1931 SS Jaguar

This fantastic first edition of the famous Jaguar began as the optimistic dream of a young 20 year old entrepreneur named William Lyons that had started building side cars for motorcycles that he named as the Swallow sidecars. When he was able to enlarge his business and start making full size cars this was his first production model. With his keen eye for design and beauty and untiring energy he designed and built this car that immediately sold out the orders that were delivered and created a huge backlog of orders waiting to be filled. At that time Lyons just had himself and one partner helping him to build these cars and production was very slow.

1934 Packard Twelve And Others

1934 Packard Twelve And Others,click picture to enlarge.

This post may start a long line of new posts that will come from an album of classic and sports cars of the past that was given to me as a birthday gift for my 75th birthday. I made a comment that I really did appreciate the album because it looks like it may have cost a lot of money, maybe forty or fifty dollars. It does look like it might cost that much or more since it is a specialty market product. Then the person that gave it to me spoiled it all and said, no they picked it up at a Goodwill store for a dollar because they knew that I would enjoy it. Oh well, it is the thought behind the gift and not the real value that matters anyway. I hope everyone enjoys these special pictures. Remember that you can click the picture to enlarge it to where you can read the names of the cars.

Anybody's Guess

Anybody's Guess, click picture to enlarge.



This is the last of the special group of custom cars and wouldn't you guess that it was not labeled for us to tell what kind of cars these are. Since that looks like the Eiffel Tower in the background I am guessing that these are European customs that may have been at a cruise-in in Paris and somebody just took this picture and it wound up in this collection of custom car pictures. The car in front kind of resembles a 1932 or 33 Ford but there is just not enough in the picture to identify it for sure. There are no names or hood ornaments or distinguishing features to help us out. The wheels do have names on them but they appear to be special alloy designer type wheels so that is no help. Maybe some of you can be more positive about identifying these cars but for now they are just anybody's guess.

1957 Ford Custom Thunderbird

1957 Ford Custom Thunderbird, click picture to enlarge.

This car reminds me of a prototype car designed and built by some electrical engineers that was called The Golden Sahara that I saw on display at Hub Ford in Atlanta in the early to mid 1950's. The Golden Sahara could be driven and contolled by the owner's voice commands. The owner's voice was programed into he car so that it could recognize the owner's voice and distinguish it from anyone else's voice. That car was really an engineering masterpiece when it came out. The demonstrator said that Elvis Presley and Liberace both had tested and driven the Sahara for a while. If anybody else out there has ever seen the Golden Sahara write me by email or the contact me button and let me know. I will pass it on and let the rest of us know about it too.

For the next several posts I will be using pictures of customized cars. Since custom cars can have any variation of parts and specs there is not much point in researching the specific model for information so I suppose the best thing to do is just to give them to you and let your fantasy run wild about how they were customized. So just rear back for a while and enjoy theses old car pics.

1934 Ford Panel Delivery

1934 Ford Panel Delivery, click picture to enlarge and get a good look at that motor!!! Yes, I did ride in a 34 Ford a good bit when I was young but it wasn't like THIS one; Whew, I might not have lived very long if I had one like this one.

For the next several posts I will be using pictures of customized cars. Since custom cars can have any variation of parts and specs there is not much point in researching the specific model for information so I suppose the best thing to do is just to give them to you and let your fantasy run wild about how they were customized. So just rear back for a while and enjoy theses old car pics.

1948 Thames Delivery Van

1948 Thames Delivery Van, click picture to enlarge.

I did a little research on this one because I did not know anything about it. It seems that the Thames was a Ford product, maybe from the Ford Farm Tractor division.

For the next several posts I will be using pictures of customized cars. Since custom cars can have any variation of parts and specs there is not much point in researching the specific model for information so I suppose the best thing to do is just to give them to you and let your fantasy run wild about how they were customized. So just rear back for a while and enjoy theses old car pics.

1940 Buick Business Coupe

1940 Buick Business Coupe, click picture to enlarge.

Buick entered 1940 with a restyled automobile. The grill was much larger than the previous year and had heavy horizontal bars and the headlights were integrated into the front fenders. These features gave the Buick a new look but mechanically very little had changed from the previous year. The coupe had a 248 cid 8 cylinder engine that produced 107 horsepower. The coupe had a three speed column shifted transmission. The business coupe was the lowest priced car in the Buick lineup for 1940. It sold for $895.00 and 12,372 units were sold that year.

Browse through all of the old cars on this blog by using the older posts and newer posts links or by using the archives links in the sidebar. Tell your friends about the old car blog and let them enjoy these pictures and stories too.

1913 Ford Model T Speedster

1913 Ford Model T Speedster, click picture to enlarge.

You may remember from the write up on the 1931 Model A that I discussed the Model T in that post. The Model T may well be the car that really made the Ford Motor Company thrive and do well in their first few years during the hard times of startup. If you notice closely in the picture you can see the slot in the lower front of the radiator housing that the driver would put the crank handle through to engage with pulley and turn the engine to start the car. That reminds me of a commercial that says "You've come a long way baby". Thank goodness that we don't have to start our cars like that with a crank handle anymore.

Henry Ford began producing the Model T in 1908 in Detroit at the Piquette Avenue plant and continued the run of Model T's until 1927 for nineteen years making it the longest running production of a single model car ever in history except for the German made Volkswagon Beetle. It has been said that Henry Ford said of the Model T, "You can paint it any color, so long as it's black". Whether he said that or not has not been proven but the saying has hung around longer than the car did and it does testify to the continuing "sameness" of the car. This sameness characteristic of the car was one of the features that made it affordable to the masses. Over the 19 years of production there were 15,000,000 Model T's sold, far outselling any other car made in those years.

The car had a 4 cylinder, 20 hp engine and seated three people in its regal high backed seats. it sold for $850.00 new in Detroint in 1913.

If you want to add some comments you can do that by using the comment button in the "posted by" line at the bottom of each post. You can also enjoy the other old cars here by using the archives in the side bar. Spread the news about this old car blog to others that might enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Maynard Wright, the Georgia Boy

1955 Desoto Fireflight

1955 Desoto Fireflight, click picture to enlarge.

I am glad that I was born at a time where I was old enough to live through and enjoy what was the golden age of automotive history in the 1950's and 1960's. As you can tell by these old car pictures the cars made before WWII were mostly drab and bleak looking with a garish boxxy appearance. After the war when the manufacturers started producing cars for the public they still had much of that same blahness to them. But in the 1950's they changed all of that and started designing style and flash and glamour in the cars. This 1955 Desoto is a good example of that.

But there was an unorseen problem in that. Many of the manufacturers outdid themselves to their own hurt. What I mean by that is that they introduced new and improved features in the cars that were just too far in advance of what the public was ready to accept and so they rejected all of "these new-fangled gadgets" in favor of what they were more familiar with. Some examples of this were the Desoto, Packard, Hudson and Studebaker cars that died by the wayside.

The 1955 Desoto was a thing of beauty and a real pleasure to drive. It sported a powerful 291 cid Hemi-head V-8 that would literally flat out fly with you if you pressed the petal to the metal. The Hemi-head V-8 was very popular in those years and many different cars had them.

1956 Ford Sunliner

1956 Ford Sunliner Convertible, click picture to enlarge.

The 1956 Ford was my all time favorite car out of all of the different cars that I have owned. I have had two different1956 Fords at different times and I really did like both of them. The ones that I had were the less expensive four door
town sedans, not the Sunliner or Crestliner or the Crown Victoria, all of which were more expensive than I could afford back then. These cars all had a 292 cid 225 hp Y block engine with a three speed Fordamatic automatic transmission. The speedometer registered up to 120 mph and both cars that I had would hide the speedometer needle down behind the 120 mph mark so I know that they would run at least 130 mph or better. I can remember that there were two girls in Atlanta that had a red and white 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air that I used to see somewhere aound the Varsity Drivein. they would pull up beside me and indicate, "Let's drag". The red light changed and there was a cloud of smoke and schreeching rubber and that Chevrolet would beat my Ford taking off but I was ahead of them by the time we got to the next red light. Yep, that Chevrolet, with a hopped up 327 id engine would beat my Ford in the drag but not on a flat out top speed run. I said that their 327 was hopped up because when it was sitting still you could hear it lopeing like it had 3/4 turned racing crankshaft an maybe oversized pistons too. There were two other body styles for the Ford line that were less expensive. One was the Customline and the other was the Mainline models. The 1956 Ford also offered two other engine choices, one was a 272 cid Y-block and a 260 cid six cylinder. Ah, but those were good times.

1936 Cord 810 Cabriolet

!936 Cord 810 Cabriolet, click on image for a full page view.

What set the Cord 810 apart from other cars of that era was its distinctive appearance. The styling was defined by a hood that took on the appearance of a coffin, large front fenders, retracting headlamps, center hinged doors, a v-shaped split paned front windshield and the obvious absence of running boards. The 810 was powered by a 125 hp Lycoming 8 cylinder engine along with a front wheel drive system. Inside of the Cord was an aircraft designed engine turned metal instrument panel and bucket seats. This Cord Cabriolet shown here has 22,000 original miles and even though there has been substantial detailing the car has never been taken apart for a complete restoration effort yet.

Buying Classic Cars Through the Internet

Where do you find classic cars for sale? You could search the junkyards or spend hours scouring newspapers and magazines. But there is a better way. Why not search through the internet.

Many folks are selling their classic cars through the internet. After all, they can sell it without incurring huge fees, plus they can also capture a wide market. Some will post their old vintage cars on specialized sites that only take a small percentage fee or a flat rate for the sale.

This method also has benefits for the buyer. He (or she) doesn`t have to go through the hassle of finding the car they want, plus they can immediately see the condition of the vehicle through pictures and videos. No more relying on oral descriptions over the telephone. Even if the vehicle is on the other side of the country, you can see it right away.

To learn more, click here for your FREE REPORT on purchasing your classic car through the internet.
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