Innehållsförteckning för February 1950 från MotorTrend

NOTE: Many varied descriptions are written about sports cars, with none of them agreeing on more than a few of their points. The following description, as set forth by author G. T. Darwin, most closely agrees with our conception of a sports car.—Editor. FREQUENTLY in conversations or through correspondence columns, one runs across references to sports cars phrased in such a way that considerable doubt is left in the reader’s mind as to whether the speaker or writer is aware of exactly what constitutes a sports car. At this point, members of certain opposing factions will probably be rolling up their sleeves and looking about for suitable weapons of offense and defense. The reason is, of course, that a precise definition has eluded the experts ever since the sports car…

STYLED for a stylist, the 1947 Buick Super convertible in the accompanying photographs is a Barris Kustom Shop creation, created for Mario, a custom upholsterer of Los Angeles, California. Along with being completely dechromed (top, sides, nose, and deck), the body has been dropped considerably and ’48 Cadillac Fleetwood fenders have been sealed into the body panel. The ’48 Cadillac grille has been pushed rearward two inches, necessitating cutting of the hood. The grille height has also been reduced three inches. To complete the Cadillac motif, the front and rear bumpers are both from a ’48 Cadillac. Push button door handles are used for the hood, the doors and the deck lid. The turtle’deck has-been smoothed off and is operated by an electrical screwjack for raising and lowering. The car…

NEW CARS which have appeared on the market recently include the Pontiac, the Hudson Pacemaker, the Ford and the Mercury. Due to appear on January 7 is the 1950 Chevrolet, which will feature an automatic transmission of the torque converter type. A new model, following the pattern of other GM products, is included in the Chevrolet line and will be known as the Bel-Air. It is a pseudo-convertible of the hard-top type. The major mechanical changes by Pontiac are in the 8-cylinder engine, which has a ⅛-inch larger bore, giving it a displacement of 268 cubic inches and a rating of 108 bhp at 3800 rpm. Wheelbase and body styles of all lines remain basically the same. The Mercury has generalized improvements throughout, including a changed grille, different interiors and…

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 the car.…

The car for this road test was furnished to Motor Trend by Jack Gaynor, Hudson car dealer at 1122 S. La Brea, Inglewood, California. THE HUDSON Motor Car Company’s invasion of the smaller car class shows an apparent trend by many of the large-car companies to get into the lower priced field. The new Hudson Pacemaker, although actually not a small car nor in the low-priced field, nevertheless should give serious competition to the Pontiac-Dodge-Buick Special class. Anxious to determine how this new car performed, we arranged for a road test with Jack Gaynor, Hudson dealer of Inglewood, California. At 9:25 on the morning of an overcast day, we drove a four-door sedan Pacemaker, painted a beautiful peacock green, out of the garage and headed for the open highway. The…

THE OFFENHAUSER midget engine, manufactured by Meyer & Drake Engineering Corporation of Los Angeles, is used by a great many midget racers throughout the United States. Since the original engine—patterned after the Indianapolis big car racing engines—was first built in 1934, over 400 Offies have been built to meet the demand for this particular type of engine. Although the basic design has remained practically unchanged from that date, except for improvements in valve timing, compression ratios, bearing design, etc., a new Offenhauser engine has just been unveiled to the public, one which will be of interest to both racing and sports car enthusiast alike. This is the Meyer-Drake 107-cujbic-inch supercharged special. The engine itself is very similar to the original Offie engine, but the new supercharger and the first car…

NOTE: In the. following article, staff writer George Finneran continues his discussion of the Duesenberg Series J. In the first part of this article (Jan. ’50, Motor Trend), he covered “the body beautiful.”—Editor. RATHER than snow you under with a mass of facts and figures about the technical aspects of the Duese, let’s take some of its more remarkable features and look them over. For instance, the cylinder block and head contain one per cent nickel and chrome in the iron castings because “it resists the hammering-down action of the valves, and reduces cylinder wall wear to a minimum.” Intake valves (driven off the left camshaft) are 1½ inch in diameter, while exhaust valves are 1⅞-inch diameter, both with a shim-adjusted clearance of .025 inch. Compression ratio listed in 1928…

THE DAYS of dusters and goggles became a reality once more when the Horseless Carriage Club held their 12th Annual Field Meet at the General Motors Plant in South Gate, California. Seventy-one old cars, most of them in flawless condition, provided spectators with memories of days gone by. At 10 AM, the cars were arriving in groups of twos and threes, some driven many miles by their owners, while others arrived on trailers. This meet was attended by more spectators than any previous meet staged in this area, proving that interest in old cars is not only holding its own, but is increasing. The cars were parked in orderly rows for the benefit of spectators’ examination. Whenever a member opened the hood of his old car, he was immediately surrounded…

ITALY: Better late than not at all, the answer to Mercedes-Auto-Union prewar supremacy seems to have arrived in the new Cisitalia 1500 cc (91.5 cu. in.) Grand Prix competition job recently added to its famous 1100 cc (67.1 cu. in.) line. Eleven months on the drawing-board, thirteen months in construction, the Porsche-designed racer will, by conservative estimate, reach 220 mph plus … there’s quiet talk about 250. Technically: Rear-mounted engine is a twelve-barrel flat opposed with two camshafts and two carburetors per block, two valves per cylinder. Each block has its own blower, and the mill develops 300 bhp at 8500 rpm, but will peak at around 10,000! A five-speed gear box is used and, in addition to the normal rear drive, there’s a front drive which can be engaged…

Letters published in this department are the opinions of the writers and are not to be construed as those of the editors. Address correspondence to: Letters From Our Readers, Motor Trend, 548 South San Vicente Boulevard, Los Angeles 48, California. CUSTOMIZED TRIUMPH . . . I am enclosing a couple of pictures of my somewhat custom ’48 Triumph. “The guys on the curb” really think it’s great. Ed Gaylord Winnetka, Illinois AND FAR INTO THE NIGHT In reference to the letter from Sam Hunter, in the December 1949 issue of your magazine, concerning the $10,000 “gas-eating iron crates of yesterday,” I would like to state that I strongly disagree with the opinion expressed in this letter. Mr. Hunter stated that a customized hopped-up Mercury would make a nice showing compared…

ON FEBRUARY 15-16 of this year, the world’s largest stock car mileage test will be resumed by the General Petroleum Corporation. Known as the 1950 Mobilgas Grand Canyon Run, this year’s event is a resumption of the famed economy runs started by Gilmore in 1936. The route the cars will travel in this year’s run is from Los Angeles through Death Valley to Las Vegas, where the contestants will spend the first night of the two-day trek. Leaving Las Vegas the next morning, they will cross Hoover Dam and head for the finish line at the Bright Angel Lodge, on the south rim of the Grand Canyon. All cars competing in the run of 751.3 miles must finish within an elapsed time of 18 hours and 30 minutes. Failure to…

A LIGHT summer breeze rustled the leaves along a quiet country road in the beautiful, forested Belgian valley of the Eau Rouge. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a distant hum swelled to a shattering scream as a low, silver car flashed in the sun and was gone. This is road racing, foreign style, and that was Hermann Lang pushing his Type-163 Mercedes on the fast leg of the Spa road circuit. He hit better than 180 mph along there—along the same road you might drive today when touring Europe. All right, so you saw a Novi Special turn 160 mph on the back stretch at Indianapolis. But we can promise you that you haven’t seen everything in auto racing by any means till you’ve watched a rear-engine Auto-Union take the brow…

IT WOULD be as futile for me as an automotive designer to predict automobile design trends for 1960 as it would be for a clothing connoisseur to predict what kind of clothes women will be wearing 10 years from today. However, all automobile designers, just as fashion experts, are naturally “future style” conscious. Two things an automotive designer has to bear in mind at all times are current trends and public acceptability. For example, Chrysler designed their first Airflow in 1934. This car was a variation of the tear drop design (which many automobile designers had predicted was the coming trend) with a narrow nose and airflow shaped fenders. Chrysler, however, made the mistake of ignoring the current trends in automobile design for that year. When they did realize their…

RECENT activity by the Foreign Car Group of California included a gymkhana, held on November 6th at Oxnard Airport, near Santa Barbara. In all, there were 20 entries, with the course laid out similarly to that described on page 14 of the September ‘49 issue of Motor Trend. The purpose of the gymkhana is to test a person’s driving skill. The driver to finish with the fastest time, without knocking over traffic cones systematically placed around the course, is the winner. Fastest time turned in the men’s division was by E. Alan Moss in an MG. Second, third and fourth, respectively, went to Gordon Speck, Jack Fancher, and Dan Dickinson, who all drove MG’s. First place in the women’s division was annexed by Joan Moss, driving her husband’s MG, with…

DOUBTLESS, the most colorfully named car of 1905 was the Rigs-That-Run, manufactured by the St. Louis Motor Carriage Company. But for sheer picturesque appearance the Model “F” Ford surrey (with fringe on top) was it. The Ford of 1905 was neither cheaper nor more expensive than most, nor more nor less efficient. It was merely another model car, one of many. Ford had made his first car in 1893, But the first American-built gasoline automobile was not sold until five years later when Robert Allison of Port Carbon, Pa., bought one of Alexander Winton’s vapor cars. The Ford Motor Company wasn’t organized until the summer of 1903, ten years after Ford proved he, too, could build an operable vehicle. And through 1905, the strip-model, two-cylinder Model “A” runabout, that cost…