Innehållsförteckning för April 1958 från MotorTrend

JUST BEFORE CHRISTMAS rumors were hot and heavy in Detroit: “Pontiac is planning to release an optional powerhouse.” “It’s good for 150!” “Puts out 360 horses!” “Is being tested in Mexico.” Separating fact from fancy in Detroit is like trying to strain lemon out of lemonade. But here’s what we found out in the garages of the motor city, at the factory, and on the beach at Daytona—where the first of the Super Tempest 395-A engines began strutting their stuff. What the Super Tempest engine(s) amount to are modified units putting out 315 and 330 horses, respectively, through the aid of different heads, a higher lift camshaft, a dual exhaust system, and a few other sundry changes. You can get the two setups on any Pontiac, with just a couple…

SO FAR WE’VE BEEN SOLD sedans for turnpiking, wagons for families without horses, and coupes with a back seat made for tiny elves. Now we have a car for people! Made by the Checker Cab Manufacturing Corp, of Kalamazoo, Mich., it’s a plainjane four-door sedan designed to transport people from Point A to Point B with a minimum of fuss and a maximum of comfort. Wide-opening square doors, chairheight seats and a 120-inch wheelbase do the job, and do it well. There is no cornucopia of paint or trim options—just one sedan with one engine and optional compression ratios, automatic or manual transmission, and power brakes, seats or steering. Unusual arrangement is Checker’s pricing system which does not include tires as standard equipment. You pick the rubber you want, as…

THIS 1930 CADILLAC was among the first of the V-l6s made during the classic days of the Great Depression. It has a 149-inch wheelbase but occupies a foot less space in the garage of its owner—Houston industrialist Charles M. Knipe—than does the 133-inch-wheelbase ’56 Cadillac 60 Special in the adjoining stall. Despite its longer wheelbase, the older car has much less overhang. The double-cowl sports phaeton tips the scales at over 6000 pounds, and was priced, when new, at slightly more than $1 per pound. Its 16-cylinder powerplant develops 185 horsepower at 3400 rpm. The engine will run nicely on either of its two banks of eight cylinders, equipped with pushrod-actuated overhead valves with hydraulic lifters. A compression ratio of 5.7 to 1 enables the big car to fare quite…

TOP SECRET has long been a mild classification of secrecy around Detroit’s proving grounds when it comes to discussing results of comparative car test programs. Now, if NASCAR has its way, you can not only test your car and driving skill, but read about identical tests of every American car. Whether the manufacturers like it or not, comparison tests in the handling and brake department will soon be public news. This project has been office conversation for a number of years in racing circles. When, in 1957, the Automobile Manufacturers Association “recommended” that factories no longer participate or advertise speed in performance records, something new was needed for car makers to hang their advertising claims around. NASCAR’s “Traffic Passing Test” and “Stop and Go Test” are designed to be that…

GERMANY BMW is currently developing a four-cylinder, 1.5- or 1.6-liter car with their traditional sports car characteristics. If this new BMW can match the performance of cars like the Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce, it will undoubtedly find a ready market. GREAT BRITAIN A production version of the Bond Minicar Mark E economy runabout has recently been announced by the British makers, Sharp’s Commercials Ltd. New features consist of a substantial chassis frame, streamlined two-three seater with two doors instead of one, sliding windows and wrap-around windshield, full width parcel shelf and front and rear bumpers and overriders. The l97cc Villiers 9-E engine is retained, but the old three-speed gearbox is replaced by a four-gear positive stop unit, complete with a key-operated Siba Dyna-starter. The Mark E also has the…

SELL ’25 BENTLEY 3-liter touring phaeton. All orig. parts. $1650 invested; sell for best cash offer f.o.b. Chattanooga. All inquiries answered; pix on request. No trades. Neil McDade, P.O. Box 831, Chattanooga 1. Tenn. ’14 BUICK rdstr. Restored & runs perfectly; 5 new tires, new paint & uph. Won concours firsts in ’56-’57. $1100; with spare engine, radiator, clutch, tires—$1200. J. W. Morton, 176 Gregory Lane, Salem Ore. ’46 LINCOLN CONTINENTAL hdtp., with Olds engine & Hydra-Matic. Real clean, body perf., paint fair. Real sound thruout. Will deliver up to 300 mi. $1400. Abe Walker, 2424 Bream Ave., Augusta, Ga. ’29 WILLYS-KNIGHT sed. with sleeve pistons. Body in good cond., also good running cond. Best offer accepted. F. F. Smith, 325 Runyon Ave., Middlesex, N.J. ’29 OLDSMOBILE in good running…

TO ALLOW greater latitude in body designs you may alter the length, angle, and position of the steering column and wheel shown on pages 40-41, March 1958 MOTOR TREND. Do not use drawings shown here as basis for designs. Official drawings are those in the March issue and design drawings must be made to that same scale. REMINDER Don’t fail to enter the CAR DESIGN CONTEST announced in the March ’58 MT. Remember, the deadline is June 1. This contest offers you a chance to win company stock, cash and cars as set forth in the official rules in the March issue.…

INSIDE AND OUT AUSTIN A-35 Deluxe 2-door Sedan ($1557) Gr. Britain Seats 4 with restricted rear seat legroom. Utilitarian but neat interior DKW 2-door Sedan ($1995) Germany Good distribution of passenger-luggage space. Seats 5 with adequate rear seat legroom. Excellent visibility all around. Overall length 170 in. FIAT 600 MULTIPLA ($1598) Italy Unique multiple service car. Only 141 in. long overall but seats 6. Rear wagon-type seats fold flush with floor. Also available in sleeper model FIAT 1130 4-door Sedan ($1655) Italy Unit chassis-body construction. Good utilization and distribution of passenger-luggage space. Good workmansh p and finish FORD ANGLIA ($1539) and PREFECT ($1639) Gr. Britain Anglia is 2-door, Prefect, 4-door. Both seat 4. Overall lengths 150 and 152 in. respectively. Utilitarian but neat styling and finish GOLIATH 1100 2-door Business…

THE DESIRE TO BUY A SPORTS CAR must come from within and we are not going to attempt to convince anyone that he should buy one. Our sole aim is to pick a few which have been found to be excellent buys and back those selections with reasons. What defines a sports car? One rule of thumb could be: If it can be successfully raced in formal speed contests on road courses against cars in the same displacement class, or even if it could have held its own in such company several years ago, then it’s a sports car. Exceptions come to light at once. For example, these days no one would actually consider winning a race in a Porsche with the standard engine—it takes a Super or a Carrera…

A MAJOR FACELIFT will be necessary when the Checker Car hits the market to compete with the majors. The public will like Checker economy, but will demand style, too. Manufacturing economics dictate retention of the basic taxicab body, top and doors, but fenders, deck, hood and hardware are more easily changed. With this in view, here is an artist’s concept of what could take place. The front and rear have both been lengthened, proportionately lowering the roof line which attains an illusion of lightness through use of massive chrome moldings above the drip rail and rear light. The body side molding, reminiscent of several popular cars, achieves a good breakup of the overly flat door panels. Hood and deck lines are lowered by use of upswept lips leading to the…

Only FURY offers you the all-important “three P’s” of modern driving—in a unique blending of family car comfort and the exciting capabilities of a true competition car! PRESTIGE comes naturally because, in your FURY, you are piloting neither a tough-talking “hot rod” nor an undersized “sports car,” but a supreme combination of the best features of both. PERFORMANCE is assured by FURY’s new Golden Commando V-8* engine: an utterly new design and a triumphant step forward in engineering… married to the magnificent roadability of famed Torsion-Aire suspension. Nylon tires standard equipment. No other production model in the low-priced three has them! PERSONALITY stands out in FURY’s exclusive Buckskin Beige and Gold finish… with tasteful interiors designed for discriminating sportsmen… special trim… and, crowning all, the FURY insignia—one of the great…

SHATTERING MARKS of 20 years’ standing, two new world’s records for the standing start kilometer in Class “B” and “C” have been submitted to the F.I.A. for approval. Under the sanction of the United States Auto Club, Calvin Rice in a Chrysler-powered dragster covered the distance in 18.1045 seconds for an average speed of 123.556 mph at March Field, Riverside, Calif, on February 2. This shattered the old Class “B” record of 117.3 mph set in 1937 by Bernd Rosemeyer in an Auto Union on the Reich-autobahn. On the same day, Ed Cortopassi broke the Class “C” record in his Glass Slipper Special. His time for the standing kilometer in this Chevrolet-powered dragster was 19.213 seconds for an average speed of 116.428 mph. The old record was also held by…

IN A SURPRISE MOVE GMC unveiled a full-scale electronic guidance system. It consists of two pickup coils, mounted on a. Chevrolet’s front bumper, and associated mechanisms within the cockpit and under the hood. Briefly, this experimental directional guidance system depends upon magnetic field strength. Any deviation laterally causes a difference in voltage between the pickup coils. The latter feed information into an analogue computer on the dash panel, and the computer then directs the car’s steering through a servo system linked to the modified power steering unit. In its present pioneering stage, it does not include a throttle or brake control. The guidance impulses are picked up from a 16-gauge wire imbedded in a 2½-mile circuit. WE HAD A CHANCE TO RIDE in a car equipped with this system. Directional…

A beautiful car…an engine full of waiting power…and, underneath, that final touch of perfection—the brilliant new Belond “500,” most sensational straight-through muffler ever built. You couldn’t ask for a sweeter combination…and you feel it from the feather touch of your throttle that swings you with a quiet burst of power from a standstill to a rush across the countryside in nothing flat. You sail, your engine breathing deeply, taking in the fuel evenly, effortlessly…exhaust gases sweeping through the thrust-action Spiral Core of your Belond “500”—and out! There’s nothing to hold you back. Hills level off…stiff grades are a breeze…your engine’s giving you everything it’s got—that EXTRA POWER that makes “just a drive” an adventure. And, you’re surprised to discover you’ve come a lot farther on less gas than ever before!…

THERE IS A CATEGORY OF IMPORTED CARS which seemingly defies all the rules. Its members are neither sports, economy nor luxury cars, although they may contain elements of all three. They do have a common price range. We have selected arbitrary limits of $2OOO-$3OOO in order to define the cost of a middle-priced import. All are selling in direct competition to many of Detroit’s products. Few of them will match the speed and acceleration of the average American car nor do they have the same amount of space for luggage and passengers. In many cases they are no easier to park. Nor is gasoline mileage necessarily a factor. Some get mileage up in the economy class but others gulp it down as do Detroiters. Why, then, do they sell? The…

BETWEEN 1952 AND 1957, Joe Bailon’s uniquely restyled customs have won the top national award at the Oakland Roadster Show (considered one of the best displays of customs on the entire West Coast) for an amazing five times. Now, with better than $50,000 invested in his seven-year-old custom shop at Hayward, Calif., he is credited with many customizing firsts, including airscoops, power-adjusted front seats, and the exclusive candy-apple paint mix—the only color he uses. The 12-coat lacquer job gracing the T-Bird on our cover (and shown here) cost $250 and is guaranteed to last at least two years. The ’41 Chevy custom at left was his first national award winner. In this year’s shows, he hopes to win again; on the following pages are some of his entries. REAR-END TREATMENT…

BORN IN CANADA, but now being manufactured in California, is a new Fiberglas body which incorporates a number of unique features. The “form should follow function” theorists will derive great satisfaction from this design. All body lines are a series of compound curves which are intended primarily to provide the body with an inherent stiffness. The result has been not only an extremely rigid body but also one that is highly pleasing to the eye. To add even greater stiffness, a box-section brace extends from the dash to the floor. The sharply raked windshield has a roll bar incorporated into the frame and coupled with the excellent aerodynamic characteristics of the body provides a cockpit which is remarkably free of side drafts and turbulence. The Conquest is manufactured by LaDawri…

IMAGINE IF YOU CAN an automobile factory so spotlessly clean as to give you the impression of nothing being machined there. Where elaborate mechanical claws reach out to retrieve a formed part from a press they had just fed a raw sheet of steel. Where miles of continuous conveyor belts run overhead with parts varying from a basket of bolts to a complete automobile body. Where the workers, if they glance up from their bench to look at the gawking visitors, as quickly look down again. Where the few parts that are not on conveyors are transported on small trucks that scream by at speeds of 40-50 mph, even inside the factory. Where no formal time is taken out for lunch, but where instead the workers reach inside their briefcases…