I spotted an (insert obscure car name here) classic car today! (Archived)

texases

The Stratocruiser was based on the B-29's descendent, the B-50. Many aircraft makers did a good job of adapting their warplanes to civilian service.

berri

Pan Am flew quite a few of those years back. They were large enough to have passenger berths.

ab348

I always found the nose of the Stratocruiser very odd. It was as if they decided it was too long and sawed a section off, leading to that blunt rounded nose.

texases

Yeah, they needed more space than the B-29 had, so they went with a 'double bubble' design (big tube on top of original smaller tube). The B-29 had a blunt nose, too.

benjaminh

1941....

sda

I shudder to think what injuries or worse the occupants suffered in some of these wrecks. Along with the busted out windshield you can see the steering wheel shoved up in this one. It makes me very appreciative of the much safer vehicles we have today.

fintail

Wrecked car is a 39 Dodge.

Mr_Shiftright

Interestingly, the mid to late 30s was, statistically, the most lethal period for automotive fatalities per 100,000 population, with another surge of lethality in the late 1960s.

In modern times, the fatality rate per 100,000 population is less than half what it was in the 1930s.

texases

And a tiny fraction on a per-mile-traveled basis:

Mr_Shiftright

Still it's not an insignificant number of people, about 40,000 a year. It just misses the top 10 leading causes of death in the USA.

benjaminh

1941....By any chance does someone know something about these "acr" buses made for Greyhound?

xwesx

benjaminh said:

1941....The dry cleaning store's address is right near the University of Kentucky, which is a place I sometimes go to since our son is a student there. The dry cleaning shop is long gone, and in its place is a nondescript building without the curved glass bricks.

Ouch! That's a school bus. So much for the "stop" sign!

I find it very interesting that the bus had a sort of stop sign on the side of it, much like today's busses. I remember in the 1980's when the current extending stop sign was mandated to be added to busses. Seemed strange at the time.

xwesx

The Boeing is neat! I remember seeing a derelict one sitting on a lot not far from my grandparents' house when I was a kid. They said the neighbor had it towed there nearly twenty years prior with intent to make it into a house, but there it sat, seemingly untouched.

I think it has since been scrapped, but last I saw the property, it was very overgrown (and summer), so I couldn't tell whether the plane was still there or not.

Mr_Shiftright

Looks like a BR-29 type.

berri

The larger fuselage was to accommodate sleeping berths and lounge on Pan Am at least.

lemko1968

Back after a long hiatus. I'm the same lemko from back in the day but had to re-register as I couldn't remember my old password or anything. The picture is from November 1st when I was about put my 1989 Cadillac back in the warehouse for winter storage.

xwesx

lemko1968 said:

Back after a long hiatus. I'm the same lemko from back in the day but had to re-register as I couldn't remember my old password or anything. The picture is from November 1st when I was about put my 1989 Cadillac back in the warehouse for winter storage.

Okay; that's the only proof we need! Welcome back, Lemko!

benjaminh

Welcome back lemko!

jpp75

lemko1968 said:

Back after a long hiatus. I'm the same lemko from back in the day but had to re-register as I couldn't remember my old password or anything. The picture is from November 1st when I was about put my 1989 Cadillac back in the warehouse for winter storage.

Good to see you lemko. That Cadillac is a classic, I doubt you could find one that has been cared for so well.

thebean

@benjaminh - Info on acf buses - http://coachbuilt.com/bui/a/acf_brill/acf_brill.htm

berri

Nice Caddy - and seems like brown is trying to make a comeback lately. So 1968; a tribute to the days of freeway cruisn' land barges? Not mocking because I appreciate a nice land yacht and always will. Your 89 is quite trim and clean cut looking. Maybe we can call it the Wally Cleaver

fintail

Nice to see you, lemko, glad the old gem is still with you and looking like new.

benjaminh

1941....

stickguy

greyhound bus travel was just a smidge more glamorous in 1941 than it is today.

ab348

fintail said:

Nice to see you, lemko, glad the old gem is still with you and looking like new.

X2! Glad to see you and the Caddy  again. Still running well?

boomchek

Welcome back Lemko. I just returned recently too after being away for several years. Nice caddy, looks like it just came out of the showroom.

benjaminh

1941....

benjaminh

Even before Pearl Harbor things were gearing up....

Mr_Shiftright

Americans appear to have been a lot slimmer back then.

tjc78

Pre fast food, food Network, and video games.  

Mr_Shiftright

Plus more manual labor I suspect. I actually had to teach some teenagers last week how to use a shovel! (Yes, you can do it completely wrong).

kyfdx

tjc78 said:

Pre fast food, food Network, and video games.  

Or cell phones

fintail

I'll blame fast food, the lack of need for physical activity, and the increased availability of unhealthy food. I think the fattening trend started long before mobile phones.

explorerx4

A lot more people used to smoke.

benjaminh

1941....

andre1969

sda said:

I shudder to think what injuries or worse the occupants suffered in some of these wrecks. Along with the busted out windshield you can see the steering wheel shoved up in this one. It makes me very appreciative of the much safer vehicles we have today.

The thing that's really disturbing about that crash, IMO, is that the steering wheel shoved back that far, despite the passenger cabin itself actually looking like it held its structure pretty well. So, even if it might have been somewhat well-built in some ways, there was still an achilles heel, somewhere.

I remember reading that, back in the old days, one of the biggest safety considerations of a car was how far back the steering box was from the front of the car. The further back it was, especially if it was behind the front axle, the less likely the column was to come back and spear you.

andre1969

lemko1968 said:

Back after a long hiatus. I'm the same lemko from back in the day but had to re-register as I couldn't remember my old password or anything. The picture is from November 1st when I was about put my 1989 Cadillac back in the warehouse for winter storage.

Welcome back, Lemko!! Good to see you back here!

andre1969

Mr_Shiftright said:

Interestingly, the mid to late 30s was, statistically, the most lethal period for automotive fatalities per 100,000 population, with another surge of lethality in the late 1960s.

In modern times, the fatality rate per 100,000 population is less than half what it was in the 1930s.

If you go by the metric of deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled, cars are even safer. That number had been dropping since the earliest year the statistics were recorded, 1921, although there was a little spike in 1933-35. It peaked at 15.88 in 1934, which I think is odd. Considering those were Depression years, I figured people would be driving less. And some wouldn't be driving at all, if they lost their car.

There was also a slight upward trend in the 60's, but we're talking 5.06 in 1960, up to 5.50 in 1966. The scaremongers and Ralph Nader huggers would take this "surge" and run with it...after all, it's about a 10% increase. BUT, it also shows that you were about 1/3 as likely to become a vehicle fatality in the 60's as you would have been in 1934.

As of 2017, that number is down to 1.16 per 100M vehicle miles traveled. I don't know how much safer cars can get...at least at a reasonable cost.

Mr_Shiftright

There's really no such thing as a "safe" car of course--this is not attainable--but cars can be made less dangerous.

As you say, even that's "up to a point". It will be interesting to see if these ADAS systems will drop the fatality rates (apparently ABS didn't help all that much). ADAS systems might work, because it addresses one of the major aspects of automotive fatalities----driver competence.

Since we apparently can't make American drivers more competent, perhaps we can make them less of a danger to others.

xwesx

Self-driving. I will know it is time to find another country when they finally ban driver-controlled cars from public roads. /sigh

benjaminh

To add to the conversation visually from 1941....(The second photo is of a bus that ran off the road.)

sda

benjaminh said:

To add to the conversation visually from 1941....(The second photo is of a bus that ran off the road.)

Ouch!

benjaminh

On a more positive note, here's an AAA approved Motor Court with restaurant from 1941....

berri

There was also a slight upward trend in the 60's, but we're talking 5.06 in 1960, up to 5.50 in 1966
Oh, that had to be attributable to the Corvair

imidazol97

lemko1968 said:

Back after a long hiatus. I'm the same lemko from back in the day but had to re-register as I couldn't remember my old password or anything. The picture is from November 1st when I was about put my 1989 Cadillac back in the warehouse for winter storage.

It's good to see you back. Last I recalled you had a Buick, leSabre or Park Avenue in dark blue?
Love the Cadillac. Looks like days of detailing work went into it.

bhill2

berri said:

There was also a slight upward trend in the 60's, but we're talking 5.06 in 1960, up to 5.50 in 1966
Oh, that had to be attributable to the Corvair

I had exactly the same reaction, at least as far as how Nader would have attributed it.

fintail

Latest smashed car looks like a 41 Pontiac, would have been a new car, and that was a new bodystyle.

benjaminh

bhill2 said:

berri said:

There was also a slight upward trend in the 60's, but we're talking 5.06 in 1960, up to 5.50 in 1966
Oh, that had to be attributable to the Corvair

I had exactly the same reaction, at least as far as how Nader would have attributed it.

The Corvair really was dangerous. As a kid I personally saw one flip over completely while turning. Amazingly it landed right-side up again and the driver was ok.

benjaminh

This used car dealership had a sense of history, but I'm not sure what that c.1905 car is. And with this 1941 is a wrap. There are some more pix from that year of some fair displays and games, etc., but I'm trying to make most of the pix about transportation in some way, although here are some menu shots that aside from that most customers probably had to drive there don't have much to do with cars, trucks, or buses. But if there's continued interest tomorrow I'll post some vehicle and transportation related photos from 1942.

fintail

Old timer car appears to be a ~1905 Franklin, big grille as they were air cooled, interesting cars. Used car lot looks nice too, I think that's a 37 LaSalle at right, and a late model assortment at left including a 40 Olds, 37 Chevy, 38 Plymouth, 38 Chevy. Parade car looks like a 40 Buick.

Was a chocolate soda literally a chocolate carbonated drink, like pop?