Old Cars

I know next to nothing about cars, hot rods, dragsters, &/or automobilia in general (let alone who Don Garlits is), but that doesn’t stop me from recognizing the value of vintage car part catalogs, like these two old (1959 & 1960) Almquist “Equipment of Champions” catalogs from Almquist Engineering Co., Inc. (Milford, PA), founded by Ed Almquist. So I included them in my ephemera pile & purchased them.

1959 Almquist Catalog

Any good collector knows that catalogs are keystones to completing collections — whether it’s cake decorating supplies or auto parts, the point is the same: Know what was made, when it was made, and it’s official name &/or stock number.

1960 Almquist Catalog

But you also don’t need to be an automobilia collector to appreciate some of the things in these vintage Almquist catalogs. Look at the fabulously stylish wheel covers…

Vintage Wheel Covers

Spiffy “bolt-on” custom sport bodies…

"Bolt-On" Custom Sport Bodies By Almquist

And cool accessories such as 3-D chrome emblems, classic flame decals, or KEM multicolor decals — everything from “Flames & Flying Eye-balls,” “Indians and Tomahawks,” “Pirates and Flags,” “Eagles and Ghouls,” to “Devils and Dice.” (Click on the images to see large scans.)

Vintage Hot Rod Decals & Accessories

Just paging through these old Almquist catalogs sort of inspires new collections… I might not be able to afford, in terms of money or space, hot rods, but I think I could squeeze in some decals.

We hear a lot about how American life changed from the atomic 50s to the rebellious 60s, but let’s take a look-see at some of the changes in material culture via The Saturday Evening Post (scans of issues from 1959 & 1960).

Television sets were BIG.

(I think I made one of those wooden birds on a stick in wood shop class… Now I have to look for that.)

Big ol’ console sets continue in the bottom part of the GE ad.

Not only were the sets big, but the screens were getting bigger too: “Owens-Illinois put more picture into your television picture tube.”

Cars, however, were getting smaller, as this 1959 feature “The Big Three Join The Revolution” shows us.

Above, Robert S. McNamara, Ford vice president, shows off his new “baby,” the Ford Falcon; small side photo shows “another proud parent,” Edward N. Cole, General Motors vice president, with the rear-end aluminum engine of Chevrolet’s Corvair. Below, the Corvair compared with a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air.

Below, the Falcon at a picnic.

A quote from the article gives us some haunting insight:

Detroit has not now and never had any intention of producing a so-called austerity car in which style, comfort and performance are too greatly sacrificed for low first cost and high gas mileage. What the auto makers have produced are cars which are nimble, cost a little less, use less gas, but are still six-passenger automobiles. In doing so, however, the producers have made a tacit admission — that their conventional smallest, lowest-priced three are no longer small enough and low-priced enough for an increasing number of customers who want something somewhat less splendid.

Above: “Sneak view of the Valiant, Chrysler’s economy candidate. A little more exotic than the other two, the Valiant will be introduced soon.” Which is odd they’d show such a blurry sneak-peek when they also include another photo of the Valiant (below), saying, “This picture, published prematurely by a newsmagazine, nearly destroyed Chrysler’s plans for secrecy prior to October introduction of the car.”

Mom’s life also got easier as GE offered mom a first: The General Electric Filter-Flo Washer with Automatic Bleach Dispenser.

Hey, it not only stored (& dispensed) a months’ supply of bleach, it was in that cool pink.

And, last (for today), but certainly not least… Little Friskies introduces boxed cat food.  Such a new idea, it took an entire page of explanation including approval from a crazy old cat lady and proof that cats would eat it.

Some collections cost very little, take up a small space and are easy to display. Classic cars won’t fit into that category. But you may not need the budget or space Jay Leno has with his garage, to satisfy your desire.

Some weeks back while driving in Western Wisconsin I saw lots of classic and hot rod cars driving on the highways leading toward Minnesota. Bright and beautiful, chrome gleaming in the sunlight one could see the attraction to these old pieces of metal and glass. When filling my empty tank at a service station located off the freeway, I just had to inquire were the gathering was located. Turns out they were headed to a show at the Minnesota State Fair.

Each week there seems to be another gathering of classic and hot rod cars at several of the fast food chains in the area, and when passing I always just peek at the lineup, but have never stopped to jaw with the show people. But with my renewed interest in collections of all kinds, I thought we should go to one of the bigger gatherings in the Milwaukee area. It was my intention to find out what car collecting was all about.

The Fourth Of July Classic Car Show is held at a nearby Chevy dealer, Holtz Motors, with the annual show in its twenty-sixth year.

First one we admired was a 1956 Studebaker Powerhawk.

Another custom job was the 1937 Chevy.

Then a 1956 Chevy Bel Air.

A real custom piece was this peach-colored Ford

The blue car (?) had a sale price tag of $68,000.

We stopped by this 1933 Chevy. Bright red. Seated by the car was Edie whose husband Jerry was the one who found this car 8 years ago in Michigan. In very poor state of repairs and Jerry worked for over 7 years in rebuilding it. One of the special features of this model she shared with us was that this was the only year they had a roll-down back window, making it pretty unique.

She also showed us the inside of the door which had the number “33” impressed into the cloth. She called the coloring “liquid red” which was a trial and error process to get as close to the red of its time. Most of the car was steel, other than the running boards. To have these made in steel would have been approx. $10,000, so they opted for them to be made of fibre glass. These would have originally been wooden. She told us that Jerry was a perfectionist and put his heart and soul into this car. They had a young man of 26 paint the car at a cost of about $10,000 but she proudly showed us that there was no ripples or bumps – no bondo either.

She told us that in the case of painters of these collector cars that you either have “it” or you don’t and this man had it! What a wonderful job! Jerry had the steering wheel custom-made. We asked if she drove it and she said that this was “his baby” and while she could drive it if she wished, she preferred to be a passenger, giving Jerry the sense of pride he deserved for a job well done. They do a few other car shows a year and told us they were involved with the Johnny Z’s Show that donates to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Edie was very pleasant and knowledgeable and proud of the job her husband had done and the way the Chevy turned out.

We came across a 1956 Mercury with absolutely incredible amounts of chrome.

This purple 1957 Chevy was an eye-catcher too.

And check out the open/glass hood on this 1957 Olds. Called a Rocking 88.

The owner of this 1957 Chevy had a great sense of humor. The car-hop’s tray remains in the window from the old drive-in!

The show was so large that I want to continue in my Friday article with an interview of the original owner of a 1957 Thunderbird that was restored.

While these collectors have a good deal invested in their collections, the enthusium they have for there obsession is incredible. I’ll show a few more views on Corvette Row, a vintage race car and other classics.