The Nine Lives of the Fiat Cyclone Racing Car: This little 1908 racing car lead a long and productive life. Here it is seen circa 1915 with a transplanted Duesenberg 16-valve racing engine being used by Barney Oldfield in one of his appearances. Learn all about it @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=108598

Winter Fun With Your Indian: Although winter might still be a few weeks away on the calendar, we just got our first measurable snow of the season here at The Old Motor. Motorcycle enthusiasts in the northern latitudes have long sought ways to enjoy their machines during the winter months and while J. Armand Bombardier may lay claim to the first commercially successful small snowmobile, the company’s 1959 Ski-doo was preceded by a long line of ingenious tinkerers who often used contemporary motorcycles as the basis for their designs. The beautifully crafted Indian-based motorsled above is just one such example. - See more at: http://theoldmotor.com/#sthash.HBqcnpZn.dpuf

Offered For Sale – Exceptional Pre-War Automobiles on The Old Motor: We are proud to announce that our new For Sale section is now open on The Old Motor. If you have an interesting and exceptional vehicle or collection you are considering selling and need some assistance, please keep us in mind. We will also consider listings from reputable seasoned professional vintage car dealers. Check out what we have in store @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=4954

The 1955 Tri-Car Suburbanette: Three wheels or four? That has been the question since the dawn of the motor age. Our subject today can trace it’s roots back to a 1932 design by Captain Karl V. Martin, the Martinette. The Tri-Car was designed by H. Roy Jaffe. He had worked at GM, including time at Oldsmobile in 1951 and is credited with crafting the 1953 Olds front end. See & learn much more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=105763

In Case You Missed This on Friday- They Say a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words – If That’s The Case This Coverage is Worth a Gazillion: Take a few minutes and stop by The Old Motor to view a pair of must see videos and the news covering the situation at the Packard Plant. In our coverage is also link to view more photos by French photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre from their book “The Ruins of Detroit“ See it all @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=105981

The 2013 French Grand Prix Centenary at Amiens: Enthusiasts drove from the U.K. and Europe and met there this past summer with both original racing cars and quite a few modern day specials to commemorate the famous GP races held there. See many more photos and a video by talented photographer and film maker Stefan Marjoram on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=104727

The 2013 French Grand Prix Centenary at Amiens: Enthusiasts drove from the U.K. and Europe and met there this past summer with both original racing cars and quite a few modern day specials to commemorate the famous GP races held there. See many more photos and a video by talented photographer and film maker Stefan Marjoram on The Old Motor @
http://theoldmotor.com/?p=104727

The 2013 French Grand Prix Centenary at Amiens: Enthusiasts drove from the U.K. and Europe and met there this past summer with both original racing cars and quite a few modern day specials to commemorate the famous GP races held there. See many more photos and a video by talented photographer and film maker Stefan Marjoram on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=104727

The 2013 French Grand Prix Centenary at Amiens: Enthusiasts drove from the U.K. and Europe and met there this past summer with both original racing cars and quite a few modern day specials to commemorate the famous GP races held there. See many more photos and a video by talented photographer and film maker Stefan Marjoram on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=104727

The Amazing Gas-O-Car – A Stylish Mobile Filling Station: The Sinclair Oil & Refining Corp. had Kastory Motor Body Company custom build this enclosed gasoline dispensing body on a White Truck chassis in 1926. The back of the creation carried a platform which, in turn, held two visible glass-cylinder gasoline pumps along with an air hose used for inflating tires. See more photos of this incredible truck and learn all the details @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=100745

A Tuesday Photo Without Caption Contest: It’s time once again to have a little photo fun and that’s where you come in. Use your imagination and see if you can come come up with a clever caption for this shot and post it here or on The Old Motor as a comment. We will select our favorite and show it as an update on Thursday morning @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=100027

A Day to Remember on Lake Tahoe with George Whittell Jr.’s Fabulous Thunderbird: Be sure to stop by The Old Motor and see a very interesting post filled with photos by Steve Natale all about the Thunderbird. It was commissioned by George Whittell Jr., a wealthy playboy with a penchant for women, big game hunting, card games, exotic automobiles and of course, boats. See and learn much more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=100045

A Day to Remember on Lake Tahoe with George Whittell Jr.’s Fabulous Thunderbird: Be sure to stop by The Old Motor and see a very interesting post filled with photos by Steve Natale all about the Thunderbird. It was commissioned by George Whittell Jr., a wealthy playboy with a penchant for women, big game hunting, card games, exotic automobiles and of course, boats. See and learn much more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=100045

The Illinois State Police Suggest That You Check Your Speed: One look at this stern faced group is all it took to convince us it was no idle suggestion. In our digital age of radar and laser speed guns and roadside robo-cops, this 1959 Ford decked out with an enormous analog speedometer might seem quaint. See it and many more photo from the Joe Sonderman collection @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=98890

Auto thrill shows might seem old hat to some these days, but they are still a staple at State Fairs and other outdoor entertainment venues in this country. Performing stunts that would put the average motorist in jail, the hospital or worse if attempted on the public roads, pioneer outfits like those run by Joie Chitwood, Stoney Roberts, Lucky Teeter and Jimmie Lynch provided vicarious excitement for millions of fans for decades. Learn more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=99539

The Illinois State Police Suggest That You Check Your Speed: One look at this stern faced group is all it took to convince us it was no idle suggestion. In our digital age of radar and laser speed guns and roadside robo-cops, this 1959 Ford decked out with an enormous analog speedometer might seem quaint. See it and many more photo from the Joe Sonderman collection @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=98890

Strike While the Iron Is Hot – Building the Modern Motorcar – The Dodge Factory in Action, c. 1917: Many of you know by now that the Dodge Brothers established a solid reputation for high quality manufacturing as a major supplier of engines to the Ford Motor Company. They were so well regarded that when they decided to build a car bearing their name in 1914, 13,000 agents signed up to sell them before a single one had been produced. These images are from a film that shows their state-of-the-art factory in operation and is one of the first productions of a film department established in 1916.

The company released their films to movie houses at first but soon found they could more readily reach prospective buyers through their sales outlets and showed them there instead. You can see the entire 28 minute video, “Dodge In The Making” , at the National Film Preservation Foundation. There is some deterioration of the old nitrate film stock between the 14:00 and 15:15 minute marks, but the rest of the movie is quite watchable and we think you’ll enjoy it @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=96956

We have been to and have participated the Goodwood Festival of speed. It and the Goodwood Revival are two events that you need to put on your list. This video by MercedesBenzUKPress at the Goodwood Revival 2012 gives you a good overview of that event along with interviews of Lord March and the professional drivers chosen to drive these priceless Mercedes-Benz racing treasures.

You can see over 25 pages of other interesting vintage car videos on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=29

This amphibious car which was built in San Francisco, CA., is seen here being demonstrated in San Francisco Bay late in 1915 or early 1916 in a press photo. Popular Science magazine covered the machine in detail and included photos. They reported that it was “invented by Michael de Cosmo of San Francisco” who after testing this machine was “designing a new model with improvements”. Can any of our readers add more to the story? More @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=72277

Starting a 1918 V8 Curtiss OX5 aircraft engine by Theo and Yesterdays Antique Motorcycles. Nederweert,The Netherlands. Many more neat videos and films @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=29

Traffic Jam on The Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance: The Tour d’Elegance was held yesterday and the 100 plus cars on it ended up on one of the most amazing race tracks in the country, Laguna Seca, where the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is also being held this week. Steve Natale was there and reports: “I had an amazing day and rode with Johnny Crowell in the 1914 Simplex. This year the tour included a lap around Laguna Seca! Plus we had awesome weather to boot”. Learn much more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=95481

Motor-Car Boat Portage – 1906 Style with a Maxwell Roadster: The week has flown by and Friday is upon us once again, and if you are the type that likes to spend some time fishing on the weekend, check out how Mr H.C. Ervin did it back in 1906 with his Maxwell roadster and boat. The photo and the text below is from the April, 1906 Motor magazine. In the article it tells us just how the clever Minnesota motorist went “A-Fishin” with his Michigan Steel Boat Co. sectional steel boat. Learn more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=95448

RARE 1932 CHICAGO " VERTICLE AUTOMATIC PARKING LOT" Film Found:

Many of you have no doubt seen the 1932 photo of the Chicago parking novelity shown below. We were fortunate to find the exciting Britsh Pathe Newreel Film of it in action. We also found the full details about in the Everyday Science and Mechanics, January, 1932 issue. SEE IT ALL @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=94935

The Dynasphere was a creation by Dr. J. A. Purves in England and is shown above on the cover of Meccano magazine in February of 1935. The design actually originates from a bicycle type of monowheel, as they are called, which was built in the late 1860s. There were earlier motor powered monowheels and we will post one soon. Learn more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=11667

The Dynasphere was a creation by Dr. J. A. Purves in England and is shown above on the cover of Meccano magazine in February of 1935. The design actually originates from a bicycle type of monowheel, as they are called, which was built in the late 1860s. There were earlier motor powered monowheels and we will post one soon. Learn more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=11667

Throw Another Log on the Fire –The Original DeSoto "FireDome": As gas prices continue to rise these days, there is much talk about alternative fuels for our motor vehicles, but this is hardly the first time that the subject has come up. The ungainly looking device attached to the 1942 DeSoto in our feature photo today is a wood gas or producer gas generator. It’s purpose was to provide a practical substitute for increasingly scarce gasoline during the Second World War. Lean much more @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=95107

2000 Old Cars…. An Artsy High Speed Junkyard Street View: A mesmerizing journey thru an unknown salvage yard filmed by Dutch Bailey. Follow along as he shows us all two thousand cars and trucks in an unknown, but well kept collection. Many more COOL videos @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=29&paged=10

A Candid Camera TV Episode – THE SPLITTING CAR

The preparations required to pull off this memorable Allen Funt stunt have to rank as some of the most elaborate ever attempted. The tiny Renault 4CV was equipped with power for at least one half and, we assume, steering and braking controls for both. A reliable system for repeated clean separations and re-attachments of the two halves was also needed; all this for a just few minutes of air time. We think the results were well worth the work.

The Itinerant Photographer Collection, Corpus Christi, Texas, 1934:

A very interesting exhibition of images assembled for study can be found at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The charm of the extensive collection is that it documents the every day business life in the city, showing the fabric of the many small businesses located there. We have shown only a small part of the collection here, with some of the filling stations, sales agencies and garages that kept the wheels rolling in the south Texas coast area during the great depression. See More @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=92949

This is an 8 mm film by Tommy Lorbeer with very rare footage showing prewar racing on the Harper dry lake in California during 1940. In addition to the many home built Ford based racing cars and a four cylinder powered Chevrolet streamliner which Bob Rufi set a record of 140 mph, there are some thoroughbreds to be seen; Don Lee’s Bugatti possibly with Bunny Phillips driving. The Don Lee special, which was Offenhauser powered car that Frank Kurtis built in 1936. A front wheel drive Miller-Ford racing car. And we even noticed a Hisso powered roadster. We have over 25 pages of other neat videos on The Old Motor to enjoy @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=29&paged=27

Raymond Loewy and Streamline Moderne: A streamlined K4 steam locomotive that hauled the crack Pennsylvania Railroad train, the “Broadway Limited” and a 1938 Studebaker President. Both were styled by Raymond Loewy. See todays feature filled with photos and information about the famous French-born designer @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=94684

SPEED ??? No we would never ever think of doing such a thing, but you better hide the women and lock up the chickens while we're around. This appears to be famous early driver Earl Cooper in his Stutz racing car

If you enjoy pre WWII racing cars we have 100's of them @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=23&paged=6

This COOL pre war COLOR FILM by General Motors is only part of our coverage on The Futurliners and the GM Parade of Progress @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=92897

Miss Dangerous Curves, 1954:

This is Miss Helen Fleming, 18 of Golden, Colorado, she was chosen to be “Miss Dangerous Curves of 1954″ and she reigned over the Buffalo Bill Mountain hill climb for sports cars on August 7 th. and 8 th. In addition to that press clipping on the back of the photo is a note mentioning Lookout Mountain. It was published in an unknown area newspaper. The car is a Jaguar carrying a very interesting non-standard bumper. You can find 42 pages of Women and Vehicles on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?cat=15

Angelo R. Noble’s Unique Car and Trailer Duo:

The first sight of this combo coming down the street must have stopped people in their tracks, as it did us when we first stumbled across this film. The trailer has a conventionally shaped teardrop shape, but the Darth Vader-like styling of the car is unlike anything we have seen before. We were unable to find any information about this interesting, handcrafted car and trailer, and all that we do know is courtesy of the narrator on the newsreel film who identifies the creator as Angelo R. Noble of Guadalupe, California.

We are hoping that our very resourceful readers will once again go to work and help find a little more information about Noble’s handiwork and tell all of us if it a pre-war or a post war creation and more about it. Could Noble have possibly learned aircraft construction methods and skills during WWII and then had access to cheap surplus materials afterward that enabled him to build the pair?

You can see many more Tear Droppers @ http://theoldmotor.com/?s=teardropper

More Oddities on The Old Motor – The Steam Truck:

It was steam that drove the explosive growth of the U.S. economy in the second half of the 19th century. Whether threshing the wheat in American’s bread basket, powering mills and industrial plants larger than any ever seen before or moving the massive quantities of the raw materials necessary to keep those factories humming, steam was relied upon to get the job done. So it’s only logical that this tried and true propulsion system would make the transition from railroad, manufactory and farm field to the primitive road vehicles of the early 20th.

While the first horseless carriages were rapidly improving from year to year, it would be a while before they were to become sufficiently robust to move the heavy cargoes that were steam’s forte. Take, for example, the 20 horsepower Grout Brothers truck carrying a Grout steam car seen in our top photo today. Note it’s clearly displayed five ton capacity. At the time there were few, if any, gasoline powered vehicles that could handle a load like that. The company used this truck for delivering their automobiles. Note the lower of the two wheels mounted on the steering column. It’s the throttle control. Photo from the April 30, 1904 issue of ”The Automobile Magazine”. See 7 more COOL REAL STEAMPUNK trucks @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=93878

“It Corners Like It’s on Rails” – A Special 1955 Buick Special:

We can’t say for sure who first equipped road-going automobiles with railroad wheels for use as track inspection cars, but these shots of a Pierce-Arrow and a Chrysler Imperial from The Old Motor show that the idea went back quite some time. Their primary purpose was to allow supervisors and executives to travel the right of way to spot potential problems on the line in a way that didn’t tie up a locomotive and crew, who would otherwise be at work generating revenue for the railroad.

The two examples in the above links are typical of the early vehicles of this type that were built in the company shops. However, their design limited them to use on rails only. When companies like Evans introduced retractable wheel sets in the mid-1930′s like the ones on this Buick that allowed highway and rail travel, it didn’t take long for railroad management to recognize the benefit of this versatility and adapt them to both inspection and maintenance vehicles. Photo courtesy of the Benjamin Ames Collection .

Fearless Egbert and His Lion – The Collins Famous Death Riders: Many of you may have seen photos of a lion riding on a car in a Wall of Death silodrome before, but this is the first film of one that we have seen and it is of quite good quality. Interesting action can be seen in this short Pathe newsreel filmed during 1934, showing a trained lion being taken for a ride on a Wall of Death car. A stop at The Old Motor will show you more photos of The Collins Famous Death Riders @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=92329

A Candid Camera TV Episode – A Car Without a Motor: This is a very funny Candid Camera episode that you just have to watch as the crew pulls one of it’s humorous pranks on a couple of gas stations. The show initially began on the radio as Candid Microphone on June 28, 1947. Allen Funt’s concept next came to television on August 10, 1948. Its last original broadcast was on May 5, 2004.

Frank Mayes Homemade Three-Wheeler: Frank Mayes a farmer-mechanic, of Fayetteville, AR., built this three-wheeler from scrap Ford and Chevrolet parts over a 22 month period as a way to beat the post-war car shortage. The press photo is dated July 8, 1948, and the caption with it tells us that both driving and braking are controlled by the front wheels while the single rear wheel carried the steering duties. At the time in trial runs he had attained a speed of 55 mph with it.

We also have found patent drawings for it and one of our readers has sent in photos of parts of it that have survived all are @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=45588

Drive-In Dreams – Los Angeles Eats on the Go: The Simon brothers ran a chain of successful lunch counters in Los Angeles and, in 1935, opened a pair of Wayne McAllister designed establishments that featured car hops and 24-hour service. This neon-lit masterpiece of “Streamline Moderne” architecture was located in El Monte. See it along with a coffee shop on The Old motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=91231

Men from the Boston Fire Department Rescue Squad model their smoke masks on Feb. 2, 1922 in front of a Pierce-Arrow which has been converted into a rescue wagon.

The Michelin Man and The History of the Tire Part I: We have an interesting post up filled with photos, art, information about the Michelin tire along with a very interesting film about it's history. This photo shows Bibendum, the Michelin Man mascot at car and tire agency in France. See much more on The Old Motor @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=83362

All Steamed up in Boston with a Front-Drive Christie Fire Truck: This formidable looking machine is a Christie Front Drive tractor attached to what originally entered service as a horse drawn, steam driven pumper. It’s the handiwork of J. Walter Christie, the American engineer and inventor. See many more photos and learn all about it @ http://theoldmotor.com/?p=83787

Just for a little a little fun on a rainy morning we included this video in our post about A Pair of Tuesday Morning Mysteries. We thought this Rube Goldberg contraction fit right in.....Enjoy.