The Car Thread

[DiscoBiscuit]

Went to the auction at the Amelia Island Concours d"Elegance a couple of weeks ago.

We had to leave early to go to a wedding, but I was able to take a few pics on the way out.

 

[Winds of Thor]

Went to the auction at the Amelia Island Concours d"Elegance a couple of weeks ago.

We had to leave early to go to a wedding, but I was able to take a few pics on the way out.

Nice cars and photos. Is the first one a Ford GT350 or something else?
I had a 280 SL but it was metallic blue. Is this one a 230 or a 280 SL?

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I had a 280 SL but it was metallic blue. Is hat a 230 or a 280 SL?

Its a w113 chassis but I didn't get a chance to see what model specifically.

I've always loved these cars and hope to eventually get one.

 

[Winds of Thor]

Its a w113 chassis but I didn't get a chance to see what model specifically.

I've always loved these cars and hope to eventually get one.

They really sound great. It smelled like leather as long as I had it. I really liked the exterior color painted dashboard with (real) chrome trim parts and VDO guages. Had 74,000 original miles.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

They really sound great. It smelled like leather as long as I had it. I really liked the exterior color painted dashboard with (real) chrome trim parts and VDO guages. Had 74,000 original miles.

The dash and art deco gauges are one of the best parts.

But God that front fascia is staggeringly beautiful.

 

[Winds of Thor]

The dash and art deco gauges are one of the best parts.

But God that front fascia is staggeringly beautiful.

It is.
Don Draper's a good look for you haha.

 

[Winds of Thor]

Oh, I thought I'd mention to you..You might consider getting Brad Penn or Joe Gibbs oil from now on. The commercially available motor oils have had the good lubricants removed. Banned. Zinc/Phosphorous - the good stuff..soft zinc and the ingredients to lubricate between the upper cylinders and pistons. And other parts. A friend of mine told me. He has a high-performance boat and had the engine custom modified. The place who does the mods told him they will only warranty their engines if they contain Brad Penn oil. Brad Penn oil comes from an oil refinery in Pennsylvania that's been around like a hundred years. Anyway, I asked him, "How can they make the oil still with the good stuff in it?". He said "It's for off-road use only." I wasn't willing to go with the commercially available stuff -it means significantly reduced engine life and significantly increased costs.

 

[93JC]

(bump)

Is the first one a Ford GT350 or something else?

That is a Ford GT40.

(GT350 was a Shelby-modified Mustang.)

 

[93JC]

I found this image gallery on Reddit. A Hungarian fellow has taken it upon himself to restore the lowliest of lowly cars: Ladas.

http://imgur.com/a/gjQTd

I have a fascination for people who lovingly care for dowdy, pedestrian cars. I think it's because I know that it makes no financial sense whatsoever (vs., say, restoring a Ford GT40 like the one pictured above) so their motivation is love, sentimental value and/or nostalgia.

 

[93JC]

Almost exactly 65 years ago to the day (October 7) the production version of the Citroën 2CV was shown at the Salon de l'automobile de Paris.

(I would have saved this for October 7th but I probably would have forgotten. )


What the Volkswagen did for Germany and the Fiat 500 did for Italy, the Citroën 2CV did for France: it motorized a nation. In post-war France fuel was scarce, roads were in extremely poor condition, factories were in shambles, and an entire nation (much like the rest of continental Europe) was seeing a great resurgence in the popularity of horse-drawn vehicles.

Citroën had been known for their technical innovation before the war, particularly in the few years before war broke out when they released the Traction-Avant: the first affordable, mainstream front-wheel-drive car in the world. (Front-drive had been done before but only in limited production or in very high-end cars like the 1929 Ruxton and Cord L-29.)

After the war the French middle-class didn't have the money for Traction-Avants, nor did Citroën—the development costs were so high the company went bankrupt in 1934—and the farmers and other rural folk seldom bought automobiles before the war to begin with. Citroën had seen a hole in the market for a very affordable car for the average rural Frenchman. They just needed to figure out how to make one such that it would make a profit for the company.

The market research they conducted in the 1930s concluded that the new car, the Toute Petite Voiture ("Very Small Car"), had to meet the following design requirements:
- carry four passengers
- carry at least 50 kg of cargo
- travel at least 50 km/h
- use no more than 3 L/100 km of fuel (or for those who are less metrically inclined, 78 mpUSg)
- have a smooth enough ride such that a farmer could drive the car over a ploughed field without breaking the farmer's cartons of eggs as he took them to market

The solution required an extremely minimalist approach. Like the Traction-Avant it would be front-wheel-drive which would allow for a larger passenger cabin. Instead of the Traction-Avant's conventional four-cylinder engines the new car would use a horizontally-opposed two-cylinder engine, not unlike something that would have been seen in a motorcycle. The body and chassis would be made of aluminum and magnesium to keep the car as light as possible. Weight was the enemy in achieving the fuel economy goal. The roof was canvas, there was only one headlight and they didn't provide an electric starter.

It was not a pretty car to say the least.

After Germany invaded France in 1940 the Citroën managers ordered the prototypes hidden throughout Europe. They feared the design, if discovered, could have been used by the Nazis to produce a new war vehicle not unlike the Germans' own Kübelwagen.

Despite the war, and despite having to keep all knowledge of the project hidden, work continued on refining the design of the TPV. The water-cooled engine of the prototype was replaced with an air-cooled version of similar design. Electric starter was provided as a concession to the sensibilities of female customers, who found crank starting difficult and awkward. The body had to be redesigned entirely, in steel instead of aluminum and magnesium, given that the cost of the more exotic metals was rising dramatically and would stay high after the war.

It was not until the autumn of 1948 that the final production version of the car, known as 2CV after the French vehicle tax band it fell within, debuted. Even though the car had been completely redesigned to have a steel body it was still fantastically light; only 560 kg (~1200 lb). The 375 cc air-cooled, two-cylinder engine—mounted waaaay out front—produced a paltry 9 hp. The original prototypes' torsion bar suspension had been replaced with a simpler coil spring layout. Simple, but unconventional.

The front and rear wheels were mounted to simple trailing arms, and the arms were connected by pull-rods to the springs, which lay within a horizontally-mounted tube on each side of the car.

This allowed the suspension arms to have long paths of travel and very low spring rates to keep those farmers' eggs from breaking. It also had the side effect of making the car lean unbelievably far in corners. The car's centre of gravity was much lower than one would have expected as a result of the low-mounted engine, and despite pitching over to a comical degree the car was very sure-footed and not prone to rolling over. This was also helped by the car's tires, a new design by Michelin (Citroën's parent company at the time). The 2CV was the first car with radial-belted tires, something most cars (particularly in North America) wouldn't have until the 1980s.

The seats were also softly sprung and supremely light. Instead of being filled with horse hair and covered with a thick leather hide like most cars at the time they were more akin to a lawn chair. In fact they were removable and could be used as such, for when the family went on a picnic.

Despite the never-ending derision for being too ugly and preposterously minimalistic the car remained on sale for 42 years.

I bet you thought you'd never have a car like the Citroën 2CV to thank for radial tires...

 

[93JC]

Google's doodle today marked the anniversary of Raymond Loewy's birth. Loewy was famous for all sorts of industrial and graphic designs but the 1953 Studebaker Starliner is surely one of his best.

It would take the Big Three another five years to build cars long and low like the '53 Studebaker, a styling trend that would carry on well into the 1960s.

 

[Noll]

I don't like cars.

 

[93JC]

Not that this is a busy thread but I figured somebody would have posted something about this by now.

 

[highlander]

Not that this is a busy thread but I figured somebody would have posted something about this by now.

If that is the new Mustang, I don't much like it. Looks bland.

 

[chubber]

If that is the new Mustang, I don't much like it. Looks bland.

those round lights at the bottom just... breaks the look for me. The wheels appear 80s

There is something wrong with that nose of the car.

 

[The Ü™]

If that is the new Mustang, I don't much like it. Looks bland.

Looks too much like the new Camaro. I hate the squinty headlights on both.

 

[93JC]

If that is the new Mustang, I don't much like it. Looks bland.

It is indeed the new Mustang, and I prefer 'bland' over gaudy and overwrought.

those round lights at the bottom just... breaks the look for me. The wheels appear 80s

There is something wrong with that nose of the car.

To each their own, but I don't see the problem.

In fact I quite like the shape of the new car. The lower height and width and change to the profile of the rear window makes the whole car look much sleeker than the old one. And some of the details, particularly the window at the B- and C-pillars (from the outside looking in it appears there is no B-pillar at all, but I suspect there is), are much better executed than the old one.

 

[highlander]

It is indeed the new Mustang, and I prefer 'bland' over gaudy and overwrought.



To each their own, but I don't see the problem.

In fact I quite like the shape of the new car. The lower height and width and change to the profile of the rear window makes the whole car look much sleeker than the old one. And some of the details, particularly the window at the B- and C-pillars (from the outside looking in it appears there is no B-pillar at all, but I suspect there is), are much better executed than the old one.

The last model is the best looking one I've seen in a very long time. Things grow on you of course, so we'll see.

They handle like crap but I do like these cars. I seriously thought about buying a Shelby 5 years ago.

 

[93JC]

If you find the new one bland I'm sure the Shelby model (and there will almost assuredly be one) will solve that problem with a variety of stripes, scoops and other gewgaws.

 

[chubber]

If you find the new one bland I'm sure the Shelby model (and there will almost assuredly be one) will solve that problem with a variety of stripes, scoops and other gewgaws.

Are you going to take us for a spin?