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Automotive
Modern Mechanix
Issue: Feb, 1930
Posted in: Automotive
Posted: 01/20/2012
6 Comments
Automobile Sleigh Develops Speed of 35 Miles an Hour on Snow Roads (Feb, 1930)

I’m not really clear on how the paddle wheel works. Is it flexible? It seems like it would be very unhappy on ice or concrete if it’s not.

Automobile Sleigh Develops Speed of 35 Miles an Hour on Snow Roads
LESTER COBB, of Norway, Maine, has invented an automobile sleigh which will not mire in ruts or drifts of snow. It drives and operates like an automobile. A paddle arrangement gives it traction. The auto-sleigh is geared for rapid traction and 35 m.p.h, is a comfortable speed with it. It is declared that the deeper the snow the faster the speed of the sleigh.

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Modern Mechanix
Issue: Feb, 1930
Posted in: Automotive, Aviation
Tags:
Posted: 01/18/2012
4 Comments
World’s First Motor Coach Sleeper Compared with Huge Monoplane (Feb, 1930)

I’m not really sure what the point of this photo is. Why are we comparing the size of a bus to a plane? The bus is pretty nifty looking though. The front kind of looks like a Darth Vader helmet. Or I’ve been playing way too much SWTOR lately. Probably the latter.

World’s First Motor Coach Sleeper Compared with Huge Monoplane
THE world’s first motor coach sleeper has been completed with accommodations for twenty-six sleepers. There are upper and lower berths similar to those of an elaborately fitted Pullman car. The sleeper was taken to an airfield for comparison in size with the Ford monoplane.

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Science And Mechanics
Issue: Dec, 1961
Posted in: Automotive, Television
Posted: 01/17/2012
3 Comments
TV’s Sheet-Metal Heroes (Dec, 1961)

TV’s Sheet-Metal Heroes

Here’s how Grandpa’s Pierce-Arrow might end up on television, co-starring with Bob Stack

By JACK B. KEMMERER

“I’M a co-star with a bunch of old cars,” moans Bob Stack, I relaxing between takes on the studio set of The Untouch- ables. “And if you don’t believe it, take a look at the fan mail. I wouldn’t be surprised if they get more mail than the rest of us put together.”

The Untouchables, ABC-TV’s tale of gangsters and government men in the ’30s, quickly skyrocketed to high popularity in the United States soon after its first appearance on the TV screen. And cars on the program share fan appeal with the human cast.

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Good Housekeeping
Issue: Mar, 1969
Posted in: Advertisements, Automotive
Tags:
Posted: 01/16/2012
14 Comments
Do you think anyone considers a woman’s shorter reach when designing GM instrument panels? (Mar, 1969)

Do you think anyone considers a woman’s shorter reach when designing GM instrument panels?
Fisher Body does.

That’s why you see GM Stylist Joan Gatewood establishing 35 important reference points for instrument panels on the special unit pictured above. Then she tries them out on at least 25 different-sized people to make sure even the smallest drivers can reach all the essential controls from windshield wiper activators to defroster buttons.

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Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Jan, 1942
Posted in: Automotive, Aviation, Kitchen
Tags: ,
Posted: 01/16/2012
10 Comments
NEW PRODUCTS AND INVENTIONS (Jan, 1942)

NEW PRODUCTS AND INVENTIONS

Hume workshop hobbyists who own drill presses will find the new auxiliary work table shown at right extremely useful. The top is made of heavy gauge steel permanently bonded to a plywood base. Fits any type drill press. Comes complete with anchor studs, threaded bushings, irregular shaping pin and special pivoting fence with wing nut clamp. Provides a large, flat working surface for all operations.

The new type slip-stream deflectors above are said to keep the car’s windshield clear of all foreign substances. Fastened in front of the windshield, they turn the airstream and dirt aside.

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Science And Mechanics
Issue: Dec, 1961
Posted in: Automotive, Nautical
Tags:
Posted: 01/16/2012
3 Comments
Lots of Wheels With VW Push (Dec, 1961)

Lots of Wheels With VW Push

WITH 16 of its 20 wheels powered, the 2200-lb. Nobel-Amphibil travels quickly over ditches, rocks, mud, snow, or ice— through clinging undergrowth, swamps, and swift streams, according to York Nobel Group, Ltd., London, which holds world production and sales rights.

The twin front wheels on each side are un-powered; they absorb road shocks and help guide the vehicle on steep slopes. The prototype Amphibil shown here, during tests in Norway, averaged close to 40 mpg. It’s driven by an air-cooled Volkswagen engine at up to 40 mph. The one-piece fiber glass body will hold six passengers or four passengers and about 440 lbs. of luggage. Wholesale factory price is expected to be $2,250.

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Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Nov, 1950
Posted in: Automotive
Tags:
Posted: 01/16/2012
No Comments
100 Million Road Maps Can’t Be Wrong (Nov, 1950)

The original OCR transcript of the first sentence read:
IN Vancouver, Washington, a quavering feminine voice inquired over the telephone if the tourist bureau of a large oil company provided a sex-vice for absolutely any emergency. “Yes,” replied the unsuspecting clerk.

100 Million Road Maps Can’t Be Wrong

By Irv Leiberman

IN Vancouver, Washington, a quavering feminine voice inquired over the telephone if the tourist bureau of a large oil company provided a service for absolutely any emergency. “Yes,” replied the unsuspecting clerk.

“Well, I’m parked right around the corner from your office,” the woman said, “and there’s a mouse in the driver’s seat. And I won’t leave for New York until he goes away!”

Although this is not a typical question, routers in tourist services frequently are confronted with such out-of-the-ordinary requests. This is in addition to thousands of demands for regular travel information which pour in to them through the mails. And they distribute more than 100 million road maps to Americans on the go.

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Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Oct, 1956
Posted in: Automotive, Aviation, Motorcycles, Nautical, Photography
Tags:
Posted: 01/12/2012
9 Comments
IT’S NEW! (Oct, 1956)

That swamp wagon is pretty damn bad-ass.

IT’S NEW!

SWAMP WAGON’S nine-ft. tall rear wheels have hickory treads steel-clamped to 28 in. rims weighing 700 lbs. Vehicle is designed to clamber over Florida’s soft muck bogs.

TOTCYCLIST Brad Bradley drives cut-down 125 cc Harley Davidson like a pro. Five-year-old was taught to ride 50-mph machine by his Dad. Brad began career at 18 months.

MANY-LENSED Italian Summa camera has revolving turret housing regular lens, wide angle lens and two for direct sighting. It also has hand grips and flash attachments.

NO FANCY PANTS, Solly Davis holds Geiger counter inside Goodyear’s new one-piece vinyl film anti-radiation suit Inflated by compressed air, suit is air-conditioned.

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Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Feb, 1959
Posted in: Automotive
Posted: 01/10/2012
6 Comments
ONE-WHEEL TRUCK (Feb, 1959)

ONE-WHEEL TRUCK
TRAILMOBILE, Inc., the nation’s second largest trailer builders, recently found plans of what may have been the granddaddy of all trailer-tractors—the “motor wheel” shown in the accompanying pictures. Manufactured more than 60 years ago by an outfit bravely styled the International Motor Wheel Co., it was invented by one J.W. Walters.

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Mechanix Illustrated
Issue: Nov, 1955
Posted in: Automotive
Posted: 01/10/2012
6 Comments
New American Sports Car (Nov, 1955)

New American Sports Car

The Firebomb, a sleek four-passenger sports car, is now being produced by Detroit’s Dual-Motors Corporation.

A UNIQUE four-passenger sports car dubbed the Firebomb and ranging in price from $5,500 to $6,000 is now being produced in limited numbers by Detroit’s Dual-Motors Corp. The jaunty Firebomb has a 115-inch wheelbase and is powered by a modified Dodge Super Red Ram V8 engine with automatic transmission and power brakes. Its production body, designed by Carrozzeria Ghia, is assembled in Italy.

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