1957 Spartan Imperial Mansion Motorhome Conversion

J. Paul Getty bought Spartan Aircraft of Tulsa, Oklahoma from fellow oil tycoon William G. Skelly in 1935. Their greatest hit was Skelly's pet project for well-heeled gentleman pilots like himself, the Spartan Executive, 34 of which were built between 1936 and 1940 for the likes of Howard Hughes and King Ghazi of Iraq. This Duesenberg of the air was powered by a 450hp 9-cylinder Pratt & Whitney radial that gave it a top speed of 257mph, fast enough to secure fifth place in the 1939 Bendix Cup for pilot Arlene Davis. After WWII Spartan built high quality travel trailers and mobile homes, but these Cadillacs of trailerdom came with prices to match, and the abundance of cheaper alternatives as the fifties progressed eventually put Spartan out of business. The startling glazed end-wall, curved floor plan Crescendos and Carousels introduced in 1959 took them out in singular style.

Spartan Executive photo from Young Eagles.org.

Rockabilly Buick Girl

Pony tail, saddle shoes, car coat, half moon headlight shields, Maybelline on the radio. She must be somebody's baby.

Early Kodacolor

The first multi-layer color negative print film, Kodacolor hit the market in 1942, its technological voodoo involving three color-sensitive emulsions layered with filters, masks and couplers. All processing and printing was done by Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York, until a 1954 anti-trust suit made chemicals and know-how available to all. Refinement continued long after official release to the public. Not until 1955 was a solution found for the unstable magenta dye chemistry that turned Kodacolor prints a familiar yellow over time, ironically tilting the intended full color realism toward the painterly and quaint.

French Copper 1947 Pontiac.

Harleys & Indians somewhere in Southern California.

Shenandoah Green 1950 Studebaker on the high plains w/ 1953 Montana plates.

Harvester Red 1947-9 International KB series truck w/ 1951 Montana plates.

Speedliner runabout w/ Johnson outboard motor

 Sahara Beige & Beach White 1952 Chevrolet Bel Air hardtop.

1940 LaSalle.

Fog Green 1950 Chrysler w/ 1951 Oregon plates.

Fairchild C-82 Packet military cargo plane.

1949 Buick Super convertible.

WWII military surplus Dodge Power Wagon.

Luna Gray & Patio Cream 1952 Plymouth Belvedere.

1938 Buick coupe.

Circa 1952 Standard Vanguard w/ Ontario plates.

1946-7 Buick convertible.

1937 Ford convertible.

Early 1940s Flxible Clipper.

1948-9 Hudson convertible.

Mermaid Green 1947-8 Buick w/ California plates.

Falcon Gray 1950 Chevrolet Fleetline warming up on a very cold morning.

Distressed Merchandise

1936-7 Cord 810-812 Beverly Sedan - Gordon Buehrig's streamline moderne spectre, napping in the winter sun and dust of Insulbrick alley. According to Mike Lamm and Dave Holls' stupendous A Century of Automotive Style, Buehrig, during a brief time away from Duesenberg, was voted winner of a 1933 GM design competition by Art & Colour cohorts Tom Hibbard, Jules Agramonte, Jack Morgan and Frank Hershey - leaders of the teams he'd been competing against. Harley Earl, along with the Fisher Brothers and GM execs who made up the official judging team, put him dead last. Which hastened Buehrig's return to Indiana, where his simplified and refined GM proposal became the Cord, to prove to Mr. Earl that a car didn't need a face to be very, very beautiful.

Circa 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost Piccadilly Roadster w/ possible Renault down the way. Looks very much like a right-hand drive Springfield car originally owned by Jack Dempsey that turned up in a 2007 Coys auction. From a comment left by Park-Ward - The RR is Dempsey's indeed, chassis #317LF with body by Merrimac. It was for sale again in 2010.

1955 Chrysler Imperial Coupe, design by Virgil Exner, White & Gold, 130,000 Mi.

1940 Lincoln Continental V12 Cabriolet, design by Bob Gregorie w/ Edsel Ford, 1 of 351, its graceful grille arcs (from a '41) safe behind an aftermarket bumper guard that sparks a feedback loop of vulgar connotations.

Circa 1947 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Cabriolet, design by Giovanni Michelotti for Stabilimenti Farina, a blend of '42 Dodge and Plymouth up front.

1921-2 Franklin Brougham. Polaroid Type 47 print.

1948-50 Packard Eight Station Sedan.

1930 Packard Big Eight Custom 745 Convertible Victoria by Waterhouse - serial #186085, engine #186380, 7.50 X 19 tires, leather uphols., folding front seats, one pc. rear seat, round back. When Packard needed a version of the innovative Count Sakhnoffsky blind quarter Victoria pictured above my murky snapshot built on its new 745 chassis for the 1930 Paris Salon, the seven-week deadline was one only the struggling, recently established Waterhouse was willing to accommodate. "As it turned out, the Convertible Victoria body that resulted was a major improvement to the Van den Plas design, rather than just a copy of it. The molding treatment that (head designer) Briggs Weaver came up with was simpler and made the car seem even longer and lower. The top was as low as possible, and featured landau joints inside the passenger compartment, rather than outside, on the rear quarters. It was an idea that Walter M. Murphy had only recently adopted, and helped contribute to the novel appearance of the Waterhouse creation, somewhat distancing it from the original European design. Many years later (founding investor) S. Robert Dunham recalled Waterhouse’s first Packard: 'Briggs Weaver gave us everything he had in de­signing a similar body, with lines and proportions as attractive as possible. He designed a trunk with round lines - a trunk made just like the body, with aluminum applied over a wood frame.'" - Coachbuilt.com. Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky's 1928 Van den Plas original from AACA Forum.

1933 Packard Twelve Sport Phaeton by Dietrich. 1 each in maroon, blue and white were built for that year's New York and Philadelphia Auto Shows and the Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago respectively. 1948-50 Packard in background.

Possible '34 Alfa Romeo 6C 1750 Gran Turismo Coupé by Castagna amid early sixties US Beetle infestation. Polaroid Type 47 prints.

1958 Lincoln Continental Mark III Convertible.

1935 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood 2p Coupe, 1 of 2, w/ 1965 Michigan Historic Vehicle plates. Kodacolor print.

1936-7 Cord 810/812 Sportsman Cabriolet, design by Gordon Buehrig.

1942 Lincoln Continental V12 Coupe, 1 of 200, w/ 1946-8 bumper, dreaming of anyplace more than six inches from passing traffic.

1910s Rauch & Lang Electric Brougham.

1957 Pontiac Bonneville Convertible, 1 of 630, w/ 1974 Minnesota plates, its original fuel injection apparatus most likely in a cardboard box that I know is around here somewhere...

Chrysler, Hupmobile, Packard & Paige in the California desert.

1930-1 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood Transformable Town Cabriolet w/ LeBaron style hood, 1 of 35.

One-off 1934 Duesenberg J, converted from long wheelbase Murphy Town Car to shortened chassis Convertible Coupe by Graber in 1937.

1929 Auburn 8-125 Speedster, design by Alan H. Leamy, 1 of 147 (including model 8-90), upstate New York.

1930-2 Cord L-29 Convertible Coupe, design by Alan H. Leamy w/ Auburn Chief Body Engineer John Oswald, the scent of Eucalyptus in the heat and dust. Courtesy of Darrin's Car Photos.

Ford Model T; 1 of approximately 15,000,000; dead of winter, down at the shore.