[Stratos]

ID 192 - This may be quite easy compared to some of the cars posted on the previous couple of pages.

[Ram]

ID:192 is a 1940 Aston-Martin Atom Sports Aerodynamic Saloon.



The name "Atom" was picked to suggest something “small but powerful”.

It had suicide doors in the front and split windshield and split rear window, a grille made of stamped louvers, wire wheels with two-winged knockoffs and a chevron dart as a bonnet ornament.

Many of its technical innovations blazed the trail for future generations of Astons to follow.

Completely and drastically different from British cars around the turn of the 'forties, the 1940 Aston-Martin Atom was markedly aerodynamic and debuted the Superleggera construction technique. Aston Martin has been famous for their extremely light yet firm, Superleggera construction.

In the Superleggera process a welded skeleton frame of very small steel tubing (and possibly heavy gauge steel wire) is applied over the chassis of a body-on-frame car (as opposed to a monocoque car). Aluminum skin is then applied over the steel subframe, resulting in a lightweight rigid body. Other fine examples of "Superleggera" bodies are Ferrari, Maserati, OSCA, and Alfa Romeo from the fifties. [Ref: I wrote this in 1998]

The 1940 Atom was made of square section tubing with aluminium body panels attached.

All Aston Martin cars have had the DB numbering. The Atom precedes that.
The DB stood for David Brown. The Aston-Martin company was advertised for sale in 1947, around the time India was given her independence. Driving this car inspired Mr. David Brown, a rich Yorkshire tractor manufacturer, to buy the Aston Martin company, that year. He started making sports cars and the rest is history... Future Aston Martins were called ...,DB4,DB5,...,DBS, ... etc.

It had a 15/98 1,970 cc engine fed by twin SU carburetors.
[15/98 refers to the RAC rating (15) and the power output (98bhp)]



This powered the car through a French-made Cotal electromagnetic 4-speed semi-automatic gearbox. The gearbox was controlled via a selector mounted on the steering-column. The propeller shaft spun a Salisbury hypoid bevel rear axle (the first ever installed on an English car!)

The car had a Gordon Armstrong independent front suspension, with horizontal coil springs.




The Atom rode on 17-inch wire wheels with two-winged self-tightening knock-offs.



Compared to alloy wheels, these spoked wire-wheels are lighter, look better, and the knockoffs afford easier tire-changing.

Back in 1940, the Atom could exceed 177 km/h.

Ram

[awini]

Originally Posted by ranjan united

ID 137

this is a Lagonda LG 45 Rapide, developed by W.O.Bentley for Lagonda. this car used the old 4.5 Liter medows engine dramatically tweaked by WO, i think about 25 were made and at teast 20 survive,not counting the many replicas made.A genuine one visited India during the rally of the raj a couple of years ago, iv seen about 5 at a Lagonda Club AGM meeting in england,some years ago, they sound amazing and are really a sight to behold in the flesh!...

[Ram]

ID:193
Guess this nearly two-ton muscle car with the concealed headlamps, flared wheel arches and factory chromed alloys. Should be a piece of cake!



Ram

[ajmat]

Was this a Buick riviera ????

[V-16]

ID 193: The inimitable OLDSMOBILE TORNADO

[karlosdeville]

thats right...the worlds first production airbags, and curved sidewindows...as ram informed me earlier this evening...

[awini]

also, the toronados milestone was, front wheel drive...

[iraghava]

Originally Posted by karlosdeville

thats right...the worlds first production airbags, and curved sidewindows...as ram informed me earlier this evening...

Arrey I always thought that the 1980 S-Class had the first production airbags. Which one is correct Karl?

[rahul_intlad]

With google's help:

* First airbags - 1974 Oldsmobile Toronado
* First car to come standard with dual airbags - 1987 Porsche 944 Turbo
* First six-airbag system - 1994 Audi A8
* First head airbags - 1998 BMW 7-Series


Source:
wikipedia


Another article about history of airbags :


...
Then in 1980, Mercedes-Benz introduced the airbag in Germany as an option on its high end Mercedes-Benz W126,
In the Mercedes system, the sensors would tighten the seat belts and then deploy the airbag on impact. The airbag was thus no longer marketed as a means of avoiding seat belts, but as a way to obtain an extra margin of occupant safety.

Read full here:
airbag

[iraghava]

Ok then I guess I'm getting old & my brain cells are rotting away with all the alcohol I consume

But I'm dead sure that particular generation of S-Class was known for an innovation. It can't be ABS since that was first introduced on the Jenson Intercepter, I distinctly remember it being airbags. Experts please clarify.

[rahul_intlad]

Originally Posted by iraghava

But I'm dead sure that particular generation of S-Class was known for an innovation.

Please see this link also for what the s class[w126] brought:
W126

Ps: Have edited my earlier post,so mercedes-benz s class was responsible for airbags as an additional protection feature after all,even though it featured on earlier GM cars .

[Ram]

The 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado was the first front-wheel drive automobile produced in USA since the 1937 Cord.



It was the most sensational US car released in 1966. Probably the world's heaviest front wheel drive with a 385 bhp and chain-drive, it could reach 100 km/h in 7.7 sec and max out at 217 km/h!

GM called their giant two-door luxury coupes, the E-body platform. This was shared with Buick Riviera and Cadillac Eldorado.
This two door car was 8 inches longer, 6 inches wider and 4 inches shorter than our big old Sonata.

Styling
Stylingwise the Toronado was a 20th Century styling beacon.
It had a striking roofline with rear 'C' pillars, that blended seamlessly into the rear quarter panels, and an almost constant slope from rear window to trunklid.
The stylish rear wheel arch blisters blazed a trail for future cars from competitors.

The long doors on the cavernous two-door body allowed rear seat passengers to enter and exit without folding the front seat backs. The doors had separate interior door latches for front passengers and rear passengers.
The '66 Toro was the first car with curved side winding glasses.

Truck Powertrain
The engine on the 1966 Toronado was an Oldsmobile 6965 cc V8. Called the Super Rocket, this engine put out 385 bhp and 644 Newton-metre of torque. It breathed through a Quadrajet 4-bbl carburetor, new for 1966. The Toro also debuted spherical exhaust-manifold flange gaskets, which let the exhaust system vibrate without leaks.

Innovation
As a platform, Toro innovated several General Motors firsts.

The heavy-duty Turbo-Hydramatic 400 3-speed automatic transmission came first on the Toronado.
Being a front wheel drive the TH 400 was called a TH 425.
The 6955 cc V8 drove the transmission via a heavy steel 2-inch wide chain drive on 1-foot diameter sprockets!

To get an idea of how heavily over-built, the Toronado's TH 425 front-wheel drive automatic transmission was,
the 2x6 GMC motorhome of the seventies used a basically unchanged Toronado front-wheel drivetrain.



Can you guys imagine a 26 foot long, front wheel drive bus?

Tire manufacturer Firestone designed a 8.85-inch wide tire especially for the Toronado's 15-inch alloys.
Called the Toronado-Front-Drive (TFD) tire, it had stiffer sidewalls sporting a stylish pencil thin white pin-stripe.

The Toronado was GM's first subframe car. It had a separate front sub-chassis that carried the transaxle, front suspension and floorpan. Future Camaros and Firebirds would adopt this!

The driven front wheels were mounted on a torsion bar suspension with unequal "A" arm कैँची s.



The dead rear wheels were mounted on a beam on single leaf springs with two shocks per side, one vertical as conventional and one horizontal acting as a radius rod to damp wheel travel.

Ram

[Ram]

ID:194
Guess this big, two-door, luxury cruiser.



Ram

[karlosdeville]

ID 194

thats the 1956 lincoln Continental mark 2 coupe...it sported the trademark "continental kit" boot with spare wheel integrated...