February 22, 2008

HEADLIGHT REPAIRMEN PATROL CITY STREETS (Oct, 1931)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 2:05 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1931
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HEADLIGHT REPAIRMEN PATROL CITY STREETS

If a San Francisco motorist on the road at night sees a white-clad motorcyclist draw alongside and hold up his hand, it does not mean that he is to be handed a summons. The motorcyclist is a headlight repair man. Four of them, distinguished from policemen by their unusual costumes, are now patrolling the city’s streets looking for cars with one or more lights out. When one of these riders spies a prospective customer, he stops him and offers to replace the defective headlight at a nominal fee. Usually the driver accepts as this is cheaper than continuing and getting a summons.

Build a Comedy Ford (Feb, 1933)

Filed under: Automotive, DIY — @ 2:00 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1933
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Build a Comedy Ford

Good money can be made at carnivals and in advertising stunts for local merchants with a sawed off bug made from Model T Ford parts. This article describes the changes that are necessary for making the entire conversion, ready for use.

AN ATTRACTION that is sure fire always makes a good advertising medium. This converted Model T Ford, or Comedy Ford, can be very easily built, and is a profit maker for any man who has a little ingenuity in selling its uses.

It can be used to carry labels, or to give thrilling joy rides about town, or to provide a freak set of thrills on any country fair race track.

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February 20, 2008

War Calls Out Muscles and Outdated Engines (Mar, 1941)

Filed under: Automotive, War — @ 2:01 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Mar, 1941
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War Calls Out Muscles and Outdated Engines

Both Germany and England are exerting themselves to conserve precious gasoline, and wherever human muscles can do a job they are doing it. Witness, above, the pleasure boat that made its debut recently at Berlin. It has a propeller with chain and sprocket drive calling on arm and leg power; not so romantic as paddling a canoe, but it gets places. At upper right a Londoner pedals to work in a “Velocar,” of French origin. In the two-seater model both driver and passenger provide the motive power of the toylike car

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February 15, 2008

LIQUID OXYGEN RUNS AMAZING AUTO (Aug, 1930)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 12:36 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1930
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LIQUID OXYGEN RUNS AMAZING AUTO

A daring attempt to drive an automobile with the terrific power of fuels like benzine burning in liquid oxygen succeeded at Berlin the other day. Shortly after, one of its two inventors was killed when he sought to repeat the feat.

Dr. Paul Heylandt, German liquid air expert, and Max Valier, builder of rocket cars, were in search of something more than merely a new kind of automobile. They were looking for a concentrated, lightweight fuel that might drive an airplane at tremendous heights across the Atlantic, or even send a projectile to the moon.

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CADILLAC (Oct, 1931)

Filed under: Advertisements, Automotive — @ 12:33 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1931
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Remember when Cadillac had style? Well, I don’t, but this sure is a nice ad.

CADILLAC

To sit at the wheel of the Cadillac V-16 is really an exceptional experience — for there is no precedent at all for what this car does, nor for the manner in which it does it. The V-16 was planned, of course, as an entirely new embodiment of motoring luxury; and not a single tradition or limitation was permitted to influence its design. As a result, it is a highly individualized creation—a car so irresistibly inviting in appearance, so superbly behaved in action that it must inevitably revolutionize your highest opinion of motoring. Lest we seem overly enthusiastic in the telling, may we suggest that your Cadillac-La Salle dealer will gladly arrange to demonstrate the truth of these statements?

February 12, 2008

2-Level Streets to SPEED TRAFFIC (Oct, 1931)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 12:21 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1931
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2-Level Streets to SPEED TRAFFIC

A DEFINITE step towards the relief of traffic congestion on much travelled city thoroughfares by the construction of streets under streets is soon to be taken by the city of New York. When this stupendous project has been brought to completion the metropolis will have an underground lane for fast through traffic, a tunnel for local and express trains, all built underneath the surface street, which will be left for local traffic.

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Prop-Driven Car Makes 85 M.P.H (Nov, 1934)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 12:19 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1934
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Prop-Driven Car Makes 85 M.P.H
BY MOUNTING a four-bladed airplane propeller on an auto chassis, a Georgia mechanic has evolved a combination vehicle which has attained speeds of 85 miles an hour. The wheels of the auto-plane are not connected with the engine. Motive power is furnished entirely by the pusher-type propeller.

February 11, 2008

EIGHT-WHEELED AUTO DEFIES SAND (May, 1936)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 2:06 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1936
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EIGHT-WHEELED AUTO DEFIES SAND
Mud and sand offer no obstacles to an eight-wheeled car exhibited by a German inventor, since its multiple tread surfaces assure ample support and traction. The wheels are grouped in two sets of four each at the front and rear of the machine—an arrangement imposing an unusual mechanical problem in the design of steering apparatus. The inventor has overcome this difficulty by adapting the two forward pairs of wheels so that they swing in unison for making turns.

“Pigeonhole” Parking Lot (Aug, 1951)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 2:03 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Aug, 1951
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I don’t suppose anyone from Spokane knows if this is still there?

“Pigeonhole” Parking Lot
Four times as many cars are parked in a Spokane, Wash., parking lot with a rampless garage in which cars are delivered to parking stalls by elevator. The customer drives up to a receiving stall. A platform reaches out, lifts the car onto the elevator which rolls along a track between the two parking racks. The elevator lifts the car to the desired level and rolls it into the parking stall. The unit parks a car in the most distant stall in 60 seconds!

February 10, 2008

Speaker Built in Extra Auto Wheel (Feb, 1932)

Filed under: Automotive, Communications — @ 12:06 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Feb, 1932
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Speaker Built in Extra Auto Wheel

RADIO loud speakers are found in all sorts of strange places, but who would ever think of looking in the hub of a spare tire. It has remained for an advertising man to think up a place like that. Installed in the hub, as shown in the accompanying photo, the speaker is used chiefly to broadcast outdoor advertising, and is not detected, thanks to its neat appearance and unique location. The reproducer of the speaker is operated from the radio set and microphone in the car.

The decorative hub cap acts as the grill for the front of the speaker.

February 9, 2008

FOOLPROOF TWO-SEATER AUTO CAR PROPOSED AS TAXICAB (Jan, 1924)

Filed under: Automotive — @ 12:21 am
Source: Popular Mechanics ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Jan, 1924
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FOOLPROOF TWO-SEATER AUTO CAR PROPOSED AS TAXICAB

Because of its cheapness of operation, a two-seated auto car recently invented in Europe, is proposed as a substitute for the much larger and more expensive taxicab. It is so simply built, the maker claims, that anyone can drive it without previous experience or training. Somewhat similar in appearance to the side car of a motorcycle, it is propelled by a small engine and guided by a huge steering wheel nearly twice the size of an ordinary one.

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February 7, 2008

DOES GRASS HOLD SECRET of HIDDEN POWER? (May, 1935)

Filed under: Ahead of its time, Automotive — @ 12:02 am
Source: Modern Mechanix ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: May, 1935
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DOES GRASS HOLD SECRET of HIDDEN POWER?

“BOSS KET”

Charles F. Kettering, known as “Boss Ket” to his fellow workers, is chiefly interested in finding the answers to unanswered questions. Two of the foremost that have puzzled him are: “Why is grass green?” and “Why can we see through a pane of glass?”

Head of the General Motors Research Corporation, “Boss Ket” devotes practically all his time to research, to discovering how it can be done when experts and formulas say “It can’t be done.”

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