1934 Bendix concept car

[human-potato_hybrid]

Before Elon Musk had the idea of putting all the gauges directly in the center of the car instead of in front of the driver, Bendix did it first in their 1934 "Steel Wheel Corp." concept.

The center of the dash houses the speedometer, odo/tripometer, ignition, and the 4 usual gauges. The only thing not there is the clock, which is located in the middle of the steering wheel. Interesting to say the least.

Thoughts?

[Rusty_OToole]

This car was written up in an old car magazine a few years ago. It had a lot of advanced features like streamlined body,  balloon tire suspension and cooling by boiling water.

 

Bendix came out with a lot of new ideas in the thirties and forties not all having to do with cars. How much influence this car had on the industry, I don't know, but would be interesting to find out.

[human-potato_hybrid]

Good point. A couple of other notes:

 

First, it's hard to tell (even in person) since the steering wheel is barely turned, but the clock appears to rotate with the steering wheel (à la horn button) and not be fixed, as one may assume it "should" be (à la Edsel transmission buttons).

 

Second, simply the $84,000 production cost, which is a cool $2 million today, though not out of line for a true one-off car.

Edited May 11 by human-potato_hybrid (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

4 hours ago, human-potato_hybrid said:

Before Elon Musk had the idea of putting all the gauges directly in the center of the car instead of in front of the driver, Bendix did it first in their 1934 "Steel Wheel Corp." concept.

The center of the dash houses the speedometer, odo/tripometer, ignition, and the 4 usual gauges

 

Say WHAT? Sorry, but?

Literally hundreds (thousands?) of makes and models of cars for twenty years before that had all the gauges in the center of the dash! Barely a few years before this prototype, moving the gauges to in front of the driver where he could better see them without turning his head aside was considered by many people to be a great styling advancement!

 

I find myself wondering what your source of information (apparently very flawed?) was?

[Grimy]

2 hours ago, wayne sheldon said:

 

Say WHAT? Sorry, but?

Literally hundreds (thousands?) of makes and models of cars for twenty years before that had all the gauges in the center of the dash! Barely a few years before this prototype, moving the gauges to in front of the driver where he could better see them without turning his head aside was considered by many people to be a great styling advancement!

 

I find myself wondering what your source of information (apparently very flawed?) was?

My 1918 Pierce-Arrow 48-B-5 has its instruments in the center of the "beveled" panel, first year, retained through 1920.  Previous models had the instruments in the same plane as the glove boxes requiring the driver to crane his/her head downward from the windshield to view them.  Many, many vehicles pre-1920 had centered instruments.

 

Any article considering this remarkable is one of @60FlatTop Bernie's "a bag of groceries" articles.  🙂 

[AzBob]

9 hours ago, human-potato_hybrid said:

Before Elon Musk had the idea of putting all the gauges directly in the center of the car instead of in front of the driver, Bendix did it first in their 1934 "Steel Wheel Corp." concept.

As was pointed out above, having the instrument panel in the center was the convention up to the mid 1930's. Millions of early Fords had the instrument panel in the center.

 

 

[Dave Henderson]

17 hours ago, Rusty_OToole said:

This car was written up in an old car magazine a few years ago. It had a lot of advanced features like streamlined body,  balloon tire suspension and cooling by boiling water.

 

Bendix came out with a lot of new ideas in the thirties and forties not all having to do with cars. How much influence this car had on the industry, I don't know, but would be interesting to find out.

Alfred Ney was a Bendix engineer who contributed his vast engineering skills to the BSW car's design.  Their front wheel drive innovation came after the introduction of the front wheel drive L29 Cord, the design of which is credited to Al Leamy.  Leamy, who passed away at a very early age in the mid '30's, and Ney were good friends.  During the '70's while researching Leamy's accomplishments to do an article subsequently published in AACA's Antique Automobile I was fortunate to have a get-together with Ney and Agnes Leamy, Al's widow, at her apartment in Washington, D.C.  Mr. Ney was very impressive, and luckily the session was taped.  

[58L-Y8]

Instruments centered in the dashboard was done for a practical reason: American automakers exported cars worldwide including to markets where right-hand-drive was required.  To have the instruments centered in front of either LHD or RHD drivers would have required two separate dash panel stamping, ancillary parts, etc. 

[wayne sheldon]

1 hour ago, Tondo said:

OMG, this is such a beautiful car. i wonder what one has to do these days to own one

Since it is a "prototype" "one-off"? There IS only one! Only this ONE! I understand it was donated to a specialty museum where the car belongs. Unless you are so wealthy that you can buy and sell major corporations, you are not likely to get this one.

[Mr. Don]

My two cents? The instruments on a Ford Model A are located centrally on the fuel tank. 🤪

[60FlatTop]

"So" a couple of Bendix engineers and their friends from Studebaker got a bargain on a lightly abused Chrysler. $80,000 in 1934 money seems like a stretch to me. But I would like to hear the real story.

 

[human-potato_hybrid]

On 5/11/2024 at 8:29 PM, wayne sheldon said:

I find myself wondering what your source of information (apparently very flawed?) was?

That was just a facetious anecdote; I'm no Musk fan in particular. Though I did find it a bit odd for the time that it was done that way especially since they bothered to put the clock in front of the driver, but nothing else.

[Rusty_OToole]

On 5/12/2024 at 8:34 PM, Tondo said:

OMG, this is such a beautiful car. i wonder what one has to do these days to own one

The closest production car might be a prewar Adler front drive sedan. No doubt they are rare but not one of a kind. Another similar car is the Chrysler or DeSoto Airflow.

 

The Adler Type 10

Edited May 14 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history)