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Meet The New MG

Completely remodeled, the new MG can now top 90 miles an hour!

By Gordon Wilkins

MG-TF with sweeping fenders, angular outline, is one of most popular sports cars.

WHEN the last MG-TF rolled off the production line in the early summer of this year, an era ended in sports car design. The stark angular outline, the long sweeping fenders, the slab-sided gas tank and the spare wheel hung on the back, had their origins in sports cars which made history at Le Mans back in the ’20s. It was a formula which produced a long line of durable, inexpensive sports models and spread an appreciation of sports car motoring into areas where people had long forgotten that cars could be fun to drive. But rising performance standards brought the MG hard up against the laws of aerodynamics and above 85 mph increases in power brought negligible returns.
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Rescuer Walks to Victim With New Life-Saving Device

REDUCING danger and increasing speed of movement through the water arc the features of a new German life-saving device which permits the rescuer to walk to the drowning person.

Giving the wearer the aspect of a winged mercury, the device consists of a waterproof suit with a life belt around the middle, as illustrated in the accompanying photo.

On the feet are worn a pair of hinged fins which automatically lock when the foot is moved backward for propulsion and fold up when the foot moves forward for a new stroke. Arm paddles also aid propulsion.

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COMING: Rooftop Airports

Runway-less air terminals, VTOL’s will greet air travelers of 1965.

STRANGE-looking craft that take off and land on rooftop airports, operate via automatic flight instruments and controlled by electronic traffic cops are some of the things in store for the air traveler of 1965. Dream stuff? Not according to Civil Aeronautics Administration experts who made the above predictions. Many such planes are already working models or on drawing boards. Limited runway space will mean more and more vertical takeoff and land (VTOL) ships in the air. Passenger planes will have tilting wings and power plants on a horizontal body and will rise and land like helicopters. Skyscraper roofs will be the “fields” for the aircraft of tomorrow.

You would need to drop an absurd number of these to have any chance at all of actually hitting a sub.

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Bazooka Bomb: Newest Sub-Killer

IN World War II the German commanders of the Panzer divisions were mystified by a new American weapon which effectively was knocking out their tanks. At first they thought it might be a new kind of mortar. Actually they were being introduced to our bazooka and its shaped-charge shell. In the Korean war this same weapon proved to be a potent threat to the Communists’ heavy armor.
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NEW for the ROAD

Bump-Air invented by Jeff Corydon of Hush Bumpers, Chicago, extends beyond regular guards and takes the shock of minor collisions. It is installed by drilling new holes or by replacing the old metal guards. Made of inflated Plastisol or rubber.

Caddy Pickup Truck carries motorcycles to race tracks. It is made on a 1949 Cadillac chassis and will take three cycles which are anchored in wells in floor. Windows in the rear corners of cab are Plexiglas. It is painted bright red. cost $5,000.
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Horseless Carriage Cavalcade

THE CARS shown here, all on public display at the Carriage Cavalcade at Florida’s Silver Springs, go a long way toward explaining how antique car bugs get that way. For example, the 1903 Crestmobile was loaded with features that are now regarded as pretty modern: steering column shift, automatic clutch, an engine mounting resembling Chrysler Floating Power, and adjustable steering wheel. The 1925 Rickenbacker had four-wheel brakes—but the motoring public fell victim to a whispering campaign that this great safety advance was unreliable. The Rumpler Drop Car was an attempt to streamline the passenger car (racing bombs had been built much earlier). To people who love cars, these old-timers are automotive history.

The article that forecast “bat wings” was posted here

“Bat-Men” Troops Join California State Guard

Major MALCOM WHEELER – NICHOLSON, military expert, forecast the use of circus “bat-wings” for parachute troops, in the August issue of Mechanix Illustrated. Now, as a preliminary test, the California State Guard has organized just such a unit of “bat-man” paratroopers, under the leadership of Mickey Morgan, famed jumper (left). Bat-wings, it is claimed, makes paratroops more maneuverable-and swifter.

That flight-suit on the second page is one of the most steam-punky looking things I’ve ever seen that wasn’t actually designed to look that way. I also love the habit of just throwing a woman in the frame when they show pictures of weird stuff. Balance?

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IT’S NEW!

HYDROFOILS in kit form are easily installed on almost all outboard craft from 12 to 16 feet Safe, smooth, they literally make boat fly. Atlantic Hydrofin, Miami. Fla.

GROWING UP LAMP’S base has yardstick with spaces for marking date, weight, height of little Oscar, who likes to see how much he “growed.” Device was exhibited in Chicago.

SLIT SPECS, originated by the Eskimos, are considered the most on Canadian ski slopes these days. Glassless, slits guard against sun’s glare. This pair costs $20. Read the rest of this entry »

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Confessions of a Car Thief

By No. 75149

State Prison of Southern Michigan When the manuscript of this story arrived at the editorial offices of Ml, it created something of a stir. While it warned car owners of the danger of theft and even described specific ways to avoid theft, there was the possibility that some twisted minds might be able to use it as a sort of primer for crime. Well, after careful consideration and some strategic deletions, the editors have decided that the good this story can do far outweighs any possible harm. So, here it is—-advice to car owners from a guy who got caught.
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America’s Fastest Sports Car…’52 CUNNINGHAM

If the U.S.A. ever wins back leadership in international road racing, this is the car that will do it, says Mi’s own auto expert.

By Tom McCahill

THE 1952 Cunninghams have four wheels and a base Chrysler block but aside from this they look no more like the 1951 models than I resemble Fred Astaire on a ballroom floor. The first cars came in for a lot of hard criticism because of their unfortunate showing in the 24-hour race at Le Mans a year ago. But before the year was out, they succeeded in cramming a crankcase full of words down the critics’, throats by running away with the Elkhart Lake and Watkins Glen races. In finishing one, two and four at Watkins Glen, even the sourest observer was forced to admit that they were about the hottest cars ever to run on these shores. And this year the Cunningham is even hotter. Read the rest of this entry »

This was the third in a series of Flying Wings by Jack Northrop that began in 1929 with the first one successfully flying in 1930

Shortly before his death in 1981, Mr. Northrop was given clearance to see designs and a scale model of the B-2 Spirit which was unveiled in 1988.

The “Flying Wing” Takes To The Air

PROBABLY the strangest looking thing ever to fly in the air is the Northrop Aircraft Company’s new “Flying Wing,” seen in action above, and viewed from the rear on the ground below. It has no fuselage nor tail surfaces. Twin pusher propellers power it. Power plant and personnel are housed within the contours of the airfoil. The greatest secrecy is being maintained by both the company and the army about the weird plane’s performance, but reports which have leaked out credit the ship with remarkable efficiency.

Basic transportation for the man who hates gingerbread.

Millions of Americans are sick of gingerbread.

Of paying hundreds of dollars for chrome that’s out of date before it’s paid for.

These people want basic transportation. And nothing more.

But they are very, very particular about how they define basic transportation.

So are we. Read the rest of this entry »