The state of the art has progressed a bit in the last 30 years or so.

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Car Computers – new electronic know-it-alls

Get instant mpg, time of arrival, miles to go, and more—at the push of a button
By BILL HAWKINS

You’ve been on the road for hours. The clock says you’re running late, the gas gauge says you’re running low. And there’s a desolate stretch of highway ahead between you and your destination. Should you take the extra time to look for a gas station or do you continue, hoping the lonely roadway is shorter than your fuel supply?
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Advertising ODDITIES Attract Attention

THE milk delivery truck illustrated at the right, in addition to attracting attention through its unusual bus-like design, incorporates several distinctive features which make it especially suitable for this type of work.

The floor of the truck is built low and the doors are wide to make frequent entrance and exit easy. The car is driven from a standing position and is designed for frequent starting and stopping. The roomy body is fitted with racks to hold the various sizes of milk bottles.
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Amphibian? Dirigible? No, Just a Common Automobile

THIS strange looking craft shown above is not meant for service in the air. It is used merely to attract attention—and it does just that. Touring the principal airports of America, this mystery ship, the “mono-dirigible,” was built for Frank Bolger, president of the Associated Aviation Clubs, Inc.
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IF YOU CAN’T PARK IT CARRY IT!

THIS very small car may qualify better, to some minds, as a scooter with a body, or perhaps as a deficient power mower. You steer it with a handlebar and you start it by pulling a cord. “It roars into life with a pull of a cord,” is the way our London informant puts it—and from now on we greet anything he tells us with hurt distrust. It’s called the Brutsch Mopetta, it has three wheels, costs $560 and has a top speed of 21 mph. Its obvious role is in home-to-station and city driving.

That family sure is white! Also, I don’t care how many “convenient steps” are on the tail-gate, I still can’t seem grandma climbing into the back seat.

Room for the whole darn tribe!

There’s heap plenty room in a new De Soto wagon—room for a tribe or a tepee! And look how much more De Soto gives you for your wampum!

NEW LOOK! De Soto wagons are styled sleek and low for the country club . . . they’re built rugged for the ranch!

NEW ENGINE! De Soto’s new Turboflash V-8 engine is the first in a new breed of power plants! This giant is powerful, quiet and thrifty, even on short trips around town. Read the rest of this entry »

This Amphibian Row-Mobile Travels Equally Well on Land or Water

Land or water—it makes no difference to the passengers of this combination boat and automobile. The “amphibile” is propelled by the rowing motion of the occupants. The front wheels are used to steer both on land and in water.

This would be great. I live in Portland, Oregon, a city in the grip of food cart mania and home to Powell’s City of Books. It seems like someone here would’ve tried this.

“Vagabond” Shop Supplies Isolated Summer Resorts With New Books

LITERARY needs in fashionable but far distant resorts are provided for by this traveling book shop, shown in the photo below. This movable shop parks in some shady corner of a summer resort where books usually consist of the Bible and a school history of the United States. Its stock comprises popular fiction, classics and rare volumes of all natures. Read the rest of this entry »

SHARP IDEA FROM SWEDEN
JOYRIDING is the latest teenage craze in Sweden, and a large number of midnight cops-and-kids chases at Daytona speeds have ended in bad injuries and demolished cars. To discourage these shenanigans Swedish cops now use a strip of nails that can be laid across a road on which joyriders are careering. The hollow nails, if picked up, let air escape slowly, deflate tire within 200 yards.

Thrills of Driving Own Car on Auto Roller Coaster

THE surface of this elevated roadway shown above is perfectly smooth—-smooth, but not level. A succession of dips and rises that range in depth from five to ten feet afford motorists, running their cars over the course, all the thrills and pleasures of a roller coaster. Read the rest of this entry »

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Russian Iron

THERE’S a Moskvich in your future!

The Moskvich (shown in the above photo) is a small Russian auto which will be brought to the United States sometime this fall. The importer is Robert Castle, a Syracuse, N. Y. auto dealer who signed an agreement to import 10,000 Moskviches.

The little Moskvich retails in Moscow for 2,500 rubles. In the U. S., the price will be approximately $1,400. The Red cars will also come off the boat with a supply of spare parts.

The Russian rig is the first one to reach these shores. No American-made cars are sold in Russia at present. Pictured on these pages are some other Soviet and East European buggies which might also be imported—if the Moskvich earns enough rubles from the American auto-buying public. •

English Driver Invents This Novel Three – Wheeled Pleasure Car

Constructed on the principle of a motorcycle, this three-wheeled automobile shown below attains a speed of 70 m.p.h. It was built in Kingston, England, by A. Graham, famous race driver. The circular doors are detachable for use during warm weather. Plenty of room is afforded in the driver’s compartment. The windshield is built in the body of the car. Driven from the lone rear wheel by a motorcycle engine, the car is steered from the front. A similar racing car is being planned.

Old Auto Parts Prize Contest

ON this page are shown a number of suggestions of what can be done with various old auto parts. “We will, until further notice, pay for ideas submitted to this page under the following plan: $3.00 FOR EACH PHOTOGRAPH SUBMITTED TO THIS DEPARTMENT AND PUBLISHED BY US. Photographs must be BONA FIDE, and show the article after it has been converted and is ready for use. Photographs must be large and clear. A short article describing tile nature of the construction and its uses should accompany the photograph. Read the rest of this entry »