Innehållsförteckning för January 1951 från MotorTrend

IN A THRILLING climax to a hard-fought battle against tough competition, Phil Hill maneuvered his clutchless Jaguar XK-120 through swirling fog and picturesque pines to victory in the 25-lap Pebble Beach Cup of the First Annual Pebble Beach Road Race. On a 1.8-mile course laid out on asphalt and dirt roads on the Monterey Peninsula, Hill showed superior driving skill: he drove the entire race with a burned-out clutch, his car was push-started, and he had to shift gears merely by feel. Winning with such a handicap is indeed commendable. The Pebble Beach Road Race was the third such event conducted by the same group of officials (San Francisco Region of SCCA and MG Car Club) and their experience as a team really told. Intentionally, advance publicity was limited—an audience…

STEVE WAS one of those drivers who works his passengers. Eyen his wife would emerge from a cross-town trip with a sore ankle from pressing hard against the floorboard, frantically trying to apply the brakes. Back-seat guests spent the journey squeezing the upholstered coat-hanger while they sat bolt upright in suspense and silently prayed or cursed. There would be an audible sigh of gratitude when a particularly deadly intersection had been safely negotiated—a whistle of relief as a bug-eyed pedestrian jumped clear. This attitude toward his driving made Steve very angry. He would patiently explain that he was not a dangerous driver. All his accidents had been minor ones, little fender-wrinkling collisions that didn’t even hurt the car, let alone the passengers. Nobody ever had to worry when old Steve…

THE YEAR 1900 was not only the first year of the century; it was also witness to many “firsts” in the automotive industry. Things such as the steering wheel (first used on Packard and Orient Voiturette), engine under the front hood (Columbia), gearshift lever on the steering column (Peerless Motorette), and the air-cooled engine (Knox). The Knox engine was called the “Porcupine,” because in place of cooling fins it had a series of ⅛-in. dia. by two-in. long pins screwed into the cylinder head and wall. Its valve system was no less unique; there was only one valve in the combustion chamber of its sole cylinder. The passage from this valve led to another valve, which switched back and forth between the carburetor and exhaust pipe. The year 1901 was…

DETROIT, MICHIGAN—imposition of stringent Federal credit regulations governing the sales of new and used cars has jarred the automotive industry. Although production continues at near record levels, dealers report that sales have seriously declined since Regulation W became effective. Under the new controls buyers must pay one-third cash and clean up the balance in 15 months. The Detroit Automobile Dealers Association says that during the first seven days after the credit rules went into operation, sales of new cars in the Motor City and its suburbs dropped 50.5 per cent. Used car sales skidded 59.5 per cent. A Chicago survey paints the same picture. The Chicago Automobile Trade Association, after canvassing 185 out of its 500 members, reports a drop in new car sales of 40 per cent and a…

THE MOST WONDERFUL AND EXCITING PERIOD OF AMERICA’S PAST is probably the span from the time the automobile was born and grew up into the giant of industry it is today. The personal history of this exciting period is told in an interesting and witty style by M. M. Musselman in the new J. P. Lippin-cott book, “Get A Horse.” For the nostalgic and newcomer alike this book is interesting from cover to cover, full of incidents and events you’ve heard about but never read. And you’ll also read about cars you’ve wondered about: electrics, steam cars, one, three, and five-cyl. freaks and spring-wound cars. For a comprehensive report of automotive progress, “Get A Horse” is the book for you. In the words of the author, “This book is for…

IF YOU’RE familiar with the power and acceleration of Ford products, you were probably as credulous as I was by the announcement that the Ford automatic transmission was to be used on cars without in-creasing the engine power output. You no doubt thought, “The ’51 Ford can’t possibly go as good now as it did.” If you’re of this belief, then you’re in for a surprise. And if you’re not a “leadfoot” now, you probably will be after driving the Fordomatic. The test of the ’51 Ford was necessarily shrouded in secrecy: only our research staff and the Ford Motor Company was aware it was taking place. Since the ’51 Fords had not yet had their first public showing in dealers’ windows, it was necessary (at the Ford Motor Company’s…

AFTER three years on the drawing board the Story Sports Car has become a true story. The designer and builder, Tom Story, began construction in September, 1949, and by spending a large share of his free time on the car had completed it by October, 1950. The car had originally been built for the owner’s personal use, but since then there has been some speculation that the car might be produced in limited quantities. Contours of various cars were used whenever possible but almost complete reshaping was needed on most of the sections to achieve the unusually clean flowing lines. The body and frame are chrome moly tubing, with frame rails made of channel chrome moly, four inches deep. A convertible, removable top has been designed for the Story by…

JUST as it was to many other aspiring entrants, the Ford Anglia Body Design Contest conducted by Motor Trend was a personal challenge to Vincent Gardner of South Bend, Indiana. After the announcement in the August, 1950, issue that a design contest was to be started, Mr. Gardner began to give the idea some thought. When the drawings appeared in the September, 1950 issue he immediately set to work on his plans. The results of his many hours of labor (including a plaster cast scale model) can be seen in the accompanying photographs. It was a difficult task for the judges to choose a winner from among the hundreds of entries—varying in style and presentation from rough sketches, through engineering blueprints to full-color drawings. It was an interesting contest to…

A POLL OF opinion among sports car owners on the subject of improvement of future meets boils down to these basic suggestions: disconnect or mask tachs and speedometers, leaving top speeds to the drivers’ judgment without the goad of instruments; make strict driving tests compulsory for all participants, particularly those piloting very fast equipment; use cars with P.A. systems to patrol the course before and between events, warning and ordering spectators away from danger spots; emphasize skill rather than speed, with slower, more difficult courses; ban high speed racing in amateur events, and substitute simple acceleration tests, standing and flying quarters when speed is the object; if you’re going to go fast, go pro—with enough compensation to underwrite costly cars, trained mechanics, practiced drivers, but if you want motoring at…

RUNNING a comprehensive test on an item such as undercoating is quite difficult; much must be left up to the individual’s general feel about the improvements. However, when we decided to undertake this accessory trial we felt that a direct comparison before and after the undercoating was applied, with the test car being driven over all road conditions, would give the reader the best possible insight into the advantages or disadvantages of undercoating. The test car, a ’50 Ford using standard tires with 32 lbs. air pressure, was driven over tar strips, rutty roads, gravel and dirt roads, over washboard highways, and over railroad tracks. Notes were made on the amount of noise and other conditions that resulted. Then the car was driven over to Miller’s Underseal Service, 2439 W.…

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, 1015 So. La Cienega Boulevard, Los Angeles 35, California. RETURN OF THE CLASSICS? Gentlemen: … I would like to know when and if you are ever going to go back to printing the very good type of articles with excellent photographs on “Classic Cars” (very fine and custom built American automobiles for 1925-1942) such as you had in the early issues of MOTOR TREND. I know of quite a lot of other people who are interested in these cars and who would like to see more written about them. John VanCrane brockEvanston, Illinois —It isn’t that we’ve been intentionally…

ALTHOUGH the practice of supercharging has become commonplace, and we no longer regard the supercharger itself with that silent awe we once assumed in its presence, there still exists some misunderstanding as to precisely what it is, why it is used, and how it works. This lack of popular familiarity with supercharging probably reached its zenith in a classified ad we saw some time ago in which a small sports car was represented as having “excellent performance, being blown and also supercharged.” At another time we overheard in the pits after a meet a not-so-knowledgeable but extremely audible fellow loudly holding forth on the “advantages” of a blower over a supercharger. Probably a lot of the current misinformation is due to the fact that the term supercharging itself is not…

… AND on these pages are the five honorable mentions, chosen from among hundreds of Ford Anglia Design Contest entries who each won $50 consolation prizes. The original Anglia chassis (see photo at right) was donated to MOTOR TREND for the purpose of a contest to arrive at a practical, functional body for the car. The body design was not limited to any particular style—and this can be seen in the designs shown here. The sports roadster design (above) submitted by Peter Parsons, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was to be built by him of laminated paper, with shellac as an adhesive, over plywood framing. The design for a four-passenger hardtop convertible, with removable top (upper right), was submitted by Al Crundall. No changes were in-tended to the chassis beyond cutting down the…

ENGLAND: The Allard sedan (or saloon, if you prefer) is now definitely in production, is as handsome and lively as its already famous soft-topped brothers. The divided front axle is still used, here with coil instead of transverse leaf springs. The sedan has, in addition to striking beauty, the same terrific cornering ability as the sportier models, is good for an honest 80-85 mph stock … 1951 trends: England’s rearmament program is gaining momentum, with a crushing effect on the would-be new car owner. Steel, thanks to its scarcity a villain of long standing, will become even more scarce, and while British cars will continue to court the export dollar, Mr. English Everyman must resign himself to a more extended relationship with his bicycle or tiring pre-war car. White hope…

NOTE—After using photos of three custom Chevys on the cover of the December 1950 issue and only describing two of them inside, we received several requests for the information about the third car. Here it is. —Editor…