gwells

To follow up on a comment I made in my previous post, here's some of the terrific artwork Bill has done for Corky. I think these pieces are in the Chattanooga collection but I believe some of Bill's art is also at the California Coker location as well. IIRC Bill has done almost 80 pieces for Coker. Neat stuff. The advertising-themed pieces are not exact reproductions of period ads but rather Bill's fanciful reimaginings. I apologize for shamelessly promoting my long-time friend's work, but if anyone is looking to commission transportation art, he's the guy to call IMO. Bill's a long-time old car enthusiast and collector and is/was an AACA member for many years. If the admins feel this post is inappropriate for this thread, please feel free to delete it.

I get to look at a Mercer Raceabout every day and it didn't cost me huge bucks to do so. OK, so it is a pencil drawing by my HS friend Bill Briggs, a noted Nashville artist and muralist who has done a huge amount of work for Corky Coker's collections. The original is over four feet wide and hangs over my living room sofa. Took me about 20 years to get it away from Bill...

I wonder how many realize how early such a turntable was used for automobiles? From Wikipedia: "By the end of the summer of 1903, [F. O.] Stanley [one of the two identical twins who produced the Stanley 'Steamer' in Newton, Mass.] had acquired property in Estes Park and... began the construction of Rockside, his home in Colorado. Completed in 1905, the Stanley cottage was built with four bedrooms, gracious living areas and a modern kitchen... Stanley, whose primary leisure activities involved billiards, violins and steam cars, designed a basement with space for a billiard table and a detached garage with a violin workshop and a turntable, so that the steam car could exit front-wise rather than in reverse."

Keep in mind that in 1934, it was not a very wise idea to drive around in a big expensive car in many places... many people who weren't decimated by the Depression tended to try to be a little discreet about that fact. A custom-bodied Ford may have attracted less hostile attention than a Packard V12.

Nice car!

My guess is it is a purple martin birdhouse.

Hopefully Mark won't mind if I reply to the question you asked him. Go HERE and scroll down. I suspect you're entering the forum section one level down...

Didn't realize the discussion was limited to just FOUR-door sedans.

"De gustibus non est disputandum, or de gustibus non disputandum est, is a Latin maxim meaning "In matters of taste, there can be no disputes" (literally "about tastes it should not be disputed/discussed")... The phrase is most commonly rendered in English as "There is no accouting for taste(s)." And I would suggest the 1966 Buick Riviera is equally well-styled.

Just goes to prove... there's no accounting for taste!

Golly, West, I can't join you in that opinion. To me the design isn't cohesive on very many levels, for lack of a better word. My viewpoints... The 'razor edge' roof clashes with the softness of the lines of the front hood and fenders. The greenhouse seems too tall for the body section below it and the windshield seems too 'upright.' The wheel opening decoration, while I acknowledge the inspiration, simply doesn't work for me. The front end is not bad at all, although it would look much better with a smaller 'crank hole cover;' wonder why they made that so large? The rear view also doesn't work for me, with the heavy bumper bars and the tiny taillights underneath almost as an afterthought. From my perspective a 1966 Chevrolet Impala features a much more cohesive design and far superior surface development (marred primarily by a visually too-heavy rear bumper), but that's just me. Flame on... LOL!

Me, too!

Every guess I have doesn't match. I would think perhaps European except for that license plate.

One source says "In 1971, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) issued the country's first regulation applicable to passenger car bumpers. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 215 (FMVSS 215), "Exterior Protection," took effect on 1 September 1972” when most automakers would begin producing their model year 1973 vehicles." Trucks I am sure were not bound by this regulation. My 1980s Nissan base-model pick-up did not come with a rear bumper and the front bumper was non-impact absorbing.

Just one more, and then I'll quit. Promise. A terrific slot car replicating one of the most iconic and beloved racing cars of the Can-Am era: the Jim Hall-designed Chaparral 2D. Go to slotblog.net if you wish to bid on this car.

Tom Scott continues to post cars from his incredible collection that need to be sold due to his terminal illness. Here's a few more of the best recent listings. I should have indicated earlier that these cars are all 1/24 scale.

Tom has continued to list more cars from his collections and these are some of his real gems, and are more 'scale' or realistic than the thingies shown earlier. One fabulous STP Paxton turbine car already went for $850!

Terry, No, that was Bernard Sampson in Houston, Texas, who was married to Shelley Duval for a few years in the early '70s. Here's a link to his online slot car museum: http://bernardsslotcarmuseum.com I would say Bernard is more interested in original slot cars and their history. Tom Scott's cars are largely modern recreations of earlier slot car genres and are of much higher quality than the originals were in the day. Bernard is an interesting guy, as you will discover if you search on his name. Don't leave the "P" in his surname out, as that 'Samson' is a fictional character created by Len Deighton. FWIW, there are several collections of which I am aware that are larger than Bernard's, one in LA and one in Chicago. Both are stunning is their breadth and depth.

I realize this may be considered a bit off topic here, but I also know that many AACA members are slot car enthusiasts, too. Admins, please delete if this if it is felt inappropriate for this forum. Due to terminal pancreatic and liver cancer, Michigan's Tom Scott is offering at auction the fabulous slot cars of his collection to folks who will appreciate what they are in terms of craftsmanship and history. To the best of my knowledge there has never been a large collection of 1/24 slot cars of this quality brought to the market at one time. Most of them were commissioned by Tom for his personal collection. The cars range from thingies, to historical recreations, to NOS originals, many of them built and assembled by some of the finest painters and motor and chassis builders working in the hobby today. Many of the cars feature rare, original motors, chassis, and other components from the '60s, considered the 'Golden Age of Slot Racing.' All cars run and have been tested and tuned on the track; most of the motors are high-performance and/or rewound versions, though some are NOS originals. Even if you're not interested in 1/24 slot cars, if you have an interest in craftsmanship, it will be worthwhile to spend a few moments checking out the cars being offered. The word "jewelry" will almost certain come to mind more than once. As an aside, and to illustrate the connection between 1:1 and slot cars, many of the more outlandish 'aerodynamic' bodies seen in Tom's collection were designed and sold by the late Larry Shinoda, who is considered the primary designer of the 1963 Corvette. The first of the auctions at Slotblog.net have closed and others will close tonight and over the next few days. There are more incredible cars to be offered in coming days. Here's a few sample car images of the dozens of cars being sold and a link to the auction forum. Note that you do not have to be a member of the forum to bid. http://slotblog.net/forum/476-for-sale-tom-tjsguns-scott-collection/

As sort of an aside to this thread, some years back VW sponsored a Rabbit/Golf spec racing class (in SCCA I think). Those front wheel drive cars use a large sealed front wheel bearing that would fail quickly under the stress of racing, often not lasting for a single race. The racers solved the problem by carefully removing the seals and flushing out the factory grease then repacking them with quaility synthetic grease like Mobil 1 and replacing the seals. Thus treated, the front wheel bearings would last multiple races, perhaps even the entire season. The point is that the grease typically used in sealed bearings is often not very good.

1936 Ford with some sort of additional wrap-around trim, perhaps an accessory. Can't say I've ever seen those before. And the bumper is not correct for a 1936 Ford as far as I know.

It isn't very visible even enlarged, but the front tag doesn't look very 'US-like.' AFAIK the Taunus was never sold in the US. Don't know about Canada.

No, that's a Prest-O-Lite acetylene tank, used to provide the gas to the car's headlights. These tanks quickly replaced running-board mounted carbide generators toward the end of the first decade of the 20th century. Here's a page with a short version of the company's history. The downloadable PDF at the bottom of the page give a much fuller version. http://www.firstsuperspeedway.com/articles/prest-o-lite

Just to confirm, is the lens glass or plastic? Might want to Google "Stratolite 53," as it seems that designation was used for many years for numerous types of lenses primarily for marker lights and saddlebag taillight installs. There's a company by that name still in operation selling truck and trailer marker lights and lenses for similar.

LOL... naw, we're just a bunch of old car guys with too much time on our hands but who do know how to create decent search strings...