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On This Day In Automtive History…

November 7, 1965

Green Monster sets new speed record

In 1964, Art Arfons, a drag racer from Ohio, built a land-speed racer in his backyard using a military surplus J79 jet aircraft engine with an afterburner. Arfons christened the vehicle Green Monster, and in September took the racer to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to join in the race to set a new land- speed record. On October 5, the Green Monster jet powered to 434.022–a new land-speed record. However, Arfons’ record would only stand for six days, for on October 13, Craig Breedlove set his second land-speed record when he reached 468.719 in his jet-powered Spirit of America. In 1965, Arfons returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats in a revamped Green Monster, and on this day shattered Breedlove’s record from the previous year, when he raced to 576.553mph across the one-mile course.

Halloween Pinup!

A bit late on the Halloween Pinup but I was out of town at a Family Reunion.  Yeah I know…Who has a family reunion on Halloween?!  Apparently my wife’s side of the family…Go Figure!

On This Day in Automotive History…

November 1, 1927

Ford Model A production begins

For the first time since the Model T was introduced in 1908, the Ford Motor Company began production on a significantly redesigned automobile on this day–the Model A. The hugely successful Model T revolutionized the automobile industry, and over 15,000,000 copies of the “Tin Lizzie” were sold in its 19 years of production. By 1927, the popularity of the outdated Model T was rapidly waning. Improved, but basically unchanged for its two-decade reign, it was losing ground to the more stylish and powerful motor cars offered by Ford’s competitors. In May of 1927, Ford plants across the country closed, and the company began an intensive development of the more refined and modern Model A. The vastly improved Model A had elegant Lincoln-like styling on a smaller scale, and used a capable 200.5 cubic-inch four-cylinder engine that produced 40hp. With prices starting at $460, nearly 5,000,000 Model As, in several body styles and a variety of colors, rolled onto to America’s highways before production ended in early 1932.

Damn! Has it been that LONG?!

Well the last 6 months were pure hell and ultimately ended with me being unemployed.  I have never worked for a company that aided in it’s own destruction.

Anyway I have found myself with more time lately and hope to get back to posting in M3 again.  I actually attended a car show last weekend and brought home a Spectators Choice Award.  It felt good to get out and drive the Camaro.  I had actually forgotten how much I really enjoyed that car.

Don’t know what happened with the formatting of the Mafia Blog here but something has definitely gone wrong with WP.  I lost all of my links…hell everything in the right margin for that matter.

Well I’m glad to be back and you will be hearing from me more often now.

Pinup!

Another great Pinup from David Perry.  Check out his work at davidperrystudio.com

This Day In Automotive History…

July 25, 1945

Kaiser-Frazer is born

Henry Kaiser and Joseph Frazer announced plans to form a corporation to manufacture automobiles on this day in 1945. The two men formed an unlikely pair. Kaiser, raised in modest circumstances, was a true American self-made man. By 1945, he sat atop an empire of shipbuilding, cement, steel, and other basic building businesses, and had amassed a considerable fortune. His company’s shipbuilding feats had made him a media favorite during World War II, with reporters labeling him “the Miracle Man.” By contrast, Frazer was a direct descendant of Martha Washington, and he’d attended Hotchkiss and Yale. Frazer never finished his studies at Yale, opting to take a manual labor job at Packard. At Packard he rose steadily through the management structure, becoming by the mid-1940s a solid, respectable executive. The two men first encountered one another when in 1942 Kaiser urged car companies to plan ahead for postwar production; Frazer answered on behalf of Packard, labeling the suggestion “half-baked” and “stupid.” The men met again in 1945 in San Francisco, and two weeks later Kaiser-Frazer was born. With Frazer’s contacts in the auto industry, and Kaiser’s capital and experience with huge government contracts, the two men were optimistic about their chances. In addition, labor groups were encouraging competition to the Big Three and had announced a willingness to cooperate with any new entries into Detroit. Kaiser and Frazer had to generate enough capital to acquire and build full production facilities. They had to find reliable sources for raw materials and negotiate labor contracts, and they had to do it all before the Big Three could convert back from wartime production if they were to have a chance at surviving. Amazingly, they pulled it off, leasing the Ford Willow Run Plant and producing 11,000 cars in 1946. Unfortunately, their financiers gave them trouble: while losses were anticipated during their first year, the two men didn’t expect to be punished so severely by squeamish investors. The company lost $19 million, and their stock plummeted. A year later, however, Willow Run produced 100,000 cars and Kaiser-Frazer recorded $19 million in profit. Success was within their grasp, and the next year they made $10 million–but the downturn in profits and the impending release of Big Three postwar models caused the company’s stock to slip. Without money Kaiser-Frazer couldn’t afford to come up with new models, and consumers turned away from them. In 1949, the company lost $30 million and was poised to endure the fate of so many other independents after the war. The differences between the two partners manifested themselves during the bad times, and management failed to respond positively to the difficulties. Frazer left the business, and Kaiser presided until 1953 when he sold out to Willys-Overland. Ironically, in Kaiser’s last year the company turned out a few remarkable cars including, arguably, America’s first compact car.

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