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Automobiles of the Pulp Era


MisterVimes

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

The car from this era that I always liked was the big steam powered Doble. A luxury vehicle with enormous range compared to its contemporaries (1500 miles !). Could also start from cold in one and a half minutes' date=' but I think that they were expensive and not a lot were made. Still, sounds like just the thing for your P C's to turn up at a fancy soiree in .[/quote']

 

Apparently they were around $20,000 in 1925 -- an absurdly high price. The Doble's made a cheaper model, the Simplex, but it never got beyond the prototype. According to what I've heard, Jay Leno bought one of the Dobles.

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

The car from this era that I always liked was the big steam powered Doble. A luxury vehicle with enormous range compared to its contemporaries (1500 miles !). Could also start from cold in one and a half minutes' date=' but I think that they were expensive and not a lot were made. Still, sounds like just the thing for your P C's to turn up at a fancy soiree in .[/quote']

 

Apparently they were around $20' date='000 in 1925 -- an absurdly high price. The Doble's made a cheaper model, the Simplex, but it never got beyond the prototype. According to what I've heard, Jay Leno bought one of the Dobles.[/quote']

 

A few years ago Jay wrote in Popular Mechanics about how Doble (the manufacturer) never settled on a "final" design, but incorporated improvements in the next car that occurred to him while building the last one. Either that or it was on a car show on cable featuring Jay's Garage?

 

I always liked the idea of the Franklin, a car powered by a six-cylinder air-cooled motor, the tiny-for-it's-day American Austin(Later American Bantam), or even the Ford V-8, which could do at least 85 MPH in a day when most cars' top speed was about 65 and some *Cough! Model-T!* could only muster about 45, but that was okay because brakes back then faded!

 

Some links to Wikipedia entries on a few (mostly) defunct makes that were available somewhere between 1900 and 1950:

 

Franklin (automobile)

 

Hudson Motor Car Company

 

Studebaker

 

Crosley

 

Citroën

 

Pontiac

 

Owen Magnetic

 

Baker Motor Vehicle

 

Moose Jaw Standard

 

(No, I did not make that one up!)

 

Steam Cars

Continental Motors Company

 

Davis Motor Car

 

Dymaxion Car

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

I'm not as familiar with the makes and models offered outside the U.S. at that time. Old car buffs with this knowledge are strongly encouraged to participate.

 

Some of the cars from the above article on streamlining:

tatra-87rear.jpg

Tatra 87

 

aero-rumpler-wind-tunnel.jpg

Rumpler Tropfenwagon

 

6314425074_d7a808e460.jpg

the Schlörwagen

 

Not from the above article, but noteworthy nontheless:

5159462338_80f99702f1_z.jpg

Chevrolet Fleetline Fastback

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

The Model T seems pretty archaic even by the 1930s (Model T production ended in 1927), but there is a reason they were around long after "better" cars were available, they were bullet proof reliability wise, could go almost anywhere, ran on gasoline, alcohol or kerosene and had a bazillian options available.

A Model T pickup is pretty much my standard Call of Cthulhu investigators mobile, unless they have the cash for a Packard or similar speedster.

 

I love this clip, the Model T just plunges on in, but the Jeep stops to size it up first

 

 

 

if you were in snow country this was an after market accessory

 

 

 

The standard Model T engine made 20 horsepower, but with speed equipment like the Frontenac conversion (new 4 valve per cylinder head, and a few other substitutions) it could put out 140 horses, making the Model T speedster a competitive dirt track racer until WW2.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhNU8UX_YPs&feature=related

 

 

and if I ever had the crazy money needed, I would have one of the 1930s Boattail speedsters from Packard, Duesenberg or Auburn. Very elegant cars that are very fast even by modern standards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apparently they were around $20' date='000 in 1925 -- an absurdly high price. The Doble's made a cheaper model, the Simplex, but it never got beyond the prototype. According to what I've heard, Jay Leno bought one of the Dobles.[/quote']

 

There was a show on the History channel about steam power that featured several of Jay Leno's steam machines. He has several steam cars and some steam engines. Pretty sure it was an episode of Modern Marvels. The steam cars impressed me. Not real handy for a quick get away since you have to get the water heated, but on the road they appear to be very fast and smooth (no need to shift gears as I recall). He showed off one with a traditional steam engine, puffs of steam etc like a steam train, but the other was a closed system that used a condensor to recycle the water vapor.

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

I'm not as familiar with the makes and models offered outside the U.S. at that time. Old car buffs with this knowledge are strongly encouraged to participate.

 

Some of the cars from the above article on streamlining:

tatra-87rear.jpg

Tatra 87

 

aero-rumpler-wind-tunnel.jpg

Rumpler Tropfenwagon

 

6314425074_d7a808e460.jpg

the Schlörwagen

 

Not from the above article, but noteworthy nontheless:

5159462338_80f99702f1_z.jpg

Chevrolet Fleetline Fastback

 

I just LOVE the picture of the Tatra. It just looks like something out of an old S F serial !:thumbup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

Love the" Jungle Yacht" ! Do you have any specifications on it (size' date=' speed, number of people that it can accommodate ?)[/quote']

 

Commander Gatti’s Jungle Yacht and African Expedition

 

A Discussion thread that may prove helpful: Jungle yachts?

 

The Lavish Jungle Yacht by International Harvester

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

The Jungle Yacht Inaugural Expedition so begs to be a Pulp Hero scenario, or maybe as lead-in to Allston's Lands of Mystery.

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

1948_NormanETimbs_BuickStreamliner1.jpg1948 Norman E. Timbs Buick Streamliner

 

buickYjob39bis.jpg

1939 Buick "Y Job"

 

3374620-6650483-thumbnail.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1271983766949

The "Car of 1960"

 

09_09a.jpg

If you can find more info on this vehicle, post it below!

 

1932MartinModel1001.jpg

The Martin Aircraft company

toyed with the idea of making a

streamlined car, starting in the 1930s.

1925+Rolls-Royce+Phantom+I+Aerodynamic+Coupe+_.jpg

1925 Rolls Royce Phantom

800px-Paul_Arzens_La_Baleine.JPG

 

Paul Arzens: La Baleine (the whale), 1938

 

 

berg4528E.jpg

Bergholt Streamline Car

 

streamlined_auto.jpg

105 M.P.H. Streamlined Auto Built in Home Workshop, Uses Ford Parts (May, 1932)

 

393827467_08236965ea_o.jpg

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

More about the Tombs Buick Streamliner....

800px-1937-airomobile-prototype-05958.jpg

1937 Lewis Airomobile

 

800px-1937-cadillac-hartmann-cabriolet-00168.jpg

1937 Cadillac Hartmann Cabriolet

 

800px-1939-dodge-airflow-tanker-truck-06134.JPG

1939 Dodge Airflow Truck

 

1934-cadillac-0011.jpg

1934 V16 Cadillac Town Car

 

1934-cadillac-00714.jpg

1934 V16 Cadillac Formal Sedan

 

1934-chrysler-0011.jpg

1934 Chrysler Imperial Airflow CX

 

duesenberg-00040.jpg

1936 Duesenberg Prototype Gentleman's Speedster

 

600px-1935-ford-touring-sedan-0726.jpg

1935 Ford Touring Sedan

 

800px-Delahaye-1936-figpni-falaschi-1949.JPG

1936 Delahaye 135 Figoni et Falaschi Competitione Coupe

 

800px-Desoto-1936-airstream-taxi-1861.jpg

1936 DeSoto Airstream Taxi

 

The above car was often used as a Taxi. The Taxi versions had a sunroof over the rear seats.

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Re: Automobiles of the Pulp Era

 

800px-1936-lincoln-zephyr-2029.jpg

1936 Lincoln Zephyr

 

 

1922-franklin-03071.jpg1922-franklin-03073.jpg

1922 Franklin Runabout

 

1934GoliathPionier.jpg

1934 Goliath Pioneer

 

 

the-origins-of-streamline-design-in-cars_16.jpg

Streamlined Daimler-Benz Bus

 

BURNEY+STREAMLINE+1930.JPG

BURNEY STREAMLINE 1930

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]43633[/ATTACH]

1940 Mercedes-Benz 320 W-142IV Streamline Wendler

 

 

ve09bmw502baur4a.jpg

ve09bmw502baur4b.jpg

BMW Baur 502 Convertible 4-doorA

 

sakh381_3.jpg

sakh381_4.jpg

Digital rendered images of a 1937 patent for a streamlined tractor-trailer rig.

 

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