Archive
Automotive
Start and warm up your car by remote control (Feb, 1968)

Start and warm up your car by remote control

This little radio unit sends signals to your car, and lets you start it in your driveway or in a parking lot up to 500 feet away. It also enables you to operate heater and air-conditioner controls. The unit, named Ramostar, can be set to shut off the engine after five to 15 minutes, and will warn you if anyone is trying to tamper with your car. It has 32,338 different code combinations. Prices from Ramostar, 708 Waukegan Road, Deerfield, Ill. 60015.

.
PIGEONHOLE GARAGE (May, 1952)

PIGEONHOLE GARAGE

COME TIME AGO a businessman named A. G. Dezendorf gazed at the Washington Monument while calculations tumbled through his mind. The monument, he knew, was 55-1/2 feet square at the base and 555 feet high. Its lower 400 feet. Dezendorf calculated, contained enough space to park 648 automobiles.

.
CAR GUN RACK (Dec, 1953)

CAR GUN RACK

When you go hunting, do you throw your guns and cases on the back floor or trunk of your car? I did, too, until I happened on the CAR GUN RACK made by Powermaster Corp. of Alhambra, Calif. I took its picture on the back seat of a beautiful, brand new Chevvie although it will fit any car. It’s made of mahogany, holds three rifles or shotguns and just hooks over the seat. Incidentally, it can hang on the wall of your cabin, just as easily.

.
Floating Automobile Trailer Cruises Lake Under Own Power (Aug, 1954)

Am I the only one who thinks this looks like a floating bordello?

Floating Automobile Trailer Cruises Lake Under Own Power

When it’s not rolling down the highway, a trailer owned by a West Berlin woman is likely to be found cruising around a lake.
A pontoon raft turns the amphibious trailer into a houseboat. A small gasoline engine propels it when it’s in the water.

.
New Glareless Auto Headlights (Dec, 1931)

New Glareless Auto Headlights

TAKING a hint from the eye shade made popular by Helen Wills Moody, Frank R. Dudley, of Fitchburg, Mass., has invented a glareless head light. Located on the cowl, as shown below, the shade stretches along hood to direct rays downward on roadway.

.
Red Hand Signal Directs Traffic (May, 1934)

Red Hand Signal Directs Traffic

A RED hand controls the heavy traffic on Fifth avenue in New York City.

Faced with the problem of speeding up pedestrian traffic and cutting down casualties, experts have evolved a new scheme.
New signal towers have signals for auto-ists and signals for pedestrians, the latter in the form of a red hand on all four faces
of each tower.

Under this plan, pedestrian traffic will be given twenty seconds to clear in all directions as the signals change. Then automotive traffic travels in a specified direction for a period ranging from thirty to fifty-eight seconds.

A five second pause is permitted between the twenty seconds allotted pedestrians and the next automotive “go” signal.

.
Dashboard Package Compartment (Feb, 1932)

Yes folks, apparently a glove compartment that could hold more than a pair of gloves was big news in 1932. I’m still looking for an issue in the seventies where they breathlessly announce the amazing new cup holders.

Dashboard Package Compartment

A LARGE compartment, suitable to hold packages, a woman’s purse, and other small articles which ordinarily prove a nuisance, has been incorporated in the dashboard of the latest model of a prominent make of automobile.

Equipped with a special lock and key, and constructed entirely of metal, the compartment provides a safe, convenient place for carrying articles that are usually thrown on the seats of the car.

.
Stationette (Apr, 1950)

Stationette is a three-wheel car with a simplified airplane construction. It has a four-cylinder water-cooled rear engine. Martin Develop. Co., Rochelle Park, N. J., hopes to sell the two-passenger auto under $1000.

.
Car “Crashes” Wall 24 Hours a Day (Feb, 1950)

Car “Crashes” Wall 24 Hours a Day
Motorists driving on Route 78 near Escondido, Calif., are startled momentarily by the sight of a car “crashing” into a restaurant. A closer look reassures them, however, since the car is really only half a car and the “crash” is painted on. The restaurant is located on a sharp curve, thus heightening the effect.

.
Motorcar for Handicapped Operates Like Plane (Feb, 1949)

Motorcar for Handicapped Operates Like Plane
Many of the control features of an airplane have been built into a motor vehicle designed for handicapped veterans. Constructed by Edward T. Adkins of Palo Alto, Calif., the little car runs three miles an hour on electricity supplied by a self-charging battery or 20 miles an hour on a gasoline engine. The tires are from the tail wheels of fighter planes and the controls for operating the vehicle are grouped just as they are in multi-engine planes. A built-in spray for extinguishing fires operates automatically.

.