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Here are some pics from an old book that I have.

The title is Everyman's Automobile Repair Manual. The copyright date is 1930, but previous printings go back to 1920.

I took digital photos of the pages, so they are not as clear as if they were scanned. I didn't want to flatten out the book for scanning.

The pictures show:

• Heads being surfaced.
  
• Blocks clamped in giant lathe for bottom surfacing.
• An assembly line.
• Gang drilling of block bottom holes.

Enjoy! Dean

1933 roadster...

1953 "Two-Ten DeLuxe" two door sedan, which won the Light Stock Car Class of the 1953 Carrera Pan Americana Road Race from the Mexican-Guatemalan border north to the Rio Grande River in Texas. It was driven by 60 year old C. D. Evans, a Grandfather who dubbed himself as "The World's Safest Driver." He equipped his car with 17-inch wheels and six-ply tires from a one-ton Chevrolet truck as it's sole modification. Mr. Evans was skilled enough to keep his car on the roads through the tortuous curves and bends of the mountainous regions in Mexico, passing many demolished challengers along the way, then ran it wide-open once he made it to the more level terrain leading towards Texas to his victory. I was able to learn VERY little about Mr. Evans beside the fact he lived another 20 years after that.

(Picture & commentary lifted from Kerry Glenn's FB page)

I would like to add the car had a Power Glide transmission.
Another 1953 Power Glide finsihed in third place.
They saaid alost 100 actual miles per hour was mintained on the long flat desert roads. Some legs of the five day event were through the mountains.
I have never heard about the 17" wheels before, that was the secret of the high speeds attained. The picture shows 5 lug 15" wheels but very large cross section tires. The wheels pictured are passenger car type.

A couple early Western Canadian dealerships.

First is Lazarus Garage from Smokey Lake, Alberta in 1933. Note the 1932 Sedan is a Deluxe model, but lacks the chrome hood doors which were not offered on Canadian built cars. (Dealers may have been able to add them at extra cost)



Second is Lindberg's garage in 1938. Notice the Maple Leaf behind the GM logo on the sign. The leaf was red, on top of the regular black & yellow GM logo.

A 1952 Special Sedan in US Army trim...

Early '50's Teamster Safety Truck...

Nice pics Bruce. Thanks for posting. Looks like the teamster safety vehicle has chains on so it is ready for action.

dick

[quote=brewster]Start your marriage off on the right foot... 1949 Deluxe Convertible.


[quote]

WOW! My father had his new '49 convertible delivered to the church steps on his wedding day too! (That's not him). I have a photo of it somewhere.

Verne

Verne... find that photo, and post it up! That would be an awesome wedding gift to get!

Christmas season in Seattle, 1948...



Let's go for a ride, 1949...



New Bel air, old H-4, and a new convertible, 1950. Any guesses on who owns the '14 today? Looks like Penn plates...

There are some interesting features about that '49 convertible with the lady standing by the passenger door. The taillight lenses appear to be from 1950. In 1949, the lenses were flat, following the curve of the fender.

There also appears to be an inside rear view mirror. I was under the impression that convertibles were furnished with one rear view mirror mounted on the exterior of the driver's door. When I purchased Brewster's '50 convertible there was no inside mirror. I mounted one in the upper hole of the windshield divider, like the one in the picture. I found out that when driving with the top up and the rear window zipped up, all I could see in the mirror was part of the back seat, or about 10 feet of road behind the car. When I lowered the mirror to the lower hole of the divider, that made the thing much more useful.

Is that a curb-finder I see behind the rear wheel? How many of you remember curb-finders?

Also it has a 1950 accessory steering wheel.
Going back to the first 1949 converible picture in front of the church, it has no out side mirror.
1951 convertible had the big back window so came with an inside mirror and no O.S. mirror.
The 1950-1952 Bel Air had the mirror mounted on top of the dash due to the rear window be lower on top.

From the day they came out I always liked the looks of a 1949 convertible. It was an outstanding change from the pevious models.

Also of note on that '49 is the accessory 1950 butterfly steering wheel instead of the '49 accessory wheel.


Edit*** Gene and I are typing at the same time again!***

Also notice that the church '49 must be a pre-production model because it has the early style sloped trunk lid.

There was a "pre production" trunk lid?! Do you have a better photo of it?

Gene, the "church" '49 indeed does not have an exterior rear view mirror. From what I can see, it seems to be lacking an interior rear view mirror as well. If it were there, I feel that you would be able to discern it in front of the trousers worn by the gent standing behind the car. Along with the different trunk lid this could very well be a pre-production model. Compared to the "standing lady" '49, the trunk lid does appear to slope away from the rear belt moulding more sharply.

In A Pictorial History the 1950 Bel Air has an inside mirror mount on the center windshield divider like a sedan. Then it has a convertible with no O.S. mirror on page 166.

Gene sent me this...

This is from the 1949 Engineering Manual. It states that the early style will be used in the first 30 to 40 days of production. I think that they did better than that as I saw only one early style lid. Says the sedans are 1 1/2" higher and coupes 2".
I never saw a Pontiac with the low lid but saw a number of 1949 Oldsmobile 76 and 88 models with the low lid. The Olds came out about a month before the Chevrolet.
Buick went through the same thing on the Super and Roadmaster in 1949. It had the larger GM C body. the 1948 Olds 98 and Cadillac all had the C body with a round lid and in 1949 they got the high lid. Must have been a styling change to make the rear end more square like other makes of cars. Also added a little trunk space.

New cop car day...

1942...



1958...

Wasn't there a story about the '49 trunk decks having to be re-designed because they wouldn't close with the spare tire in the well?

I had heard it was becuse of the spare tire fitment but do not think that was true. I remember of only seeing one of the rounded lid cars (when new) and would say it was safe to assume it had a spare tire in place.
This was an accross the board change in 1948 to 1949 Fisher Bodies (used on the larger Olds and Cadilllac) in an attempt to square off the rear end and make it look more modern and add to the trunk volume.

It wouldn't surprise me that they figured out that people pack their trunk with luggage parallel to the newly upright spare, and a suitcase would fit better if the trunk was high enough...