All-Weather Bus Comfortable the Year Round

SEATING twenty-five passengers, an all-steel bus has been designed for comfort in all weathers. In winter the body is completely enclosed and warmed by the exhaust pipe. In summer, the windows swing out of the way. The sides are open, and the view unobstructed; not even the frames in which the windows slide are left in place. The front and rear windows on each side are hinged, and when not in use can be concealed in the panels.

Back Seat of Car Makes a Comfortable Bed

SEDANS of two popular makes are now offered with back seats which can be converted into comfortable beds more than six feet long and over four feet wide. Cushions have been so designed that they can be moved forward and laid flat like Pullman sleeping-car seats to form a foundation for bedding. The foot of the improvised bed extends into the rear luggage compartment, baggage being transferred to the front seat for the night.

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Where exactly would you drive this?

Unique Bus of Future to Duplicate Speed of Railroads

RECENT developments in everything that moves has caused many flights of imagination. Thus the fancy conjures up a bus to keep pace with other transportation. The bus between New York and San Francisco will be equipped with airplanes for trips not on the regular schedule. For diversion, billiard rooms, swimming pool, dancing floor and a bridle path would be available. The pilot would be “enthroned” over his engines, with the radio above. Space for autos would be afforded by the deck.

Jet Racer below puts on a show for the camera before a test run on Rosamond Dry Lake, California. Gene Kelly, builder, reported that although the throttle was opened only a fraction, speed was 30 mph.

German Cars Streamlined from Stem to Stern

Germany’s Cars for 1935 Are Ultra-Streamlined; This Bullet-Shaped Creation Is a Mercedes Roadster Exhibited at the International Auto Show in Berlin

Here Is a Well-Streamlined Bus for Cross-County Operation, a Product of the Opel Works; Note How the Flowing Lines Have Been Carried to the Fins at the Rear and over the Rear Wheels

This Movie Theater on Wheels Is Housed in a T

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Auto Courtesy Light Devised

BETTER road manners may result if an automobile signal device recently placed on the market becomes popular. Mounted on the radiator cap or at the rear of the auto, the device enables the driver to acknowledge courteous driving on the part of another motorist by flashing the words “Thank You” in illuminated letters, which are visible night or day. A control on the dash or steering wheel operates the signal light and drivers report that passing motorists are first surprised, then pleased, by the unusual display of highway courtesy.

Surplus Plane Tank Converted into Small Racer

Aluminum jettison tanks obtained from war surplus are used for the bodies of small racers that the E. K. Car gill Company, of Macon, Ga., plans to put on the market.

The racer is powered by a two-cylinder air cooled opposed engine that gives a speed
of 50 m.p.h. and does 75 miles on a gallon of gasoline. The chassis, differential, and transmission are of Austin manufacture, the fenders come from motor scooters, and aircraft wheels and seat are used. There’s a large storage space behind the seat.

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AT LAST — a Convertible AUTO-PLANE

by THEODORE A. HODGDON

A STARTLING new vehicle which may be used in the air as a fast, sturdy airplane, and on the ground as a speedy, comfortable two-passenger coupe car, will shortly be available to aviation enthusiasts. The craft is really a streamlined mid-wing monoplane of 30-foot wing span, propelled by a 125-horsepower air cooled motor of regulation aircraft type. For ground use the ship may be quickly converted into a streamline car, simply by removing the wings and the rear end of the fuselage, leaving the closed cabin body resting on its three wheels, ready to drive through the streets. This transformation occupies about 20 minutes, by means of quickly detachable joints.

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Lightning Bug Car Is Crash Proof

DR. CALVIN BLACKMAN BRIDGES, the Carnegie Institution of Washington geneticist, knows a lot about bugs, for he breeds them and studies their mechanism under the microscope. But his hobby is Safety First and car building. His three-wheeled “Lightning Bug” is said to be crash and carbon-monoxide proof. It is small and squatty yet perfectly streamlined, with tail-light and license plates recessed and the Pyralin windows flush with the body. The doctor’s aim is to demonstrate what can be done to attain small car safety and readability.

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MY TEN YEARS OF CAR-TESTING

Here are the fabulous hits and the colossal flops of Uncle Tom’s first decade as America’s “Mr. Car Test.”

By Tom McCahill

LAST MONTH we completed ten years of car-testing. More than 250 tests ago, in the February 1946 issue, Mechanix Illustrated published the first automobile test articles ever seen in America. Selling this series was tougher than trying to juggle pyramids as no other publication had ever had the guts to write both the good and the bad about Detroit. Since we started this controversial hassel, imitators have risen up like, mosquitoes in a tropical swamp and more guys have stolen our car-testing idea than you could find in all the Federal pens.

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Farm Tractor and Power Plant Assembled from Old Auto Parts

This combination tractor and belt power plant was made from a Ford engine with frame and front wheels, a 1925 Chevrolet gear shift, an International Model-S truck rear end, and two binder wheels. The frame was shortened 18 in. by sawing each side in two 23 in. from the rear end and lapping and drilling for two 1/2-in’. bolts. The rear end was set on two 2 by 5 in. steel posts with U-bolts around frame and axles.

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100,000 See Soap Box Derby

President M. J. Coyle presents the Soap Box Derby Trophy to Herbert Muench while the American runner up, Harold Hansen, and the International runner-up, Norman Neumann, of South Africa, look on.

Mrs. Herbert E. Muench happily embraces her son, Herbert, winner of the 1936 Soap Box Derby. Representing a St. Louis newspaper, young Muench set a pace of 39 miles per hour over a 1,100 foot course. His time was 28.2 seconds for the run, just two seconds faster than the runner-up, Harold Hansen, of White Plains, New York. The Derby was sponsored by the Chevrolet Motor Co. and 116 newspapers.

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