Take a Flyer on the AEROCAR

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Take a Flyer on the AEROCAR

The AEROCAR of the 1950s was the worlds only successful flying car. Successful in that it is the only one to perform both flying and driving functions reasonably well, not from a commercial standpoint. Only 5 of them were ever made. The AEROCAR was successful, too, as far as longevity. Every one still survives today after 60+ years. There was a sixth AEROCAR that exists in digital form…but more on that later. Many thanks to my friend Joe Cychosz for turning me on to the the fact that the AEROCAR even existed.

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Recycling at its Best: ThePowell Sport Wagon

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Recycling at its Best: ThePowell Sport Wagon

While most vehicles end their lives in a junkyard, every one of the thousand or so Powell Sport Wagons built from 1955 to 1957 started out there. Beneath each modern looking steel and fiberglass truck body lays the refurbished bones and innards of a 15-year old Plymouth car plucked from the scrapheap. This noble act of recycling resulted in the first of a whole new category of vehicle that we now call the Crossover SUV.

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Capri: The Sexy European

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Capri: The Sexy European

Was the Capri a model or a make? The car that burst on the scene at the start of the 1970s was itself gorgeously self-evident, a lively sport coupe that handled as good as it looked. Capri was a collaboration between the British and German designers of the most globally diverse of all car companies, Ford. Sport sedan aficionados across Europe knew this racy coupe wore the Blue Oval proudly on its bonnet. It was the Ford Capri and they loved it. But when it came to America, Capri’s many fans here were less clear as to what banner this racy little coupe drove for. Was it a Ford? Ford dealers in the States already had a sporty coupe to sell. It was called the Mustang, and as rumor has it, did pretty well. Capris in America were sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealers. But was it a Mercury? No Mercury ever looked or handled like a this. Things didn’t get any clearer over Capri’s two-plus decades in America. It took different forms, spanning four iterations and as many continents. Was it a Ford or a Mercury? We can only call it Capri, the subject of our next Makes that Didn’t Make It.

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The Story of the Keller

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The Story of the Keller

The immediate post war period saw more than its fair share of entrepreneurial automotive adventures. Dozens of them sprouted from 1945 to 1950, achieving varying degrees of success and fame. The Keller Motor Company was one of just a hand full that ever reached production, even in tiny numbers. Keller’s one and only product offering was a wood boded station wagon called the Super Chief in 1949. The Super Chief filled many altruistic needs. It was cheap to buy, economical to operate, and if successful, could bring prosperity to a downtrodden region. But even with all that going for it it is hard to find anyone, even among car buffs, who has ever heard of the Keller. Like so many of its post-war contemporaries, by the close of the decade it was gone. Keller’s demise was more literal than most…but more on that later.

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Hailing the Checker

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Hailing the Checker

If you grew up in or frequented any big Eastern city during second half of the 20th Century, you have seen a Checker. Probably you’ve ridden in one, most likely amid the mixed aroma of spiced meats, cleaning fluid and vomit. Drive one? Without a stint as a cabbie it’s hard to imagine. But by happenstance in the summer of 1983, this writer did have the pleasure of driving a Checker without need of a hack license. In between graduating from college, and starting my first “real” job, I worked as a chauffeur for a drive-your-car service in southern Connecticut. This was decades before Uber or Lyft. Then, when a driver was needed, we would be dispatched to the client’s house, and then chauffer them in their own vehicle to where ever they needed to go. Most every trip was to or from a New York area airport. Most every car was the ordinary fare of early 1980s suburbia; Oldsmobiles, Buicks, the occasional Honda. But one fine day the drive would not be to the airport, and the livery would be anything but ordinary.

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The Playboy: A Product of Its Times and a Victim of Them

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The Playboy: A Product of Its Times and a Victim of Them

Pity the Playboy. This darling little roadster with the world’s first retractable steel roof was launched in the heady times following WWII, when the can do spirit reined supreme, where anything seemed possible. The Playboy was a contemporary of the famous Tucker. It was a bit less ambitious, but just as optimistic. The master showman Preston Tucker sought to change the way the world thought about automobiles. Playboy’s founders just wanted to sell a bunch of them to young people and housewives. Alas, the promise of the times proved illusory, at least for startup car companies. The Tucker and the Playboy shared a similar fate.

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Continental: The Finest of Fords

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Continental: The Finest of Fords

The Continental’s chrome script has been affixed to the cars a top the Ford Motor Company line up for the past 80 years. Sometimes those cars were rarified classics like the original 1939-41 Continental, or the 1956-57 Mark II. In more forgettable times the name appeared on forgettable cars like the 1982-86 bustleback sedans. Whether it was a beauty or a beast, that depended on the state of automobile design of the day. The following is a stroll through the fond memories of Dearborn’s finest car. 

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