WTF vehicles

[Eric]

[Eric]

[Eric]

2008 SVS Spada Codatronca.

[pipedreams]

[pipedreams]

[Eric]

I've never seen a Ford flathead V-8 modded this way. The exhaust ports of three of the four cylinders on each side have been routed through what is supposed to be the water jacket. I guess it flows better that way and they wouldn't be using the water jacket on the drag strip anyway.

 

[tous]

On 10/4/2022 at 6:35 PM, Eric said:

It's French.

It's orange.

To say more would be redundant.

 

[pipedreams]

[Cougar_ml]

[Eric]

[DAKA]

4 hours ago, Cougar_ml said:

WTF is right ???

[DAKA]

7 hours ago, pipedreams said:

Low rider ?

[Eric]

[tous]

2 hours ago, Eric said:

The last Hudson Hornet. 

1956 or 1957, I believe.

No more or no less ugly/attractive than other makes and models of the era.

I like the automobile, though I am not a fan of the red over black two-tone, white roof  finish.

One can almost see the post-war Checker A series taxi cabs in the Hudson, but there is no connection that I can discover.

[Eric]

6 minutes ago, tous said:

The last Hudson Hornet. 

1956 or 1957, I believe.

No more or no less ugly/attractive than other makes and models of the era.

I like the automobile, though I am not a fan of the red over black two-tone, white roof  finish.

One can almost see the post-war Checker A series taxi cabs in the Hudson, but there is no connection that I can discover.

I've worked on a couple of Checker Marathons. Those were industrial-strength cars. Built like tanks. There aren't many of them left though. They mostly got driven into the ground.

[Eric]

This is a 1940 Checker Model A. It is one of the goofiest looking prewar cars built in the US. It's like they were flipping a farewell bird at the Art Deco movement.

 

 

[Eric]

And the Checker Marathon. These things were built virtually unchanged, from 1960 till 1982. I doubt if there are many Americans older than forty that haven't at least seen one, if not ridden in one.

 

[tous]

Wasn't the Marathon an effort to get the general public and not just taxi cab companies to buy Checkers?

Yes, I have been in the back of more than a few Checker taxis.

In Manhattan and Chicago.

Survived.

Barely.

Hard to say which city's  cab drivers are more insane, but in my experience, Boston gets the nod.

Stop signs and traffic lights are mere suggestions and I kid you not (phrase made famous by Jack Paar,)  they will drive up on the sidewalks.

Even Paris taxi drivers weren't that nuts.

 

 

[Eric]

35 minutes ago, tous said:

Wasn't the Marathon an effort to get the general public and not just taxi cab companies to buy Checkers?

 

I don't believe there was ever a serious effort to market to the public, but I could be wrong. Most of their cars went to fleet sales. I know they never had a nationwide dealer network and outside of fleet service, it could be a little tough to get some parts, although drivetrain parts were always readily available.

[Eric]

One interesting aspect of the Marathon design was that the rear fenders bolted on and could be easily replaced. That is pretty rare on cars, from the mid-fifties on. I imagine that made it much faster and easier to get them back into service after fender-benders.

[NPTim]

5 minutes ago, Eric said:

I don't believe there was ever a serious effort to market to the public, but I could be wrong. Most of their cars went to fleet sales. I know they never had a nationwide dealer network and out side of fleet service, it could be a little tough to get some parts, although drivetrain parts were always readily available.

There was this one family in chapel hill that had one as their family car. They seemed a half a bubble off of plumb, but kept to themselves.

[tous]

It would be an easy conclusion that private vehicle buyers value style and status more than dependability, but then how do we explain the popularity of the Volkswagen Beetle and later, the Toyota and Honda offerings of the 1970s?

For fleet use, I can understand that dependable and maintainable are paramount, what it looks like is far less important.

 

[Eric]

1 minute ago, NPTim said:

There was this one family in chapel hill that had one as their family car. They seemed a half a bubble off of plumb, but kept to themselves.

It's funny you say that. Back when I was around the antique car scene, I met several people who had bought and restored Marathons and they were all a bit odd. My mother almost got in a fist fight with this little guy once when she laughed after he told here that Checker Marathons were cvonsidered classic cars. My father didn't even step forward when the guy got chesty. My mother would have cleaned his clock.

[Eric]

16 minutes ago, tous said:

It would be an easy conclusion that private vehicle buyers value style and status more than dependability, but then how do we explain the popularity of the Volkswagen Beetle and later, the Toyota and Honda offerings of the 1970s?

For fleet use, I can understand that dependable and maintainable are paramount, what it looks like is far less important.

 

I didn't think that the VW Beetles and Buses would ever go out of production. The Last VW Beetle (Produced in Mexico) was produced in 2003 and the last VW Bus (Produced in Brazil) was produced in 2013. They were amazing vehicles. Basic, but dependable and cheap & easy to work on. I've worked on a hell of a lot of them.

[railfancwb]

1 hour ago, Eric said:

And the Checker Marathon. These things were built virtually unchanged, from 1960 till 1982. I doubt if there are many Americans older than forty that haven't at least seen one, if not ridden in one.

 

Memory says that some shop was buying Marathon fleets as the Checker operators were taking them out of service, seriously refurbishing them, and selling to individuals seeking durability rather than style.