Mach Five

The Mach Five (マッハ号, Mahha-gō) is the racing car Speed Racer (Go Mifune in the Japanese version) drives in the anime series of the same name (known as "Mach Go! Go! Go!" in Japan). The car was designed, built, and created by "Pops Racer" (Daisuke Mifune), Speed Racer's father. It features a set of special devices which Speed Racer uses throughout the series. In the original 1967 series, the Mach Five is a white racing car with an 'M' written on its hood (which does not stand for "Mach 5", but instead stands for "Mifune", both Go's last name, and the name of his father's motor company). In the 1993 American remake, the design was completely changed.

Its name probably derives from the fact that speeds above Mach 5 are known as hypersonic. However, the Mach Five cannot reach Mach speeds. The name is also a pun in two languages: the word for "five" in Japanese is "go". However, the "go" used for the car's name is a suffix attached to the names of ships, etc. Thus, the car is known in the Japanese version as simply the "Mach".

An actual race car that most closely resembles the Mach Five would be an early Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, designed by Scaglietti around 1958 through 1961. Another possibility of inspiration could be the Ford GT40, which was a very popular and successful racecar, mainly in Le Mans and other Touring series, in the 1960s. Another similar car is the Chaparral 2C.

Hofmeister kink

The Hofmeister kink (sometimes also translated Hofmeister kick, German: Hofmeister-Knick) is an automobile design feature seen on modern BMWs. It is a low forward bend in the C-pillar of the car, which is the piece of metal that separates the rear side windows from the rear glass. The kink formally debuted on the 1961 BMW 1500 at the 1961 Frankfurt Motor Show and was later named after then-BMW director of design, Wilhelm Hofmeister. In early models, the widened base of the C-pillar was sometimes adorned with the BMW roundel.

Apart from its pleasing effect, the Hofmeister kink is said by BMW to subtly highlight the fact that all BMW models have rear-wheel drive (or all-wheel drive biased to the rear).

Note that this design feature is not unique to BMW models. Similar C-pillar kinks have appeared on cars of other brands both before 1961 and since. For example, the 1951 Kaiser Deluxe Golden Dragon shows a considerable "Hofmeister kink" in its greenhouse design. However, the term "Hofmeister kink" is only used in reference to BMW automobiles, as it has become a distinctive styling cue used across all BMW model series.

Maserati Tipo 61

The Maserati Tipo 61 (commonly referred to as the Maserati Birdcage) is sports racing cars of the early 1960s. The car was produced between 1959 and 1961 by Maserati for racing in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance classic. It used an intricate tubular space frame chassis, containing about 200 chro-moly steel tubes between 10 and 15 mm thick welded together, hence the nickname "Birdcage". This method of construction provided a more rigid and, at the same time, lighter (weighing just 36 kg.) chassis than other sports cars of the time. By recessing the windscreen base into the bodywork, Maserati was able to reduce the effect of new Le Mans rules demanding a tall windscreen. The Camoradi team became famous racing the Tipo 61's but, despite being faster around the track than other cars, the Birdcage was unreliable and often retired from races due to problems with the gearbox.

The Tipo 61 never won Le Mans due to reliability issues.

Steam Car

A steam car is an automobile powered by a steam engine.

Steam locomotives, steam engines capable of propelling themselves along either road or rails, developed around one hundred years earlier than internal combustion engine cars although their weight restricted them to agricultural and heavy haulage work on roads. The light car developed contemporaneously with both steam and internal combustion engines, as both engineering and road building matured. As the steam car could use the vast experience of steam engines already developed with the steam railway locomotive, it initially had the advantage. In 1900 the steam car was broadly superior and even managed to hold absolute land speed records. By 1920 the internal combustion engine had progressed to such a point that the steam car was an anachronism.

Few steam cars have been built since the 1920s, although the technology is not implausible and projects intermittently occur to recreate a "modern" steam car with modern levels of convenience, performance and efficiency.

The greatest technical challenges to the steam car have focused on its boiler. This represents much of the total mass of the drivetrain, making the car heavier (an internal-combustion-engined car requires no boiler), and requires careful attention from the driver - although even the cars of 1900 had considerable automation to manage this. The single largest restriction is the need to supply feedwater to the boiler. This must either be carried and frequently replenished, or the car must also be fitted with a condenser, a further weight and inconvenience.

The steam car does have advantages, although most of these are now less important than in its heyday. The engine (excluding the boiler) is smaller and lighter than an internal combustion engine. It is also better suited to the speed and torque characteristics of the axle, thus avoiding the need for the heavy and complex transmission required for an internal combustion engine. The car is also quieter, even without a silencer.

Hi-Riser

Hi-Risers are a type of highly customized automobile, typically an inexpensive American-built sedan modified by significantly increasing the ground clearance and adding large-diameter wheels with low-profile tires. Depending on the model and build year, autos customized in this manner can be labeled "donk," "box," or "bubble."

Hi-risers originally grew out of the Dirty South subculture, but the trend has spread across the United States. Vehicles customized in the hi-riser style are distinguished by their oversized (even disproportionate) wheels, ranging from 22 inches to 30 inches or more in diameter, as well as fanciful custom paint-jobs and expensive audio equipment. Suspension modifications similar to those employed on lifted pickup trucks are made to give adequate clearance for the large wheels. Often the suspension is modified so the front end sits slightly higher than the rear end, giving the car a swaggering appearance. Because of the exaggerated look gained from installing a lifted suspension and enormous wheels, donks are also known as "hi-risers" or "sky-scrapers."

The most popular vehicles for these types of modifications are full-size Chevrolet models, namely the Impala, Caprice, Monte Carlo, and Chevelle. There are three main sub-types of hi-riser, although the distinctions are blurred and open to debate. Most hi-riser enthusiasts agree that a "donk" traditionally is a 1971 to 1976 Impala. They were given this name because the "Impala" symbol was referred to as a "donkey" by owners or "donk" for short. To complement the sloping rear, the suspension of donks are frequently higher in the front end than the rear, resulting in a nose-up stance. Other hi-risers are usually raised evenly, resulting in a more or less level stance. A box is another sub-type of hi-riser, usually a 1977-1990-era Impala or Caprice with a boxy or squared-off front and rear end. Other models that are frequently made into hi-risers include the G-body Buick Regal, Oldsmobile Cutlass, El Camino, Pontiac Grand Prix, and Pontiac Bonneville.

Other vehicles gaining in popularity as hi-risers are the Cadillac DeVille and Seville, as well as the Buick Roadmaster. Also gaining in popularity are the Ford Crown Victoria, Mercury Grand Marquis, and Lincoln Town Car sedans. These three are the last full sized, body-on-frame, RWD sedans of which the Lincoln Town Car is the only one still being sold for 2011. In fact, the Grand Marquis in particular is enjoying a slight sales surge due to the increasing popularity of buying them new and turning them into hi-risers. Several rappers have alluded to the Grand Marquis in their music. "Grand Marquis, paint job grape jelly."

Jalopy

A jalopy is an old, decrepit, unreliable and often nonfunctional car which has limited mechanical abilities and is often rusty or dented or in an unmaintained shape. A jalopy is not a well kept antique car, but a car which is mostly rundown or beaten up. As a slang term in American English, "Jalopy" was noted in 1924 but is now slightly passé. The term was used extensively in the book On the Road by Jack Kerouac, first published in 1957, although written from 1947.

The origin of the word is unknown. It is possible that the non Spanish-speaking New Orleans-based longshoremen, referring to scrapped autos destined for Jalapa, Mexico scrapyards, pronounced the destination on the palettes "jalopies" rather than multiples or possessive of Jalapa.

During the 1930s, this word was used frequently when the market for used cars first started to grow. Cheap dealers could obtain the cars for very little, make aesthetic adjustments, and sell the car for much more. Early hot rodders also purchased jalopies as the basis for racers, and early stock car racing would be called "jalopy racing".

Stutz Bearcat

The Stutz Bearcat was a well known American sports car of the pre and post World War One period.

Essentially, the Bearcats were a shorter (120" wheelbase vs 130"), lighter version of the standard Stutz passenger cars chassis. It was originally powered by a 390 cubic-inch, 60 horsepower straight-4 engine produced by the Wisconsin Motor Company. Common with racing and sports cars of the period, it featured minimal bodywork consisting of a "dog house" hood, open bucket seats, a tiny "monocle" windscreen in front of the driver, and a cylindrical fuel tank on a short rear deck. Production Bearcats differed from the factory "White Squadron" racers by having fenders, lights and a trunk. Factory literature from 1913 describes the Bearcat as "The Stutz Bearcat, designed to meet the needs of the customer desiring a car built along the lines of a racing car with a slightly higher gear ratio than out normal torpedo roadster, has met with great favor with motor car owners and meets the demand for a car of this class."

Overall, its low weight, balance, and power made it an excellent racer. For example, in 1912, Stutz Bearcats won 25 of the 30 auto races in which they were entered. In 1915 a stock Bearcat was also the car used in Erwin "Cannon Ball" Baker's record coast-to-coast drive, inspiration for the later Cannonball Run outlaw race and film spin-offs. Baker drove his Bearcat from California to New York in eleven days, seven hours, and fifteen minutes, shattering the previous record.

The original production Bearcat was introduced in the Series A of 1912. The first public mention of the car (then spelled “Bear Cat” ) is in an advertisement in the 1912 program for the Indianapolis 500 mile race. This ad also was the first to use the soon to be famous Stutz slogan “The Car that made good in a day” referring to the Stutz racer’s 11th place finish in the 1911 Indianapolis 500. As previously mentioned, that was truthful advertising as the Bearcat was essentially a road-going version of the racer with fenders and lights added. The Series E of 1913 brought electric lights and starting. A six-cylinder option was available for an extra $250.00. The doorless body style would last through 1916. A sales catelog lists the available colors for the Series E as Vermillion, Monitor Gray, or Mercedes Red. Wire wheels were listed as a $125 option.

The Series S Bearcat of 1917 brought the first large change to the model. While it retained the 120” wheelbase its body now featured an enclosed cockpit with step over sides. It continued to be right hand drive with external gearshift and brake levers. The main change was under the hood where a new Stutz-designed 360 C.I. 16-valve 4 cylinder engine resided. It was cast in a single block had a heat treated nickel crank and camshafts. 1919’s Series G was similar, but the mid-1919 Series H body’s featured cut down sides to make cockpit entrance easier. The H also introduced new colors including yellow, Royal Red, or Elephant Gray. By the end of 1919 price for a Bearcat had risen to $3250 (the same price as the roadster and slightly less than the touring coupe). The 1920 Series K was again similar but prices had risen to $3900 in the wake of a postwar auto sales boom. The 1921 series K featured a new “DH” engine with a detachable head was introduced but a switch to left hand drive in the following KLDH (L for left) meant the end of the Bearcat since its narrow front seat and cockpit did not leave room for centrally located gear and brake levers. By 1922, the famed Bearcat name was missing from model lists and sales literature. For 1923, the roadster was renamed the Bearcat, but the name would again disappear in 1924.

The Bearcat name was reintroduced in 1931. The depression had not been kind to Stutz, so the name was used as a way to boost sales. The new Bearcat had the DV-28 (28 valve) eight cylinder engine and each car came with an affidavit saying the car had been tested at 100 m.p.h. It was a small coupe featuring dual side mount spare tires and a rakish dip in the doors, similar to current (and future) sports cars. The car lasted through 1933. The same year, the model range was enhanced by the “Super Bearcat” powered by the DV-32 engine. Unlike it standard model, it offered full weather protection and higher performance . Sitting on a 116 inch wheelbase, it featured a light-weight fabric body built by Weymann. Stutz production ended in 1934.

Jaguar Mark X

The Jaguar Mark X (pronounced mark ten) was the top-of-the-range saloon car built by the British manufacturer Jaguar from 1961 to 1970, originally aimed at the United States market. The Mark X succeeded the Mark IX as the company's large saloon model.

The modern Jaguar face, four headlamps set into rounded front fenders with a vaned grill, first appeared on the Mark X. The interior is the last Jaguar with abundant standard woodwork, including the dashboard, escutcheons, window trim, a pair of large bookmatched fold out rear picnic tables, and a front seat pull-out picnic table stowed beneath the instrument cluster. Over time, air conditioning and a sound-proof glass division between the front and rear seats were added as options.

The Mark X was the first Jaguar saloon to feature independent rear suspension. Front suspension used double wishbones with coil springs and telescopic dampers. Initially Jaguar's XK in-line six-cylinder engine was featured, with 3781 cc. A 9:1 compression ration was standard, but an alternative 8:1 compression ratio was available as an option. Transmission options were manual, manual with overdrive or automatic. The arrival of the 4.2-litre power unit coincided with the introduction of a newly developed all-synchromesh four-speed gear box replacing the venerable box inherited by the 3.8-litre Mark X from the Mark IX which had featured synchromesh only on the top three ratios. Many domestic market cars and almost all cars destined for the important North American markets left the factory with a Borg Warner automatic gear-box.

From its introduction until the arrival in 1992 of the low-slung XJ220, the Mark X stood as one of the widest production Jaguars ever built.

Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid

The Lohner-Porsche Mixte Hybrid was the first hybrid vehicle developed in 1899 by Ferdinand Porsche. It was a series hybrid using wheel hub motors mounted in each wheel, and powered by electricity delivered from both batteries and a small generator.

At the age of 18, Ferdinand Porsche boarded a train in North Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic), and headed for Vienna and his first job with Jacob Lohner, a coachbuilder. Despite having no formal engineering education, Porsche quickly drafted up plans for an ambitious project, harnessing electric power. The car boasted a completely friction free drivetrain, due to the hub-mounted electric motors which negated the use of gears or driveshafts. Each internal-pole electric motor was capable of 2.5 hp (1.9 kW) to 3.5 hp (2.6 kW) peaking to 7 hp (5.2 kW) for short bursts.

The car created a press whirlwind, and news traveled as far as Britain, from where Lohner received their first order for an example. However, the car, ordered by a Luton dweller, was to be significantly different from the car shown at the Paris Expo. It had to be capable of running on petrol, as well as electricity, of carrying four passengers (the demonstrator was a two-seat, low slung type) and also had to be four-wheel drive. As a result, the final product was a monster — it required 1.8 tonnes of batteries consisting of a forty-four cell 80 volt lead battery, and cost a massive 15,000 Austrian Crowns. However, the car was completed on time, and was delivered personally by Porsche. The buyer was so impressed that he purchased another, two-wheel drive example. While it had a form of battery, they were not charged from external sources so it was not a Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle or PHEV.

At the same time, the Lohner company had broken the Austrian land speed record, with the car's top speed of 37 mph (60 km/h). With Porsche at the wheel, the car was victorious in a number of motorsport events, and by 1905, Porsche had won the Potting Prize as Austria's most outstanding automotive engineer. In 1906, Porsche was snapped up by Daimler-Benz as chief designer, and left Lohner coachworks for good.

The Lohner-Porsche's design was studied during NASA’s efforts to create the Apollo program’s Lunar Rover, and many of its design principles were mirrored in the Rover’s design. The series hybrid concept underpins many modern railway locomotives, and interest in series hybrid automobiles is growing rapidly.

BMW Art Car Project

The BMW Art Car Project was introduced by the French racecar driver and auctioneer Hervé Poulain, who wanted to invite an artist to create a canvas on an automobile. It was in 1975, when Poulain commissioned American artist and friend Alexander Calder to paint the first BMW Art Car. This first example would be a BMW 3.0 CSL which Poulain himself would race in the 1975 Le Mans endurance race. Since Calder's work of art, many other renowned artists throughout the world have created BMW Art Cars, including David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, and Andy Warhol. To date, a total of 17 BMW Art Cars, based on both racing and regular production vehicles, have been created. The most recent artist to the join BMW Art Car program is Jeff Koons in 2010 with his M3 GT2, which competed in the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans but did not finish. Artists for the BMW Art Car Project are chosen by a panel of international judges.

According to Thomas Girst, who has been in charge of the BMW Art Cars project since 2004, the purpose of the project has changed over time: "In the beginning the cars were raced. There wasn't much of a public relations effort around them... Since then, some of the Art Cars have been used in advertisements to show that BMW is a player in the arts. With the Eliason work, part of what we are doing is raising awareness of alternative and renewable energy sources."

Buick Roadmaster

The Roadmaster was an automobile built by the Buick division of General Motors. Buick first used the Roadmaster name between 1936 and 1958. In 1991, Buick again applied the Roadmaster name to its full-size rear-wheel drive sedan and station wagon models as a replacement for the Buick Estate.

The origins of the Roadmaster name date to 1936 when Buick renamed its entire model lineup to celebrate the engineering improvements and design advancements over their 1935 models. Buick's Series 40 model range became the Special, the Buick Century took the place of the Series 60 and the Series 90 — Buick's largest and most luxurious vehicles — became the Limited. Buick's Series 80 became the Roadmaster.

Roadmasters produced between 1936 and 1958 were built on Buick's longest wheelbase and shared its basic structure with senior Oldsmobiles. Between 1946 and 1957, the Roadmaster was Buick's premium and best appointed model, and was offered in sedan, coupe, convertible and station wagon bodystyles between 1936 and 1948. In 1949 a hardtop coupe, designated "Riviera" joined the model line up; a four-door hardtop joined the model range in 1955. 1949 had the beginnings of tail fins for Buick, and Buick's new automatic transmission, the Dynaflow.

The 1953 Buick Roadmaster station wagon, Model 79-R, was the last wood-bodied station wagon mass-produced in the United States. Its body was a product of Iona Manufacturing which built all Buick station wagon bodies between 1946 and 1964. Priced at US$4,031, the wagon was second in price to the Buick Skylark. Only 670 of these final woody wagons were produced for 1953.

In 1959, Buick again introduced a model range that represented a significant shift in its body design, and the Roadmaster was renamed the Electra.

Buick revived the Roadmaster name for a B-body station wagon in 1991, replacing the Estate station wagon in the lineup. Using the 115.9" wheelbase that was introduced for the 1977 model year, the wagon was called the Roadmaster Estate Wagon. A sedan joined the wagon for 1992, with its own distinct sheet metal, although it shared parts with other full-size GM models. The Roadmaster wagon was a badge engineered Chevrolet Caprice Estate (also sold as the Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser) the three variants differing mainly in grille design and trim. In 1993, the newly-redesigned Cadillac Fleetwood continued using a 121.5" wheelbase, an elongated version on the chassis used on the Roadmaster.

Simulated woodgrain side and back panels (made of vinyl) were standard on the Roadmaster Estate wagon, although a delete option (WB4 wood delete) was available for credit. The "Vista Roof", a fixed sunroof over the second row seats that was not available on the Caprice, was standard as well. The Estate Wagon could seat up to eight with an optional third row seat. All these wagons initially used Chevrolet's 5.0 L small-block V8, but both Buicks used the larger 5.7 L version from 1992.

GM discontinued both the Roadmaster sedan and the Roadmaster Estate Wagon in 1996, ending production on December 13 of that year. This was blamed on the smaller but more expensive and luxurious Park Avenue growing in size; the Roadmaster trim levels never exceeded that of the smaller but still full-sized Buick LeSabre. Another reason was largely a response to the SUV craze, as the Arlington, Texas factory where RWD GM cars were built was converted to truck and SUV production. When discontinued, the Roadmaster Estate and the similar Chevrolet Caprice wagon brought up the end of the era of the full-size family station wagon, and an end to General Motors' production of rear-wheel drive, full-size cars.

Mudflap Girl

The mudflap girl is an iconic silhouette of a woman with an hourglass body shape, sitting, leaning back on her hands, with her hair being blown in the wind. The icon is typically found on mudflaps, clothing, and other items associated with trucking in the United States. The image is sometimes also known as trucker girl, trucker lady or seated lady.

This famous design was created in the 1970s by Bill Zinda of Wiz Enterprises in Long Beach, California, to promote his line of truck and auto accessories. It was modeled on Leta Laroe, a famous exotic dancer at the time.

The Mudflap Girl is a registered trademark in the United States.

Spirit of Ecstasy

The Spirit of Ecstasy is the name of the hood ornament on Rolls-Royce motorcars. It is in the form of a woman leaning forwards with her arms outstretched behind and above her. Billowing cloth runs from her arms to her back, resembling wings.

The Spirit of Ecstasy, also called "Emily", "Silver Lady" or "Flying Lady", was designed by Charles Robinson Sykes and carries with it a story about a secret passion between John Walter Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, (second Lord Montagu of Beaulieu after 1905, a pioneer of the automobile movement, and editor of The Car magazine from 1902) and his secret love and the model for the emblem, Eleanor Velasco Thornton. Eleanor was John Walter's secretary, and their love was to remain hidden, limited to their circle of friends, for more than a decade. The reason for the secrecy was Eleanor's impoverished social and economic status, which was an obstacle to their love. John-Walter, succumbing to family pressures, married Lady Cecil Victoria Constance, but the secret love affair continued.

Eleanor died on 30 December 1915, going down with the SS Persia, when the ship was torpedoed off Crete by a German submarine, whilst she accompanied Lord Montagu on his journey to India, four years after she had been immortalized by her bereaved lover.

When Montagu commissioned his friend Sykes to sculpt a personal mascot for the bonnet of his Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Sykes chose Eleanor Thornton as his model. Sykes originally crafted a figurine of her in fluttering robes, pressing a finger against her lips - to symbolise the secrets of their love. The figurine was consequently named The Whisper.

The very first Rolls-Royce motorcars did not feature radiator mascots; they simply carried the Rolls-Royce emblem. This, however, was not enough for their customers who believed that such a prestigious vehicle as a Rolls-Royce motorcar should have its own luxurious mascot, and by 1910 personal mascots had become the fashion of the day. Rolls-Royce were concerned to note that some owners were affixing "inappropriate" ornaments to their cars. Claude Johnson, then managing director of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, was asked to see to the commissioning of something more suitably dignified and graceful.

He turned to Charles Sykes, a young artist friend and a graduate of London's Royal College of Art, to produce a mascot which would adorn all future Rolls-Royce cars and become generic to the marque, with the specifications that it should convey "the spirit of the Rolls-Royce, namely, speed with silence, absence of vibration, the mysterious harnessing of great energy and a beautiful living organism of superb grace..."

Sykes' brief from Claude Johnson had been to evoke the spirit of mythical beauty, Nike, whose graceful image was admired in The Louvre, but Sykes was not impressed. He felt that a more feminine representation might be apt.

It was again Miss Thornton whom he had in mind. Sykes chose to modify ‘The Whisper’ into a version similar to today's; ‘The Spirit of Ecstasy’. He called this first model The Spirit of Speed. Later, Charles Sykes called it "A graceful little goddess, the Spirit of Ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies." He presented the mascot to the company in February 1911.

Some critics and fans of the Rolls Royce have given The Spirit of Ecstasy the dubious nickname "Ellie in her Nightie", suggesting Eleanor's influence as Sykes' muse.

Claude Johnson devised the description of The Spirit of Ecstasy, he described how Sykes had sought to convey the image of "the spirit of ecstasy, who has selected road travel as her supreme delight......she is expressing her keen enjoyment, with her arms outstretched and her sight fixed upon the distance."

Henry Royce was ill during the commissioning of the flying lady. He did not believe the figurine enhanced the cars, asserting that it impaired the driver's view, and was rarely seen driving one of his company's vehicles adorned with the mascot.

Royce made sure it was officially listed as an optional extra, but in practice it was fitted on almost all cars after that year, becoming a standard fitting in the early 1920s. Automobiles change with the times, and the Spirit of Ecstasy was no exception. It was silver plated from 1911 until 1914 when the mascot was made with nickel or chrome alloy to dissuade theft. The only departure from this came in Paris at the competition for the most apposite mascot of 1920, where a gold-plated version won first place. Gold-plated versions were subsequently available at additional cost.

Although it seems unchanged, the mascot had eleven main variations in its life. Lowered height of coachwork forced subsequent reductions in the mascot size. Consequently, several alternations in the original design were made.

Today's Spirit of Ecstasy stands at 3 inches and, for safety, is mounted on a spring-loaded mechanism designed to retract instantly into the radiator shell if struck from any direction. There is a button within the vehicle which can retract/extend the emblem when pressed. She can be made of highly polished stainless steel, sterling silver or 24-carat gold, the sterling silver and gold being optional extras.

The only two Rolls-Royces this mascot does not appear on currently is the first Phantom IV delivered to the then Princess Elizabeth in 1950, which carries the British Queen's mascot of St. George on horseback, slaying a dragon, designed by artist Edward Seago. However this mascot is interchangeable so it can be placed in any of the Royal fleet's cars.

On the other side, Princess Margaret chose Pegasus (by Louis Lejeune) as hood ornament for her 1954 Phantom IV.

T-Bucket

A T-bucket is a specific style of hot rod car, based on a Ford Model T but extensively modified, or alternatively built with replica components to resemble a Model T. Since the last Model T was built over eighty years ago in 1927, modern T-buckets are generally replicas as there are few real Model Ts left in scrapyards to build upon.

A genuine T-bucket has the very small and light two seater body of a Model T roadster (with or without the turtle deck or small pickup box), this "bucket"-shaped bodyshell giving the cars their name. A Model T style radiator is usually fitted, and even these can sometimes be barely up to the task of cooling the large engines fitted. There is never any kind of engine cowling on a T-bucket. Windshields, when fitted, are vertical glass like the original Model T.

Model Ts were being hot-rodded and customized from the 1930s on, but the T-bucket specifically was created and given that name by Norm Grabowski in the 1950s. This car was nick named, as it was the custom of the era, the Kookie Kar which was used in several tv shows and movies. Its first appearance was in the tv show 77 Sunset Strip. A character named Kookie played by Edd Byrnes was the owner of the car on the show.

Today, T-buckets are still a very common hot rod style. They generally feature an enormous engine for the size and weight of the car, generally a V8 of some form, along with tough drivetrains to handle the power and large rear tires to apply that power to the road. The front wheels, in a nod to the Model T's drag racing past, are often much smaller than the rear wheels.

Most are built purely for street or display use, and the big engines are more for show than for need — many are more powerful than the vehicles can actually make use of. Although the body shell is a Ford (in appearance, at least), engines of a wide variety of makes can be found on T-buckets. The small-block Chevrolet 350 V8 is a common choice, since it is relatively small, light, easy to obtain and to improve, and performs well. Four cylinder engines are common also, especially if the car is used regularly. Many people also tend to install blowers (superchargers) on their engines, and some people use modern fuel injected engines.

Pace Car

In motorsport, a pace car is a car which limits the speed of competing cars on a racetrack in the case of a caution period such as an obstruction on the track. During a caution period the pace car enters the track ahead of the leader. Competitors are not allowed to pass the pace car or other competitors during a caution period, and the pace car leads the field at a pre-determined safe speed, which may vary by series and circuit. At the end of the caution period, the pace car leaves the track and the competitors may resume racing.

ZIL-112 Sports

ZIL-112 Sports was a sports car made by Zavod Imeni Likhacheva between 1960 and 1962. The 112S initiated a number of firsts for cars produced in the Soviet Union such as controlled slip differential, disc brakes, radial-ply tires etc. It is powered by a 5980 cc inline-8 from the ZIL-111 equipped with four K-85 carburetors giving 230 hp (the car pictured has been tuned to a 300 hp) and a top speed of 260 km/h (162 mph). It could do 0–100 km/h in 9 seconds. The total weight was 1,330 kg (2,932 lb). Steering and front suspension came from the GAZ M21 Volga. In the rear it used De Dion suspension with triangular levers.

Between 1963 to 1965 the car set five all-Union records in the racetracks.

The design is similar to the Ferrari 166 S.

Facel Vega

The Facel Vega was a luxury car produced by Facel Vega of Paris, France, from 1954 until the company ceased production in 1964.

The car was named after the original metal stamping company FACEL, and the company's first model, the Vega, named after the star, and introduced a the 1954 Paris Auto Show to rave reviews by the motoring press. Facel Vega's were advertised with the slogan For the Few Who Own the Finest.

The Vega production cars appeared in 1954 using Chrysler V8 engines, at first a 4.5-litre (270 cu in) DeSoto Hemi engine; the overall engineering was straightforward, with a tubular chassis, double wishbone suspension at the front and a solid driven axle at the back, as in standard American practice. They were also as heavy as American cars, at about 1,800 kg (3,968 lb) . Performance was brisk, with an approx 190 km/h (118 mph) top speed and 0 to 100 km/h (62 mph) in just under ten seconds.

Most cars were 2-door hardtops with no centre pillar, but a few convertibles were built.

The 1956 model was improved with a bigger 5.4-litre (330 cu in) Chrysler engine and updated transmission and other mechanicals. In the same year production began of a 4-door model, the Excellence, with rear-hinged doors (suicide doors) at the back and no centre pillar. The pillarless design unfortunately made it less rigid and the handling was thus poorer than the 2-door cars, and examples are rare.

1959 models had even bigger engines, a 5.9-litre (360 cu in) and later a 6.3L (383 cu in) Chrysler V8, and were quite a bit faster despite their extra weight. The final evolution of the V8 models came in 1962 with the Facel II: lighter, with sleeker, more modern lines, substantially faster still and famously elegant.

Facel left the car market completely in 1964 when the French government scuttled the endeavour.

Prominent owners of Facel Vegas included Pablo Picasso, Ava Gardner, Ringo Starr, Joan Fontaine, Stirling Moss, Tony Curtis, Dean Martin, Fred Astaire, Maurice Trintignant and several Saudi princes. Race-car driver Stirling Moss would drive his HK500 from event to event rather than fly.

The French writer Albert Camus died in a Facel Vega driven by his publisher, Michel Gallimard. At the time of his death, Camus had planned to travel by train, with his wife and children, but at the last minute accepted his publisher's proposal to travel with him.

Kammback

A Kammback is a car body style that derives from the research of the German aerodynamicist Wunibald Kamm in the 1930s. The design calls for a body with smooth contours that continues to a tail that is abruptly cut off. This shape reduces the air resistance of the vehicle. "Kammback" is an American term. In Europe the design is generally known as a Kamm tail or K-tail.

The earliest use of "Kamm" to describe an automobile body incorporating this design was the prototype 1940 'Kamm' Coupe based on a BMW 328 chassis. The earliest mass-produced cars that used Kammback principles were the 1949-1951 Nash Airflyte in the U.S. and the 1952-1955 Borgward Hansa 2400 in Europe.

There is controversy about the proportions of a true Kamm tail. According to the classic definition the tail should be cut off where it has tapered to approximately 50% of the car’s maximum cross section, which Kamm found represented a good compromise - by that point the turbulence typical of flat-back vehicles had been mostly eliminated at typical speeds. Thus a minivan is not a Kammback, and neither are numerous cars that have truncated tails. Several automakers including American Motors (AMC) and General Motors (GM) have publicized certain models with truncated tails as “Kammbacks” even though they do not meet the classic "50% cross-section" definition, i.e. the AMC AMX-GT and Pontiac Firebird-based "Type K" concept cars.

Automakers’ use of the term “Kammback” has diminished as Kamm's principles have become more generally assimilated into modern car design.

Austin 7

The Austin 7 was a vintage car produced from 1922 through to 1939 in the United Kingdom by the Austin Motor Company. Nicknamed the "Baby Austin", it was one of the most popular cars ever produced there. It wiped out most other British small cars and cyclecars of the early 1920s; its effect on the British market was similar to that of the Model T Ford in the USA. It was also licensed and copied by companies all over the world. The first BMW models (BMW Dixi) were licensed Austin 7s, as were the original American Austins. In France they were made and sold as Rosengarts. In Japan Nissan also used the 7 design as the basis for their original cars, though not under licence.

After World War II, many Austin 7s were rebuilt as "specials", including the first Lotus, the Lotus Mk1, which was based on an Austin 7.

Such was the power of the Austin 7 name that the company re-used it for early versions of both the A30 in 1951 and Mini in 1959.

Hy-Drive

The Hy-Drive was a Chrysler Corporation transmission introduced in August 1940 in Chryslers and DeSotos, Dodges in 1949, and Plymouths in 1953. It was a hybrid manual transmission with a torque converter like an automatic. Although Hy-Drive cars had a clutch pedal like a traditional manual transmission, it was only used put the car in gear. Once underway, the driver could upshift and downshift using the gear shift without using the clutch or even lifting off the accelerator.

The industry was caught by surprise by the advent of the automatic transmission in the early 1950s. General Motors' Dynaflow, introduced by Buick in 1948, was a smash hit with the public, very soon being fitted in over 80% of new Buicks. (GM's fully-automatic Hydramatic, which debuted in 1939, was in 70% of Pontiacs that year.) Chrysler had previously offered a Fluid Drive torque converter on their manual transmissions, and the Hy-Drive was an evolution of this. It was sold by Plymouth until the fully automatic PowerFlite was available in 1955. About 75,000 cars came equipped with this transmission.