Heh. I need to pay better attention. I was saving one particular marque for the last in my series of Top Ten Cars of the American manufacturers. Before I ran this one, I wanted to do one "other" list - while the Studebaker Avanti deserves to be on a Top Ten list of some sort, I doubt I could pull together a list of Top Ten Studebakers... So I figured I'd toss the "other" American marques into their own Top Ten list, which I would run before I posted my favorite. I sat down and wrote out the list, then got curious.
I then went through the past lists and realized that there were two other marques left (Dodge and Lincoln)...
So, since I've already got the list written out, here's the Top Ten "Other" American Cars:
1. Studebaker Avanti. The styling on the Avanti was so unlike anything else of the time period that it really was too advanced for its time. No grill to speak of, minimal chrome, no fins, etc. Plus it was small and light, with a moderate V8 motor under the hood - it was far more of a threat to Jaguar than Chevrolet.
2. Nash Rambler. "Beep beep. Beep beep. His horn went beep beep beep". While it's highly doubtful that even the 4.1L V8-powered Rambler could actually have achieved 110 MPH, let alone beating a Cadillac there while only in second gear, the Rambler was forever immortalized in song.
3. Willys Jeep. Responsible for churning the insides of GIs for four decades, the Willys GP (General Purpose) would spawn what would one day become the SUV. So blame Willys-Overland Motors for the eventual destruction of the planet due to global warming...
4. Stutz Blackhawk. Who wouldn't love a car owned by Elvis with a big block 455 under the hood? I had a Hot Wheels diecast model of the late '60s/early '70s Blackhawk that was my absolute favorite car ever, and have been a fan of the Blackhawk ever since. Even after I found out it was little more than a Bonneville with different body panels...
5. AMC Javelin AMX. With a 335 horsepower 401 ci motor under the hood, even American Motor Cars got into the muscle car craze. The Javelin might have been the ugly duckling of the muscle car era, but it still had the ponies under the hood to run with the bog boys.
6. Duesenberg J. If there's anything out there as glamorous as a Duesenberg automobile, I've yet to find it. The cars produced by the Duesenberg brothers were hand-built, widely considered to be the finest automobiles on the road, and counted Rudolph Valentino among their celebrity owners.
7. Auburn 851. Called the "Boattail Speedster", the 851 was widely lauded for the visionary art deco styling but was released at the height of the Great Depression, so many models languished on lots rather than garnering the acclaim they deserved.
8. Packard Clipper. One of the few early American manufacturers to survive post-WWII, Packard continued to produce automobiles until 1959, ending a run of luxurious automobiles exceeded only by the GM-supported Cadillac and Ford-supported Lincoln.
9. Cord L-29. As was pointed out to me in my list of best Oldsmobiles, Cord's L-29 was the first American automobile to feature front-wheel drive. In addition to beating the Toronado by nearly forty years, the L-29 has a helluva lot more style. And the Toronado has some serious style...
10. Tucker. I hesitated to include the Tucker on the list because of the extremely limited run, but the Tucker marque, made famous in the movie of the same name, was unique enough that it had to make the list. With styling cues that were radically different than anything seen before, and innovations such as steering wheel-mounted gauges, the Tucker was decades ahead of its time.
There's my list of Top Ten "Other" American cars. There are literally hundreds of automakers that have fallen by the wayside throughout the 100+ years of American cars, so winnowing down the list to a manageable ten was a Herculean task to say the least. I had originally planned on including a LaSalle, only to find that they were a division of GM, and a DeSoto, which was a division of Chrysler - just two of the little quirks I found along the way to making this list.
What other cars deserved a slot on this Top Ten list?
That is all.
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12 comments:
A slight quibble on the Avanti. It had three engine options; only the first(R-1) was in any way moderate. Both the R-2 and R-3 engines had Paxton superchargers with the R-3 being close to an all out racing motor. (Got a friend with two of them.)
That's not a real Stutz .. This is the real thing
http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/OldClassicConvertibles/1914_Stutz_Bearcat-july12a.jpg
and don't overlook Pierce Arrow
http://nxtarrow.com/ThePierceArrowStory.aspx
Ever considered an Amphicar for the list of "others"?
The Javelin was ok from a power train standpoint, but remember this is from the same company that gave us the Gremlin and Pacer.
AC Cobra, anyone?
Belay that; I meant the AC/Shelby Cobra. Several incarnations there.
::sigh:: The Javelin...what a bee-you-tee-phul car...
It had the same basic styling cues of a Nova, but the lines were a bit more daring. I actually owned the car that spawned the AMX...I had a 68 Javelin SST. 343ci engine, Borg-Warner T-10 tranny, 3.98 gears in the Dana pumpkin. And you got that drivetrain stock, right off the showroom floor.
That car could drink gas with the best of 'em, and it would easily hang with the Camaro, Mustang, Nova, and other muscle cars of that era.
The only problem it suffered was the same as all the other muscle cars...it was a monster in a straight line, but cornering left alot to be desired...
It also left alot of yellow and brown warmth in the seat of your pants as you saw your life flash in front of your eyes when trying to drive it like a Porsche....
Then there's the Nash-Healey:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash-Healey
Actually at least a few Javelins did quite well going around corners...
Mark Donahue and Roger Penske almost won the Trans-am in 1970 with a Javelin after AMC opened the Vault.
http://www.trans-amseries.com/Drivers/StephenSorensonJavelin.htm
As for Cobras...thoose are Fords and on that list ...unless you count them as over powered AC Bristols ( which makes them British cars)
Next "Top Ten": Pickup trucks...
Thanx notDilbert.. My wedding Limo was the 1928' (?) Pierce Arrow with the in-line sixteen cylinder motor.
Not sure about the year, but I am certain about the motor. Looked a lot like the last image on your link.
So, the Javelin would run with the "bog boys"?
Was that an early Irish band I haven't heard of?
OR, are you making sport of us mics?
RACIST HATER!
Bwahahahahaha...
wv: "bongno"... NOW they tell me...
Historical firearm related note- Bill Ruger was a fan of the early Stutz cars, thats where the Bearcat & Blackhawk revolver names came from.
Jeep: WANT. I been lookin for someone to hand me one of those ol' '42s for some time now (sigh)
Javelin: 'ugly duckling'? I always liked the looks of those (my sanity/sense of aesthetics has been questioned before, though)
Cord: stylish, no doubt. But those headlights are straight outta 'Alien'.
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