Thumper

 

 

The 1955 to 1957 Chevrolet Nomad two-door station wagon is an icon in the classic car and hot rod communities, which has left the two-door Ford Ranch Wagon (also known as the Del Rio) in the background.

 

 

 

“Thumper” a custom 1957 Ford Ranch wagon, displayed at the ARP (Automotive Racing Products) booth at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show should bring the second-generation Ford two-door wagon back to the front of fans’ minds.

 

“Thumper” was built by the crew at Steve Strope’s Pure Vision Design over a period of three years for ARP’s executive vice-president Bob Florine. Designer Steve Sanford made a few important design tweaks to the original Ranch Wagon; they lengthened the front doors leaned the B-pillars forward and added a Thunderbird hood scoop.

 

 

The beautiful bodywork installed over an Art Morrison Enterprises custom frame was finished in period correct colors of bourbon and cream, but the engine is the centerpiece of this ride. It’s a 521-cubic inch Jon Kaase “Boss Nine” a modern replica of the Ford Boss 429 cubic inch engine semi-hemispherical cylinder head engine. Built entirely with ARP fasteners and topped with a Borla Induction 8-stack throttle body intake the engine develops at least 800 horsepower. 

 

 

The custom interior with Redline gauges and Zebrawood trim was fitted by Gabe’s Custom Interiors with Umber-colored Relicate Napa leather and “Light Roast” Pebble Weave leather over brown German square weave carpet. 

 

"Thumper" photos by the author.  

deTomaso Pantera by Ghia

 imported by Lincoln-Mercury

 

In September 1969 Ford Motor Company signed an agreement with Italian auto manufacturer Alejandro deTomaso to build a high-volume wedge shaped mid-engine budget supercar, the Pantera (panther in Italian) for the United States market.

Ford knew there would be a limited window of sales for this car as the Tom Tjaarda design would not meet 1975 United States crash standards, but Ford anticipated selling 5000 Panteras a year in the United States at $10,925.00 each through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. At that time a Ferrari sold for $25,000, so Ford was selling a supercar at a bargain price.  

The first Pantera, a yellow car shown at the 1970 Los Angeles Auto Show was actually a European market car with push button doors and was later photographed for the initial Pantera brochures. The Pantera was powered by a Ford 351 cubic inch V-8 fitted with a four barrel carburetor that produced 310 horsepower.

 

click to enlarge

 

The mid-mounted engine fed the power to the independently suspended rear end through a ZF five-speed transmission. With a curb weight of 3123 pounds the Pantera accelerated from a standing start to 60 miles per hour (MPH) in 5.5 seconds and covered the quarter mile in 14 seconds.
 

The Pantera was a hand-built Italian supercar with four wheel power disc brakes and four-wheel independent suspension and cast magnesium  wheels  but being hand built, the cars had some problems. The author recalls making a trip with his father in 1971 as a thirteen year old to a Lincoln-Mercury dealer in Fort Wayne Indiana to look at a Pantera.
 

Upon arrival, the dealer’s salesman was unfamiliar with the car and had no brochures. The dealership’s single medium blue example was not on the showroom floor, but rather was in the service department. The salesman admitted the car wouldn’t run and was in the shop to diagnosis an apparent electrical problem.

My father and I were left alone to wander back into the empty dealership service area to look at the car and were shocked at the poor build quality in the interior and exterior panel fitment. Panteras were notoriously unreliable, with engine cooling issues as well as an inadequate cockpit ventilation system. My father bought a Lincoln Mark III instead (as if he was going to buy anything else).   

Several celebrities owned Panteras. Elvis Presley bought a yellow Pantera for one of his girlfriends, and when it wouldn’t start the enraged star shot the steering wheel, after which the car reportedly started. Playboy Enterprises bought a white 1972 Pantera, had it stripped and painted pink and gave the car to 1972 Playmate of the year Liv Lindeland. In 1974 Canadian hockey star and restaurateur Tim Horton died after he crashed his 1972 white Pantera at over 110 MPH and  was ejected. A later investigation revealed that Horton's blood alcohol was twice the legal limit.   

 

 

click to enlarge

 

The early Panteras were equipped with attractive thin chrome bumperettes, but by 1973 to meet the new US crash standards, the Pantera Lusso (“L”)  as the example seen at the “Autos of Alamo” car show was equipped with energy-absorbing reinforced steel rubber bumpers which were certainly more attractive than some cars’ added safety bumpers.   

 

At the end of the 1974 model year, as planned Lincoln-Mercury dropped the Pantera line with a  documented total of only 5262 cars sold, far short of the planned 5,000 a year. Many of the surviving Panteras have been modified as the one seen at Alamo which has a non-original pant color and  is fitted larger diameter wheels which are similar to the original Campagnolo design in addition to obvious engine upgrades.

 

The 1973 Pantera had a redesigned instrument cluster with optional wood grain – the original Pantera featured a “twin pod” design

 

All photographs by the author  

Something different from SEMA 

the Ford OjO Commuter Scooter

 

 

While touring the Ford exhibit at the 2017 SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) show in Las Vegas, the author saw the new Ford-branded OjO (O-Joe) commuter electric scooter.  

The OjO is built on an aluminum frame and is powered by the "HyperGear" 500-watt gear hub (planetary gear reduction) motor which is supplied power from an onboard 48 volt lithium ion battery with its built in retractable cord for 110 volt charging.

Note the Ford logo on the front of the scooter

photo by the author

Boasting speeds of up to 20 miles per hour with a maximum range of 25 miles, OjO states that the scooter is legal for use in bike lanes without a license or helmet, but the author urges readers to check their state and local vehicle codes before purchasing one for $1999.99 (plus shipping).  

The Ford OjO scooter rides on all-weather tubeless tires with each wheel suspended on heavy duty shock absorbers and it is fitted with front and rear disc brakes. The rider can sit or remove the seat and stand on the treaded non-slip deck.  The fenders and the front and rear fairings are built of ABS plastic.  

photo supplied by Ojo

 

 

The OjO is equipped with a wireless key and motion alarm to protect it when not in use, and while underway the rider is fed information by the digital dashboard which also allows the choice of three speeds as well as control of the dual speaker Bluetooth ™ sound system and the front and rear LED lighting system. As you can see in the photograph, the OjO scooter also has a USB port.

The Ford OjO Commuter Scooter will be available beginning in January 2018, just in time for racers to buy one for use as a pit bike during the 2018 racing season.

Dream cars at the Petersen Museum

The author recently had the opportunity to visit the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles and we will feature a number of features from that visit in the coming weeks. Today we look at the ‘Dream Cars’ exhibit which displayed three dream cars built in the decade of the nineteen fifties.

Mercury D-528

First up is the Mercury D-528, built in 1955 as a test vehicle for advanced concepts that included air conditioning, “safety seating” and suspension. It was radical for its time as its original design used a cantilevered roof with no front "A" pillars and four headlights. The car rode on coil spring suspension cloaked in a fiberglass body built in house at Ford Motor Company. The unusual name came from it being the 528th Ford experimental design. Apparently the pillar less top was a problem as eventually the car was rebuilt with thin “A” pillars.   

 

Auto manufacturer foresaw air conditioning as becoming a popular option in the future, but in 1955 because the required evaporators were so large they had to be located in the trunk. This affected the design – in order to provide adequate luggage room, the characteristic hinged rear humps were added on the rear fenders, with the gas tank access on one side and the spare tire in the other. The hooded reversed retractable back window became a design cue used in 1963 Mercury production cars

In the early sixties the D-528 was sold to Paramount Pictures and sent to Hollywood where it was remodeled by George Barris, who painted the car red and removed the name "D-528" from the front fenders and replaced it with "Beldone" – a name selected by its new owners. The “Beldone” fitted with a number of remote-controlled features was used in the 1964 Jerry Lewis movie, The Patsy, (a loose sequel of his 1960 film The Bellhop) and appeared later in several other movies and television shows.  

The Zeder Storm

Fred Zeder Jr. the son of famed Chrysler engineer wanted to develop an American powered dual-purpose sports car with a “swappable” body which could be partially for racing. Zeder partnered with Eugene Cassaroll, owner of Auto Shippers Incorporated which delivered Chrysler products around the country and Indianapolis car owner and the pair formed the Sports Car Development Corporation.

While on vacation in Europe, Zeder visited the custom Italian body builder Bertone and struck an agreement to build the body for Zeder’s creation. Although the body took six months longer than agreed, the finished car was shipped to New York via the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria and when Zeder drove it on the streets on New York City it reportedly caused a sensation.

 

 

The car, called the Zeder Storm Z-250, was taken to Chrysler's design headquarters in Hamtramck in April of 1954 in the car of his uncle, who was Chrysler’s Chief Engineer. The Chrysler Corporation kept the car powered by a 260 horsepower Dodge ‘Red Ram’ Hemi V-8 with other MoPar components that included the brakes, radiators, clutch, fuel tank, rear axle, and steering system for two years, but ultimately decided the car was too expensive to manufacture and returned it to Fred Zeder who drove it for many years.

 

 

 

The Storm Z-250 concept of American power and Italian bodywork was later still pursued by Cassaroll who later financed the 315-cubic inch Chrysler V-8 powered Dual Ghia with bodywork fabricated by the Italian coach builder Ghia. The Dual Ghia passenger car debuted in 1954, but although it a number of Hollywood actors Frank Sinatra, Sterling Hayden Desi Arnaz and Ronald Reagan each owned, the Dual Ghia ceased production in 1958 with just over 100 cars built which proved Chrysler’s decision on viability of the Zeder Z-250 Storm as correct.

Plymouth Explorer

 

 

Beginning in 1950 and continuing through the nineteen fifties, the Chrysler Corporation paired with Turin body builder Ghia to create two dozen drivable dream cars with hand built custom bodies.  The 1954 Plymouth Explorer coupe rides on a 114 inch wheelbase 1953 Plymouth Cranbrook chassis powered by a “Powerflow Six” a 110-horsepower 230-cubic inch 6-cylinder engine coupled to a HyDrive semi-automatic transmission; the driver only used the clutch to put the car in gear.

 

 

 

The attractive two-seat Explorer is finished in a brilliant metallic green paint with the bucket seat interior was covered with white leather with fitted luggage behind the seats. The “spear” on the sides of the car is not chrome; rather it is painted white to match the interior.  The last of the Italian bodied specials was the Chrysler “Norseman” was a four-seat fastback coupe built by Ghia. The concept car was lost (ironically) during the sinking of the ocean liner SS Andrea Doria in July 1956.

Due to cost, concept cars have lost favor among automotive manufacturers, but concept cars are still alive in the minds of dreamers, such as this radical futuristic race car model displayed in the Auto Center College of Design workshop inside the Petersen Automotive Museum. Could we see something like this car on race tracks in the near future?    

 

 

All photos by the author