14th October 2006, 16:19
| #721 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| And what is this royal blue sedan from the fabulous fifties! ID:185  Ram |
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14th October 2006, 16:25
| #722 |
| Distinguished - BHPian   | |
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14th October 2006, 16:30
| #723 | |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| Quote:
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14th October 2006, 16:32
| #724 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | |
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14th October 2006, 16:36
| #725 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | there we go...dug this outta my archives...bingo!  plus this is a page outta the 53 brochure for the kingsway....clearly the same bodyshell  |
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14th October 2006, 17:46
| #726 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| Now I have to hand it to you Karlos! Well done and Congratulations! ID:185 is indeed a 1954 DeSoto Diplomat. The official name of the color is Avalon Blue.  Like GM's five brand line-up, (starting from the high-end to the rock-bottom): Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac and Chevrolet, Chrysler also had five brands (top to bottom): Imperial, Chrysler, DeSoto, Dodge and Plymouth. (if you add trucks, there was a sixth Chrysler brand: Fargo) Named after the 16th century Spaniard explorer Hernando de Soto, Chrysler's midrange brand was DeSoto. DeSoto branded cars were made from 1928 to 1961. The badge "Diplomat" was solely applied for cars exported out of the USA. They were manufactured in the neighbouring cities of Detroit (USA) and Windsor(Canada). So in a way Karl, you're right The 1954 Desoto Diplomat is a differently grille'd version of the 1954 Plymouth Plaza/Savoy/Belvedere (all names, now commonly used for Hotels?). They were modified in Belgium with a Perkins P4C diesel engine and used as taxis all over Europe in the late fifties. The '54 Desoto Diplomat had an expensive one-piece curved windshield, not the the cheap windshield of two flat panes of safety glass that earlier models offered. The glove compartment was thoughtfully placed in the centre of the dashboard where both driver and passenger could reach it equally conveniently. Power Steering and Power Brakes also became available in 1954. They were even sold as a pick-up truck Down Under! Here is an Australian ad.  The DeSoto that came to India had a 218 cid (3.5 litre) side-valve straight-six with a 3-speed manual gearbox with a non-synchromesh 1st gear. The car could peacefully maintain 100 km/h all day if you had the road for it. I remember that highways (Pune to Dharwad) were a pretty deserted adventure back in the 1950s and 60s. Here's an interior shot.  Karl, I owe (award?) you an ice-cream. Give me a call and set it up any evening with our other Team-BHPians! Ram PS. For what it is worth, you may also like to refer to the 1951 Plymouth Cranbrook in this thread that started 17th July 2004: 2649-plymouth-cool-cab-operating-mumbai-pune |
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15th October 2006, 00:41
| #727 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune
Posts: 2,625
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| ID 186 :  Yet another easy one from me . |
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18th October 2006, 19:32
| #728 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| Well looks like we've waited long enough Ojas, Diwali's round the corner! Wish all OGtc thread devotees a very Happy Diwali and prosperous New Year ahead. ID:186 is a 1991 Buick Reatta. Buick's legendary Riviera platform was shortened to produce the Reatta. The Reatta had the same engine as big-brother Riviera. It has a transversely mounted 3.8-litre OHV push-rod V6 in the front, which drives the front wheels. This V6 has a long history behind it. It is the current generation descendant of an ancient animal, Buick's Dauntless V6, which was even used in the 1965 Willys Jeep. The Reatta's 231 cubic inch V6 can attain 170 bhp and 298 Newton-metre of torque. It is mated to a 4-speed electronically controlled automatic transmission with overdrive, driving 16-inch alloy wheels. It came with disc brakes on all four wheels with ABS as standard. The Reatta also shared the same interiors as big-brother Riviera. That meant high-tech electronic displays, LCD touch-panel to control the car's computer which activated the climate control, ICE, cruise-control, etc.  It was a two-seat car and the driver's seat could be electronically adjusted in sixteen ways! History of the Buick 3800 V6 This is one of the most prolifically produced and popular engines in automotive history! Buick's first all-aluminum 3.5 liter 215 V-8 came out in 1961. The next year:1962, they produced their highly successful and long-lived V-6 by chopping off 2 cylinders from a CI version of that 215V-8. The result was the Fireball V-6, the first V-6 in an American car: the 1962 Buick Special. Naturally the original V-8's firing order was not right for a 90-degree V-6 achieved by simply chopping two cylinders off a V-8. The crank throws and as a consequence the firing impulses were unevenly spaced (at 90-150-90-etc.). The uneven firing order produced a rough idling engine. In 1965, the Fireball's bore was increased to produce a 225 cu.in. 3.7 liter V-6. However due to the untreatable rough idle, Buick discontinued using the V-6 in favor of a straight-six. Hayes Brothers Jeep (a Jeep dealer) in Salt Lake City, Utah, on their own began installing brand-new out-of-the-crate Buick V6 engines into new Jeeps. The owners fell in love with these V-6 engined animals. The uneven firing order was the source of the characteristic and extremely beloved rumble of this Buick V-6 engine, known defacto as the "odd fire" engine. In time, Jeep noticed and sent development engineers to study Hayes' conversion process, which included
 The Buick "Dauntless" V-6 put out 160 bhp@4200 rpm and 319 Newton-metre of torque @ 2400 rpm. It powered Jeeps till 1969! When the oil-crisis struck, Buick wanted their V-6 back. So they bought the V-6 design and tooling back from Jeep in 1974. Buick figured they could bore out the old V-6 to match the bore of their 350 V-8. The V-6 could thus be built alongside V-8, sharing pistons and many other common parts. Buick reintroduced the enlarged 231 V-6 in 1975 on the Buick Skyhawk, Buick Apollo and Buick Century/Regal. In middle of 1977, Buick revised the crank throws and adopted a split-pin crankshaft finally achieving smooth even firing. Two years later, the engine got larger valves and improved intake and exhaust ports, boosting BHP. In 1984, the engine got "Direct fire" ignition and electronic MPFI. Two years later, sequential fuel-injection and roller-type hydraulic lifters made the engine even smoother. In 1988 a new counter-rotating balance shaft eliminated the second-order rocking couple inherent to all V-6 engines. Finally with tuned-port induction, the 3800 engine was ready for our 1991 Buick Reatta!  Ram Last edited by Ram : 18th October 2006 at 19:33. |
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18th October 2006, 20:45
| #729 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pune
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| Wow!! That was great sir  !! It is indeed the Buick Reatta. Hand built from 1988 to 1991. What was great about this was the digital gauges made to mimic analog ones, a feature also seen in the W221 S-Class. In all, Buick managed to sell around 27,000 cars in total. In some ways, it was a flop. The shape seems lovely, especially in the convertible form!   Sadly, the powertrain didnt reflect the high tech interior and smooth flowing exterior (for the time) of the car. If the "3800" was what they wanted to use, why didnt the supercharge/turbocharge it, like the GNX before it? The same engine, in the turbocharged form, enabled the GNX to reach 60mph from standstill in a shattering 4.7s and had a 13.6 second quarter mile time. The ubiquitous 3.8L V6 still powers a wide range of GM vehicles, especially the Buicks. I have never driven/sat/seen in person a vehicle powered by that one, so I have no idea how it feels/performs. Maybe Ram can give more inputs on that too... And Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year to all tbhpians! .Last edited by sajo : 18th October 2006 at 20:52. |
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19th October 2006, 17:54
| #730 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
Posts: 2,166
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| ID:187 What’s this sweet two-tone station wagon from the ’fifties?  Being right-hand drive, it's good for all over East and South Africa, South Asia, Asia Pacific and Down Under as well as the US Virgin Islands, Guyana, Suriname and the UK. Ram |
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22nd October 2006, 13:36
| #731 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| Well it's over 67 hours since the quiz-item was posted. I guess everyone is too tied-up with the festival and all that. Let me now provide closure, so we can move on! ID:187 is a 1959 Vauxhall Cresta PA Estate car. The Cresta, was always a higher-end model of the almost identical looking Vauxhall Velox. The elegant "PA" model debuted in 1957 and continued on till until 1962. The Velox and the Cresta came like a breath of fresh air to spruce up Britain's drab roads with their black boring cars. They brought color and style. Buyers could order a striking two-tone paint job, even a lively bright pink or apple green or baby blue. The Cresta had white-wall tires and anodized aluminium hubcaps. You could get seats in two-color leather, herringbone-weave nylon or "Elastofab" interiors. Like many large non-American sedans of the time, the Vauxhall Cresta PA imitated American fashion touches such as tailfins, wrap-around windows and whitewall tires. Doesn’t it resemble this big American car from the ’fifties?  Of course, appearances apart, the big Packard above was in a different league with a 275 bhp V8, push-button automatic and height-balancing four-wheel torsion-bar suspension! A recognized classic, the Vauxhall PA Cresta was a heavily modded and customized platform and very popular with the 1970s rock-n-roll generation. 1959, the year of this lovely blue and white station wagon was also the year, Britain opened its M1 expressway. A young couple could get in their Cresta and drive to the new coffee bars that also opened in 1959 listening to a young Cliff Richard, crooning... "Got myself a cryin', talkin', sleepin', walkin', livin' doll Gonna do my best to please her just cos she's a livin' doll Got a roamin' eye and that is why she satisfies my soul Got myself a cryin', sleepin', walkin', livin' doll !" [PM me if someone wants the MP3 of this song] The PA Cresta had a straight-six 2.4 litre pushrod OHV engine mated to a three-speed gearbox that could push the car to 144 km/h. Today, they're highly sought after, particularly early PAs with the three-piece backlight like the black car below.  The one-piece backlight model missing the tail-fin turn-signal lamps, like the 1962 Cresta below is not so rare.  A 1959 Vauxhall Cresta PA Estate car just like my quiz car was the Queen of England's favorite car, kept at her Sandringham Castle. Less than 40 are thought to survive.   Worth up to UK £ 6,000 (Rs. 5.1 lakh) in good condition. For comparison, that much money will buy you a very common two-year old 130 bhp Skoda Superb Confort 1.9 Tdi in the UK! As always, your comments are precious to me and dearly welcome! Ram |
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22nd October 2006, 23:18
| #732 |
| BHPian  Join Date: May 2006 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 30
Thanked: Once
| ID 188:  |
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23rd October 2006, 19:17
| #733 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | |
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23rd October 2006, 19:51
| #734 |
| Senior - BHPian Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Singapore, Mumbai, Nagpur
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| Hudson Italia definitely. But I would not agree with the term concept car! Why? The Hudson Italia had a mass-production run albeit a limited one.  Several specimens were recently discovered. |
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24th October 2006, 22:41
| #735 |
| Distinguished - BHPian | |
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