That's a nice car!

[Dargo]

1 hour ago, TheCid said:

I think more than one company tried something similar on some cars.  It was supposed to make it easier to see out the windshield and to see the instruments.  From what I remember and have seen, they weren't very popular in the long run.

Funny thing is, squared steering wheels are actually very popular again, and especially in high-performance sports cars. 

Here's one of the latest Momo steering wheels available in the aftermarket, and which mimics many of the ones that now come standard in many of the higher priced cars...

[ElCid]

1 minute ago, Dargo said:

Funny thing is, squared steering wheels are actually very popular again, and especially in high-performance sports cars. 

Here's one of the latest Momo steering wheels available in the aftermarket, and which mimics many of the ones that now come standard in many of the higher priced cars...

Never have understood these.  Not so much square as flat on the bottom, which means you can lower it to top of your legs if you want.  But then when you turn it full circle the top presses into your legs.  At least it appears that way to me.  Never actually seen one in use.

[slaytonf]

Gosh, everything was pointy back then.

[Movie Collector OH]

12 hours ago, Dargo said:

Funny thing is, squared steering wheels are actually very popular again, and especially in high-performance sports cars. 

Here's one of the latest Momo steering wheels available in the aftermarket, and which mimics many of the ones that now come standard in many of the higher priced cars...

 

12 hours ago, TheCid said:

Never have understood these.  Not so much square as flat on the bottom, which means you can lower it to top of your legs if you want.  But then when you turn it full circle the top presses into your legs.  At least it appears that way to me.  Never actually seen one in use.

Looks to be a bit less comfortable for a "daily driver".  I'll bet somebody somewhere has a car with a steering wheel shaped like bicycle handlebars, but that doesn't make it a good idea.

[Sukhov]

11 hours ago, Dargo said:

Funny thing is, squared steering wheels are actually very popular again, and especially in high-performance sports cars. 

Here's one of the latest Momo steering wheels available in the aftermarket, and which mimics many of the ones that now come standard in many of the higher priced cars...

Steering wheel designed by Salvador Dali.

[cigarjoe]

1953 Cadillac Le Mans

 

[slaytonf]

Was it in a movie?

[slaytonf]

1955 Ford Fairlane Sunliner in Soldier in the Rain (1963):

[Sepiatone]

3 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

1953 Cadillac Le Mans

 

Obviously customized for some sort of auto show, I don't believe it ever went into regular production.  At least no photo was displayed in the lobby of Cadillac's administration building lobby, which had a photo of each model for each year they were in business( from '02 up until I went in there to look them over in '82) 

And notice the similarity of the front end to Oldsmobile's '54 88.

My grandmother had one of those 88's.  Red with a white top!   

Sepiatone

[ElCid]

The Cadillac Le Mans is probably a GM/Cadillac show car.  Almost all manufacturers built "show cars," especially in the 50's.  They were never intended for production, but to show what could be done with a car.  Some didn't even have motors or transmissions.

It gave the automobile stylists something to do and to test out new ideas.  Many were impractical for actual production on a fast moving assembly line.  They also generated publicity and got people into show rooms to buy cars.  

Then, of course some people would purchase a car and rebuild it to their liking.

[Dargo]

5 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

1953 Cadillac Le Mans

5 hours ago, slaytonf said:

Was it in a movie?

Well, I doubt that concept Caddy was ever in a movie, but at least the famous old streamline moderne Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which burnt down in 1989...

...that the Caddy concept is sitting in front of here, was used in the 1980 movie Xanadu, anyway...

(...btw, that Caddy concept reminds me a bit of what a  Cadillac El Camino might have looked like if the trunk lid had left off its design)

[txfilmfan]

5 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Well, I doubt that concept Caddy was ever in a movie, but at least the famous old streamline moderne Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which burnt down in 1989...

...that the Caddy concept is sitting in front of here, was used in the 1980 movie Xanadu, anyway...

(...btw, that Caddy concept reminds me a bit of what a  Cadillac El Camino might have looked like if the trunk lid had left off its design)

It's also echoed in the design of entrances to two Disney theme parks:  Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, and Disney California Adventure in Disneyland Resort:

[ElCid]

20 minutes ago, Dargo said:

Well, I doubt that concept Caddy was ever in a movie, but at least the famous old streamline moderne Pan-Pacific Auditorium, which burnt down in 1989...

...that the Caddy concept is sitting in front of here, was used in the 1980 movie Xanadu, anyway...

(...btw, that Caddy concept reminds me a bit of what a  Cadillac El Camino might have looked like if the trunk lid had left off its design)

Thanks, I wondered about that building.  Yeah, the Caddy does like kind of "truckish."

[Dargo]

1 minute ago, TheCid said:

Thanks, I wondered about that building.  Yeah, the Caddy does like kind of "truckish."

In my younger years while growing up in L.A., I went to a few events and/or exhibitions that took place at the Pan-Pacific Auditorium. The place held some nice memories  for me, and I remember feeling very sad when I watched it burning down on local L.A. television news back in '89.

(...it was located less than 10 miles from my old neighborhood)

 

[SansFin]

The steering wheel of the 1963 Chrysler 300. This automobile appeared in many movies including: A Ticklish Affair (1963).

I have the impression that it has not yet had its first cup of coffee in the morning.

 

I could find no reference for the: 1972 Maserati Boomerang appearing in any movie but it has what is listed many places as being the strangest and/or ugliest steering wheel ever.

[ElCid]

15 minutes ago, SansFin said:

The steering wheel of the 1963 Chrysler 300. This automobile appeared in many movies including: A Ticklish Affair (1963).

I have the impression that it has not yet had its first cup of coffee in the morning.

 

Or else, Big Brother is watching you.

[slaytonf]

4 hours ago, SansFin said:

 

 

Certainly one of the most dangerous.

[slaytonf]

1967 Ferrari 275 GTB/4 Spider in The Thomas Crown Affair (1968):

Tho' Miss Dunaway is nicer.

[Dargo]

That 275 GTB Spider would probably under auction go for well into the teens in millions of dollars now days. And further adding to its value, the fact that there's a Steve McQueen and movie connection to it.

Btw, for years James Coburn owned the previous generation Ferrari model to this one, a 250 GT Spyder California model shown here...

[slaytonf]

Nice.  One in Ieri, Oggi, Domani (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow, 1963):

[slaytonf]

Who says snooty incomprehensible foreign films don't have nice cars?:

1955 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider in L'Eclisse (1962).

[ElCid]

7 hours ago, slaytonf said:

Who says snooty incomprehensible foreign films don't have nice cars?:

1955 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider in L'Eclisse (1962).

In 1978 I was entranced with a used Alfa Romeo Spider on a dealers lot.  He made a major mistake and left all the work orders from previous owner in the glove compartment.  They explained the very low milage.  Opted to get a '78 Fiat 124 Spider.

[Dargo]

And now, seen in the following shot from the 1978 film Every Which Way But Loose, are two of my favorite cars when I was a young man in the 1970s, and in fact they still are to this day...

A 1973 Datsun 240Z and a 1973 Porsche 914.

(...note the price on the used car lot for each of them back in 1978...Datsun Z's in excellent condition today are going in the $25K-$40K range, and 914's also in excellent shape today for around $20K-$30K)

 

[slaytonf]

The Z cars.  Proof that there's no brilliant car concept that a corporation with concerted effort can't destroy.

[slaytonf]

12 hours ago, ElCid said:

He made a major mistake and left all the work orders from previous owner in the glove compartment.  They explained the very low milage

I said it was a nice car.  I didn't say it was a good one.  Anyhow, this pic of what happens to the car in the movie might appeal to you: