* File under Forgotten Teardrops. Horace Basil Oldfield decided back in 1938 to build a teardrop-shaped vehicle. Without access to a wind tunnel or any other such sophisticated equipment, he refined his design by carving wooden blocks and dipping them into a nearby stream. He then spent two years building what he called the Spirit of Tomorrow, and the Reno Gazette-Journal has a story on its restoration and caretaking by Oldfield’s niece. (Thanks for the tip, Terry!)
* Artist Nicos Bel-Jon created the Athena, a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr, in 1956-1957 to showcase his signature technique of directionally burnished aluminum tiles formed in a mosaic and to pursue his goal of creating a car that would reflect the various colors of neon and traffic lights. He drove it cross-country to New York, where he was essentially forced to sell it, and now his son is looking for this piece of family history.
* If you’re gonna talk drag racing, might as well go ask Tony Thacker, the director of the Wally parks NHRA Museum, to write up a piece for ya, and that’s what Speedhunters recently did, and Tony came back with a piece on T.V. Tommy Ivo and his Showboat quad-engine dragster.
* In the Navy? Bored? Have access to a giant slingshot capable of accelerating fighter jets to takeoff speed over miniscule distances? Why not shoot a Plymouth into the ocean and see how far it goes? The stuff of urban legends, this scene actually took place in October 1978 on the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Enterprise. the Internet can’t seem to agree on the year of the Plymouth (1961 or 1963), nor whether it was stripped of its drivetrain first. If only YouTube had been around then. (via)
* Finally, twenty years later, another Plymouth – a ‘71 Satellite – received a much different treatment. No, it wasn’t restored. No, it wasn’t photographed in a professional studio. Instead, it was rendered in 3d software by 3D artist David Cathro of Karlstad, Sweden. That’s right – the above image is not a photograph of an actual car. Tarantino fans will know why he chose a four-door Bahama Yellow Satellite. (via)
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