Edsel's Third Special

The blogs have been agog since Edsel Ford's Special Speedster made $1.76 million at RM's recent Amelia Island auction. The notoriety is well deserved, since the car lay unnoticed in a Florida lockup until re-discovered and restored by Amelia Island Concours founder Bill Warner. Perhaps more to the point, it aroused interest in Edsel's other specials and reminded the pundits that his first speedster, too, is back in the spotlight, having appeared at the 2007 Grand National Roadster Show.

Throughout this fray has come occasional mention of Edsel's third special, and PreWarCar.com's Rutger Booy wondered if it, too, might soon be found. I doubt it.

The third special, known as the Special Sports, has long been misunderstood. Occasionally thought to be a British Jensen because of its right-hand drive, it was instead the starting point for Jensen's own cars, but done in Dearborn under Bob Gregorie's direction for Edsel himself. Built late in 1934, it adopted the chassis details of the Special Speedster, extended front axle and underslung rear, but instead of a speedster body it carried a four-place, two-door tourer. Edsel wanted to put it into limited production but his father said "No!" Edsel and Gregorie tried to interest the foundering coachbuilder Brewster, but nothing came of it.

Instead, the concept was floated across the Atlantic to Ford's British subsidiary. Ford of Britain boss Percival Perry didn't like the idea either, but the Jensen brothers, who had built a Ford-based special for the 1934 Tourist Trophy race in Ireland, did. They had been rebodying Ford V8s into sleek tourers with English appointments, a few of which made it to the US. One of these, a 1936 model, was intended for Clark Gable, who cancelled his order before delivery. Gable did, however, pose for publicity with other Jensen-Fords.

Edsel had Gregorie put together another Special Sports chassis, this time without the underslung rear, since the 1935 Fords sat lower in stock form. The Jensens then began building to this pattern, but added their own coachbuilt body with distinctive radiator shell and interior appointments. A neat remote shifter was included. Sold as the "3-1/2 Litre Jensen" it used the 21-stud V8 with SU carb and came in saloon, tourer and drophead coupe forms. These cars, introduced in the autumn of 1936, are commonly called S-Types, from their serial numbers.

Late in 1937, the Jensens beefed up the front of the Ford chassis and dropped in a Nash dual-ignition straight eight. The cars had a novel independent front suspension using over-and-under leaf springs as control arms - described by some owners as "too independent." Designated "4-1/4 Litre Straight Eight" they were nicknamed "H-Types" and came in the same saloon, tourer and drophead styles. A limousine was cataloged but probably never built. One car was constructed in left-hand drive form with a Lincoln-Zephyr V-12. Perhaps 50 S-Types and a dozen H-Types were built before World War II put a halt to production. Jensen was coy about the Ford (and Nash) content, which grieved Edsel but placated both his father and Percival Perry.

Will the real Special Sports turn up some day? Perhaps, but if so it will have been well hidden. It was last seen in the 1950s on a Burbank, California, used car lot wearing a LaSalle grille and a Carson padded top.

The full story of this English intrigue, told by the historian who connected the dots, can be read in Automobile Quarterly Vol. 36 No. 2 (February 1997).

A Movable Feast

New York's International Auto Show is, like Easter, a movable feast. Following the first full moon in Spring, in western cultures it can fall as early as March 22nd or as late as April 25th. The New York show, which opens on Easter weekend, is the last of the North American auto expos, but last is not least and there's never a shortage of new models and concepts to introduce. This year's Big Apple roll-outs started on Wednesday.

Each show begins with a breakfast for the pundits, this year keynoted by new Chrysler and ex-Home Depot honcho Robert Nardelli. Taking a page from Harry Jewett, he proclaimed a "New Day" at Chrysler and described a program of "right sizing" the mix of models, options and inventory (in other words, bloodletting). New models will follow, as will expansion in Asia and Europe. Closing of the Pacifica design studio was attributed to "globality." Does that mean outsourced, perhaps offshore, design?

Manufacturer debuts included the 2009 Acura TSX, a rather bland Nissan Maxima and a new-generation Honda Fit. Mercedes-Benz is agog with their clean BlueTEC diesel, introduced for the 2009 M Class with a fit of electioneering. Next door, BMW rolled out a 4th-gen M3 convertible and announced that their new diesels are just as clean as Mercedes' and have twin turbos to boot. Porsche took the stage to introduce the Boxster RS60. The boldest concept was Scion's Hako coupe, a retro caricature of a slammed Essex coach.

Over at the GM stand, vice chairman Bob Lutz announced three new rear-drive Pontiacs, a coupe version of the Solstice sports car and a 400-hp G8 GXP sedan, the latter available with 6-speed manual transmission. Novel was the G8 derivative they're calling "Sport Truck," real name to be the subject of a contest. It is, in fact, a knockoff of the Australian Holden Omega, so I'm inclined to call it "Cute Ute."

Best speaker of the day was Jim Press, a Toyota transplant now vice chair at Chrysler. Eclipsing his boss, Press dazzled the press with a glib intro for new Dodge Challenger models, reprising the mild-to-muscle intermediate coupe of the 1970s. Available as an entry-level V6 SE model, the Challenger includes an R/T version with 5.7-liter Hemi and tops out as an SRT8, announced in Chicago, with 6.1-liter LS3 Hemi making 425 hp and available with 6-speed shift-it-yourself gearbox.

Over on the Lamborghini stand, the Lambo Ladies demonstrated Lambo doors and unmasked the new Gallardo LP560-4, a 552-hp sprinter with 0-60 time under four seconds that first met the public in Geneva.

Every circus has its sideshows, and New York doesn't disappoint. For old-car lovers the LeMay Museum has assembled a display at the south end of the lower level, many of the cars from the Bulgari collection. These ranged from a 1934 Studebaker Land Cruiser to a Ford GT, and included novelties like Fred Flintstone's prehistoric people mover. The exhibit lasts through this Sunday only.

The real curiosities hug the back wall of the lower level. The AirCar from Milner Motors claims to fly, but hasn't been tested yet. A wingless version will carry four passengers on terra firma with electric power. The Iconic GTR, an 800-hp roadster, is a high-tech amalgam of carbon fiber and chrome moly with a computerized gas cap. The Ellis family from Florida is showing a line of tricycle trucks called "Trifun." Presently manufactured in China, a US assembly plant is planned. There's more than one way to skin a Corvette. The Karvajal is a contemporary conversion, while Ed Monahan will make your C5 look like Tod and Buzz's '62.

Celebrities on hand included embedded reporter Gregg D. Merksamer and television producer Dennis David, who had trouble deciding which Bentley to buy.

CarPorters will have a feeling of deja vu at the New York show. Making their North American debuts are BMW's CS coupe concept, the Saab 9-4X Biopower and Volvo's production XC60, all of which were scooped last week right here at the CarPort. The show runs through Sunday, March 30th, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center.

Les Concepts

As the earth's first motor city, with five companies manufacturing cars by 1897, Paris is the logical place not only for Rétromobile but for an exhibition of concept cars by automakers on two continents. Just such a show was presented last month by Le Festival Automobile International at Les Invalides, the military museum and monument in the city's 7th Arrondissement.

Anchoring the exhibit were 15 concepts from nine major manufacturers, only one of which has been seen in North America. Not surprisingly, France's Big Three, Renault, Peugeot and Citroën, were best represented. Citroën had three cars, the Lambo-doored C-Metisse, the quirky little C-Cactus and an almost mundane C5 Airscape convertible. Peugeot's concepts were a little less radical. The 308 RCZ exhibited the same fishmouth I find so unattractive on their present-day cars. The 908RC sedan was a little more interesting, but I found the frontal theme reminded me of a harelip, less so from head on.

Renault's cars included an utterly uninteresting Laguna coupé concept (though intriguing enough to one lad that he wanted to sketch it) and a perky Altica sport wagon. The piéce de resistance, however, was the Nepta, a gull-wing convertible with no apparent provision for a top. Other European manufacturers included BMW with a CS four-door coupé (the front looks too predatory) and Volvo with an XC 60 that improves a bit on the current Cross Country. Saab parent General Motors, of course, is on an Ethanol binge, so the 9-4X BioPower Concept drinks E-85. Just plain silly, though, is the power-operated ski rack that stows the staves inside the car. Surely people agile enough to ski should be able to load their gear without help.

I'm not a Mercedes man, but I did like the F700 limo, a boardroom on wheels. A new Stratos concept from Atabeyki Design wore the expected Lancia badge. Asian entries were the Mixim, a quirky coupe from Nissan and the Kia Kee, a turret-top terror.

There were side shows aplenty. An amberoid bubble car was dubbed "Zooop." A Giugiaro-designed Bugatti EB 18/3 was a 1999 debutante from Frankfurt. Perhaps most surprising was the Faurecia "Premium Attitude," a contemporary interior that looks not a whit out of place in a 1960 Tatra 603. Students from the Strate Collège were exhibiting some of their automotive design features.

Almost hidden among all this futuristic artistry was "La Plus Belle Voiture de l'Anée," the most beautiful production car of the year. High on the dais, the winning Renault Laguna Estate Wagon was being seriously ignored by everyone present. Who can fixate on today when the future is staring you in the face.

The show was well-attended. Let's hope it becomes a regular fixture on the Parisian calendar.

Half-Timbered Tudors

Ford was America's acknowledged wagonmaster, from the introduction of a woodie to the Model A catalog in 1929 (this is a '30) right through the thirties and forties. In 1946, nearly 17,000 were built, more than all other manufacturers combined - including sibling Mercury. These were all upright four-door 8-passenger woodies; with all seats in place there was precious little cargo space. For all their varnished wood glamor, the woodies had one Achilles' heel: if left to weather they would self destruct in no time.

With Ford's radically-new 1949 models making their debut in June 1948, all that changed. Willys had introduced an all-steel wagon in 1946. A two-door on the Jeep chassis, it had vestigial "panels" stamped into the sheet metal as a strengthening measure, painted in the time-honored wood pattern. Plymouth took this one step farther for the "real" 1949 line, introduced that March (some holdover '48-style cars had been sold as "first series 1949s" because the new cars weren't ready as the model year began). In the short-wheelbase P-17 Deluxe series was a two-door Suburban wagon, a six-seater with novel foldaway rear seat. The body was "All-Metal," a harbinger of the future announcing that there wasn't a hint of wood trim to be found.

For some reason, Ford decided to split the difference, to build a half-timbered wagon. The new Ford Station Wagon, in the Custom series, was also a two-door - with a moderately raked tail. The body was a mixture of wood and metal, with a single stamping for the roof, steel corners but side panels of mahogany plywood trimmed in maple. It had seating for eight and plenteous cargo space, though not without serious wrestling to remove the rear seats.

For 1950 the wagon was carried over, as was its Mercury stablemate. Introduced as the Custom Deluxe Station Wagon, it became the Country Squire in midyear and also gained a stamped steel tailgate. The Country Squire continued into 1951, by which time sales of the handy Plymouth Suburban had easily passed Ford's wagons. In a catch-up attempt a fold-down second seat was added.

When Ford's new lines for 1952 debuted, it was all over for real wood. All Chrysler cars had ditched it, and at GM Buick was the only holdout. (Pontiac and Chevrolet had hedged their bets in '49, offering both a wood wagon and an all-steel version. Although wood sold better at first, by 1950 only the steel survived.) For '52 Ford did a Plymouth and brought out the two-door Ranch Wagon, a six-passenger car with folding rear seat. But Ford had some aces in the hole, a companion four-door six-passenger Country Sedan and a new prestige Country Squire with seats for eight and a faux wood applique. Combined sales of '52 Ford station wagons numbered 49,919 cleaned Plymouth's clock and made Ford wagonmaster again. However, a dangerous precedent had been set, which eventually led to the use of fake wood on everything.

For truth in titling it must be noted that while Ford invoked an Olde English homonym in calling its two-door sedans "Tudor," the designation was never applied to wagons, which were only ever called "two-door," and seldom that.