balthazar

WOW RE the 1939 Schloerwagen, going to research that one. 1933 Dymaxion (it's not small by any means, but it belongs in here, and the design could handily be shrunk) :

1952 Panhard Dyna (one-off, fate unknown) : • • • I know this is a bike, but stumbled across these acrylic rims- doubt they're remotely practical, but very cool : Also interesting to ponder unshrouded wheels, or at least out-of-envelope, such as :

Ford Model T hack on a flatbed.

Yeah, I can agree with that.

kustomized citroen 2CV :

1933 Mathis VL 333 :

1932 Martin Martinette : ... and it's descendant, the 1954 Stationette : More here. 1955 Tri-Car Suburbanette:

Sparked by the (hideous) Chevy Spark, there was an interesting chat session yesterday where a bunch of pics of unusual, little cars were tossed up. These are NOT my preference in vehicles, so in a way, I'm looking at these in order to find something I like design-wise. Bill Mitchell once said (...something derogatory about small cars, can't find the quote). Anyway, the Gub'mnt seems determined to get each & every one of us into one of these at some point, so maybe I can adapt to the idea if the design works for me (then again, I'd rather drive a '60 Fury). Gonna start off with one of Swordfish's favored models, the very very first saab from 1946, 92001: From this angle, this is a neat-looking lil' road-going UFO. You can toss the entire rest of saab's history in the shredder IMO, but save this guy. More pics here.

I like the styling on these, but would never own one. Besides, there's '67-70 E's out there to hoard. You almost never see these cruisin' around anymore.

Yet another mid-teens MPG vehicle in the already-bursting M-B stable.

Going to give it a go posting trivia questions on Mondays & Fridays (don't hold me to it), with a bit of a story behind it rather than just dry factoids. There's a bottomless mine of history in the auto world that, IMO, goes largely unappreciated. Will answer Friday's on Monday, and vice versa. Hope you all enjoy them and take a stab at the answer.

2 part question ~ PART 1 :: David Dunbar Buick, prior to the founding of the like-named automobile company, was a partner in a successful firm manufacturing a number of items. Buick himself is credited with 13 inventions between 1881 and 1889, but one outshone the others to a degree, and was quite unrelated to automobiles. Name this invention. PART 2 :: Keeping the above answer in mind, name the General Motors Division that likewise produced a product (and name this product) that was rather unrelated to automobiles. In addition; this product is generally and readily associated with Buick's invention (tho there is no direct connection).

The answer is D, $17 million. The 12th investor was James Couzens, who had struggled a bit in life, financially, but who recognized this as 'his chance'; he believed in the venture. He really wanted to purchase a full 25 shares ($2500), but after scraping together all he had, he found he was worth but $400. He appealed to his sister, a school teacher who was worth but $200, but was not so convinced. The siblings turned to their father for advice, and he told her to gamble with half, or loan James $100. After FoMoCo made good, James repaid his sister with a one share of stock instead of $100. When Ford bought everyone out in 1919, the school teacher had received $95,000 in dividends and sold the single share back to Ford for $260,000, a total of $355,000 income for her $100 investment. To put Henry Ford's wealth into perspective, he was worth $188 billion when he died in 1947 (in 2008 dollars).

>>"You're looking back with rose colored glasses. In the '80s, only the GNX got respect... the SS, 442 and 2+2 were all considered lame, as they were compared to cheap used '70s musclecars."<< Have to agree with this wholeheartedly.

Wife~ 2003 Pontiac Grand Prix (CPO) 2009 Chevy Malibu 2LT (new) Me~ nothing (2004 Silverado 2500HD CC DuraMax purchased privately) brother~ 2007 Chevy Silverado 3500 Cab/Chassis DuraMax (new) brother-in-law~ 2008 Chevy Silverado 3500 EC/dually DuraMax (new) buddy ~ 2007 Chevy Silverado RC/LB V6 (new)

Holycrapwow. What a time warp!

Was not aware of these. I'd prefer a solid 4X4 block of wood- unless those extenders felt 100% stable.

Auto styling overall is really mired in laterals.

Henry Ford's legacy, the present-day Ford Motor Company, was organized in 1903. In that this was Ford's 3rd automotive venture, finding more than a few initial investors was a bit of a task, but eventually 12 backers were found. One of the 12 was one Horace Rackham, who bought 50 shares for $5000. In actuality, he was one of the skeptics, and only put $3,500 in cash, writing a note for the balance. When Ford bought out his initial investors in 1919, how much was Rackham's 50 shares worth over the years in dividends & the sale back to Ford? A. $17,435 B. $174,350 C. $1,743,500 D. $17,435,000

Audi doesn't have any "insane" detailing; please.

"premium compact" ~ {snicker!} Yea- nothing says 'pounce' like a 3-banger.

I drove one of these hard once, my recollection is once it got on boost, it was pretty peppy...

Pierce- Arrows never did anything for me- they usually come off as ungainly/ unbalanced, like this one... and I guess it's the headlights mostly from the front.

Yeesh- blind stylistic groping.

There's stylistic teasers shots... then there's shots that could be anything.