Innehållsförteckning för October 1949 från MotorTrend

FOR THE FIRST time on record in the history of California Open Track Racing, an all-foreign car event, sponsored by the Foreign Car Racing Association, was held at Carrell Speedway in Gardena, on July 24th. The 8000 fans present were also treated to another first in the form of a woman driver from England competing in a special match race against the second fastest male driver of the evening. The events were run from a standing start and clockwise around the track (left to right). The competing cars were divided into three classes: “A,” for large sports cars, “B,” for small sports cars, and “C,” for economy sedans. The small sports car made up the largest group and consisted of MG-TC’s, including two supercharged models and one six-cylinder 1936 MG…

IT’S SO LONG ago that some things are hazy, yet the California Road Races were so interesting that I’ll never be able to entirely forget them. I recall the 1914 race on Feb. 28th, which was won by a comparative dark horse, Eddie Pullen. It was much more interesting than the race held two days earlier from the reports I heard of that race. Do you recall where the Santa Monica course was? Some people speak of the Speedway between Ocean Park and Venice as being the race course, but they never saw a road race there. The course started on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, turned northward on Wilshire Boulevard and turned left again at San Vicente Boulevard, ending up on Ocean. The course was 8.4 miles long and…

JAGUAR SALOON—Serving as a suitable backdrop for the new Jaguar Mark V Saloon is the Queen Victoria Memorial, in the square before the entrance to Buckingham Palace. With this new Jaguar there is a choice of either a 2½ litre or 3½ litre engine. Both engines are six-cylinder, overhead valve, with the small one having an actual displacement of 2663 cc (162.45 cu. in.) For the 3½ litre, bhp at 4600 rpm is 102 with a compression ratio of 7.3:1. Suspension is torsional, independent in front and half-elliptics in the rear. Tubular shock absorbers are used at the front wheels; Girling P.V. 7 hydraulic dampers are used at the rear. Body features include concealed door hinges and push-button door handles. Tools, provided with the car, are housed in a specially-shaped…

Photographs sent in for use in this department become the property of MOTOR TREND and will not be returned. Contributors should give their name and address and all pertinent information about their car. THIS ‘39 FORD V-8 convertible sedan, owned by G. L. Harlander of Oakland, California, has a stock engine. The body and top have been lowered and the nose and turtledeck have been smoothed off. The car also has a 1946 Chevrolet grille. THIS CAR, with a wooden body set on a ‘40 Mercury frame, was made by Gene Dupertius, a cabinet maker. Powered by a full-race ‘40 Mercury engine, the car features a Dodge grille and DeSoto bumpers. THIS ‘49 HUDSON has an unusually smooth appearance since the tail lights have been removed and the license plate…

TO MOST PERSONS, the MG Midget has always been a question mark. As they see it drive down the street or streak along the highway, a look of wonderment comes over their faces. Does it really perform? Or does it just look like it? Determined to settle this matter, at least to our satisfaction, two members of our staff journeyed to a local foreign car dealer, International Motors, Inc. There we arranged for a road test of the latest series MG, the “TC.” The MG was originally developed by several mechanics working in the Morris Garages, who assembled one car from parts of other Nuffield cars (Morris and Riley). The car performed so well that it was put into full-scale production. Since its introduction in 1929 by the MG Car…

NOTE: Mr. Jergenson, who now heads Art Center School’s transportation department, was, for n years, the chief designer for General Motors Cadillac Division. He is using the knowledge gained there to considerable advantage through instructing some of our future designers. A resident of Santa Barbara, he is considered an authority on automotive and other trans port at ion design.—Ed it or. THE KEYNOTE to automobile design is realism. Without this, designs may be made that are neither practical nor advisable. That is why Art Center students are taught the General Motor’s method—that of designing, then actually building the individual design. About one quarter of Art Center School’s total student body of 1,000 young people specialize in the study of industrial design during their third and fourth years. They have by…

NOTE: This article is a digest of the article, “Technical Highlights of Postwar Automobiles,” Parts 1 and 2, which appeared in the May and June 1949 issues of the SAE JOURNAL. This is the first part of the digest.—Editor. IN THE CLOSING years of the war there was considerable speculation regarding the postwar automobile, but in view of the insatiable demand for vehicles, production from available jigs, tools and dies seemed more feasible than to attempt to make immediate modifications. No experimental work was permissible during the war years so that an immediate introduction of brand-new models was out of the question. In the middle of 1946, Studebaker courageously pioneered a bold new design in which the powerplant and the passenger compartment were moved considerably forward, individual front fenders ceased…

BEFORE AND AFTER photos of a ‘41 Buick Special club coupe shows what can be done to restyle a stock model without detracting from the original lines. Work was done by several stylists for the owner, Vic Grace of Los Angeles, California. The lowness of this Buick has been achieved by channeling the frame and chopping the top 3½ inches. The top was made by Carson. The front and rear fenders are both sealed into the body. All ridges have been removed, and the body has been almost completely dechromed. The headlights are sealed into the fenders to carry out the smooth contour and a ‘46 Chevrolet grille has been substituted for the original Buick front end. The hood houses a Buick engine with a Harman & Collins super cam.…

The car for this road test was furnished to MOTOR TREND by Paul G. Hoffman, Inc., Studebaker dealer at 903 West Seventh Street in Los Angeles, California. ADVERTISING THEIR products as the “next look in cars,” the Studebaker Corporation has taken a bold step in producing a car that is strikingly different in apearance. Chief proponents of post war features such as the forward-placed powerplant, full front fenders, rear seat off the axle, and augmented glass area, the Studebaker designers, Raymond Loewy Associates, have again broken away from convention in this latest design. Instead of following the trend of most postwar cars, with the square frontal areas and lowered grilles, Studebaker presents an airplane-type apearance, with its hood and fenders “cut away” so that the car appears to be leaning…

This month’s presentation by Colonel Alexis de Sakhnoffsky is a sports design for a chassis with the engine in the rear. The top elevation shows the general design of the car, with the driver placed well forward for greater visibility. The downward sweep of the waistline at the windshield provides the popular low position for the elbow, without actually cutting away the door. Other interesting feattires of this design include massive bumpers with a molded rubber center piece, an arm-rest with a concealed telephone and radio controls, a shallow instrument panel in conjunction with a simply-designed steering wheel, and a rakish sweep of the car at the rear.…

BIGGEST NEWS OF 1911, at least for non-car owners, was the organization of two automotive concerns whose sole productivity was to be turned to the manufacture of taxicabs. Had the day of the motor car truly arrived? Would it be possible for gas engines to transplant horse-drawn Hansom cabs? The Shaw Livery Company of Chicago and the Diggs Ordnance Company of Sharon, Pennsylvania, thought so and went to work on their motor taxis in great secrecy. The Shaw product was powered by a Continental 27.2 hp engine. It was a tourer model of 120-inch wheelbase and offered a “luxury” ride on 5-inch tires. The other taxi was the Twombley, pictured here, which is still rated as one of the most unusual of American-made automobiles. The 1911 model Twombley, identical to…