Joe Handley Posted July 25, 2012 Posted July 25, 2012 (edited) Be carefull Andrew, you might get reported for that first line a time or two Edited July 25, 2012 by Joe Handley
Art Anderson Posted July 25, 2012 Posted July 25, 2012 Surprised that nobody's mentioned the Willys Model 77! In the 'teens and twenties, Willys-Overland was known as a maker of upper-middle priced cars, much in the same class as say, Buick. Willys was one of the first to adopt the Knight sleeve-valve system (instead of the normal poppet intake and exhaust valves, the Knight system was a sleeve that moved up and down around the outside of the cylinder "barrel", with passages in both the sleeve and cylinder which allowed for intake and exhaust. Willys bragged that when the Knight patents expired, every serious automaker would be using this system. In 1931-32, the Knight Patents did expire, and in 1933, the Model 77 appeared. Small and compact, the 77 very quickly eclipsed the large, expensive Willys-Knight, and legions of drag racers have loved the result ever since--Model 77 was the legendary '33 Willys, star of the "Gasser" scene at dragstrips everywhere, but it killed its "parent car". In 1946, the Willys CJ-2A Jeep and the follow-on Jeep inspired pickups and station wagons effectively killed off any return of the Willys Americar, the 1937-42 compact 4-cylinder car. Art
Harry P. Posted July 25, 2012 Author Posted July 25, 2012 That Packard Hawk wasn't so bad IMO................ Is it just me, or does anyone else see a catfish's face?
Harry P. Posted July 25, 2012 Author Posted July 25, 2012 That Packard Hawk wasn't so bad IMO................ Yeah, the back end looks fine... because they didn't add any "Packard-ization" crap to it. But that front end? Sheesh...
Art Anderson Posted July 25, 2012 Posted July 25, 2012 Well, we Jr High aged car nuts called it exactly that, back in 1957! Art
Qwit Pushin Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 (edited) You have got to lay off of the Faux Noise, Harry! It will make your brain bleed. My entry in this category would be the Henry J. Kaiser spent their whole budget on it when they should have been putting a V8 in the full size line. A footnote. Studebaker helped preside over Pierce-Arrow's death also. They merged in the early 30s but separated a few years later. They were doomed ebven before the merger, though. The exclamation point on the Henry J farce was the decision to allow Sears & Roebuck to sell them through their catalogue as the 'Allstate' at a lower price than their own dealers!! Brilliant!!! Edited August 2, 2012 by Qwit Pushin
1930fordpickup Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 After the war it has been said that Willy's did not have the presses to stamp deep draw dies for fenders.( I do not know how they did it before the war , or who they hired to do it.) So they were not able to continue with the Americar . They could only get shallow draw panels stamped .
Art Anderson Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 After the war it has been said that Willy's did not have the presses to stamp deep draw dies for fenders.( I do not know how they did it before the war , or who they hired to do it.) So they were not able to continue with the Americar . They could only get shallow draw panels stamped . More than likely, Willys had the tooling for the Americar (all the other automakers managed to "mothball" civilian car body dies during the war). However, Willys was right in seeing the potential of an all new line of vehicles inspired by the by-the-legendary Jeep. But, even with wartime profits in the bank, Willys lacked the money to do the multiple dies needed for all the restrikes necessary for those voluptuous curves of "fat fendered", streamlined automobiles, not to mention the manufacturing costs involved. Also, and probably more telling, was the shortage of the types of sheet steel needed for deep-drawn body shapes (the Big Three experienced that big time as well). So, Brooks Stevens (the legendary Wisconsin industrial designer) was commissioned to draw up very simple, slab sided bodies for the likes of the Jeep Station Wagon, a pickup truck, and ultimately the Jeepster. And thus, three iconic motor vehicles were born. Art
Chuck Most Posted August 3, 2012 Posted August 3, 2012 I don't see a Catfish when I look at the Packardbaker. Only the business end of a Dust Buster handheld vac...
Joe Handley Posted August 3, 2012 Posted August 3, 2012 I don't see a Catfish when I look at the Packardbaker. Only the business end of a Dust Buster handheld vac... I still see more Dustbuster in these things... It's even nearly the right color
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