they had some extremely odd ideas of what a sports car for the ranch ought to look like. 6 rifle sheaths? Seriously? I present, El Kineño

that Daktari front fender shooters seat is ridiculous, and a Buick Eight with a fold down windshield?

http://swarfs.tumblr.com/

By George, they actually made one!

The first car to bear the King Ranch name (now an Ford truck high dollar trim level package) was a heavily modified 1946 Ford that sat on a lifted suspension, and could extricate itself with a P.T.O.-driven winch. Spare wheels hung off the back, and the fenders featured game forks and a gun well. It looked pretty much like what it was, though: A home-built attempt at building an SUV.

So, why was a Buick named after one ranch in Texas? The owner was a 7 term congressman, with connections that included Harley Earl, the ranch is bigger than Rhode Island, and it's the biggest ranch in Texas. Yeah, that is mighty big. It's in 6 counties.

A ranch is a piece of land in Texas that is owner operated, and raises livestock for profit. http://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-biggest-ranches/

King Ranch was founded 9 years after statehood by a New York jeweler’s apprentice who stowed away on a ship to Alabama, later becoming a pilot, and ended up making a fortune in the steamship business on the Rio Grande. But he bought land with the area’s only source of fresh water and coaxed an entire Mexican town (whose population included vaqueros) to move to Texas and work for him.

So, the inheritor of the ranch reached the design staff at Buick under the direction of Harley Earl, and his next ranch car was designed in a joint effort between Buick and the GM Styling Section.

 A Styling Section representative arrived at the ranch in 1949, and Kleberg took him out in the Ford. “He and the GM man took off across the mesquite, hog wallows and dry washes at 60 mph” read a seven-page article in Popular Science. “The visitor got his teeth jolted.” To get over sand dunes, Kleberg aired down the Ford’s tires, and reinflated them with a carbon monoxide fire extinguisher.

They made a 1949 Buick Roadmaster into an SUV. They increased the cooling system to 32 quarts, replaced the rear sheetmetal with 20 gauge, made the hood, doors and trunklid of aluminum, and cut out a fuctional air scoop behind the hood ornament.

It is still on the ranch, but now housed in the museum  https://king-ranch.com/museum/

http://www.diecast.org/diecast98/html/asp/forums/lounge/viewMessage.asp?id=101838&start=101829

http://photos.buickclub.org/displayimage.php?pid=4098

http://en.wheelsage.org/buick/roadmaster/77474/pictures/k3tk2f/

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1933 Nemeth Parasol, the first round wing design to maintain consistent flight.

https://disciplesofflight.com/nemeth-parasol-strange-aircraft/

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Hard to believe any museum with this incredible aesthetic and collection could go out of business... but they made a bad decision early on, they built it somewhere no one would travel to.

From the elegant above designs (pure art)

to the awesome below

the Lawman, unlike all other Mopars, was never sold or processed through a dealership. Even the cars given to the head honchos were processed... but not this hemi dragster that went worldwide on a USO tour to show dragsters to the military. It was handed over to Al Eckstrand, and has never been titled

to the outrageous crazy

if you don't understand why this little black car is outrageous and crazy, try and buy one, or race one.

But it was closed for good and turned into office spaces in Dec 2016 and there's not telling what happened to all the cool inventory and displays

 http://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/walter-p-chrysler-museum-closing-december-good-time
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/mopp-0804-walter-p-chrylser-museum-tour/ 

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1938 Graham 97 Supercharged Cabriolet by Saoutchik, 1938 Paris Salon car for the Saoutchik stand, 2015 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance class award winner

Writing in the June 1984 issue of The Classic Car, automotive historian Karl Zahm described the Saoutchik Graham best:

“This Graham is a rakish car made by the absence of running boards and its aerodynamically inspired fin molded into and forming part of the rear deck adds to its streamlined look.

The car is also fitted with unique parallel opening doors built under license by its developer, British coachbuilder James Young, Ltd. A double-bar, pivoting swing hinge is used, allowing the fifty-two-inch wide doors to swing out and back over the rear fenders – always parallel to the car’s sides.
The door windows are also unusual in that they work on a double retractable system. Upon rolling down the window, the rear or larger part retracts first, allowing the wind wing section either to return into the body of the door or be left upright in operable position.”

The car is recorded by Saoutchik historian Peter Larsen as having been originally sold to a Maurice Reb who was stationed in Algeria with the French Army. However, the CO of the French Army in Algeria, requisitioned the Graham. Reb put up a fuss and was subsequently conscripted to the General’s chauffeur until the end of 1939!

Late in 1940, Reb returned with the car to Algiers and around this time, it was converted to run on coal gas due to severe wartime fuel supply restrictions. Reb sold the Graham to the Army in late 1942, who then put a military vehicle gas engine in the car. It remained there for two more years; during this time, it was photographed in the town of Touggourt, where it remained in service as a staff car.

The Graham was eventually acquired in 1944 by an American Chrysler employee, Thomas Demetry, from the French Army Service of Supply, and was exported from the Algerian port city of Oran to the United States for $175.

The car was then traded among enthusiasts in Michigan until 1966, when its final Great Lakes State owner, Morley Murphy, sold it to legendary collector William Harrah.

The car was sold at one of the Harrah’s Automobile Collection dispersal auctions in 1981 to Edmund Kowalski of California, who exhaustively documented its restoration over a 30-year period of research on two continents.

http://www.rmsothebys.com/am17/amelia-island/lots/1938-graham-97-supercharged-cabriolet-by-saoutchik/1701972

Thanks Doug!

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if you know you like this car by the headlights, you're a friend of mine. Elvis said you had to catch a rabbit, I'm far easier to get along with

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huh, I never noticed the "facelift" for long haul Fords vs the local stuff

http://carzhunt.blogspot.com/2016/12/happy-new-year-2017.html

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1969 Ferrari 512S Berlinetta Speciale, and some ridiculous model that should never have been on the car

the car is good looking enough to not need her... but since when do models get on TOP of the cars? Maybe I missed hundreds of thousands of photos like this... but I don't remember ever seeing a model on the roof of a car... with dirty shoe soles

here's the crazy part... the designer later on went on to Ghia for 3 decades and designed the Pinto and Escort.

here is something else, it was a roller... the engine wasn't built, just looked good from the outside, so they had to pull it up the mountain for these photos with that earth mover

The photo shoot was on top of  a mountain near Como, Italy was shot by noted racing photographer Rainer Schlegelmilch,

http://www.cafespa.com/index.php?news=000062&title=1969-Ferrari-512-S-Berlinetta-Speciale
https://primotipo.com/2015/07/27/ferrari-312p0868-and-ferrari-512s-berlinetta-speciale-ferrari-512s1027-and-ferrari-modulo/
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/cars/speciale-delivery-1969-ferrari-512s-berlinetta-pininfarina
http://www.carstyling.ru/ru/car/1969_ferrari_512s_speciale/images/23590/

http://cardesignnews.com/articles/pic-of-the-day/2016/10/777

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/286541595014865642/

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Mitsubishi ASX Designer Edition

The Mitsubishi ASX is one of the cheapest compact SUVs in Malaysia at RM114,743.50 (TR without insurance) for the 2WD version with 2.0-LITER 16-valve inline-4 DOHC MIVEC engine. This is because they assemble it in Malaysia.

They recently worked together with Malaysian designer Rizalman Ibrahim, to come up with the Mitsubishi ASX Designer Edition. The model only comes in "Titanium" grey with racing stripe running down the front and back of the car. It is only available in the 4WD version. The grey theme is carried in the interior as well with grey leather seats with yellow trims. Leather (grey and yellow) covered gear knobs and matte finished black alloy rims. The car also has a large rear spoiler and fin-type antenna as opposed to the bee-sting type antennas. Another unique feature is the panoramic tinted glass roof



Behind the scenes video:



The Designer Edition model is priced at RM131,801.50 (OTR without insurance).

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The new Citroën C4 Cactus with nice bumps

One thing is sure about the new Citroën C4 Cactus - you will definitely get a lot of attention. It features unique Airbump® side panels which is supposed to protect from knocks and occasional bumps. The Airbump® panels are made from supply TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) and include tiny air capsules.

I suspect that reactions to the Airbump® feature is going to be split into 2 groups - "either you like it or you don't".

Other unique designs include sleek roof bars, a floating quarter window and clean lines. The front end features nice lights with daytime running LEDs emphasising the slim headlights as well as 3D-effect back lights.

Inside, the car features slim dashboard and 7 inch Touch Drive interface and a huge glovebox.



Check out the Citroën C4 Cactus for more information.

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