Innehållsförteckning för January 1962 från MotorTrend

The mystery car of 1962 remains a top secret. It is that particular automobile chosen by the editors of Motor Trend for the most coveted award of the industry, the CAR OF THE YEAR. Right now the evaluations of every U.S.-built car are still in process to find the one that best fits the Motor Trend Award criterion, “progress in design.” But the selection is near and you, the reader, will be given the full story of the exciting car that has made the greatest advance for ’62 in our next issue.…

A RECENT CONSUMER SURVEY asked buyers to list various common hard goods in the order of their trouble-free qualities. At the top of the list was the household refrigerator. Then came the kitchen stove, then sewing machines, irons, etc. Just below the troublesome TV set came the family car! Believe it or not, this poor public “image” worries Detroit. I know a lot of people have the idea that our family cars are purposely designed to require frequent maintenance and have relatively short mechanical life so the industry can sell more parts and' services. Nothing could be further from the truth. Longer useful life and less maintenance would be one of the quickest routes to putting two cars in every garage — which would put a lot more money in…

A WEEK LATER, just about the same field of cars and drivers was on hand for the second running of the San Francisco Examiner’s “Pacific Grand Prix” at Laguna Seca. The race was run in two 5 3-lap heats over the tight, 1.9-mile circuit. This was Stirling Moss’ day though, and he won both of them — but not without a tremendous battle from Dan Gurney, who took second place in the two races. Brabham, McLaren and Penske finished in that order behind the two leaders in both events. In the first heat, the best that could be done by an American-engined car was Jim Hall’s seventh in the Chaparral, followed by Don Hulette’s Jag-Corvette (tenth), and Harry Heuer’s Scarab-Corvette (eleventh). In the second heat, Chuck Daigh put the other…

WHEN WE FIRST BEGAN to get rumbles on the new formula for American-engined cars, our hopes shot sky-high. The rumors sounded good. If they could be believed, this new formula would bring big-time road racing to the American public. The limitations imposed would supposedly keep builders’ costs to a minimum to ensure starting grids that would be well filled with a variety of cars and engines. After all, nothing kills off spectator interest (without which there wouldn’t be any racing) faster than skimpy starting fields — or one-make domination. Then we got a look at some of the actual proposals that were being offered by various interested parties and organizations, and our hopes took a big fat nose-dive. These people were talking engine sizes of five and six liters and…

NO WONDER they only stage the Frankfort show every two years! It is the greatest motor show in the world in sheer size and hard to beat in showmanship. The major manufacturers each have their own halls, where they stage costly and dramatic displays which sometimes include cascades of cars descending at perilous angles from the roof above the heads of the tightly packed, slow-shuffling crowds below. This year being the 75th anniversary of the first successful efforts by Gottlieb Daimler and Carl Benz, the theme was historical, led by Daimler-Benz, who brought out some of the finest specimens from their museum to appear alongside gleaming new models like the 300-SE and the 220-SE convertible. As a background there were spare, elegant silhouettes of historical cars beautifully fabricated in copper…

You get proved ACtion with AC In the hottest car (or the coolest), AC Fire-Ring Spark Plugs make the difference. This is well known to the men who drive the rugged trails of the proving grounds. It’s a difference the sensitive driver can feel, the moment he hits the open road. It’s a difference he can rely on, as he puts his car through its paces over the endurance-testing sections of the grounds. ACs give you power, of course, but it’s a special kind of smooth-as-silk instant power so precisely engineered that it makes driving just a little more gratifying for those who really care about driving. People who are devoted to their cars—who think of them, not as servants or toys, but as friends—appreciate true spark plug engineering excellence.…

DAYTONA is the name of this latest entry into the growing ranks of the luxury compacts. Basically, the Daytona follows the same formula as do the others in this class. It’s a deluxe model (in this case a Regal) to which have been added a pair of bucket seats separated by a console, more expensive upholstery, and different chrome trim. The Daytona doesn’t offer any more performance than its lower-priced kin, but it does offer a little more quality and prestige, which is just about all the other cars in this class are offering. This year the basic Lark body shell has undergone some extensive reworking. This is not so noticeable up front, where the main change has been the addition of a Mercedes-like radiator grille. (We haven’t heard any…

HERE’S A RECIPE for outrunning supposedly hotter competition: Take five quick Sunbeam Alpines, blend with an uncommon measure of bad racing luck and just a smattering of good fortune, mix with a heaping portion of hurried preparation, and add top-quality drivers, including two of the world’s greatest. Serve up in a three-hour endurance race on the sun-scorched Riverside Raceway against 53 other cars, largest being Class D Production (Austin-Healey 3000 and 100-S, Porsche Carrera GT), the smallest being Austin-Healey’s H Production Sprite, plus the modified and production classes in between. In theory this concoction is designed to cop the first five positions in Class F Production; in practice it worked out to one first in class (third overall), one dead last, which turned out to be 30th overall and eighth…

THE CUSTOM CAR has been my study and my business for many years, but each season I am always surprised by the fresh ideas of the enthusiasts who face-lift the Detroit products. Each month in these pages I will present some of the best examples that I have seen during my travels to the country’s best custom shows. Visitors to the San Diego Autorama spent many a walk-around minute viewing these two show-stoppers. The ’61 Corvair Monza of owner-builder Creighton Mueller has been chopped with side posts removed. The unique floating headlights are Appelton spotlights with hand-made attaching rings. Wheels are reversed into a six-inch rim with added chrome spiders. Duane Aspengren’s ’49 Hudson has been the object of some real modernization. The grille is from a ’57 Corvette, headlights…

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Developments to watch … Victor G. Raviolo is a man noted for his accurate predictions of automotive futures. Since he is also executive director of Ford’s engineering staff, he is in a fair position to guide these futures. And, most important, since Ford operates its basic research on a five-year budget, unaffected by the ups and downs of sales, the dreams of today could well be the realities of 1967. Most prosaic item on his list is a breakthrough in lightweight diesel engines. Such an engine, suitable for use in taxicabs or pick-up trucks, might make a popular option for cost-conscious passenger car owners. Present designs, mostly three-cylinder, weigh and cost too much for the low horsepower produced. As to gas turbines, Raviolo says: “We at Ford are now well…

A FIELD of some of the greatest drivers and cars in American and European racing circles was drawn to the West Coast again this year for the annual newspaper-sponsored events. At Riverside, it was the Los Angeles Times-Mirror Charities “Grand Prix for Sports Cars,” and the action over the 62-lap, 203-mile crowd pleaser was hot and heavy, with the outcome in doubt right up to the last lap. As usual, Stirling Moss in the Lotus XIX grabbed an early lead and continued to stretch it out until a defective brake seal forced him to pit on the 27th lap. From that point on, it was a Cooper Monaco duel between Bruce McLaren and Jack Brabham, with Jack finally taking the flag after a leaky cylinder liner seal forced McLaren to…

CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY'S National 400, so named because of its anticipated bearing on NASCAR’s late-model circuit national championship, lived up to its name and infinitely more the crisp, sunny afternoon of October 15, when 43,000 fans crowded into the 1½-mile track to witness the last major stock car race of the 1961 season. To be sure, Chevrolet-driving Ned Jarrett stuck it out long enough with a patched-up engine to virtually lock up the Grand National point title, but this was only a part of the drama that unfolded over the 400 miles between green and checkered flags. Not least surprising was the manner in which 39-year-old veteran Joe Weatherly carved out his $9,350 victory. The race was only 75 miles old when two huge columns of blue smoke from the…

TIRED OF DRIVING to the market or down to the office to pick up hubby? Is that Sunday outing through traffic boring? Housewives, revolt! … and here is one that has. Housewife Mary McGee and her mechanic husband attend most of the sports car events on the West Coast, but they don’t go just to watch the races — he goes to watch the little wife race. Mary, in her familiar polka-dot crash helmet, has been stirring things up in the ladies’ races by really storming around the course in her RS Porsche. Now there are some pretty good gal drivers in these ladies’ races, and Mary usually has her hands full grabbing a win. Very popular in West Coast sports car racing programs are the Grand Prix motorcycles. These…

NO MATTER WHICH WAY you look at it, the new big Jaguar is a handsome car — one of the best that even Jaguar has ever built. It has a long, low shape with speed in every line, but it gets its effect purely by the subtle balance of line and form, for there is no applied decoration whatsoever. It is one more triumph for the Jaguar team, led by Sir William Lyons himself, who supervises the evolution of every new body style, having his ideas translated not into sketches and scale models, but directly into full-scale metal panels. Known as the Mark X, it is a replacement for the line of big saloons which evolved through Mark VII and VIII into Mark IX. Beside its predecessor the new model…