October 2011 ~ car and motor

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Ghost On The Highway

11:05 PM No comments

c.1948 Chevrolet.

Mystery Hot Iron Custom Phaeton w/ Desoto Airflow

11:05 PM No comments

Beautiful customized something or other somewhere in California w/ 1934 Desoto Airflow behind. Wayne Graefen has kindly identified the jewelry attached to the grille mesh as a National Automobile Club badge. Print dated Sept. 17, 1936.

1957 Spartan Imperial Mansion Motorhome Conversion

4:56 AM No comments

J. Paul Getty bought Spartan Aircraft of Tulsa, Oklahoma from fellow oil tycoon William G. Skelly in 1935. Their greatest hit was Skelly's pet project for well-heeled gentleman pilots like himself, the Spartan Executive, 34 of which were built between 1936 and 1940 for the likes of Howard Hughes and King Ghazi of Iraq. This Duesenberg of the air was powered by a 450hp 9-cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial that gave it a top speed of 257mph, fast enough to secure fifth place in the 1939 Bendix Cup for pilot Arlene Davis. After WWII Spartan built high quality travel trailers and mobile homes, but these Cadillacs of trailerdom came with prices to match, and the abundance of cheaper alternatives as the fifties progressed eventually put Spartan out of business. The startling glazed end-wall, curved floor plan Crescendos and Carousels introduced in 1959 took them out in singular style.

Spartan Executive photo from Young Eagles.org.

Rockabilly Buick Girl

3:30 AM No comments

Pony tail, saddle shoes, car coat, half moon headlight shields, Maybelline on the radio. She must be somebody's baby.

Early Kodacolor

3:59 AM No comments

The first multi-layer color negative print film, Kodacolor hit the market in 1942, its technological voodoo involving three color-sensitive emulsions layered with filters, masks and couplers. All processing and printing was done by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York, until a 1954 anti-trust suit made chemicals and know-how available to all. Refinement continued long after official release to the public. Not until 1955 was a solution found for the unstable magenta dye chemistry that turned Kodacolor prints a familiar yellow over time, ironically tilting the intended full color realism toward the painterly and quaint.