Indholdsfortegnelse for November 1950 i MotorTrend

THE NEW Cadillac and Oldsmobile V-8 engines are only four years behind the times. And yet that is a compliment when you consider that all other stock Detroit engines are based on designs current 10 to 15 years ago. Sufficient research had been accomplished by 1946 to clear the way for equal-bore-and-stroke, high compression engines. Within the next year, it is very probable that all manufacturers will have discarded their outmoded models of the past and converted to the new. This marks the first major improvement in automobile design since the last war. The real post-war engine has arrived. Detroit manufacturers can’t be blamed entirely for the four-year delay. Consumers demanded automobiles after the war—demanded them with such burning impatience that only an idiot would have cut production volume to…

Sport: August’s Silverstone Grand Prix opened on a note of tension and suspense for the thousands of Britons who had contributed their pence and shillings toward the building of England’s racing hope, the BRM. The night before it had been announced that the cars (two were to have run) were having “carburetor and distributor” troubles, that mechanics were working feverishly, and that one car, at least, would be flown to Silverstone if it were humanly possible. One car did arrive, was taken around the course by brilliant French driver Raymond Sommer, who had been chosen, in spite of the chauvinists’ dismay, to pilot the car in its first important appearance. The BRM lined up for the main event with the Alfas, Ferraris, etc., the starting flag dropped, and over a…

MOTOR TREND INVITES OWNERS OF SPECIALTY GARAGES (foreign or unusual cars), wholesale and retail suppliers of speed equipment, foreign car dealers, and manufacturers or suppliers of hard-to-get parts to send us their name, address and specialty. This information will be used to answer the many inquiries on these subjects that we receive from our readers. Address your letter to: MOTOR TREND, c/o Trade Topics, 1015 So. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles 35, Calif. ★ ★ ★ A NEW FILTER WITH A PERMANENT CARTRIDGE has been introduced by the Filterall Co., Inc. The new Filterall, with a porous brass filter element that eliminates cartridge replacement is available either as a complete unit or as a conversion kit. The new unit can be used on all cars while the conversion kit can…

WHAT’S the price you will pay for a small car with amazing fuel economy, good acceleration, along with riding comfort? That’s what Kaiser-Frazer would like to know, for it is going to determine largely the public’s acceptance of its newest product, the Henry J. Kaiser-Frazer prefers to refer to this car as a “light” car. Call it what you will, it appears that the Model A is back. It’s not as cheap and is done up in modern style, but it looks like an automotive manufacturer has at last put out a car for the people. If the price is right (which will probably be announced by the time this issue of Motor Trend reaches the news-stands) and the war doesn’t interfere with production, the economy car will have made…

NOTE: In the September issue of MOTOR TREND, we presented the first of a series of articles dealing with suspension systems today. The first of these articles concerned the basic fundamentals of suspension design. In this article, Mr. Chalmers discusses axle suspension.—Editor BEFORE the various types of axle suspensions are discussed an understanding should be had of their characteristics, as these may have a profound effect, not only on the riding comfort, but also on the steering control and tire wear. When one of the two wheels on an axle encounters an obstacle, either the axle assembly will tend to pivot about the roll center (Fig. 1), causing the tires to flex or slide laterally (side to side) or it will tend to pivot about the other wheel (Fig. 2)…

DETROIT, MICHIGAN — The “Help Wanted” sign is out in the motor capital. Reports indicate there are not enough skilled workers available to carry on normal peacetime production as well as military manufacturing. Many automotive sources are beginning to worry more about the possibility of acute labor shortages, such as plagued the industry during World War II. than about material shortages. Such fears are borne out by glancing through the want ad columns of Detroit’s daily newspapers. Once again page-after-page is filled with advertisements calling for skilled and semiskilled workers. According to Ward’s Reports, authoritative statistical agency for the motor car industry, the most serious needs are for tool designers and tool makers. As an additional step to combat this threatened bottleneck, several firms have petitioned the Michigan Unemployment Compensation…

THREE separate classifications of insurance coverage are given passenger cars. Your own insurance rate will be dependent both upon the classification into which your car falls and amount of coverage. Insurance rates are. lowest for Class Al and highest for Class B, with Class A falling in between. Class A assureds include every passenger automobile that isn’t required in use for the business occupation of the named insured or any person customarily operating the automobile, except in going to and from his principal place of occupation, profession or business. In this same category, too, are included all passenger autos owned by farmers or clergymen. Class Al meets the requirements of Class A and, in addition, the qualifier for this category must sign an application stating that his automobile is not…

PLANS are being completed to obtain many of the finest automotive creations in the United States for display at the First Annual Motorama which will be held in Los Angeles November 16 to 19, inclusive. This motorized equipment display will feature several of the record-breaking streamliners, roadsters, lakesters and coupes from the Bonneville National Speed Trials as well as top flight custom cars, sports cars and foreign creations from this area. With the spacious Shrine Convention Hall as the locale, Motorama will also offer a dazzling exhibit of motorcycles, boats and airplanes. The management hopes to procure a number of airplanes from local manufacturers which have not heretofore been placed on public display. In the boat field, it appears almost certain that the world-famous Slo-Mo-Shun from Seattle, Washington, sensation of…

FINISH POSITIONS…

The Research engineers of our nation’s key industry met a couple of months ago in Detroit. Inter-company secrecy was set aside as these highly-trained specialists pooled their knowledge to conquer what seemed to them a major problem in the design of the 1951 automobiles. The findings of this conference in Detroit will directly affect you, the consumer. Try and guess what the problem was that had the engineers bothered. Go ahead, Ford and Buick owners of the world, close your eyes and think for a few minutes. And while such obvious possibilities as engine efficiency, body weight, engine relocation, effective streamlining, and increased durability are pattering through your mind, I’ll prepare the fainting pillows and a draught of reviving fluid. Give up? The problem was seats—softer seats. Believe it or…

THE BONNEVILLE Salt Flats in Utah were a busy place in August and September as the So. Calif. Timing Association held its Second Annual National Speed Trials and the AAA conducted U.S. and in ternational record runs for the Mormon Meteor and the Cummins Diesel Special. Records were broken from one end of the flats to the other, as fantastic times were set by many cars. Of interest to the motoring world at large was that two hot rods (Class C Streamliners in the S.C.T.A.) broke 200 mph: the So-Cal Special and the Kenz Twin-Ford. The So-Cal Special (see photograph—No. 2) set a new Bonneville record of 208.927 mph on a two-way record run over a measured mile, with a fastest time of 210.896 and a ¼-mile one-way run of…

MOST brilliant newcomer to the British sports car scene is the “hand finished, one at a time” Connaught, a thoroughbred machine highly competitive in performance if not in price. Its maker is Rodney Clarke, prominent member of British Bugattidom, owner of several fantastic Bugs, racing driver, jazz collector, and founder of two famous enterprises: Continental Cars Ltd., and Connaught Engineering. The Connaught project began humbly with Clarke’s decision to build a reliable, fairly inexpensive, up-to-date sports racing car for entry in ‘49 events. Driven by Clarke and his friend Kenneth McAlpine, the car’s success was instantaneous, orders began rolling in for more Connaughts, and the “one at a time” factory was born in the shops of Continental Cars, which had always specialized in racing and sports car maintenance. Soon enough…