Red and random...

Got to playing with a series of works lately, all based on a monochrome theme, and thought I'd show one off for a Friday morning:


Suffice to say, it's a rather colorful series, with an interesting mix of contrasting and complementing cars and styles, each coupled with a color chosen in the same way... Hope you dig it.

Ingenuity...

...is defined by Webster's as "skill or cleverness in devising or combining : inventiveness, or: cleverness or aptness of design or contrivance".

It's been a word that has spent an unholy amount of time bouncing a

round in my brain lately. I find it to be a powerful word when applied to our hobby/industry of hot rodding in general, as it's really the backbone of what we do. Consider an engine builder, working to tweak every last ounce of power, Sam Barris chopping the first Merc roof, or the first guy to conceive the idea of using lace to create killer patterns in custom paint. Hell, each day I'm confronted with the challenge of bringing unique ideas to a project, and in some cases, finding ways to stretch a budget, and draw in some wicked little details to set a car over the top. It's a matter of using what's there in front of you (and occasionally what doesn't exist!) in a new or different way, and then getting it all to flow.

A recurring theme here in the old blog has been that of cool details and inventive use of materials on a project, and this entry brings in some really neat stuff. First off, time had shot over some pics of his new, self-made planishing hammer.

Confronted with pre-made units that maybe had the power but lacked the throw he needed, or even vice-versa, he did what any hot rodder might do: He made his own. 

Pretty slick, indeed, and a great illustration of the point here. The human mind is capable of solving problems with amazing agility at times (there's even some grace in banging a sheetmetal panel to shape over a 2x4 when it's in the right hands!), and when it comes to creating tools to aid in work, provide convenience, whatever, it's always cool to witness. 

Speaking of ingenuity, a recent side trek on the web, seeking more info on Sam Barris' Merc led me to a video highlighting a car that's always kept me fascinated (and, amazingly, another Barris-constructed car -- I say "constructed", as the majority of the innovations on the car were those of the owner), the Golden Sahara II, from the ingenuity (see a theme here?) of owner/designer Jim Skonzakis (aka Jim Street). Every inch of this car is loaded with ingenuity, and inventive, if not a step beyond state-of-the-art for its time (this was pre-1962!)... Man, consider that this was the FIRST car to have a TV in it, much less every other technical marvel thrown in. You may know this '53 Lincoln Capri from the Jerry Lewis movie Cinderfella:

or even the old Rob't. Williams "Leadsleds" poster (it's there in the original incarnation, anyway), too! In any event, over on YouTube is the following video... take a peek, and we'll pick this back up in a few: 

How absolutely freaking cool is THAT??!

...and those light-up tires? Dig this:

In the '60's, Goodyear toyed with translucent polymers to create pastel-colored, illuminated tires! More likely than not, they were to be marketed toward women (color matching everything was in fashion, after all), yet the material proved to wear too quickly, and they never made it to market... 

Ponder the thought that went into this car, the forward thinking, the sheer inventiveness... the INGENUITY. Granted, there's a lot of gimmickry going on here, but isn't this car just the perfect illustration of the times? That whole "world of tomorrow" kinda vibe going on, and all wrapped up neatly in a pretty slick custom.

 
I had shown this to my kids, and they flipped that the car had a TV, a remote... and then they said "they had TV back THEN"? Illuminated tires, whoopie.... TV? Amazing to kids. Go figure...

200 MPH...

…speedometer, that is.

And did I mention that it’s a factory piece?




Anyway, a few weeks ago, I took some time away from the Studio and had an absolute blast, with good friend Josh dropping into the Valley for some time at the Barrett-Jackson auction (and subsequent menagerie of auto- and non-auto-related goodies and sights and sounds), as well as a Saturday morning trek for some breakfast and to take in a Chrysler 300 Show (the Chrysler 300 Club’s 15th Winter Meet). Josh is a big 300 fan, and owns a ‘57, too, along with his killer, slammed ‘58 Buick, and happens to be a great photographer, and true auto afficianado.

Back on track here, as we strolled the small –but high-quality– show, I was thrown for a loop by just how friendly these folks are, and how into the 300’s (letter and non-letter cars), and was just kinda soaking up the great rides on display, when I came across one of the coolest things I’ve seeen in my car-gazing life:

A 1960 300F (Special Gran Turismo).

Consider: a Chrysler 300 is a big, luxury automobile that brings performance to the table. Light years ahead off the competition, this was a muscle car in its purest form. In 1960, the 413 Wedge was the new engine, and cranked out 375 horsepower in stock trim. You’ve probably seen a few with the unique cross-ram intake, which places the carbs over the fenderwells (more on this later). Chrysler also created a special short-ram version of the engine (the tuned runners for the intake were about 15″ long), pushing 400 horsepower. They created only 15 of these cars, backing the mighty Wedge with the French Pont-a-Mousson four-speed transmission, originally created for the Facel Vega.

So, in effect, we have a luxury car with muscle car tendencies, wrapped in a killer styling package. All cool, but what blew me away was this:

…yes, that reads 200 MPH. Factory piece, from 1960. Consider that for a minute. (hell, the cars rode out of the factory on 15″ wheels wrapped in Goodyear Stock Car Special Blue Streak tires… the same as used in NASCAR!) This was no ordinary car. This was a race car with STYLE.

I just wanted to share this, as it’s a neat piece of history, and a very cool conversation piece, to say the least. We’ll touch back on these killer cars in the future, to be certain.