Articles by David Burrell

But back in the day they made big news in the USA. They are widely recognized as the first truly modern car. In the early 1930s Walter P. Chrysler decided to make a definitive statement by marketing a truly unique car to the US buyers to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the founding of the company which bore his name. Mr Chrysler gathered his three favourite engineers, Carl Breer, Fred Zeder and Owen Skelton and gave them the task of designing an aerodynamic car. Form and purpose was to drive function and styling. Chrysler said it was how cars would be built, ride and look in the future. The engineers decided that the passenger compartment should be cradled between the axles so that rear seat passengers were not subjected to a harsh ride while perched over the rear axle, as was the case in all other cars of the time. This was achieved by moving the engine forward over the front wheels by ten centimetres. Cabin space was dramatically improved as well and the Airflow was the first American car to seat three abreast in comfort. While cars of the day still had wooden frame bodies attached to a heavy chassis, the Airflow featured a steel truss famed body welded to a lightweight chassis. This delivered surprising rigidity and passenger safety for the era. The suspension was also a departure for conventional wisdom. The engineers lengthen the front and rear springs, delivering that classic American car "boulevard" ride-soft, cushy and isolated from the road. All the other manufacturers followed, quickly. Not content with all of that innovation, it was the first car subjected to serious wind tunnel testing. Orville Wright supervised it all and the results determined the Airstream's very different shape. Too different a shape, as it turned out. Despite rave reviews at the New York Auto show in January 1934 the rounded, sloping nose and tear drop rear end did not find favour with the buying public. Sales never met expectations and within 18 months a companion model, the Airstream, was released with a less radical front end. But the damage was done and by 1937 the Airflow was withdrawn. An Airflow prototype still exists today. It is on display at the Chrysler Heritage Museum in Detroit. It's painted a dull brown but its future focus is evident when compared to other cars of the day. An Airflow was driven in the 1953 Redex Trial. There are less than ten currently in Australia. Toyota's first car, launched in 1936, was a slightly smaller copy of the Airflow. www.retroautos.com.au

In these days of Volts, Leafs and Prius it is easy to forget that the world's car makers have been down the alternative fuel source path before, stating all the way back at the dawn of the automobile era with steam and electric powered cars.  In the fifties and sixties General Motors (GM) and Chrysler invested tens of millions of dollars in turbine powered cars, which they said could use any liquid fuel, from kerosene to Chanel Number 5 to tequila. In 1964 Chrysler built and gave 50 turbine cars to families across the USA for a two year experiment. The cars were styled by Chrysler's design chief, Elwood Engel. He'd just been headhunted from Ford, so it's no coincidence the Chryslers looked a lot like the 1961 Thunderbird's Engel had drawn at Ford. Chrysler insiders called the cars "Engelbirds." At the conclusion of the trial all but nine were destroyed. Six had their engines removed and given to museums. Of the three working cars, two are at the Chrysler Heritage Museum in Detroit. Talk show host Jay Leno owns, and drives, the other one. Meanwhile, over at GM, their 1966 Electrovan is credited with being the first hydrogen fuel cell car ever produced. Although it looks like a normal GMC Handivan it is anything but. It was the brainchild of Dr. Craig Marks who headed up most of General Motors' advanced engineering projects. Marks, and a staff of 250, developed the Electrovan for over 2 years before attaining a drivable vehicle.  The Electrovan used a fuel cell which was fuelled by both super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Most of the Electrovan's cargo space was taken up by the hydrogen (red), oxygen (green), and fire retardant (black) tanks. Yikes!!  The five kW fuel cell was able to propel the GM Electrovan at speeds of up to 100kph. Because of safety concerns, the Electrovan was only used on GM test tracks, where it had several mishaps. Like the time the hydrogen tank exploded sending pieces up half a kilometre. No one was injured, but they sure needed those fire retardant tanks.  After the Electrovan was built, tested and shown off to journalists the project was terminated because it was so cost-prohibitive and there was absolutely no supporting hydrogen fuel supply infrastructure in place at that time. For years the Electrovan was banished to a warehouse in Detroit, avoiding the crusher on several occasions. Then it was transported to the General Motors Heritage Centre near Detroit where it now resides alongside the first Chevy Volt ever built. www.retroautos.com.au

From its humble beginnings 45 years ago, Holden grew the Torana franchise from a small 1.2 litre four cylinder two door into an iconic brand name. First released in Australia in 1967 everyone knew the Torana was a rebadged 1966 Vauxhall Viva. What is less known is that the Viva/Torana was styled in just one afternoon. Cars normally take up to two years for their design to evolve, but not this little baby. The guy who drew it in record time is Leo Pruneau, the former Design Director of Holden. Leo picks up the story. "I was an Assistant Designer in the GM advanced styling studio in Detroit in early 1964 working on what would become the Chevy Comaro. One day the fibreglass prototype of the 1966 Viva was brought into the studio for GM's boss of styling Bill Mitchell to review. The head of styling for Vauxhall, David Jones, had flown over from London to be there too. "Well, Mitchell walks around the car three or four times. It was a boxy little thing and we knew right away it was not going to find favour with him. So Mitchell starts to ask lots of questions about various aspects of the styling and by the time he'd finished he'd basically dissolved that car into nothing." "Anyway, it's about lunch time now, and Mitchell turns to me and says `Pruneau, David and I are going out to lunch. We'll be back at 3pm.We want to see an alternative design drawing, full size'." "Now usually just one of these full-size drawings takes about two weeks to develop because you try out ideas, and make changes. So I drew just one car with a coke-bottle side styling motif " "When Mitchell and Jones came back, Mitchell took one look and says `That's it! Wrap up that drawing and David can take it with him on the plane tonight'. " Leo says that the next day Mitchell sent him to Vauxhall for six months to ensure "they do it exactly like you drew it". Those six months turned into six years after which Leo was transferred to Holden as Design Director, where he found the Viva had morphed into the Torana and one of models was called an XU1. Not bad for a car that only took three hours to design! Leo went on to direct the design of the LC/LX/UC Torana .Holden sold almost 200,000 of them. At its zenith the Torana represented many things many people: two and four doors, hatchback and sedan, four, six and eight cylinder engines, manual and automatic, family car and winning race car. You name the demographic and market segment and Torana had it covered. It's the kind of car I bet Holden wished they had now. www.retroautos.com.au  

The Novocastrian, who is a panel beater by training and landscape gardener by choice, has just finished his latest effort, a 1964 Mark 1 Cortina. "I saw the Cortina at a swap meet and liked the look of it", he told us. "It had been just a shell for about six or seven years .Someone had started the restoration and painted it purple". The car is now a brilliant white and the quality of the restoration is first class. "I did most it myself, though I had it sandblasted by Peter Cox in Newcastle. I figured that if I'm going to restore it I'll do it properly" Brett observes. To get it the way he wanted it Brett replaced the sills and door bottoms, welding in new metal to replace the rust. The four door sedan is not strictly stock. Says Brett: "It's a 1500 Deluxe model with a touch of hot rodding. The 1.5 litre engine is out of a Mark II Cortina GT and so is the differential. This increases the power and strengthens the drive line. I've also fitted wider wheels and tyres, but I still have the original wheels in storage." The black interior has been refreshed and a Lotus Cortina split front bumper bar replaces the single bar. Other than those changes the car is as basic as it came from Ford. Some owners of classic cars keep them off the road and hardly venture out in them at all. Not so Brett. He is of the view that classics are meant to be seen and driven as often as possible. "I just like driving it, so I try to go everywhere in it, "he says. Brett's car was built just before Ford switched to flow-through ventilation in late 1964. In many ways the Cortina was the UK version of the American Ford Falcon. A simple design which was inexpensive to make and operate they appealed to many first time new cars buyers. Although not as technically innovative as the Morris 1100, their main competitor, the Cortina rewarded owners with years of trouble free motoring. Cortinas are an ideal choice for those wanting to acquire their first classic car. Good examples can be had for less than $5000 and spare parts are plentiful.  

Remember T-Tops? They first appeared on the 1968 Chevrolet Corvette as a way to offer a convertible experience without the loss of chassis strength and rigidity. Soon every car maker seemed to have one T-Topper in their line up.Porsche 911 fans will point out that the 911 boasted a Targa Top as far back as 1966, but it was roll bar and a full width, removal roof section. No "T" there. Triumph devotees will go even further back, to 1961, and the TR4. It had fixed rear window with a removable canvas roof stretched between it and the front windscreen. No "T" either.The inventor of the real T-Top was Gordon Buehrig. Yes, the same guy who shaped 1930s Auburns and Duesenbergs, and the iconic 810/812 Cord. In 1948 Buehrig and some business associates decided to design and manufacture an all-American two seater sports car. They set up The American Sports Car Company, and used an acronym of the company name, Tasco, for the car.After some discussion it was agreed the Tacso ought to be a closed coupe, but with the open air experience of a convertible. That's where Buehrig's idea for T-Tops came in. The 2012 equivalent of $4,000,000 was spent to build one prototype which was shown across America to an underwhelming response. The projected price, $7500 in 1948 money, (about $500,000 in 2012) scared away most prospective customers and the weird styling took care of the rest.Very quickly the company folded and Buehrig went to Ford to head up one of their advanced styling studios, styling the first Crown Victoria hardtop coupe. The actual Tasco is still intact and in good condition. It sulks in a dark corner on the second floor of the Auburn Duesenberg Cord Museum in Auburn, Indiana.Buehrig was granted a patent on the T-Tops idea in 1951. He tried to interest Ford, Chrysler and General Motors but no one could see their value in a world full of real convertibles. Then came Ralph Nader's pivotal tome 'Unsafe At Any Speed', and suddenly the roll over safety of convertibles became a news topic.In 1968, Chevrolet released the Corvette with a T-Top option. Buehrig's patent was still operable so he sued GM and won some compensation for infringement of copyright. With the advent of rectracle steel roof convertibles, T-Tops have long disappeared. Buehrig himself died in 1990.www.retroautos.com.au 

The basic shape of the car was set and full size fibre glass models were built and shipped to General Motors' (GM) head quarters in Detroit for evaluation by the global head of design Bill Mitchell and his American team. That's when things got interesting take a look at these previously secret photos from GM's archives and you'll have to agree that he EJ concept was not a pretty car. Those who were there at the time say that Mitchell was not at all pleased with the appearance of the cars, particularly the clumsy and heavily chromed front end, the cheap looking egg crate grille the strangely recessed door handles and fuel cap and the chrome strips which accentuated the angled rear fins. Then there was the lack of a valence panels under the bumper bars which, when combined with a high ride height, made the car look like it was on tip toes. Simply, the EJ was inconsistent with GM styling trends at the time. Mitchell decided there and then to take control of Holden's current and future styling efforts. He had his team in Detroit re-work the EJ, cleaning up the exterior lines of the car, repositioning the bumper bars to make the car look lower and visually widening it with a set of fine horizontal blades in the grille. Another set of previously secret images taken in November 1961 clearly demonstrate the changes Mitchell achieved and that except for a couple of minor trim variations, the EJ was done and dusted. At the same time as he was "fixing" the EJ, Mitchell ordered his guys to style the EH Holden, and had the basic shape ready by October 1961. GMH had no role in it at all. To cement it all in place Mitchell transferred senior GM stylists to Melbourne to run the GMH design studio. So, what do you think? Would the original EJ styling proposals have been a sales success against the new Valiant and Falcon? We'll never know. But it sure is a great story!  retroautos.com.au  

If you are looking for a reasonably priced British classic cars, then don't overlook a Vauxhall, especially the Detroit inspired "PA" models from the late 50s and early 60s and the mid-sixties Mark II Ford Cortina. Compared to Holdens and Falcons of the same era, the Vauxhalls were way ahead on luxury, equipment and power. They were also way ahead on styling. Make no mistake, these cars stand out. With severely wrapped front and rear windows and tail fins rising from the rear mudguards, the PA Vauxhall was right in tune with contemporary American styling ideas. There were two models in the range, which were sold through Holden dealers: the basic Velox and the more upmarket Cresta. Whilst the Velox made do with vinyl seats and rubber floor mats, the Cresta gave buyers the option of real leather or nylon seats combined with carpeted floors and extra bright trim. The pre-1960 versions had three-section rear windows which also featured on the 1957 Oldsmobiles and Buicks. They come with 2.2 litre six cylinder engines and all-synchromesh three speed gearbox. Post 1960 cars have a 2.6-litre engine. The three-speed manual transmission was standard. What made them attractive on the local market were the options of the Hydramatic transmission and power-assisted front disc brakes. In short, the Velox and Cresta filled the marketing space above the Holden Special until the Premier was released in 1962. Spare parts for these cars are simple to obtain, mainly from the UK and New Zealand, where there are websites and parts sellers devoted to the PA models. Prices vary given the condition of the cars, but no one ought to pay over $10,000 for one, and reasonable examples can be had for around $5,000. The lower the price, however, the more likely there is rust. PA Vauxhalls have many nooks and crevices into which water and dirt finds its way. Meanwhile, if it is a classic Ford you desire, and do not wish to spend big money, then think about the Mark II Cortina. The second incarnation of the popular Cortina was launched in Australia in 1967 and was produced until 1972. These sprightly, four cylinder cars are gaining in popularity because they are well built, parts are plentiful and the cost of buying and owning one is within reach of those wanting to get into the classic car scene without spending much money. About $3,000 should see you into a high calibre Cortina 440 (that's the four door). The two door 240 goes for the same money. Cars requiring a little bit of rust repair and a paint job can be found for about $1,500. The Hunter British Ford Group is one of a number of growing groups dedicated to Cortinas, and other Fords of UK origin. Retroautos.com.au  

Famed Chrysler designer Virgil Exner's 1960 Plymouth XNR (get it!) concept car will be up for sale at RM's Actions Monterey extravaganza. It might fetch north of one million dollars, if sales other Exner-styled concept car are anything to go by.This is no ordinary concept car. It ranks as one of his best efforts, and is drivable, too. Actually, it is more than driveable; it is " raceable", having been clocked at over 240kmph on Chrysler's test track. The XNR was Exner's second attempt to convince Chrysler to build a limited production sports car, similar to the Corvette.Mechanically it was based on the then new Valiant. Engineers extracted 185kw from the 2.8 litre slant-six engine by modifying the intake manifold, strapping on a four-barrel carburettor, porting the cylinder head, inserting a high performance camshaft and splitting the exhaust. Ghia, in Italy, shaped the asymmetric steel body, which was styled to resemble an offset, Indianapolis roadster.  Although it has the look of a single seater, the passenger seat is lower in the car and can be concealed with a metal tonneau cover.The emphatically thick, one piece chrome grille surround established a design motif which would re-appear in various forms on many Chrysler corporation cars including the 1970's Australian Valiant. But it is the rear end which caught everyone's attention. A large integrated chrome cross slashes through the body, with the vertical line of the cross starting at the top of the fin, and reaching down below the exhausts outlets.The horizontal line forms the low slung bumper bar. It is both elegant and striking and, had they produced it, Chrysler would have had a style icon equal to the split window on the 1963 Corvette. The XNR was paraded around the US motor show circuit and although Exner wanted it for himself, Chrysler sent it back to Ghia to avoid U.S customs taxes.Ghia then sold it to a private individual in Geneva, Switzerland, who later sold it to the Shah of Iran. By 1972 it was in the hands of a Kuwaiti car dealer, and then it went to Beirut, just in time for the war in Lebanon. It was hidden in underground facilities for over 15 years while war raged, and then slowly restored. It re-emerged in the USA in 2011 at the Pebble Beach Concours-d'Elegance.David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au 

It's June 1927 and Alfred Sloan, Chairman of the growing General Motors company is looking for a way to take sales leadership away from Ford. To date Sloan has amassed a number of brand names under his GM banner-Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile Buick and Cadillac -- and his objective for GM is to be number one by offering a range of cars "for every price and purpose". Henry Ford Snr grew up working hard on a farm. He conceived the Model T as a simple machine to eliminate the drudgery of an everyday working life-a car for the people (a folks wagon!). Henry sees no need to change the Model T. He believes people buy cars for their mechanical substance. His famous quote that "the customer can have it any colour he wants as long as it is black" misreads the desires of the increasingly affluent American consumers in a big way. Sloan is a new breed of professional manager. He sees the car as a consumer product and now he's decided that style, and annual styling changes-planned obsolesce will be a key competitive weapon in his quest for market leadership. And so he goes looking for someone to head up his new styling area, the Art and Colour department. He chooses Californian Harley Earl. It is Harley's job to give visual identities to all the brands and to convince the American car buyer that style trumps substance, which he does. Within five years GM overtakes Ford in sales. By the mid 1950s Harley Earl's focus on style has become the substance! At GM right now they are celebrating 85 years of the establishment of the Art and Colour section. Although America has had 14 presidents in those 85 years, only six men have held the powerful role of style arbiter for the world's largest car company. Two men, Earl and Bill Mitchell, sat in the big chair for a combined 50 years! Earl and Mitchell took the styling of cars from a backroom craft and made it the engine of a global organisational and economic powerhouse, and a way of life. So much has been shaped by so few. Harley Earl is remembered at GM with this prayer: "Our Father who art in Styling, Harley be thy Name" Amen to that, brother. David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au

Styled by famed American industrial designer, Raymond Loewy, the car was the last throw of the dice for the ailing Studebaker company. Sherwood Egbert, Studebaker's president, first sketched the car overall design theme while on a plane flight in early 1961.  Egbert then called Loewy, who had just re-designed President John F Kennedy's Air Force One, giving the plane its distinctive colour scheme, which remains on the US Presidential jet today. Lowey and his team spent the next two months in seclusion in Palm Springs, California, styling a sensationally curvaceous close-coupled coupe. They drew a coke-bottle waist line and slim pillars supporting a thin section roof with a huge rear window Razor-edged front fenders swept back into the jacked-up tail. Loewy replaced the conventional grille by putting an air scoop under a thin front bumper. Inside, ample crash padding was combined with four slim-section bucket seats, seat belts and an aircraft-style dash board. The car was publicly introduced in April 1962 at the New York International Automobile Show and at Studebakers' Annual Shareholders' Meeting. Roger Ward, who won the 1962 Indianapolis 500, was given a Studebaker Avanti as part of his prize package and was the first American to own one. The Avanti was built from June 1962 and the end of 1963. It featured a fibreglass body which was bolted to a modified Studebaker Lark convertible frame. The engine was a 4.7 litre V8. Those who hankered for more power could tick the option list for a Paxton supercharger. Unusual for the time, at least for an American car, was its front disc-brakes. Studebaker believed it would sell 20,000 Avantis a year, but could build only 4500. Production problems with the fibreglass body resulted in many delays and cancelled orders. Then came the hammer blow. In December 1963 Studebaker's factory closed and Avanti production ceased. The shame of the Avanti is that if it had come from Ford, or GM or Chrysler it would have been a winner. It was Studebaker's version of the Ford Mustang, but they could not capitalise on its good looks, great handling and strong motors. Some say the Avanti was used as the styling inspiration for the Oldsmobile Toronado. There are approximately 15-20 Avanti's in Australia. They rarely come onto the market. The Avanti name and tooling were sold to a succession of entrepreneurs and would be car moguls and small numbers of replicas have been marketed over the years. David Burrell is the editor of www.retroautos.com.au