Indholdsfortegnelse for July 1951 i MotorTrend

DETROIT, MICHIGAN—An economic and social revolution is brewing in the Motor City. Make no mistake about the importance of events now shaping up for the auto industry in the field of labor-management relations, even though you see little publicity about them for months to come. They revolve around the UAW-CIO’s long-time dream of a “Guaranteed Annual Wage” as a means of reassuring uninterrupted employment in normal times for its more than a million members…. The opening gun has been fired by the union, and during the next three and a half years it will press this campaign relentlessly. Actual negotiations will start in 1955 when present contracts come up for renewal. Should this annual wage drive be successful it is likely to establish a new method of operation for manufacturers,…

EXCALIBUR, the name of King Arthur’s mighty sword, is also the name of an “automobile of tomorrow” which is one firm’s obvious reply to GM’s Le Sabre. The firm is Brooks Stevens Associates, long connected with Willys-Overland and noted in the industry for its creation of the Jeepster. While realizing that Le Sabre is not an executive’s hot rod but actually a well-planned piece of test equipment, the Stevens organization has proceeded to base its thrust into future design upon the sound principles of safety, economy, clean-cut lines. Stevens himself says, “People like the racy lines and open air driving of convertibles and sports cars. But the popular American car will continue to meet the demands of normal dimensions, normal seating capacity, and maximum safety features.” Despite their sporty styling,…

NOTE: In future issues of MOTOR TREND Griff Borgeson, along with Associate Editor Dick van Osten, will be conducting the majority of our Motor Trials. Griff’s many years of automotive background, including several years of field work as a test engineer, give him the objective viewpoint so necessary to the forming of responsible judgments.—Editor. IN A WORLD seething with radical changes in automotive design, Lincoln continues with its big, traditional L-head power plant, and with it, against cars powered by admittedly more efficient engines, won this year’s Mobilgas Economy Run. Trade scuttlebutt has it that a rival manufacturer with a super-economical design was so certain of winning the Run that thousands of dollars were spent on preparing a publicity campaign based on his make’s win. But Lincoln did it. How?…

SKEPTICS who wonder about the durability of customized bodies would do well to consider this example. Built almost three years ago by the Barris Kustom Shop, Lynwood, California, for Johnny Zaro, this 1941 Ford convertible is as perfect as the day it was completed. Beginning with the original ’41 design, the body was channeled eight ins. The insertion of a straight rear crossmember dropped the whole assembly another three ins., a total of 11 ins.! A feature of this car is the fact that stock springs are used, giving a normal ride. The top was cut 4?ins. and a new top was built by Chavez. The hood and fender fadeaways were hand-formed from sheet stock to fit body contours. The rear fenders and fadeaways were then molded into a permanent…

THIS USED to be a nice, clean little business,” an anonymous builder said bitterly. He stabbed at the classified section of the newspaper with his cigar. “Look! Look at these prices!” Rebuilt Ford engines were advertised for $79.50 in one column, $59.25 in another, $99.50 in a third. “I build these things and I know what they cost,” he snapped, brushing the newspaper off his desk, “and I know that no retail exchange shop can live on prices like that.” This particular man, now a wholesale builder of rebuilt engines, once operated a retail shop. When the fast-buck hustlers moved into the business shortly after the war, he quietly withdrew from competition by closing his retail branch. That was four years ago. Now, with practical cynicism, he sells wholesale rebuilt…

CUSTOM-CAR owners need professional guidance in the design and crafting of body panels. The exterior is for the public to see, admire, eventually imitate through pressure on the Detroit body-stylers. But the interior, from left door panel to right door panel, firewall to rear-window ledge, is the owner’s private domain. He can specify materials, colors, patterns to his own taste. In custom-car interiors the revolt against the conservative past has been carried to a successful conclusion. Until the birth of the modern re-styled automobile, custom interiors were the exclusive property of the wealthy owners of classic cars of yesteryear. As the classic cars fell from favor, extravagant fabrics and gold-plated door handles became unfashionable. It seems a lifetime since the New York Times reviewed the special salon exhibition of Duesenbergs…

THE BRIGGS CUNNINGHAM SPORTS CAR is out of the rumor and guess stage and into production. Designed to meet the standards of even super-enthusiasts, the Cunningham is certainly a threat to the best of Europe’s current crop. Although the first models are tagged for the LeMans 24 Hour Race, subsequent production cars will be available in the early fall. A choice of two power plants is offered, the 160 hp Cadillac or the newly introduced 180 hp Chrysler V-8. These engines may be stock or the Cunningham organization will provide a modified version at additional cost. The JeDion type rear end is driven through a three speed Syncromesh gearbox and a single plate dry disc clutch. A two-speed quick change straddle section or an overdrive are also optional equipment. Front…

THE SCINTILLA VERTEX Magneto embodies the functions of a complete battery ignition system, yet is entirely independent of the car’s battery. The same hot spark is delivered to spark plugs regardless of weak cells, poor connections or low specific gravity. Due to the principles of magnetic force, the higher the rotational speeds the more intense is the delivered spark. Where the battery ignition system tends to break down at high speeds, due to its greater mechanical complexity, the magneto ignition holds an upward curve. As a Swiss import, it has the same traditional craftsmanship that characterizes the country’s fine watches. The materials are of the best, including platinum breaker points. The Vertex magneto operates on the same principle as other Scintilla types: a rotating magnet, stationary armature and condenser placed…

YOU DON’T need an XK-120 to have fun and sport on wheels. The rugged, roadworthy four-wheel-drive Jeep, with its unique qualifications for plowing through ultra-tough terrain, can be as much a challenge to driving skill as more orthodox road-racers. All this and more was proved by 425 hardy adventurers who converged on Hemet, California, to participate in the third annual “DeAnza Trail Jeep Cavalcade.” The Jeepers followed the early Spanish explorer’s tracks from Hemet to Borrego Springs—a short hop which has only one drawback: there’s no road. Its 60 miles of swamp, mountain, desert, and rock are grounds for one of the most grueling two-day rallies anywhere. The 174 Jeeps were assembled for an early-morning start. Some, like true high-performance iron, had been towed to the scene by conventional cars.…

PALM SPRINGS Road Race was the first major event of the American sports car season. This was its second annual installment and. carrying experimental AAA sanction, the desert race attracted top entries from all parts of the country, even from Europe. The machinery on hand at Palm Springs represented the calibre of equipment that will vie for honors this year: equipment imported in a state of perfect finish, equipment hand-made at home in an effort to fill the gap that—as yet—holds no interest for America’s commercial manufacturers. The cars pictured on these pages point up current trends—the quest for better lap times through finer machinery, supercharging, increased displacement, improved braking, faster cornering. Sports car racing here is rapidly coming of age, as these cars testify. They are creating a new…

WITH A SPLENDID record of success in the Monte Carlo Rally, the International Alpine Trials and other rough and tumble long distance competitions, the Sunbeam-Talbot 90 has acquired a world wide reputation for stamina and reliability under extremely arduous conditions. It was therefore with keen anticipation that I accepted the assignment to test one of these cars. It was still more gratifying to learn that Mr. Timothy Rootes, Western Regional Director of Rootes, Ltd., manufacturers of the Sunbeam-Talbot. had kindly offered to place his personal car at the disposal of Motor Trend Research’s staff for test purposes. By the time I arrived at the Rootes Ltd. office in Beverly Hills I had built up a vivid mental picture of fur-coated adventurers battling their way over snow-choked Alpine passes, and I…

AS COSTS rise, doing your own work on your car becomes more and more profitable. Armed with a good book on repair and a few basic tools, and with a good place to work, even the beginner can save as he learns—and. just as important, achieve a real sense of accomplishment and self-sufficiency. Nevertheless, the amateur’s start is too often wrong. His equipment is either makeshift and inadequate, or so costly that the original investment is greater than the anticipated savings. We’re all inclined to be tool mad. The symptoms are an irresistible attraction toward hardware stores and tool jobbers, an empty wallet, and a garage full of unused but decorative tools. The cure is hard to prescribe, but is compounded of fortitude and a hard-headed attitude that every tool…

THE CAR of the month is an unusual combination of Chrysler’s three best classic years. Chassis was built in 1931, body is of 1932 design, completed job was delivered in 1933 to a Memphis, Tenn. Chrysler distributor. In the catalogues, it is listed as Custom Imperial phaeton, body by LeBaron. Total price, F.O.B. Detroit—strap yourself down before reading—$3,395. Chassis alone could be purchased from the factory for $2,145. Other LeBaron bodies available for about the same price included a convertible coupe, convertible sedan in 1932 and 1933; convertible coupe, roadster, hard-top coupe in 1931. Other Custom Imperial bodies in this period were built by Chrysler. No reliable figures are available for 1931, but the total sale of Custom Imperials for 1932 was 226 and the following year only 154 found…

THE MASTER FOUNTAIN BRUSH WILL SHORTLY BE AVAILABLE … at a price which should make it “must” equipment for the Sunday motoring maintenance “expert.” Easy to operate, light and simple in construction, equipped with an ingenious universal joint arrangement which makes difficult corners accessible, a valve action which provides a rinse with a flick of the finger, and economical with soap, this brush will enable Mr. Car Owner to do a swift and professional wash job on the family car. For details write Master Fountain Brush Co., 522 Hazard Ave., Los Angeles 63, Calif. A NEW FULLY AUTOMATIC DEVICE FOR KEEPING AUTO AND OTHER INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES WARM even in sub-zero temperatures has recently been placed on the market. Called Redi-Warm, it consists of three simple units that may be…