Jaguar XKE - The Original

Enzo Ferrari called it the most beautiful car in the world. It was introduced to the press and the public in March 1961 in Geneva. Designed by Malcom Sayer, a legendary aerodynamicist, it had a sensuous sleek design, and was an instant hit at the show. This sexy and powerful car was The Jaguar E-Type or Jaguar XKE as it would come to be known in the United States. It would remain in production until 1975.

Power was provided by a DOHC six-cylinder engine that first appeared in the Jaguar XK120. Outfitted with three S U carburetors it produced 265- horsepower that provided power to the wheels through a four speed manual transmission. with rear end  gearing of 3:31. The rear setup used a Lotus racing car design that used  U-jointed half shafts which doubled as upper control links. 

                    

The frame was based on Jaguar’s  D-Type race car that featured monocoque construction, incorporating a frame-less center sectionthat gained strength from the front and rear boxed tubular construction. The rear housed a limited slip differential, and disc brakes all around, a new and innovative concept at the time that gave the new design plenty of stopping power. Rack and pinion steering, and front and rear independent suspension helped keep the car going where it was aimed.

This sleek machine, available as a roadster and hatchback, with its long curving hood, and weighing 2700 pounds, could reach a top speed of 150 mph and sprang from 0 to 60 in under 7 seconds. A small oval intake at the front , chrome nerf bumpers, and tucked in glass headlights  augmented the distinct design statement the car made.

One could purchase this new car for around $5700 at the time. Today, the original 1961 cars are highly sought after. Although produced many years ago, their sleek design is timeless.

The 1953 Corvette -- Birth of a Legend

In January 1953, a special car appeared at General Motor’s Motorama display at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. The car would  become a legend. It was the concept car for the Chevrolet Corvette.

The Corvette was a result of the combined efforts of Thomas Keating, Chevrolet General Manager;  Ed Cole, Chief Engineer at Chevrolet;  and designer Harley Earl, manager of the Art and Colour studio at General Motors.

Keating wanted a car that would appeal to the youth market and keep up the momentum Chevrolet had enjoyed over its competitor Ford over the two previous years. Cole was eager to apply his talents to a new project, and Earl had the perfect project. Inspired by European sports cars, Earl had been toying with design concepts for an American sports car for over a year.

The time was right as all three worked to bring the Corvette to life from its concept drawings. Initially named ‘Project Opel,’ the Corvette’s metamorphous from design drawings to a real life car took months of work but was finally ready for the January 1953 GM Motorama.

With little time to bring the car to life and budget constraints, components for the new car had to come off the Chevrolet parts shelf. This included the 235 cubic-inch Blue Flame six cylinder engine, although it was given a few modifications such as a new camshaft, hydraulic valve lifters, and a three carburetor setup to give it more horsepower. A modified two speed automatic transmission was used to handle power from the engine to the axle.

The chassis was laid out with the seats in front of a standard Chevrolet axle and the engine and transmission moved back for better weight distribution.

Earl had become fascinated with the potential of a glass reinforced plastic body. After successful tests of a full size Chevrolet convertible with a plastic body, Earl decided that the show car would have a plastic body.

It was a beautiful car. At its debut at the Motorama, the car was a hit and it got the approval for production. One of the few concept cars to go into production virtually unchanged from the concept car, the Corvette went into production the following June in Flint Michigan, with its plastic body , with a total production for the 1953 model year of only 300 cars. The first one, a Polo White car with a red and white interior and a black manually operated convertible top, rolled off the assembly line on June 30, 1953. All the cars for that year would have the same color combination. Not until the following year would other colors be available.

      

 Although flooded with orders, the total production of 300 cars for that year was targeted for dealers to lend out to business leaders and celebrities for promotional purposes. Production moved to St. Louis for 1954 and increased as ordinary citizens were able to get their hands in the new car.

 Some would belittle the car for its lack of power with its six cylinder engine, that would soon be remedied as the Corvette would eventually get a V8 and become a finely tuned sports car. It steadily improved over the years and today it remains a beautiful and powerful automobile.

   

 

Love in September

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Jason called her Carol.At first I thought she was his sister—a secret sibling he never mentioned before or a stepsister—but she wasn’t. Carol had long dark brown hair and greeneyes. She reminded me of Natalie Wood. She looked like she had just stepped outof the pages of a fashion magazine, complete with a trim figure that was wellformed where it needed to be, and graceful.

She was pretty and always wore attractive outfits. Long slender dresses referred to as pencil style dresses were part of the ensemble for ladies in the fifties and the style looked great on her. Sometimes she also wore that period’s popular pleated swing skirts with coordinating tops. There was never a time when she didn’t look nice. One could spend endless time just watching her walk. All the pieces blended together into one coordinated smooth motion.

A gold chain made of small hearts always adorned her neck. The sides of the chain merged together as they descended to where she buttoned her collar, and then disappeared down inside the front of her dress. She never wore it outside. I always wondered about that mysterious chain. She always smelled good, too. A fresh delicious sweet but not overpowering scent surrounded her that seemed to bond all her pleasant qualities together. I mentally put her on a pedestal. That's the way I was brought up.

The time was the fall of 1958 in Maryland. I remember what my mother told me. "Search the world for the precious beauty that it holds for you and never abuse it or take it for granted," she advised me. I always remembered that. It was from her that I learned to appreciate beauty no matter where I found it. She also cautioned me to obey rules or else they could come back to kick you hard in the pants if you played loose with them. She was a big believer in rules and doing what was right, as well as beauty.

My father on the other hand was more practical about rules and life. He was Mr. Logic all right. Everything had to follow some sort of practical plan for him. He always said that some rules were just begging to be broken. I reckon they were both right. But I suppose ultimately that it was my father’s logic that unknowingly influenced me that fateful fall of 1958.

In the fall of 1958, Lakewood, Maryland, a small community forty miles south of Baltimore, was filled with respectable people doing respectable things. I sure thought I was respectable, living there with my mom and dad —never thought otherwise. Back in 1958, rules were stricter for what was considered respectable behavior, especially in Lakewood, our happy little quiet community. At least on the outside it seemed happy and respectable.

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The Search for Amanda

 

This is my story. I am sitting in my living room as I write this. It is quiet but my thoughts are jumping back and forth. You can accept this account as fact or fiction but it doesn’t matter to me. This is the way I’m putting it down because this is the way I have to tell it. I don’t remember much about my life before it happened except that it seems normal now. It was probably something like yours. I didn’t believe just like many of you don’t. Maybe that’s good in a way and maybe it’s not. If nothing happens it’s great but if something bizarre happens—believe me, you just aren’t going to be ready for it.

My advice to you, for what it’s worth, is to not accept the world about you the way it seems. Always leave your mind open to the possibility, however absurd it may seem to you, that there are things we have not yet experienced, things that we cannot yet see, hear or feel, that seem unexplainable and illogical to us humans, yet they do exist.

Some say that we each have a doppelganger--another being, an exact double of ourselves that lives in a world just like ours in another dimension, and each lives a similar but not exact life. Maybe I’m my own doppelganger and the other me still lives and exists the way it was before it happened. If that is so, I wish him a happy and fruitful life, even without having experienced what I have.

As for me, whoever I am and whatever dimension I live in, I cannot go back to the way it was, and I now accept the concept that this is the direction my life was supposed to go, at least in this dimension.

I will begin this account by saying that everything seemed normal to me before. I had a great life and thought I had a great job. Everything seemed normal--until that night. I had gotten home late from my grandmother’s house after I had helped her paint the spare bedroom. I had done most of the paint work. She had done most of the supervising part of the job.

I was pleased with the way the room had turned out. Of course, I guess the supervisor had a lot to do with it, always pointing out spots I had missed and just how to paint the wood trim so the paint saturated the intricate crevices. My breaks consisted of getting something to drink and some chips and then heading for the living room for a few moments to stare at that picture on my grandmother’s wall, as I had many times before.

I always seemed to gravitate there since she had pulled it out of her attic and hung it up a while back. It was that picture of a high school homecoming event in her school’s gymnasium back in the 1950s that fascinated me so much. I was drawn to it like a magnet to a steel door--not because it was a relic of the nostalgic 1950s, but rather because of her…  

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Ford Sunliner 1955 Convertible

They definitely don’t make them like they used to. I don’t know who owns this beauty, but he or she is one lucky person. It’s a 1955 Ford Sunliner convertible. I’d be afraid to drive one anywhere lest the whitewalls get dirty or something else happen to it—but that’s just me.

Although the 1955 Chevrolet with its heralded new small block engine, and new design was the most popular car of 1955, I still like the Ford’s design over the Chevy’s.

The new Ford sported a new longer (115.5 wheelbase) and lower body, although underneath it was similar to earlier Fords. The new body had crisp lines and accent chrome that evoked a feeling that it was moving forward, and also incorporated a wrap around windshield for the first time. An egg crate grill, large parking lights and new distinctive taillights complemented the design. The first factory installed Ford air conditioner termed ‘Select Aire’ was available as an option. 

The new Fords came in several model levels from the base Mainline to the Customline to the station wagon series, to the top of the line Fairlane named after Henry Ford’s Fair Lane mansion in Dearborn. The Fords came in various body styles including two and four door sedans, two and four door hardtops, two and four door station wagons, convertibles and even a model with an acrylic tinted sun panel called the Crown Victoria Skyliner. The latter wasn’t very popular. Although attractive because of the sun panel, it got very hot inside.

Consumers had their pick of a wide variety of colors from conservative colors like black and tan to vibrant beautiful tones of red, blue, yellow, green, and even pink. Two-tone schemes in numerous combinations graced the new body styles as well as single tone applications.

Unlike today’s drab gray interiors (You can have any color as long as it’s gray) that consumers, for some unknown reason, accept without complaints, Fords as well as other cars of that era had vibrant matching color interiors.

Under the hoods, the new Fords came with a 223 CID I6 OHV (Mileage Maker) inline six, a new 272 CID Y-Block V8 to replace the old flathead, and a 292 CID V8 called the Thunderbird engine, which was, as one might suspect also offered in the new T-Bird. (Other off the shelf Ford features were also used in the T-Bird.) Transmissions were the Ford-O-Matic and a three speed manual.

Total production for 1955 was 1,451,157 units, most of which were Fairlane Town Sedans (four doors with pillars), then Customline two door sedans, followed by Customline four door sedans and then Victoria hardtops (no pillars). The Crown Victoria Skyliners with the acrylic sun panels were the least purchased at 1999 units.

Fortunately there are a lot still around that have been restored to original condition. You won’t find them at your local used car lot though. Surfing the internet is the best way to find one, but expect to part with a good portion of your savings account to get one.

 

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