1901 Oldsmobile Model R, "Curved Dash" Runabout

Source - Canton Classic Car Museum
The Oldsmobile Model R 'Curved Dash' runabout was built from 1901-1903, quickly followed by the 1904 Model 6C. This single-cylinder car was quite successful, and one of America's most prolific early vehicles. This 1901 Oldsmobile is one of 425 reported to have been built in the first year. This car is on long term loan to the museum (Canton Classic Car Museum) by Mr. and Mrs. Clement and Mary Konen, of Canton, Ohio.

Il riscatto Eli Olds ha introdotto la catena di montaggio ed ha prodotto il precipitare curvo. Oldsmobile si trasforma in rapidamente nel primo fornitore della massa di automobili a benzina.
The car has a side crank, the driver could start the car from the front seat. It has a two-speed transmission, center chain drive and mechanical brake on the transmission. The engine is a one-cylinder horizontal style with 4.5 horsepower. The car weighs 650 pounds and cost $650. Total production in 1903 was 3,924 units.

One of just 425 Curve Dash Oldsmobile's that were produced in 1901, this is a 2 owner car that was purchased from the Russell Darling collection in 1955 and kept by its last owner and his family until now. A superb original example that required only minor restoration. It is now a beautifully restored car that is quite reliable and can be driven without fail. Equipped with its correct and original 1 cylinder water cooled engine that displaces a whooping 95.4 cubic inches and had a rating of 9.1 horsepower. It is superbly restored and eligible for the London to Brighton run.

1915  Ford Model T

Source - Luray Cavern Museum
This is the car that literally put America on wheels. Through mass-production methods, Henry Ford developed one of the first well engineered, rugged; yet, precise-made, dependable, cheap autos. Distinguishing features include a louvered hood, a metal cowl replacing the cherry wood dash, and discontinuing of the speedometer.
Source - SDAM
1915 was the year that Ford produced its one-millionth vehicle. The year also saw the beginnings of a tremendous publicity effort by Ford. Ford promised a fifty-dollar return to each purchaser of a car before August. Two new models were offered, and electric lamps also came into use although the side and taillights remained kerosene powered.

1937  Chrysler Imperial Sedan

The Chrysler Imperial, introduced in 1926, was the company's top of the range vehicle for much of its history. Models were produced with the Chrysler name until 1954, and again from 1990 to 1993.
Innovations for 1937 included built-in defroster vents, safety type interior hardware and seat back padding, and fully insulated engine mounts. There were three Imperial models in this generation. The C-14 was the standard eight and looked much like the Chrysler Royal with a longer hood and cowl. The C-15 was the Imperial Custom and the Town Sedan Limousine, with blind rear quarter panels. This model was available by special order. The third model, C-17, was the designation for the Airflow model. They had a concealed crank for raising the windshield and the hood was hinged at the cowl and opened from the front; side hood panels were released by catches on the inside. A Custom Imperial convertible sedan was used as an official car at the Indy 500.

1949 Bentley Mark VI Drophead by Pininfarina

Bentley è il marchio di autovetture fondato in Inghilterra da William Owen Bentley il 18 gennaio 1919 e ad oggi facente parte del gruppo Volkswagen.

Storia
Questa casa automobilistica nel giugno dello stesso anno della fondazione, verrà inglobata dalla Bentley Motors Ltd con un capitale di 100.000 sterline.

Dopo anni di difficoltà per trovare nuovi finanziamenti e nuovi garanti, nel 1926 la Bentley Motors venne inglobata in una terza Bentley Motors Ltd la cui maggioranza azionaria era controllata da Woolf Barnato.

La partecipazione del fondatore William fu ridotta al 2% delle azioni ordinarie e al 4% delle azioni privilegiate.

Dopo tre anni relativamente prosperi Barnato si ritirò, convinto dai consigli dei suoi consulenti finanziari. Questo in contemporanea con il massimo debito della azienda e con il crollo delle borse di New York e di Londra. La Bentley formerà con Rolls Royce il Rolls Royce-Bentley Group, che sarà poi rilevato da Volkswagen. Nel 2001 la Rolls Royce viene ceduta alla BMW.

This car appeared on the Rolls-Royce & Bentley stand at the 1950 Geneva Auto Show. This three-position drophead coupe is one of maybe two that has coachwork designed by Worblaufen of Geneva, Switzerland, mounted on a Bentley Mark VI chassis for the 1950 show.

The Mark VI chassis consists of X-braced channel steel, front independent suspension by coil springs and wishbones, rear suspension by semi-elliptic leaf spring and 4-wheel drum brakes. The car is powered by a water-cooled F-head, 6-cylinder engine with overhead intake valves and side exhaust valves, 4,257 cc, developing 130 horsepower and coupled to a 4-speed manual transmission. It has a top speed of 100 miles per hour. The present owner purchased the car in the mid-1970s and recently had it re-restored.

This is a 1949 Bentley Mark VI Drophead Coupe with coachwork by Pinin Farina. It is believed that Pinin Farina and Facel-Metallon created 17 of these cars. Nine are believed to have been prototypes.

Frenchman Jean Daninos owned Facel-Metallon, which, among their talents, was a company that produced special bodies for major car companies. The chief designer and stylish was Jean Daninos. Their list of clients included marque's such as Simca and Ford.

Daninos commissioned Pinin Farina to create a fastback, two-door, saloon atop a Bentley Mark VI chassis The prototype carried chassis number #B323CD. Once the prototype was completed, it was put into series production by the Facel-Metallon company.

1938 Phantom Corsair
This very unusual six-passenger coupe was designed by Rust Heinz, a member of the H. J. Heinz (57 Varieties) family. The design was a joint effort of Heinz and Maurice Schwartz of the custom body firm Bohman & Schwartz in Pasadena, California. Heinz' creation, costing approximately $24,000 in 1938, featured aerodynamic engineering, front-wheel-drive, electric gear shift, four speeds forward and a Cord V-8 Lycoming engine which was modified by Andy Granatelli. Built on a modified Cord 810 chassis, the car's lower frame was made of chrome molybdenum steel and the upper frame was constructed of electrically welded aviation steel tubing. The allow steel and aluminum body had no running boards, fenders or door handles. The doors were opened at the touch of buttons located on the outside and on the instrument panel. The interior was padded throughout with cork and rubber for safety, sound proofing, and insulation. In addition o the normal instruments found in a stock Cord panel there were oil temperature, manifold vacuum and fuel economizer gauges, battery charge level indicator, altimeter, barometer and compass. Four persons sat across the front seat and two in the back seat, facing the rear. Approximate top speed was 115 mph. Heinz planned to put the Phantom Corsair into limited production at an estimated selling price of $12,500. His death, however, shortly after the car was completed, ended those plans. This automobile was featured as the Flying Wombat in the 1938 film, "The Young In Heart," starring Paulette Goddard, Janet Gaynor, Billie Burke and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

1920 kissel 6-45

At a glance

The Kissel Motor Car Co. was founded in June 1906 after the Kissel family came to Hartford and purchased a plow manufacturing company. Other family members got involved in a general store, bank, real estate developments and many other enterprises.

William and George Kissel wanted to build automobiles after becoming involved with the family steam car.

The first production run was 100 cars sold to a Chicago dealer. None of that production has survived. Out of 35,000 vehicles built, only 200 remain in the world.
 

1987 Sterling London Taxi
Anyone who has been to London knows that the London Taxi is a well known icon of this most famous city. In the late 1980's, a small company was formed whose purpose was to retrofit new London taxis for export to the United States. They were specially built vehicles and very expensive at that. First, they were left hand drive cars that were fitted with gas powered Ford drive trains, automatic transmissions and were well equipped with all the power options that the US market was accustomed to. But more importantly, they were lavishly fitted with beautiful paint, padded tops, sunroofs, divider window, jump seats, telephones to communicate with the driver, stereo, bar, air conditioning and the list of options goes on. They were in short, marketed as an elitist limousine but were small and cute enough that most were used by private parties as a toy ! As a result of the very high price and short supply, not very many were imported to the US. Those that were brought in to the US were marketed by such firms as Neiman Marcus and a few other high end luxury retailers who catered to " those who wanted something others could not get." This particular example is finished in black, has a grey cloth interior and has been driven just 37,000 miles. A used up London Taxi is easy to get, this is something quite different and quite special.