Cobra bite: Lethal injection by Shelby and A.C.
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- humorous_sage
- dancooper
- humorous_sage
- dancooper
- humorous_sage
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» humorous_sage - Stude
As for me, I'll take the 1946 "push-me-pull-you_ studebaker." The only problem with it was that you couldn't tell whether it was come toward you or away from you.Hank
-- posted by humorous_sage
» dancooper - Re: Stude
In response to Stude posted by humorous_sage:Hi Henry,
Thanks for stopping by.
Yes, the Studebaker you mentioned did have that idiosyncrasy about it. When I first saw one I thought it was just about the neatest idea I had seen on cars of the era. I would have had a hard time seeing any disadvantage to that type of “look” had not my grandmother, then no longer a driver, freaked out one day while riding as a passenger. She had freaked when she looked up from her passenger seat, out the front window, to see what she later explained to us as the apparent front end of a car, coming toward us in the wrong lane—while we were doing about 40mph.
The car was, of course, traveling along in front of us in the same direction. My grandmother, being more used to the appearance of cars from the 30s and 40s, saw the lower rear end of a more modern vehicle. The experience taught me a lot about how we perceive things, and about our expectations. It also taught me a bit about automobile design, and how it had changed from my grandmother’s day.
The Studebaker was a sort of epitome of the defiance of the old format of automobile appearance. I don’t even remember what car she saw that day, and I doubt it was a Stude, or I probably would have remembered it. But the more modern shape caused her a shock that was unmistakable.
Of course, my grandmother probably would not have even recognized the Cobra as a car. It would probably have been perceived as some sort of toy—too small to be a “real car.” I can almost imagine her similar shock in such a situation, as though we were about to hit a baby carriage.
For that matter, most people in traffic had a fairly limited view of Cobras. A view usually characterized as a quickly diminishing one, of its tail, as it disappeared into the distance ahead. One fast-moving baby carriage!
Dan Cooper
CE, Vintage and Classic Cars
Guest author, Fake News
-- posted by dancooper
» humorous_sage - Toys
In response to Re: Stude posted by dancooper:Remember the Austin? Some thought of it as a toy but I had a 300 pound friend who could fit in one -- as long as at least one of the doors was open.
Hank
-- posted by humorous_sage
» dancooper - Re: Toys
In response to Toys posted by humorous_sage:Your 300-pound friend in an Austin Bantam …hmmmm.
That sounds a little like an Oliver Hardy skit. Wish I could have seen it!
Although there have been several cars using the name, Austin, I am assuming you refer to the American Bantam. It was based on the British Austin Seven, and was America’s first “economy car.” It was so small, it was passed off as a joke by many, and got far less attention from potential buyers than it should have received. Even though it effectively foreshadowed the later trends of the industry, in the area of financial success it reaped very little (no pun intended) for its originality.
Thank you (as usual) Henry, for prompting me to get to work on something—in this case, to return to a previously intended project. The subject of that would-be article, turns out to be what might have been the progeny of the American Bantam, if they had been able to produce enough vehicles to satisfy the U. S. Army’s request for utility vehicles. American Austin built the first “Jeeps,” but lost out in the bidding wars to Willys, because they couldn’t meet demand.
In another discussion thread in this topic, a question was posed (by Barbara Nicholson Bell; thank you again, Barbara) about the history of Jeep automobiles. I did a little research at the time, but fell away from it with other projects that demanded my attention. Your post here reminds me to get back to work on the idea of an article addressing Barbara’s post in the Lost Marques: Names that faded with the years thread.
Thanks, again, to both of you.
Dan
-- posted by dancooper
» humorous_sage - Re: Re: Toys
In response to Re: Toys posted by dancooper:I think the car was imported from England around 1935. By the way, my friend never made any fast exits. However, he did manage getting in without using a shoe horn.
Hank
-- posted by humorous_sage
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