For Those Of You With A Desire To Own Options

[albertchampion]

one of the funkiest automobiles ever manufactured in the USA.

this can be yours.

http://www.heritageclassics.com/nash/59metro/A1.jpg

[DoYouEverWonder]

It's not that far off from my lifelong dream car.

http://www.cars-wallpapers.net/wp-content/...convertible.jpg

[Omega892R09]

one of the funkiest automobiles ever manufactured in the USA.

this can be yours.

http://www.heritageclassics.com/nash/59metro/A1.jpg

I recall seeing examples of that over here in the UK in the late 1950s early 1960s.

Funkiest car I ever owned was one of these:

(IMG:http://www.co-oc.org/6110mk2.gif)

A Wolseley 6/110 Mk2 of 1967 vintage which I purchased for a song in 73 because the then owner had failed to stop at a T-junction and put it through the front hedge of a house opposite. He was breathalised on the spot - a police officer living in the property. The car was little damaged appart from a bit of missing trim (that fancy winged corner on the front wing) and a missing hub-cap.

The engine was a 3-litre straight six of long stroke - plenty of torque so it climbed hills like a good un - normally aspirated with twin SU carb's which I learned to tune myself. I still have a servicing manual for one of these. The interior was rather good with leather upholstry and wood veneer, fully reclining front seat with arm-rests and picnic tables. A Motorola 8-track stereo had been added.

The inner pair of 'headlamps' were in fact long-range lights which could be selected either off, both on or nearside only. These lights were wired through the dip switch to be switched off if main headlihghts were dipped.

There was an, at first, unknown quirk in this wiring which also was routed through the ignition switch. I discovered, to my cost, that if the lights had been dipped with the long range lights selected ON then the long range lights came back on as the ignition was turned off.

Returning late one night in winter to my air base I parked behind the mess with the car pointing out over the airfield, and up a slight rise. There was nothing for light to reflect off so I locked up and went and got my head down. I was surprised next lunch time when a fellow mess member told me that I had left my lights on all night. Inspection showed a dim glimmer in those long range lights!

When my servicing book arrived I chased through the wiring diagram and sure enough that was how things, to my surprise, were supposed to work.

The only reason for this strange design feature I can think of is that this was a requirement built in for the Police over here who used variants of this machine as patrol cars and the lights may have been useful for lighting up crime scenes etc.

EDIT:

More info at:

Wolseley 6/110 Mk2

Mine had the overdrive but not powered steering. That's why the steering wheel was of a size more commonly found on a bus!

This post has been edited by Omega892R09: Nov 21 2009, 04:23 PM

[Sanders]

I drove one of these for many years, '61 Comet w/ a 200 cubic-inch slant 6 (mine was red) -

(IMG:http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3091/mercurycomet1961a.jpg)

What a great car, and dig those tail lights.

[GroundPounder]

slant six was a chrysler motor...

[albertchampion]

yes, automobile design is clearly a fractured art/science.

the only american automobiles out of the past that i would love to own are the 1957/58 cadillac eldorado biarritz or the 1953 cadillac fleetwood.

as to the wolseley. a very unusual marque. died sometime in the 1970's if i recall. the managing director of a brit firm with whom i did business owned one. i considered it the less expensive daimler[jaguar].

my favorite brit cars were the colin chapman bits. but i once had the scariest drive of my life furnished me by a formula 2 driver with a triumph dolomite racing at dawn up the east coast from edinborough to aberdeen. we should never have made it alive. sheep in the fog and all of that.

[albertchampion]

this thread has prompted me to think of the most unusually sophisticated automobile ever designed and manufactured in the post WW2 era.

by a french company, citroen. the DS.

the top of that line was labeled the PALLAS ATHENAE as i recall.

not imported to the usa, i think.

once in paris, staying at the plaza, i had to get to orly. there was some horrible traffic jam. my limo driver had one of these beasts.

as nothing on the champs was moving, he elevated the car with its unique hydraulic suspension and took to the sidewalk[s].

the most unusual transit of paris that i have ever made. caught my flight, though.

[Omega892R09]

as to the wolseley. a very unusual marque. died sometime in the 1970's if i recall. the managing director of a brit firm with whom i did business owned one. i considered it the less expensive daimler[jaguar].

My Workshop Manual bears this statement on the cover:
Wolseley 6/99, 6/110 Mk 1,2 1959-68

Which fits with my recollection as mine being near the end of production.
ISTR a figure of about £1500 on the road in 1967 according to info that came with the car.

Triumph Dolomite yes I remember those and then there was the open topped Stag.

(IMG:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/1975.triumph.stag.red.arp.jpg)

EDIT:

Wolseley drivers recognised each other at night by the lit badge in the grill center and would flash lights.

This post has been edited by Omega892R09: Nov 23 2009, 12:40 PM

[Omega892R09]

this thread has prompted me to think of the most unusually sophisticated automobile ever designed and manufactured in the post WW2 era.

by a french company, citroen. the DS.

Ah! Yes.

(IMG:http://www.channel4.com/4car/media/100-greatest/03-large/27-citroen-ds.jpg)

I recall those too. I remember one trip in one over freshly laid snow, the footing didn't seem that sure but I then wasn't the driver.

Soggy suspension caused travel sickness in many.

Rear engine - a pig to work on and not much room for luggage in the trunk - at the front!

[albertchampion]

ah, someone knowledgeable about vehicles.

the DS citroen pallas athena may have been a pig, but charles degaulle loved it.

and all things considered, how many roadway assassination attempts did it allow him an escaping?

assassination attempts orchestrated by the oas[organisation armee secrete] headed by former french army general in indochina, raul salan[an opium gangster]. a history little known in the usa.

i think that there were at least 16 attempts on his drives from paris to colombey[sic].

but, it was a tricky mechanical bit. especially the hydraulics. which killed the marque in the usa.

which was odd, because daimler-benz was offering cars in the usa with as dicey a bit of hydraulic suspension[think w1166.9].

the story i suppose is that citroen never invested in the north amerikan market.

[bill]

I have been looking for a Metropolitan for a while ( a convertable preferably)

I think it would make a great airport car

But they are getting pricey --- last I looked they were in the $6000 and up for a non-restored beater

A friend in high school had one --- we all made fun of it -- but secretly it was one of the coolest cars at the school


My other choices for an airport car (money no object LOL) would be a Bantam

(IMG:http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/wheels/472_1939bantam.jpg)


or a Messerschmitt


(IMG:http://www.vintagemicrocar.com/events/Goulds_2004/images/Goulds_2004/Messerschmitt%20red%20LR.JPG)


or even a 2CV ! (this picture was take at the Vintage MicroCar event in Crystal Lake -- what a great day)

(IMG:http://www.microcar.org/gallery/d/829-1/IMG_1810.jpg)

[DoYouEverWonder]

(IMG:http://www.seattlepi.com/dayart/wheels/472_1939bantam.jpg)

OMG, I think I'm in love.

[albertchampion]

so, many automotive oddities. the isetta, for instance.

hell, i think my lotus europa big valve t/c qualifies.

i once dated a woman who owned a crossley[sic]. now, there was a strange vehicle.

and my neighbors once owned a bathtub nash. very ugly. so ugly it was sort of beautiful.

and then another neighbor purchased, new, a packard caribbean. sort of fun. in a dead-end sort of way.

[paranoia]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cheers.gif)