24 Greatest Cars from Brands That No Longer Exist

[Bob Riebe]

https://teslatale.com/24-greatest-cars-from-brands-that-no-longer-exist/


Gilbern Invader


Rover 75

This site was started by a chick 8 years ago so , it is interesting but far from gear head writing, but still quite interesting.
I used to read a lot of foreign car magazines so the names are familiar but as these were the last of the old school Euro cars, some are still new to me.
The cars have the look of the last of the RWD econo cars from 40 years ago.

[Lloyd Smale]

one link wont open and the other is teslas homepage

[ironglow]

  Some other cars of interest.  My son was called upon by a "Bring a trailer" client to photograh his Peerless sports car.  THe Peerless placed 16th
   overall, and 4th in the 2 liter class at Le mans in 1958.
 James Bond used a Peerless in one of his movies...may be the one my son shot, he did speak of some fake gun nacelles.  Photo used, is from the web, not my son's shoot.

  There also was a very early American car called the Peerless.

  Then there is the Morgan Plus 4..a classic look..part of the body built around a hardwood frame. At one point they "joined the crowd" and bought
  out Buick's aluminum V8.  once installed, the Plus 4 became a Plus 8..

   Then there was the Sunbeam Tiger.  When Carol Shelby was toying with the British AC Ace..with Ford V8..later to be Cobra, he was also building
   some Sunbeam Tigers. Same size car..same engine.

  My nephew has one, and I have driven it.... If one uses all that power...things can momentarily..get rather "hairy"..

[Bob Riebe]

one link wont open and the other is teslas homepage

I redid it.
Not sure how I ended up with those two links, not paying attention I guess. 

[ironglow]

  It is interesting to note, how here in nthe US, domestically produced brands   settled down to 5 and then 3 major manufacturers , while in nthe UK, there was a plethora oif brands.
   Many people here, picture cars like Austin and Morris, to be very small  cars...I presume because the smaller models were the ones imported here.

   That Simca shown..  While I was serving in Germany, a friend bought a new Simca 1000, in 1964.  Like the one shown, but dark blue.
  He dropped it off at the dealer for service, and some young mechanic, put it into a stone wall while test driving it..
   The Simca was rear engine, rear wheel drive.

  Those Jensen cars were pretty good performers..

 One of the greatest cars produced here, was the Deusenberg straight 8 suoercharged.  That was the design copied by Offenhauser for the Indy 500 cars, although cut to 4 cylinders.

  The Deusenberg was so highly thought of in the 1920s-30s that a phrase was coined and widely used to describe anything that was superlative.

  The phrase?   "It's a Deuzy"   (or Doozy)

[Bob Riebe]

The depression killed the majority and WW II killed most of the rest.
Companies went broke after WW II due to cancelled contracts and those that made autos before the war, could not  tool up to  return to autos.
Hudson, Nash, Packhard and Willys tried (Having read, Studebaker died because Studebaker-Worthington board members decided they wanted out of the auto industry, not any thing to do with lack of sales, they killed it deliberately.)

Washington's asinine auto rules killed AMC, and all that died since 1970.

[Lloyd Smale]

with all the cool stuff plymouth, olds, pontiac and even amc made they sure chose some duds to represent those American brands. let me help. make it a hemi cuda , a w30 olds 442, gto judge and a mark donaue red white and blue amx

[Bob Riebe]

  Some other cars of interest.  My son was called upon by a "Bring a trailer" client to photograh his Peerless sports car.  THe Peerless placed 16th
   overall, and 4th in the 2 liter class at Le mans in 1958.
 James Bond used a Peerless in one of his movies...may be the one my son shot, he did speak of some fake gun nacelles.  Photo used, is from the web, not my son's shoot.

  There also was a very early American car called the Peerless.

  Then there is the Morgan Plus 4..a classic look..part of the body built around a hardwood frame. At one point they "joined the crowd" and bought
  out Buick's aluminum V8.  once installed, the Plus 4 became a Plus 8..

   Then there was the Sunbeam Tiger.  When Carol Shelby was toying with the British AC Ace..with Ford V8..later to be Cobra, he was also building
   some Sunbeam Tigers. Same size car..same engine.

  My nephew has one, and I have driven it.... If one uses all that power...things can momentarily..get rather "hairy"..

The Perrless GT is from the U.K.
Here is an abstract of Peerless U.S.:

During World War I, Peerless manufactured military vehicle chassis and trucks.[1] One such vehicle, the Peerless armoured car, was manufactured for Great Britain with the Austin Motor Company of Birmingham being the maker of the armored body and Peerless the manufacture of the chassis. The chassis was manufactured in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1929, the entire Peerless range was redesigned to compete with other vehicles produced by Stutz and Marmon.[3] This move saw increased sales, and for 1930 another design refresh was undertaken. The Peerless-designed V8 was replaced by a Continental straight-8 as a cost-saving measure. However, the Great Depression that began in 1929 greatly reduced the sales of luxury automobiles. Peerless stripped down its production and attempted to market one line of vehicles to wealthy Americans who were not affected by the depression. In 1930–31, Peerless commissioned Murphy Body Works to design what the company envisioned as its 1933 model. The task was assigned to a young Frank Hershey, who produced a remarkably clean, elegant vehicle. A single V16-engined 1931 Peerless was finished in June 1931, the last Peerless ever produced.[3][4]

Peerless remained an idle business until the end of Prohibition in 1933 allowed the manufacture of alcohol. Peerless then revamped its factory and gained a license to brew beer under the Carling Black Label and Red Cap ale brands from the Brewing Corporation of Canada.

Hershey's single prototype V-16 remained in the Peerless factory until the end of World War II and it is now owned by the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum.

1932 Peerless V-16 Prototype (one manufactured

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerless_Motor_Company

Gents involved in the Peerless GT, after that market ran out of steam brought out the Gordon-Keeble GT, Gordon first and later called a Keeble.
They put a small block Chevy in it but as Peerless tried the Buick alloy block engine before they shut down, that would have probably been  better (much lighter choice).
It had the cock-eyed headlight set-up that was popular at the time; I though that was weird when I was young, Dodge used it also, but now I find it uniquely attractive.


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Factory built racing Tiger

Originally powered by a 260ci Ford V8, the car has been fitted with a race-prepped 347ci Ford V8 that was built by Tony Oddo in 2013 using an A-4 engine block and a stroker crankshaft. Additional equipment includes four twin-choke Weber IDA carburetors, stainless steel oil and fuel lines, an aluminum radiator with custom shrouding, a front-mount oil cooler, and tubular exhaust manifolds.


Shelby had involvement with the Sunbeam Tiger but did not build it.


Sunbeam Tiger

Background

The Sunbeam Tiger was a development of the Sunbeam Alpine series I, introduced by the British manufacturer Rootes in 1959.[3] Rootes realised that the Alpine needed more power if it was to compete successfully in world markets, but lacked a suitable engine and the resources to develop one. The company approached Ferrari to redesign the standard inline-four engine, recognising the cachet that "powered by Ferrari" would likely bring. Negotiations initially went well, but ultimately failed.[4]

In 1962 racing driver and Formula 1 champion Jack Brabham proposed to Rootes competition manager Norman Garrad the idea of fitting the Alpine with a Ford V8 engine,[a] which Garrad relayed to his son Ian, then the West Coast Sales Manager of Rootes American Motors Inc. Ian Garrad lived near Carroll Shelby's Shelby American operation, which had done a similar V8 conversion for the British AC Cobra

Production

The chrome strips either side of the Tiger logo show this to be a Series I car
Shelby had hoped to be given the contract to produce the Tiger in America, but Rootes was uneasy about the closeness of his relationship with Ford, so it was decided to build the car in England.[25] The Rootes factory at Ryton did not have the capacity to build the Tiger, so the company contracted the job to Jensen in West Bromwich.[12] Any disappointment Shelby may have felt was tempered by an offer from Rootes to pay him an undisclosed royalty on every Tiger built.[26]

Jensen was able to assume production of the Tiger because its assembly contract for the Volvo P1800 had recently been cancelled. An additional factor in the decision was that Jensen's chief engineer Kevin Beattie and his assistant Mike Jones had previously worked for Rootes, and understood how the company operated.[26] The first of 14 Jensen-built prototypes were based on the Series IV body shell, which became available at the end of 1963

Chrysler bought Rootes, and found that their small block was too large to fit in the engine bay , so not long after pruchasing Rootes the Tiger production ended.

[urlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunbeam_Tiger][/url]

[sbilson]

Nice article and some interesting cars!

[ironglow]

The depression killed the majority and WW II killed most of the rest.
Companies went broke after WW II due to cancelled contracts and those that made autos before the war, could not  tool up to  return to autos.
Hudson, Nash, Packhard and Willys tried (Having read, Studebaker died because Studebaker-Worthington board members decided they wanted out of the auto industry, not any thing to do with lack of sales, they killed it deliberately.)

Washington's asinine auto rules killed AMC, and all that died since 1970.

   Curiously, Kaiser started after WW2.  Old Henry J was a self-made industrialist.  He did not attend college, but still was deep into sjhip manufacturing,
  (hundreds of Liberty ships), concrete (Kaiser permanente...spurred by Hoover Dam project), health care and health insurance (Kaiser Permanente),
  and automobiles.  Far as I know, Kaiser used Continental engines (4&6 cyl)  Darrin was supercharged.

  The corporation was named Kaiser-Frazer. Many may nnot be aware that the Frazer car was an upscale Kaiser.

    Hemmings explains what killed Kaiser cars.. 
    https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/what-killed-kaiser-frazer#:~:text=The%20negative%20was%20that%20Kaiser,the%201949%20model%20year%20debacle.

  Still; Kaiser made some beautiful cars IMO..

[Bob Riebe]

   Curiously, Kaiser started after WW2.  Old Henry J was a self-made industrialist.  He did not attend college, but still was deep into sjhip manufacturing,
  (hundreds of Liberty ships), concrete (Kaiser permanente...spurred by Hoover Dam project), health care and health insurance (Kaiser Permanente),
  and automobiles.  Far as I know, Kaiser used Continental engines (4&6 cyl)  Darrin was supercharged.

  The corporation was named Kaiser-Frazer. Many may nnot be aware that the Frazer car was an upscale Kaiser.

    Hemmings explains what killed Kaiser cars.. 
    https://www.hemmings.com/stories/article/what-killed-kaiser-frazer#:~:text=The%20negative%20was%20that%20Kaiser,the%201949%20model%20year%20debacle.

  Still; Kaiser made some beautiful cars IMO..

Only 435 production Darrins and six prototypes were built. Crumbling corporate finances, pending loss of assembly facilities and a freak snowstorm that reportedly ruined 50 of the cars all conspired to terminate the program. Darrin bought those 50 vehicles and whatever others Kaiser had left in storage and sold those from his Hollywood, California showroom. Many of the cars' engines were retrofitted with superchargers and multiple carburation to improve performance. Six were rumored to have been re-engined with Cadillac Eldorado V-8 units, however, none have survived subjecting the story to some skepticism. There was one V8 engined Darrin raced at Tory Pines in November 1954 and a wrecked Darrin rebuilt into a drag racer by Lee and Gary Abrahams of Tucson, Arizona in the early 1960s. There's one in an episode of My Classic Car.

It was built with the Intake over Exhaust 161 inch cubed engine,
Such engine could be made to make , for the day, a goodly amount of horse power, but the design made such improvements more complicated that really worth the effort so the old flat head and OHV carried on while F heads became very rare  birds.

As many forms or racing, up into the fifties, used dope, racing fuel concotions using not just alcohol but other more toxic compounds .Their chemical composition ran cooler than gasoline so over-heating was not the problem it would be with straight gasoline and engine types with convoluted valve/port combinations could be tried without huge regard to cooling, and there were some duesies..

[ironglow]

  When you mention the Cadillac engines in Darrins, that brings to mind another Anglo-American effort with the Cadillac-Allard cars..
  https://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/cars-for-sale/allard

  Then there were the Studellacs..some Studebakers, fitted with Cadillac engines before they had their own V8 engine.

  Darrin was an old name in special bodies.. The 1941 Packard-Darrin of for instance..

[darkgael]

How about the Nash Metropolitan?

[ironglow]

How about the Nash Metropolitan?

  An interesting car, which I have mentioned here before. The Metro was built fior Nash , by Austin of England.  Ity even carried the Nash trademark
    low cut front fender wells.  Any I have seen, have no trunk opening, replacing it with a fold forward rear seat.
   Spare tire carried, continental style..

  Nash & Hudson went together to form American motors..

  One of the rare ones that are seldom heard from , is the Hudson jet, slightly smaller even than the Rambler, it never went over well, so is comparatively rare now.   https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1954-hudson-jet/

[Bob Riebe]

The gamble of the auto industry is -- five years later , compacts were again selling like hot-cakes, and once again, for a brief period of time.

The Chevy II, Ford Falcon, AMC Rambler. Plymouth Valiant were the hot-cakes, with Studebaker Lark being one that started the brief compact craze before Studebaker-Worthington pulled the plug.

Surprisingly the Ford Falcon  did not make it past 1970.

[ironglow]

   Should we call this one...the forgotten Falcon? 

  If they made it today, with the Fiesta FWD drive train and 16" wheels...I'd buy it !

[Bob Riebe]

LOL, a fwd pick-up, misery multiplied.

Put a load in back and take  weight off of the front wheels, no thanks.

The best suv thingies , now all have four-wheel drive or at minimum rear-wheel assist, having learned that without rear wheel drive while carrying weight in winter, you will be in a world of hurt.


Bruce Nolte
Shade tree mechanic and gearhead since 1959

Originally Answered: Why are pickup trucks not built with front wheel drive?
Pickup trucks are designed to carry large loads in the back and tow heavy trailers, which put a lot of weight and stress on the rear end. Running unloaded, this is a slight disadvantage, but when you are carrying a large load of tools, lumber, or towing a trailer it is important for stability and traction. It is a time tested configuration as well, the live rear axle is simple and robust.

There have been a few front wheel drive based pickups that have popped up, mostly based as variations of compact or subcompact front wheel drive cars. One is the Dodge Rampage /Plymouth Scamp, which was a variation of the 2 door Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon, and was never a real market success. The Honda Ridgeline is a more modern example, but the ridgeline has the ability to go all wheel drive if it needs to. Volkswagen also marketed a front wheel drive pickup from 1979 until the early 1990s based on the VW Rabbit. These were a compromise for someone that wanted a car like ride that only occasionally needed to haul something bulky. They really can't handle a lot of weight.

[Bob Riebe]

This is the last of the U.S. compact Ford Falcons, trying to find pictures of it on line is not easy, very few I found.





Oddly, in 1970 Ford produced the last compact Falcon, and produced a Torino based Falcon.

[ironglow]

  From Bob..  " LOL, a fwd pick-up, misery multiplied. Put a load in back and take  weight off of the front wheels, no thanks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

   Normally, that is a valid statement, but notice th  original Falcon pickup was a quite compact design, and much depends upon the usage.

  If a truck is a "work truck", very often carrying heavy loads, you words make good sense.  However, such a compact truck (from experience),
  Rarely carries a heavy load.  Since the late 1960s I have had a series of compact trucks..3 Datsuns, 2 Chevy Luvs, a Ford Courier and
  several Rangers...along with my wife's VW Rabbit pickup.

     Rarely did I carry a full half ton..in fact, most of the time they ran empty or nearly so, and usually only a couple hundred pouns when carrying.

  In winter, I carried a couple silo staves over the rear axles..but always thinking what kind of a guest they would make in the cab with me, were
   I to leave the road a stop violently.

  I did try sand bags, but they only got wet and froze for the rest of the winter...same problem. 
   
  What I carried most in those trucks, were my dogs, going to hunt or compete..not much weight.

     Certainly, with a FWD pickup going empty about 95% of the time..I have no doubt that it will handle snow better than conventional layout.

  Sure, if one is hauling much weight and doing it often, a regular layout is better. ..But not particularly good when perhaps a clothes dryer or a few
  boards or 2-3 sheets of plywood are th eusual ..for the 5% of time when it is loaded.

   Consider the minivan, doesn't often carry half ton in back, but does carry a more precious load... and every available minivan is FWD.

   BTW: My brother once had a later model Ford Falcon pickup like the one below, and drove it for several years before he died