1958 Edsel Pacer 4dr sedan

1958 Edsel Pacer 4dr sedan, taken Sept 2003.

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Edsel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Edsel was a make of automobile manufactured by the Ford Motor Company during the 1958, 1959, and 1960 model years. The car brand is best known as one of the most spectacular failures in the history of the United States automobile industry.

In the early 1950s, Ford Motor Co. became a publicly traded corporation that was no longer entirely owned by members of the Ford family and was able to sell cars without being hindered by Henry Ford's antiquated preferences following the sellers' market of the postwar years. The new management compared the roster of Ford makes with that of General Motors, and noted that Lincoln competed not with Cadillac, but with Oldsmobile. So since Ford had a lot of money on hand from the success of the Ford Thunderbird the plan was developed to move Lincoln upmarket and put another make in beneath it, with yet another model, the Continental, at the very top. Research and development had begun in 1955 under the name "E-car," which stood for "Experimental car." This represented a new division of the firm alongside that of Ford itself and the Lincoln-Mercury division, whose cars at the time shared the same body.

The Edsel was introduced amidst a considerable amount of publicity on "E Day"—September 4, 1957. It was promoted by a top-rated television special, The Edsel Show on October 13, but it was not enough to counter the adverse public reaction to the car's styling and conventional build; the rumors that Ford had circulated led consumers to expect an entirely new kind of car when in reality the Edsel shared its bodywork with other Ford models.

The Edsel was to be sold through a new Ford division. It existed from November 1956 until January 1958, after which Edsels were made by the Mercury-Edsel-Lincoln division (referred to as M-E-L). Edsel was sold through a new network of 1,500 dealers. This briefly brought total dealers of all Ford products to 10,000. Ford saw this as a way to come closer to parity with the other two companies of the Big Three: Chrysler had 10,000 dealers and General Motors had 16,000. As soon as it became apparent that the Edsels were not selling, many of these dealers added Lincoln-Mercury, English Ford and/or Taunus dealerships to their lines with the encouragement of Ford Motor Company. Some dealers, however, closed.

For the 1958 model year, Edsel produced four models, including the larger Mercury-based Citation and Corsair, and the smaller, more affordable Ford-based Pacer and Ranger. The Citation came in two-door and four-door hardtops and two-door convertible versions. The Corsair came in two-door and four-door hardtop versions. The Pacer came in two-door and four-door hardtops, four-door sedan, and two-door convertible. The Ranger came in two-door and four-door hardtop or sedan versions. The four-door Bermuda and Villager wagons and the two-door Roundup wagon were based on the 116" wheelbase Ford station wagon platform and shared the trim and features of the Ranger and Pacer models.

It included several features that were, at the time, cutting-edge innovations, among which were its "rolling dome" speedometer and its Teletouch transmission shifting system, on the center of the steering wheel. Other, less-touted but more enduring design innovations included a primitive attempt at ergonomically designed controls for the driver, and self-adjusting brakes (often claimed as a first for the industry, although this was not so—Studebaker had pioneered them earlier in the decade).

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Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

Description Karmann Ghia coupe photographed in USA. Source Own Work. Date 7/3/07, Author IFCAR, Permission All Rights Released. High Resolution Image (2152 × 1160 pixel, file size: 247 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Licensing I, (IFCAR) the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Photo taken by en:User:Minesweeper on February 29, 2004 and released into the public domain. I, the (Minesweeper) copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain.

This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Volkswagen Karmann Ghia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Karmann Ghia was a two-seater sports car marketed by Volkswagen, designed by the Italian firm Ghia, and built by German coach builder Karmann. Over 445,000 Karmann Ghias were produced between 1955 and 1974.

In the early 1950s, Volkswagen was producing small, fuel efficient, reliable automobiles (like the Volkswagen Beetle); but as the world recovered from World War II, consumers began to demand more stylish and elegant vehicles. Executives at Volkswagen decided that it was necessary to produce an "image" car to satisfy the demands of post-war automobile buyers.

Volkswagen contracted with German coach builder Karmann to build this car. Karmann in turn contracted the Italian firm Ghia for a sports car design. Ghia took an already made, but unused design (originally intended for Chrysler or Studebaker) and modified it to fit on a slightly modified Beetle floorpan.

The body and nose of the Karmann Ghia were handcrafted and significantly more expensive to produce than the strictly assembly line produced Beetle; this was reflected in the Karmann Ghia's higher price tag.

The design and prototype were well received by Volkswagen executives, and in August 1955 the first Karmann Ghia was built in Osnabrück, Germany. Public reaction to the curvy Karmann Ghia was excellent, and over 10,000 were sold in the first year, exceeding Volkswagen's expectations.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Volkswagen Karmann Ghia

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Volkswagen Beetle classic "Bug"

The last “classic” Volkswagen Beetle rolled off the production line at VW’s Puebla, Mexico, plant on this day July 30 in 2003. The car, part of the 3,000-unit final edition,

was sent to a museum in Wolfsburg, Germany, where Volkswagen is headquartered. 2003 : Last classic "Bug" rolls off the line

Description Volkswagen Beetle photographed in USA. Source Own Work, Date 7/17/06, Author IFCAR. Permission All Rights Released

Licensing: I, the copyright holder of this work (IFCAR) , hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible:
I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law.

Volkswagen Beetle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle, is an economy car produced by the German automaker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle" and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August of 1967 that VW itself began using the name Beetle in marketing materials.

It had previously been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe prior to 1967; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic centimeters.

In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (it continued in Mexico and a handful of other countries until 2003) VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf platform), bearing a cosmetic resemblance to the original.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Volkswagen Beetle

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NHRA top fuel dragster

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NHRA top fuel dragster - Tony Schumacher powers the U.S. Army top fuel dragster off the line during his quarter-final run Monday. Schumacher finished number two on the day, but rose atop the Powerade points standings due to his dominating performance all weekend.

Photo by Maj. William Thurmond. Images on the Army Web site are cleared for release and are considered in the public domain. Request credit be given as "Photo Courtesy of U.S. Army" and credit to individual photographer whenever possible.

Generally speaking, works created by U.S. Government employees are not eligible for copyright protection in the United States. See Circular 1 "COPYRIGHT BASICS" PDF from the U.S. Copyright Office.

Indianapolis Raceway Park, Ill. (Army News Service, Sept. 6, 2005) – The Army drag racing team didn’t take home any trophies at this Labor Day weekend’s 51st Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, but their strong performance earned them improved positions in the Powerade championship points battle.

Leading the way was top-fueler Tony “Sarge” Schumacher, whose nitro-powered Army dragster dominated the weekend, smashing track records in both speed and elapsed times.

Schumacher’s poise and focus showed in his superb reaction times, as he beat eight of his nine opponents off the starting line, and blasted to the finish at over 329 miles per hour. His best quarter-mile was timed at just 4.459 seconds, a feat he achieved twice in a row in cooler conditions Friday and Saturday nights.

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada.

The National Hot Rod Association was founded by Wally Parks in 1951 in the State of California to provide a governing body to organize and promote the sport of drag racing. The first nationwide NHRA sponsored event was held in 1955, in Great Bend, Kansas. (Typical for the era, this race was held on a World War II-constructed training air field.) The "Nationals", held in the summer and the winter each year, are the premier events in drag racing that brings together the best cars and drivers from across North America. The Nationals are now held at O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis in Clermont, Indiana and are officially called the U.S. Nationals. Winners of national events are awarded a trophy statue of Wally Parks. The trophy is commonly called by its nickname, “Wally”.

Text credit: GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, National Hot Rod Association

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Ford Model T "Tin Lizzies"

TITLE: Quarter front view of Ford touring car. CALL NUMBER: SSF - Automobiles--1920-1929 [item] [P&P], REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-62258 (b&w film copy neg.) No known restrictions on publication.

Digital ID: cph 3b09908 Source: digital file from b&w film copy neg. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-62258 (b&w film copy neg.) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Retrieve uncompressed archival TIFF version (1,779 kilobytes)

SUMMARY: 2 men and 3 women inside. MEDIUM: 1 photographic print. CREATED, PUBLISHED: c1923.

NOTES: Photo copyrighted by Sales Equipment Co., Detroit. No copyright renewal. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Automobiles--1923; Shelf.

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. DIGITAL ID: (digital file from b&w film copy neg.) cph 3b09908 hdl.loc.gov/cph.3b09908 , CARD #: 2007677112

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-62258]

MARC Record Line 540 - No known restrictions on publication.

TITLE: Completed product of a great automobile factory ready for delivery, Detroit, Mich. CALL NUMBER: STEREO SUBJ FILE - Automobiles [item] [P&P], REPRODUCTION NUMBER: LC-USZ62-63968 (b&w film copy neg. of right half stereo) No known restrictions on publication.

Digital ID: cph 3b11564 Source: digital file from b&w film copy neg. of right half stereo Reproduction Number: LC-USZ62-63968 (b&w film copy neg. of right half stereo) Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA Retrieve uncompressed archival TIFF version (2,042 kilobytes)

SUMMARY: Row of completed "Tin Lizzies" or Model T's come off the Ford assembly line. MEDIUM: 1 photographic print on stereo card : stereograph. CREATED, PUBLISHED: c1917.

CREATOR: Keystone View Company. NOTES: Title from image. Copyright by Keystone View Co. No. 22162. Published in: The tradition of technology : Landmarks of Western technology ... / Leonard C. Bruno. Washington, D.C. : Library of Congress, 1995, p. 285. NOS 5/19/98

REPOSITORY: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

DIGITAL ID: (digital file from b&w film copy neg. of right half stereo) cph 3b11564 hdl.loc.gov/cph.3b11564 CARD #: 98508108

Credit Line: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-63968]

MARC Record Line 540 - No known restrictions on publication.

Ford Model T From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ford Model T (colloquially known as the Tin Lizzie and the Flivver) was an automobile produced by Henry Ford's Ford Motor Company from 1908 through 1927. The model T set 1908 as the historic year that the automobile came into popular usage. It is generally regarded as the first affordable automobile, the car which "put America on wheels"; some of this was because of Ford's innovations, including assembly line production instead of individual hand crafting (though the Oldsmobile Curved Dash had done this first), as well as the concept of paying the workers a wage proportionate to the cost of the car, so that they would provide a ready made market. The first production Model T was built on September 27, 1908, at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article, Ford Model T

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