Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas 2011!

Stevens Duryea
From the December, 1903 issue of The Ladies' Home Journal (Volume 21, Number 1, page 62). Courtesy of Harvard University Library Page Delivery Service.

To my loyal fans (especially the person from Mountain View, California, who keeps checking back in vain for updates): I promise to post much more frequently in 2012. (If you follow me on Twitter, I'll let you know when I post something other than the book I'm reading at the moment.) If you have any questions, or perhaps a request for a turn-of-the-century era story, let me know at cbl9@ymail.com.

Thanks for reading!

Friday, December 02, 2011

The De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie, Part 2

Welcome The Huffington Post readers - Note: This is Part 2 of an on-going essay. For the Part 1 link with the La Marquise reference, click here.

Updated 1/30/12 - Names of passengers for the Paris-to-Rouen race added.
Updated 12/7/11 - See *Note at bottom of post

As noted in the last post, the De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie received praise throughout the motoring world and remained an engineering discussion topic long after the last one had been retired.
DD c
Fig. 242. — Scheme of the De Dion and Bouton steam tractor.
1, Steam engine; 2, boiler; 3, water tank, forming seat; 4, coke (fuel) box 5, steam valve; 6, steering; 7, reversing gear; 8, hand brake; 9, start lever; 10, water circulation pump; 11, brake pedal; 12, driving wheels; 13, steering wheels; 14, chassis.
Illustration from Manuel Théorique et Pratique de L'Automobile Sur Route: Vapeur — Pétrole — Électricité (Theoretical and Practical Manual of the Car on the Road: Steam — Petrol — Electric), Gérard Lavergne, 1900

The tractor was the first to use the de Dion tube suspension or "dead" axle, which only carries weight (below). This suspension system was still in use at least as late as 2004 in AWD Dodge Caravans.
De Dion 14
Fig. 7 illustration from the August 14, 1896 issue of Engineering magazine.

De Dion 5
Rare photo taken during the actual 1894 Paris-to-Rouen race.  Comte Jules-Albert de Dion (front, right) is driving with his stoker seated to his left.  Georges Bouton sits with his back to de Dion, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux is to his right with his back to the stoker.  The other two passengers were Captain Émile Driant and the Baron de Zuylen de Nyevelt.  The name of the stoker is unknown to me at this writing.  Image from Le Blog de Rouen.

One unique thing about Trépardoux's design of the De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie was that the firebox's smokestack was not mounted vertically, as it was on nearly every other steam powered vehicle of the day (including even later De Dion-Bouton vehicles), such as the 1899 Crowden Steam Brake show below:
Crowden a
From the July 26, 1899 issue of The Horseless Age magazine.

Instead, the stack ran down and to the rear of the steam drag (below). At speed, the draft of the vehicle would suck the exhaust under the trailer and out the back. At idle things could get a bit smokey for the passengers if the stoker didn't keep a clean stack.
DD b
Illustration from Motor Vehicles for Business Purposes: A Practical Handbook for Those Interested in the Transport of Passengers and Goods, A. J. Wallis-Tayler, 1905

Not long after the 1894 Paris-to-Rouen race, the Count de Dion led a group of enthusiastic organizers (who later formed the Automobile Club of France, the world's first such organization) in setting up a 732 mile long race — the winner of which would be the first to cross the finish line — to be run from Paris to Bordeaux and back in 1895. De Dion-Bouton entered three vehicles: a Steam Bogie converted into a four-seat brake; a petrol tricycle; and the now famous Steam Bogie/carriage combination that ran the 1894 race. After dominating the early lead, the converted Steam Bogie/brake snapped part of its running gear and was out of the race. Up until then, the 15-horsepower steam brake had been running in first-place at speeds close those at which it had been tested — 30 to 38 miles an hour, making it the unofficially fastest auto of its time. It would be three more years before the first official World Land Speed Record (timed by stop watches) was established. After some modifications and upgrades, the converted Steam Bogie was sold to the Michelin brothers who continued to race it for some time.

The veteran Steam Bogie/carriage combination (below) also ran strong at first, but developed problems and had an excruciatingly slow second half, finishing last and so late that it was declared out of the race. The petrol tricycle finished a surprising third overall (and in no small part helped to contribute to the future direction of the company). In keeping with an apparently nascent tradition, the first vehicle to cross the finish line was disqualified because it only carried two people as opposed to the four carried by the next vehicle to cross the line some twenty minutes later.
DD 94
Original caption reads: The ancestors of the De Dion-Bouton factory. Steam tractor towing a carriage, comes in first in the Paris-Rouen race (1894). However, this picture is from the 1895 Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race since in the Paris-Rouen contest, only the Count de Dion drove and the Steam Bogie wore the racing number 4. In the Paris-Bordeaux-Paris race there were multiple drivers and various contemporary journals referred to it as "No. 1" (note racing number 1 in above photo).

The De Dion-Bouton Company continued their racing and trials efforts with mixed results. In 1896 the next major race sponsored by the newly-formed Automobile Club of France was 300 miles longer (Paris to Marseilles and back), but now broken up into ten stages (five each way) rather than being a marathon. De Dion-Bouton ran the only two steam entries — the other 30 were all petrol powered (which included 5 De Dion-Bouton tricycles — three of which finished, earning De Dion-Bouton a trophy for their motors). They actually started with three steam entries. The venerable Steam Bogie veteran of the 1894 and 1895 contests was scheduled to pull a 40-seat omnibus owned by the Paris Company, which was usually pulled by three horses (drawing below).
De Dion 2
From the September 26, 1896 issue of Scientific American Supplement.

For this race Bouton was to drive and the Steam Bogie was to run on large new pneumatic tires for the first time, rather than the usual solid steel tires on the artillery-style wheels. Michelin supplied the tires, but in their haste to get their own entries ready,* the brothers failed to sufficiently study the Bogie, and so did not make a proper fit. The weight of the steam drag ruptured all of the tires before it even got to the staring line, rendering it a non-starter. *One Michelin brother entered a Michelin-built Bollée style Voiturette (a tri-car), while the other brother drove an actual Voiturette Bollée (example below). The Michelin-built No. 39 Bollée came in dead last out of 14 finishers, while his brother finished 5th, but on the No. 51 De Dion-Bouton tricycle! But that, as they say, is another post.
Bollee
"The tandem small car of Mr. Leon Bollee." A Voiturette Bollée from the May 10, 1896 issue of Le Petit Journal.

The other two De Dion-Bouton entries were listed as a Steam Wagon and a Steam Brake. In the 1902 book Motors and Motor-Driving by Alfred C. Harmsworth, the Marquise de Chasseloup-Laubat, who drove one of them, recalled that they were nearly identical and had been special-built just for this race.
Steam wagon
Image from the October, 1896 issue of The Horseless Age magazine, which described the De Dion-Bouton No. 12 car as: "Steam wagon conducted by the Count de Dion, and carrying three more persons."

The Count de Dion's car suffered a hotbox (overheated wheel bearing) and dropped so far back that it was pulled from the race by the second stage. The No. 10 entry driven by the Marquise was described as: "Steam break for six, conducted by MM. the Marquise and the Count de Chasseloup Laubat, and carrying three mechanics." One of the mechanics was actually the fireman (stoker).

The Marquise de Chasseloup-Laubat recounted that the No. 10 car (below) was beleaguered with "every break-down conceivable, except for an absolute explosion of the boiler." They spent a total of 47 hours making repairs, which put them far out of contention. However, they decided to continue and finish the race for the "honour of the steam-principle." Alas, it was not to be, as the vehicle broke down for the last time at Lyons. They too, did not even make to the end of the second stage.
DD 92
The six-seat De Dion-Bouton No. 10 steam brake as driven by the Marquise de Chasseloup-Laubat and his brother the Count de Chasseloup-Laubat. The 1892 date on the later issued commemorative postcard is incorrect, as this particular vehicle was special-built in 1896.

The Horseless Age opined that the De Dion-Bouton failures "means the death-blow of steam." They were somewhat premature. Just three months later, after making improvements and modifications, the No. 10 was driven by the Count de Chasseloup Laubat to a decisive victory in the 145 mile Marseilles-to-Monte Carlo race (today known as the Marseilles-Nice-La Turbie race). It averaged a stunning 18.7 miles per hour.* It would be this same Count Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubat who, on December 18, 1898, would set the world's first official Land Speed Record near Paris at 39.245 mph in a Jeantaud electric vehicle, earning him the sobriquet "The Electric Count." It has been said that this was the first time that a steering wheel was used in place of a steering lever.

*Note - The Marquise de Chasseloup-Laubat was remembering his late brother's exploits six years after the fact. The February, 1897 issue of The Horseless Age reported that the race was 150 miles long, making his average speed 19.35 mph. He ran the final stage at an average of 21 mph.

The De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie was proving to be a hit, especially among the omnibus and coach trade, and the company catered to the industry with new tractor-trailer combinations. We'll take a look at some of those in the next installment.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Land Tugs: The De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie

Updated 1/30/12

By the end of the 19th century the concept of the tug/drag/tractor style of motive power was gaining popularity, both here and in Europe, as the mechanical devices gained in reliability and shrank in size. Addressing the reliability factor, a tractor style vehicle pulling a converted carriage won what was thought at the time to be the world's very first automobile race in July of 1894, but that's a whole separate essay. For now, see this earlier post.

De Dion 1
The De Dion Steam Bogie on race day with cabriolet style carriage converted into a vis-a-vis (face-to-face) trailer with addition of rear-facing jump seat (above). It is difficult to make out the vehicle's race number 4, which is clearly seen in the commemorative postcard shown below.
DD 94a
This and subsequent commemorative postcards were original factory photos that were supplied to contemporary publications from circa 1884 on (these copies from delcampe.net). These photos would then be used by the various publications as-is, or converted into engravings. Compare the original factory photo below - as represented on the later commemorative postcard - of a De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie pulling a converted brake, with the engraving from Motor Cars and the Application of Mechanical Power to Road Vehicles by Rhys Jenkins, 1902.
DD 93
De Dion 10a

Comte (Count) Jules Félix Philippe Albert de Dion (he didn't become Marquis until his father Albert died April 26, 1901) was an enthusiast for all things mechanical, and as a member of a prominent French noble family, he had money to invest. Engineers Georges Bouton and Charles-Armand Trépardoux (Bouton's brother-in-law) built model steam engines and other scientific toys in their shop in Léon, where Trépardoux harbored a long-time dream of building a steam car. In 1882 Bouton and Trépardoux built a rudimentary steam vehicle (below).
DD 01
In 1883 they partnered with Jules-Albert de Dion to form Trépardoux et Cie, ingénieurs-constructeurs (Trépardoux and Co., engineers and builders), which later became De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux, and then just De Dion, Bouton et Compagnie (usually shortened to De Dion-Bouton) when Trépardoux left the company in 1894 to continue steam development, as the company was turning more and more to gasoline powered engines. By 1900, De Dion-Bouton was the world's largest car maker with a total of 400 vehicles and 3,200 gasoline engines (used by hundreds of other automobile manufacturers) produced that year. In 1904 they produced 2,000 vehicles and had shipped 40,000 engines to date.

Bouton de Dion Trépardoux
Left to right: Georges Bouton, Jules-Albert de Dion, and Bouton's brother-in-law Charles Trépardoux. Images of Bouton and de Dion from Et la terre enfanta blog. Image of Trépardoux from Les gadz'arts.

That first year of 1883 they produced a steam car that had a boiler and engine mounted up front, which drove the front wheels via belts (below). The rear wheels were steerable. It reportedly burned to the ground during testing.
DD 02

The next year they built a second, more refined vehicle dubbed La Marquise after de Dion's mother, that had more conventional steering and rear wheel drive, with seating capacity for four. This was the first of their famous De Dion, Bouton et Trépardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabouts, the vehicle that 'won' the 1887 non-race with Georges Bouton driving (again, see earlier post). Dos-A-Dos means back-to-back seating arrangement. That very vehicle, La Marquise, now 127 year-old, still runs - making it the oldest running car in the world - and recently sold for 4.62 million dollars. Story here.
DD 03
Contemporary view of the La Marquise.

LaMarquise
The La Marquise today. Image from Hemmings Blog.

Within a few years the De Dion-Bouton catalog offered built-to-order buses, dog-carts, steam phaetons, carriages and even a steam tricycle with a two-cylinder engine.

DD 09
The steam powered tricycle (above) should not to be confused with their later extremely successful single-cylinder gasoline engine sporting tricycle (below), which before 1900 was the most popular vehicle in France. According to an 1894 issue of La France Automobile, the large steam-powered one only sold about 20 copies up to that date.
DD 95

The catalog soon included the subject of this post - the larger trailer-pulling tractor. Placing first in that 1894 race (and yet not winning), the De Dion-Bouton Road Motor - or Steam Bogie, as the company called them - was the direct descendant of the successful De Dion, Bouton et Trepardoux Dos-A-Dos Steam Runabout of 1884.

De Dion 11
Writing from Weimar, Germany on November 14, 1895, Commercial Agent (a position, abolished in 1906, that was just below a Deputy Consul) Thos. Ewing Moore included in his monthly Consular Report to the U.S. State Department a section titled Horseless Carriages in Europe. In describing the De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie he noted:
The "Boggie," or steam tug (fig.5), [above] may be attached to any carriage or omnibus and then run at a speed of 25 miles per hour. Its motive power is a two-cylinder, triple-expansion engine producing 20 to 30 horsepower. The engine is fed by one of De Dion & Bouton's patent boilers. One handle only is used to start and back the machine. Coke is the fuel used, a quantity sufficient for a journey of 80 miles being carried in the front part of the machine. The water tank is in the rear, under the conductor's seat; enough can be carried for a journey of 35 miles. It gets steam up very quickly, only fifteen minutes being necessary. The cost of running is about 2 cents per mile. The cost of the "Boggie" varies from 13,000 to 14,000 francs ($2,500 to $2,700), according to the weight designed to carry.
The De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie would go on to be described in detail and to garner accolades in the motoring, scientific, and engineering journals of the world's major automotive innovators: the United States; France; the United Kingdom; and Germany. Long after it went out of production, the Steam Bogie was still being featured in books on automotive development and engineering.

Next: The De Dion-Bouton Steam Bogie part 2

Thursday, October 13, 2011

The First Auto Race, a Pet Peeve, and the Hazards of Internet Research.

Updated 12/09/2019*

While researching the material for the De Dion segment of the Land Tug series, I found numerous mentions to "the very first auto race." Often the source would then mention an earlier race. Well, if there was an earlier race, wouldn't that one be the first? As we will see, no. But as it turns out, the first still wasn't the first either, so let's look at race claims, counter-claims, and the perils of internet research.

Just this summer many of us learned that what we thought was the first ever auto race, turned out to be the second (or third) by about 16 years or so. Daniel Strohl of Hemmings Blog fame has written an excellent summary of the Great Green Bay-to-Madison Steam Wagon Race of 1878, while the website for the Wisconsin Historical Society relates how the story was "rediscovered." The original essay by Wisconsin Secretary of State John S. Donald appeared in the October, 1916 issue of The Wisconsin Engineer.

Most histories state that the Le Petit Journal sponsored Paris-to-Rouen race in France on July 22, 1894 was the very first. Given the Steam Wagon Race of 1878, it would properly be the second. However, there had been an earlier race of sorts in 1887, but the information available on the internet is woefully lacking. If you Google "first auto race" you will eventually come across a reference to the April 28, 1887 race sponsored by the magazine Le Vélocipède and its editor, a certain Monsieur 'Fossier.' Google "'Le Vélocipède' Fossier" and you will get over 6,800 entries that all state something very much along the lines of:

The first race ever organized was on April 28, 1887 by the chief editor of Paris publication Le Vélocipède, Monsieur Fossier. It ran 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Neuilly Bridge to the Bois de Boulogne. It was won by Georges Bouton of the De Dion-Bouton Company, in a car he had constructed with Albert, the Comte de Dion, but as he was the only competitor to show up it is rather difficult to call it a race.

As it turns out, they are all copying a Wikipedia entry almost to the letter. And that is my pet peeve - website after website blindly copying and pasting erroneous information, and thus making the incorrect story the new truth. See the Locomobile entry for another example.

In turn, Wikipedia cites a May 28, 2003 entry by Rémi Paolozzi on the Autosport.com 8W forum. (8W stands for Who? What? Where? When? Why? on the World Wide Web - The stories behind auto racing facts and fiction.) There Paolozzi takes 1 (out of 10) paragraph to tell the story - without citation - that Wikipedia condensed down to a few lines that thousands would copy without citation. Caveat - never, ever trust what you read on Wikipedia. Using it as a starting point for research is fine, but try to trace anything you read back to the primary source. So far I haven't found any earlier examples of the story than this...in English.

The big problem here is that when you read the English Wiki entry for Le Vélocipède, you find that it is properly titled Le Vélocipède Illustré, and that Richard Lesclide was its editor, and that it folded in 1872 - some 15 years before the race. No amount of tweaking search parameters reconciled the disparity. At least, until I switched to Google.fr - the French version. Then the clouds parted and the sun shown down upon my darkened disposition. And no, I don't speak/read/write French, but I can fling Google Translator around with the best of them.

First, there is no Monsieur Fossier. There is, however, according to the French version of the Wikipedia entry for Le Vélocipède Illustré, a Paul Faussier who was a sports journalist, a ranked cycle racer, and a member of the Metropolitan Vélocipédique Company. And he did indeed organize what was supposed to be the first horseless carriage race between Neuilly and Versailles on April 28, 1887. [Source - Les Défricheurs de la Presse Sportive (The Pioneers of the Sports Press) by Jacques Marchand, Atlantica, 1999.] As for the discrepancy concerning the demise of the journal Le Vélocipède Illustré - it turns out that the magazine had a second life.

According to the French Wikipedia site, Richard Lesclide launched the first issue of the journal in Paris on April 1, 1869 as an illustrated bimonthly specializing in the new sport of cycling. Lesclide was a pioneer of sports journalism who would one day be secretary to Victor Hugo. Le Vélocipède Illustré organized the first city-to-city cycle race in history on November 7, 1869, between Paris and Rouen, which would be the same route used 25 years later for the first real auto race in Europe. As noted above, the magazine folded in 1872, but was resurrected in 1890 by the now 67 year-old Lesclide. After he died in 1892, his wife Juana acted as editor under the nom de plume Jean de Champeaux. Sometime later Paul Faussier took over as editor and apparently continued until the journal folded for good around 1901. So Faussier (and not Fossier) was indeed the editor of Le Vélocipède Illustré, but not during the the time of the 1887 auto non-race - which he did indeed organize. [Source - Les Premiers Temps des Véloce-Clubs: Apparition et Diffusion du Cyclisme Associatif Français Entre 1867 et 1914 (The Early Days of Swift-Clubs: Emergence and Spread of French Cycling Associations Between 1867 and 1914) by Alex Poyer, L'Harmattan, 2003.]

So what does all of this mean? Simply that, until someone's future research uncovers an earlier event, the record stands thusly: The first documented self-propelled auto race in the world took place in Wisconsin in 1878 (two entries/one finisher). The 1887 event that some claim is the first race was not a race (one entry/one finisher). What was thought to be the world's first race was actually the world's second, but still Europe's first (multiple entries/multiple finishers). What was thought to be the first American auto race in November, 1895 (multiple entries/multiple finishers) was actually the second American race - 17 years after the Wisconsin race of July, 1878.

Given the early flurry of steam propulsion activity in England (see previous post) I'm betting that if any evidence surfaces for an earlier race, it will be there.

*Hemmings notes (scroll down) that "one of the selling points for “La Marquise,” the world’s oldest operating vehicle, was the claim that it participated in the world’s first automobile race, though...that claim is dubious, considering that the race took place many years after the 1878 Wisconsin steam buggy race we wrote about back in June."

Considering that the 1887 event was only had one entry, it was more properly a time-trial, rather than a race. That makes the claim that the “La Marquise” participated in the world's first automobile race doubly dubious. That said, if the new owner feels cheated and no longer interested in the vehicle, I'd graciously accept it as a lovely parting gift.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Land Tugs Part 1: The Gurney Steam Drag

It's the late 1800s/early 1900s and you are a farmer/merchant/fireman or the like, and you are convinced that it is time to switch from horses to motorized vehicles. The only problem is, you have a very heavy investment in horse-drawn wagons and other equipment. What are your options? With common farm wagons or buggies, you could pretty much get the same thing with a motor attached in the form of a truck or runabout, respectively. Specialized farm or fire equipment, however, was a different matter. Replacing a relatively new horse-drawn steam pumper could be ruinously expensive.

A neat solution was a tractor made specifically for the purpose of motorizing horse drawn vehicles. These were designed to replace the front running gear by either permanently attaching to the equipment (thus creating a semi-new one-piece vehicle), or designed to fit to a number of rigs, and so making a tractor-trailer combination. The idea wasn't new – the first railroad locomotives pulled modified stagecoaches. In fact, an early example of a road-going combination tractor-trailer was in commercial service on rural roads in England even before the first American chartered railroad, the Mohawk & Hudson (absorbed by the New York Central in 1853), launched service with their locomotive, the DeWitt Clinton, in 1831 (shown below).
Loco
Illustration of the DeWitt Clinton from Self-Propelled Vehicles: A Practical Treatise on the Theory, Construction, Operation, Care and Management of All Forms of Automobiles by James E. Homans, A.M., Theo. Audel & Company, 1902.

In 1829 Sir Goldsworthy Gurney was experimenting with self-propelled steam carriages. In response to passenger anxiety over riding on top of a potentially explosive boiler, he soon switched to the tractor-trailer system, using a passenger carriage pulled by a separate steam carriage (below).
Gurney 1
Illustration from Omnibuses and Cabs: Their Origin and History by Henry Charles Moore, Chapman & Hall, 1902.

Dubbed the ‘Gurney Steam Drag,’ two of these were shipped to Glasgow in 1830, where one was eventually tested in service (the boiler on the other exploded when unauthorized persons steamed it up in Gurney’s absence). Soon contractors were buying Gurney steam drags to put in commercial service. Among them, Sir Charles Dance purchased three for rotating service on a Cheltenham-to-Gloucester route, making four runs a day. Unfortunately for the endeavor, jealous owners in the horse-coach trade got Parliament to impose a £2 levy steam carriages per trip, while the toll for horse-drawn carriages remained at 2 shillings. Over 50 other bills placing excessive tolls on steam-carriages were passed in 1831, which eventually shut down the steam-carriage industry throughout England. However, this did not end Sir Charles’ business venture, so devious Cheltenham magistrates clandestinely covered a long section of the road with a foot deep layer of loose gravel, which brought the steam-carriages – and Sir Charles’ business – grinding to a halt.

Sir Goldsworthy Gurney kept his factory open as long as possible, but the withdrawal of contractors coupled with bad press from the Glasgow explosion teamed to bankrupt Gurney, who suffered a £232,000 loss despite selling off his inventory and tools.

See the Wikipedia entry for more info on Sir Goldsworthy Gurney and his inventions.

Next: The De Dion Bouton Steam Bogie

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Last Weekend's Car Show in Henderson, NV

I normally leave the car show postings to Just a Car Guy, where Jesse's photography skills are vastly superior to mine (seriously - the guy wins awards for his blog), but since there has been a dearth of posts here lately due to infernal machine problems, I felt that I should get something up. So here's my first car show post (all pictures in this post by me).
HCS 01
It was held September 23 - 25, 2011.

HCS 02

HCS 03
My wife doesn't share my affinity for 1959-60 El Caminos, otherwise one would be sitting in my driveway. I particularly like the 1959 version, so naturally these two are from 1960.

HCS 04

HCS 05

HCS 06

HCS 07
I detect a theme with these four, even though the closest ocean beach is a good five hour drive away.

HCS 08

HCS 09
I didn't notice the images in the flames at first.

HCS 10
The motif is continued under the hood via engraving.

HCS 11
What's this? A VW Bug with a gas tank in the engine compartment?

HCS 12
And what's that in the luggage compartment?

HCS 13
A Chevy four cylinder.

HCS 14
A nice Squarebird.

HCS 15
This Roundbird was customized into a true roadster - no windows except for the windshield.

HCS 16
I didn't expect to see this - it took me back to when I spent most of the late '70s behind the wheel of a '72 Commando.

HCS 17

HCS 18
Nice touch.

HCS 19
The most customized Willys I've ever seen.

HCS 20
The Willy's engine...

HCS 21
...and bed

HCS 22
Cute restoration by a member of a local lowrider club.

HCS 23
Now I know how I'm getting around when these knees finally give out.

HCS 24
Mostly unrestored. Maybe we should give it to...

HCS 25
...these guys. The restoration company on the History Channel's American Restoration.

HCS 26
That's the owner's (Rick Dale) son Tyler Dale, being teased by his uncle Ron Dale.

HCS 27
I also have a softspot for '50s GM station wagons. This Buick was particularly nice.

HCS 28

HCS 29

HCS 30

HCS 31
This had a modern Toyota engine in it.

HCS 32
When was the last time you saw a Matador this clean outside of an Adam-12 rerun?

HCS 33

HCS 34

HCS 35
In 1969 my sister was given a beige Chrysler version of this to drive to school. She was too embarrassed to drive it and it was swapped for a gold 4-door 1963 Studebaker Lark, with a Rambler engine. Sure would like to have that Chrysler today.

HCS 36g
I was a freshman in high school when I saw my first one of these - driven by a cheerleader no less (alas, Chris North was a senior). I always thought that someone should customize one and here 42 years later someone did.

HCS 37

HCS 38

HCS 39

HCS 40
Did you guess correctly?