A fire truck is a fire truck, right? Except when it’s a triple, or a quad, or in active versus reserve duty. Dig below the surface of red paint and wailing sirens, as Donald Wood did for his article on fire engines in SIA #62, April 1981, and you’ll find there’s almost as many different configurations of fire engine as there are different chassis that supported fire equipment.
Source: Daniel Strohl
* Okay, so I got a little stupid for six-wheelers this past week. Believe me, I could have dug much deeper into the topic, as the folks behind oto6.fr have done. Their only objective: To collect as many photos and as much information possible on six-wheeled cars and trucks. To them, we say, good luck.
* We’ve highlighted before the results of Modern Mechanics’ contest for finding new uses for old Fords, now, thanks to Modern Mechanix, the blog, we see the article that made that request, from the January 1929 issue of Modern Mechanics. Just try to guess what that contraption above was used for without clicking through to the story.
* Having trouble telling apart all the different types of magnesium wheels that Halibrand built for Indy roadsters throughout the years? Indy Roadster Builders’ guide on Halibrands should have you covered.
* While researching European cars during World War II, you’re bound to come across pictures of cars converted to wood-gasifier use. Low-Tech Magazine has a fairly comprehensive rundown on not only why the cars were converted, but also on how gasification works. (Thanks for the tip, J!)
* Finally, you Studebaker fans may recognize the Curtiss name and think only aviation when you hear it (unless, of course, you saw our Curtiss Aerocar HFOD), but Glenn Curtiss actually got his start by building motorcycles and had one fitted with a V-8 as early as 1906.
Source: Daniel Strohl
We’re assuming the “H.Duval, 93 Rue Thiers, Boulogne/Siene” on the coachbuilder’s plate attached to this 1924 Amilcar C4 currently for sale on Hemmings.com is the same Carrosserie Charles Duval in Boulogne-sur-Seine that made a name for itself building roadster bodies for Amilcars (as well as Derbies, Tractas, Bugattis, and Chenard-Walckers) from 1929 to 1936. That’s the only reference we’ve found to Duval so far. The other plate attached to the Amilcar, which reads “Carrozzeria Belloli Stoppa Ascona,” probably only points to a garage in Ascona, Switzerland, that did some work on the Amilcar at some point in its existence.
One interesting little factoid arises from that plate, however: Ascona lies on the shores of Lake Maggiore, from which that 1925 Bugatti Type 22 was recently pulled and sent to auction. But while the Bugatti sold for 260,500 Euros (about $366,000), the Amilcar is being offered out of Macedon, New York, for just $39,000.
As for 93 Rue Thiers, assuming I have that address right, certainly no coachbuilder operates out of that address anymore.
Source: Daniel Strohl
Just as we here at Hemmings take pride in the Hemmings Nation of readers, commenters and contributors, our friends across the pond over at BigLorryBlog take equal pride in their Anorak Army of readers and contributors, many of whom actually had seat time in the trucks, lorries, utes, semis and buses that the blog covers.
And many of them have contributed some of the most interesting vintage material at the blog in recent weeks, from the pics that Gary Richards sent in of the Australian White coach-buses (including the above photo) to the follow-up photos sent in by Martin Phippard of a similar Marmon coach-bus used for an overland Damascus-to-Baghdad route in the 1930s. Jerry Burley and Mack Mackay sent in some photos of some unusual snow-blowers and the rigs that pushed them, while Graham Kircher sent in a photo of what they believe to be the world’s smallest fire engine.
While most of their readers are, obviously, British and concerned with British trucking (such as Les Freathy and his Scammell), they do on occasion cover American trucks – or, in the parlance, “Yankee Clippers” (such as Jimmie and his GMC crackerbox) – and Australian trucks (such as Cam and his photos from the Allora Truck and Tractor Show).
Even better, the readership sheds plenty of light on pretty much any mystery truck Brian posts to the blog. In fact, I’ve yet to see them totally stumped. Perhaps we should set up a mystery vehicle competition between Hemmings Nation and the Anorak Army sometime?
Source: Daniel Strohl
Let’s try something different this week. Throughout the Hemmings Six Degrees of Automotive Separation Challenge, we’ve always focused on how the cars and the companies that built them can be connected. But we’ve yet to examine how the people who worked for those companies can be connected. Focusing on the people would actually hew closer to the spirit of the Six Degrees From Kevin Bacon college pasttime, so let’s give it a try.
You all should be pretty familiar with both of the men we’ve chosen for this week’s challenge. Carroll Shelby, famed racer and originator of the Shelby Cobra, and Dick Teague, longtime AMC vice-president of design. To the best of my knowledge, they never directly crossed paths, but indirectly they can be linked.
Now, to link the two, you have to find people they directly worked with at various automotive companies. It’s not enough just to say that Guy X worked at Company Y, which Guy Z worked for 20 years later. You should need no more than six degrees of separation between the two, and the path that I found involves just five degrees.
Source: Daniel Strohl
What would you pay for a Tatra? We ask simply because the Chicago-based seller of this 1940 Tatra T87 has listed his example on Hemmings.com sans price, and quite frankly, when was the last time you saw one of these sell at auction? From the seller’s description:
four door Sedan,3 liter ,V- 8 rear aluminum alloy 75 HP-OHC engine,four speed manual transmission with 2 synchronized gears,sunroof,stunning example of a streamline design,silver metalic,red leather interior,1200 km after complete restoration,mint condition,very rare.
Source: Daniel Strohl
One of the hottest cars to grace the cover of Hemmings Muscle Machines in recent months (and I say that not just because I took the photos) was Mike Musto’s and Todd Ford’s 1969 Daytona clone, which Mike made absolutely intimidating with one-off wheels, a beefed drivetrain, a tuned suspension and sinister flat-black paint. Like many such projects, Mike’s never really finished with his car, so he took it in the garage this winter and added a few more modifications, including the subtle chin spoiler seen in the photo above, windshield tabs and rear window straps.
As he stated in the article, Mike and Todd fully intend to take the Daytona to Germany for some high-speed runs on the Autobahn, and when he does, we’ll be sure to tell you all about it.
Source: Daniel Strohl
While researching our recent post on six-wheeled automobiles, LaChance recalled another such automobile – actually, three of them – that would be worth investigating. These, however, differ from the Pullman, the Pratt and the Reeves substantially; where the latter three were conceived to tame the horrible roads of the early Twentieth Century, these three were built to cross a landscape utterly devoid of roads.
In the early to mid-1920s, both Citroën and Renault competed in various crossings of the Sahara desert and Africa, each with different methods. Citroën figured tracked vehicles – actually, half-tracks – would work better, while Renault placed his bet on cars outfitted with 12 low-pressure tires on three axles.
Yves Richard, in his book on Renault, wrote that the six-wheelers were based on the 13.9hp models that Renault had at the time, but other sources, such as oto6.fr (which collected plenty more photos of the cars), write that they were based on the 10CV. Either way, the first three, called the “Routiers du desert,” went to the Gradis-Estienne expedition, which in January 1924 left Colomb-Bechar, at the end of the Algerian railway, for Bourema, at the end of the Niger railway, and made the 1,500-mile crossing in seven days, then turned around and headed back for Algiers.
Richard suggests that this was the first successful crossing of the Sahara by automobile, but it was actually Georges Marie Haardt and Louis Audouin-Dubreuil who accomplished that feat in December 1922-January 1923 in their tracked Citroëns.
More expeditions in Renault six-wheelers followed. Commandant Delingette and his wife made the first end-to-end crossing of Africa – between Colomb-Bechar and Capetown, between November 1925 and July 1926, in one of the Routiers. Richard wrote:
They became bogged down a hundred times over and on innumerable occasions had to dry out their magneto over a camp fire. The light bridges made from straw and clay gave way under the weight of their vehicle… The car had climbed mountains up mule tracks which crumbled away under the wheels and they thought that they would never reach the end of miles of overpowering jungle where enormous trees formed a maze of columns and created an eternal twilight at their feet.
Louis Renault established the Compagnie Generale Transsaharienne shortly after to establish regular service – via six-wheeled 20hp buses – between North Africa and Niger, and the 1927 LeBlanc expedition between Cairo and Addis-Ababa seemed to use the Routiers du desert Renaults. In fact, Richard notes the use of the six-wheelers in Africa as late as 1932.
Source: Daniel Strohl
For a car that wasn’t around all that long, La Salle had a strong, impressive history at the Indianapolis 500, serving as pace car three different times – its first year, 1927; in 1934 and here, for the silver anniversary race in 1937. A couple of images from the vast Indianapolis Motor Speedway archives help to tell the story. As the field is gridded on race morning, the great Ralph DePalma, winner of the 1915 race, poses in the La Salle 37-50 roadster. To the rear of him, in order of the starting position from right, is the front row of Wild Bill Cummings, Wilbur Shaw and Herb Ardinger.
DePalma leads the field toward the green on the 1937 pace lap. The stock-based formula, which mandated a driver and riding mechanic, was still in force at Indy. When the race was over, Shaw had captured the first of his three 500 wins, over Ralph Hepburn and Ted Horn, the latter being one of the best drivers who never won Indianapolis. Shaw, who was president of the speedway after World War II until his death in a 1954 plane crash, could conceivably have accomplished an unassailable six wins in the 500. He finished second in both 1933 and 1935, and was leading in 1941 when he crashed. Had he won, it would have given Shaw three straight wins, something that nobody’s ever done in the Hoosier classic.
Source: Jim Donnelly
While it’s no camper, like the two HFODs from earlier this week, one could certainly turn this 1961 Willys FC-170 currently for sale on Hemmings.com into a camper. Just slap a box over the bed, fill those gas cans and head out into the wilderness. From the seller’s description:
Desert truck. Never seen snow. This truck has a rebuilt engine (original) with about 100 miles on it. The only rot is in the roof gutters where I let it sit outside and collect leaves. Pin holes in the roof at the gutters. NO RUST WHATSOEVER IN THE NORMAL PLACES LIKE CAB CORNERS, UNDER THE BATTERY ETC. Runs, drives, stops great. All gears work. Interior all original and not bad except sagging headlner. This is an amazing, original ROT FREE truck that can be driven cross country tomorrow. I have owned for 20 years and bought it from the Calif desert. Stored inside last 10 years and driven rarely.
Source: Daniel Strohl