alone.   Willys encountered financial problems during the depression but was saved by World War II’s demand for jeeps.  After the war, the company, led by Ward Canaday, again wanted to try its hand at passenger cars and finally achieved this goal with the Aero in 1952.

The Willys Aero is a great-looking car with small fins and elements of airplane design like a cockpit-style dash and split windshield, aerodynamic lines and this airplane hood ornament:

Below the hood ornament there is a large “W” embedded in the grille:

The car featured a uni-body construction with a low center of gravity and a 108” wheel base.  Considered a light car at 2562 pounds, it weighed hundreds of pounds less than a Ford or Chevy.  It would also run 500 miles on one 18-gallon tank of gas!  The car didn’t sacrifice power, however, with a 90 hp Hurricane 6 F-head engine under the hood.  In January, 1952, Popular Science Monthly featured “The Story of the New Aero Willys,” and asserted that “Its six-cylinder engine develops more horsepower per cubic inch of piston displacement than that of any other U.S. car, regardless of price.”  The magazine further extolled the virtues of the Aero by saying that it cruised beautifully at 75 mph and that both the engine and transmission demonstrated “excellent smoothness.”

In 1952, the Willys was available in the Aero-Lark, the Aero-Wing and the Aero-Ace.  In 1953, the Aero-Wing was replaced by the Aero-Falcon and a hardtop coupe, the Aero-Eagle, was added to the line-up.  When asked about the choice of the name “Aero,” Canaday replied that “it’s the nearest thing to flying you’ll find on the highway.”

The Aero was only manufactured for four years.  Willys was purchased by Kaiser in 1953, and Henry Kaiser made the decision to focus on jeeps a couple of years later.  It was another example of a car ahead of its time, and one more that’s being added to the list of cars I’d like to own!

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Nebraska Junk Jaunt 2018

If you are able to schedule a “junk vacation” (junk-ation?) this month, head to Nebraska for the 15th annual Junk Jaunt.  The Junk Jaunt is 500 miles of garage sales and purveyors of all kinds of antiques and junk, over 700 vendors in all.

There are several must-shop hot-spots along the way, and one of the best is the village of Cairo, which is pronounced KAIR-oh, like the syrup.     Most of Cairo is covered with vendors, including main street, the ball field, the Community Center and a large field next to the Lutheran Church.  To find all things gas, oil and automotive, just look for this DT Vintage sign in the “Big Ass” Shed north of the ball field.

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1958 Chevrolet Impala

Everyone loves a ’57 Chevy, but I always preferred the lower and meaner ’58.  The 1958s represented a complete design change featuring dual headlamps, triple tail lamps, flared rear fenders and a wraparound windshield.  The sales brochure called it “Sculpturamic” which must be the Latin term for smoking hot.  These Chevy’s were bigger and lower than the 1957s and sported an X-type frame for support.  The Level Air Suspension System was an option and, best of all, so was the new 348 Turbo-Thrust V8.  Offered in 3 series, the Bel Air, the Biscayne and the Delray, the ’58 Chevy Impalas really were “all-new” for 1958, and they were also first class:

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Packard Hood Ornaments

These Packard hood ornaments are among the most beautiful ever produced, but don’t call them “swans,” at least not around any Packard aficionados.  This Packard mascot was originally called a pelican and was based on the Packard family crest.  There seems to be considerable disagreement on the specifics, but somewhere along the line Packard began referring to the design as a “cormorant.”  No matter what you call it, there is no denying that it is one gorgeous bird.

Other Packard-related posts:

Packard Hood Ornaments by Year – 1940s

Packard Hood Ornaments by Year – 1950s

1934 Packard

1937 Packard

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American Ingenuity

I have been reading a book about Henry Ford called I Invented the Modern Age by Richard Snow.  In it, Snow makes the point that, at the same time that Ford was building his first automobile, there were many men in many garages around the country attempting the same feat and, incredibly, each of those men was operating in a vacuum.  Snow quotes Ford as saying, “I had to work from the ground up – that is, although I knew a number of people were working on horseless carriages, I could not know what they were doing.”

It is a testament to American ingenuity that so many were successful in creating a working automobile, and I recently discovered there was one such man right in my home town.  His name was T. H. Bolte, and he was a machinist and bicycle builder in Kearney, Nebraska.  He completed his automobile in the summer of 1900 after working on it for approximately a year and a half.  With the exception of the engine, he had to create everything, down to the last gear, by hand.  When he started building the automobile, he had never seen one in person.

Bolte’s machine weighed about 650 pounds and used a double gearing, one on each side.  It initially had a 2 hp gasoline engine that could only go 10 mph.  Happily, the local paper published this photo so we know what it looked like:

 

Bolte continued to sell bicycles and began selling automobiles as well.  This is one of his ads:

He later went into the cement business and improved, patented and sold cement mixers.  Bolte was also serving on the city council in 1904 when they passed an ordinance making it illegal to drive any vehicle other than a bicycle or tricycle within the city at a greater rate of speed than 12 mph.  The punishment for violating this ordinance was arrest and fine of not more than $100 or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days!  Every councilman voted in favor of the ordinance except for Bolte who said it “would make lawbreakers of the people.”

Bolte was absolutely correct in voting against it, but another little blurb that was published in 1901 further explains his stance.  His 2 hp engine had given out and he had replaced it with a 4 hp engine capable of making a speed of 15 mph.  Bolte was definitely my kind of guy.

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With a V8 Here and a V8 There . . . . A Guide to Early Ford Hub Caps

Identifying early Ford hubcaps can be difficult due to the many “V8” variants.  This is a little guide I put together for myself that covers Ford cars 1932-48.  Please note that I have not included the locking spare tire hub caps or the spiders (because, sadly, I don’t possess any.)    Hope it helps!

 

1932

1932, 1933 4-cylinder

1933

1934

1935

1936 (V8 is recessed)

1937 (V8 is raised)

1938 Standard

1938 Deluxe

1939 Standard

1939 Deluxe

1940 Standard

1940 Deluxe

1941

1942

 

1946

1947-1948

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The Least Expensive Date You Ever Had

A few years ago my husband brought home a box of hood ornaments for my anniversary present (he knows me so well)!   Among them was this streamlined beauty:

This gorgeous gal originally flew on the hood of a Nash, and she is autographed by George Petty, the artist that designed her:

George Petty was the original American pin-up girl artist.  Petty’s career shifted into high gear after he went to work for a brand-new magazine called Esquire in 1933.  The Petty Girl became the standard in advertising and was also overwhelmingly popular with American servicemen during WWII.   Hundreds of American bombers featured a Petty Girl on the fuselage including the renowned Memphis Belle, the first bomber to return to the United States after completing 25 missions over Europe.   Ernie Pyle, famed war correspondent, wrote from Tunisia in 1943 that “Petty’s drawing of his famous girl stretched out on her stomach musing about something is tacked up in hundreds of soldier billets in North Africa.”

My hood ornament was designed for the 1950 Airflyte according to this piece from the Late Fall 1949 issue of Nash Airflyte Magazine:

It reads:  “This new Nash Flying Lady was created especially for the 1950 Airflyte (both Ambassador and Statesman models) by the famous George Petty of Petty Girl renown.  Her wide wings and soft contours, finished in heavy chrome, will add a distinctive note to your car.  You can get this stunning ornament (for any Nash Airflyte model) from your Nash dealer – she’ll be the least expensive date you ever had!”

This hood ornament was used again in 1951.  This excerpt appeared in the 1951 Nash Accessories brochure:

Petty went on to design another hood ornament for Nash, and his designs stand out even among the other beautiful and aerodynamic hood ornaments of the 1950s.   What a glorious time period it was in American automobile history, one filled with style, class and individuality.

 

1950 Nash

1951 Nash

 

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So Many Choices

What a wild and combative time it was in the early days of the automotive industry in America.  Studebaker and EMF were duking it out in court.  George Selden was filing patent infringement suits against anyone who wouldn’t pay his licensing fees, and Henry Ford was fighting him tooth and nail.  The Dodge Brothers worked for Ford and then sued to force Ford to continue paying dividends on their Ford stock after they left to start their own company.  Ford was biding his time to get revenge on Henry Leland, the man who founded BOTH Cadillac and Lincoln, and Leland’s son even crashed Ford’s New Year’s Eve party to serve a subpoena.  There were so many competitors, and most of them were playing hardball.

It is difficult to grasp just how many choices consumers had when they went to buy an automobile, but I recently discovered an old article in the archives of our local paper that illustrates the options available at one point in time, the year 1917.  While writing the article, dated March 30th of that year, the reporter spoke to a local repair man who stated that there were 134 U.S. automobile manufacturers.  The reporter then reviewed tax sheets from the County Assessor’s office and discovered that 90 of the 134 makes were owned by the residents of just our one county (which would have had a population of around 23,000 at the time).  A few of the names on the list are illegible, a few are misspelled, and a couple seem like they might refer to motorcycles, but here is the list of legible names.  I have never heard of many of them, and who knew that Maytag made an automobile?   How many do you recognize?

Ford
Saxon
Buick
Oakland
I. H. Co.
Excelsior
Dayton
Brush
Carter-Car
Winton
Chevrolet
Pullman
Rambler
Chalmers
Apperson
Mitchell
Studebaker
Overland
Maxwell
Racicle (Racycle)
National
Thomas-Flyer
Cadillac
White-Steamer
Oakland
Marion
Hupmobile
Paige
Hudson
Reo
Wagner
Stanley
International
Pope
Auburn
Locomobile
Yale
Sears-Roebuck
Firestone
Regal
Maytag
Merz
Hollier
R.C.H.
Premer (Premier)
Fall (F.A.L.)
Velie
Enger
Henderson
Kelley (Kelly)
Kissell (Kissel)
Columbia
Detroiter
Rider-Lewis
Briscoe
Orient
Abbott
Marquette
Franklin
Cutting
Hallier (Hollier)
Sayers-Scoville
Krit
Monitor
Everett
Avery
Flanders
Jeffrey
E.M.F.
Stoddard
Grant
Willeys-Knight
Reading-Standard
Case
Dort
Abbott-Detroit
Stephens-Six
Crow-Elkhart
Chandler

 

 

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Scenes from Cruise Nite

There were some really special cars and trucks in Kearney for Cruise Nite this year.  If you weren’t there, here is a sample of what you missed:

Cool coupes

1950 Studebaker Starlight Coupe with a 350 Chevy engine

1961 Jeep Super Hurricane

1958 Chevy

1949 Ford truck

1936 Buick

1956 Chevy

Boss 429 Mustang

Boss 429

1938 Chevy

Edsel “horse collar” grille

1962 Olds Starfire

V16 Caddy

1965 Chevy