[Amc-list] Re; Cookies

["John Elle" <johnelle@xxxxxxxxx>]

Snip
John E. is too young to remember (and so is John M.), but he reminds us
of one
of the first "factory muscle cars" that is exactly 77 years old.
Snip 
 
Now that the truth has been stretched a bit to include "early" muscle
cars one
should not forget-------Chitty Chitty Bang Bang! 
 
No not necessarily the one made famous by Dick VanDyke and Disney
Studios 
 
http://www.4qd.co.uk/evs/pics/Chitty.jpeg
 
But the one manufactured by Louis
<http://www.brooklandstrack.co.uk/Drivrlist/zboro1.htm> Vorow Zboroswki
if you were to apply a bit of 
liberty to the definition of the word manufactured. There were three of
these 
cars manufactured with a forth that was related and subscribed to the
formula of 
having a large engine and a light weight body installed for the sole
purpose of 
enhanced speed being available. 
 
http://j-a-n-e.org/events/tours/bahre_collection_jul05/cars/target15.htm
l
 
One may not be able to tell that the displacement of this legendary
monster was 
in the area of 1098 cubic inches from the picture or that this was
smaller than 
the first Chitty that displaced 1403 cubic inches. 
 
http://www.answers.com/topic/chitty-bang-bang
 
However it was equipped with state of the art mechanical components that
consisted of a Mercedes Chassis circa 1920ish complete with chain drive
and (would you believe)
 mechanical drum brakes.  History does not seem to enlighten one on
whether the drums were finned 
or not. But there is a comment noted somewhere about the efficiency of
these things. 
 
http://www.supercars.net/cars/2122.html
 
I once met a fellow who raced regularly and actively in vintage sports
car racing.
 
http://www.vararacing.com/
 
Who campaigned as I remember (beware of senior moments) something like a
1920 Essex sprint car that
apparently had been built by some one that was either an old friend of
the family or part of the family and 
then raced regularly. This car then disappeared from site and after a
dedicated hunt was located in Canada, 
purchased and rebuilt to race on regular occasions. It had a rudimentary
but legal roll bar that was required 
which was about the only modification made to the car other than
restoring it for cosmetics. This was a 
1920 vintage dirt track oval racer folks, not a paddle shift Grand Prix
mega buck wonder. It raced in high gear only 
and could hit the magic C note on the straight-aways. Of course the
original Hudson (obligatory AMC 
information) Essex pistons were not up to that type of a job but the
owner found that he could fit Harley
Davidson pistons in the thing and they would last. Now at the end of the
straights when the car needed 
to get whoaed  down he had the latest 1920 vintage stoppers installed on
the rear axle. External contracting
drum brakes.
 
http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/wokr/gallery/wil_134.htm
 
 Whooeee! How about the fronts you say? These worked so well they were
not needed on
the front maybe, or maybe it was the use of front brakes was not really
in general use at this time and the 
backs were all that most every one had. 
 
One wonders if these would be a viable alternative to disc brakes.
 
But what ever the reason was, they did not need to have holes drilled in
the drums to have the water let out. 
 
;-) 
 
John
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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