AutoPuzzles - The Internet's Museum of Rare Cars!
Puzzles, Games and Name That Car => Solved AutoPuzzles => 2021 => Topic started by: Paul Jaray on April 09, 2009, 02:49:19 PM
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Probably you think you know this...
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Ah! A streamliner! I love those! American built?
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Anything to do with Hertz rental car company?
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Ah! A streamliner! I love those! American built?
Where else!
Anything to do with Hertz rental car company?
Nothing that I'm aware of, but if it was I would be one of the interested one, well there will be some parking issues, but....
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It's the Thunderbowl Comet, appx 1948 ;)
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Probably you think you know this...
This is what I meant....but I have a totally different (reliable) name and story!
One point for You (because I was sure it was easier but it was not) and another for the former name, and a brief story.
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A story, but with the same name. The car belonged to the owner of a dirt track oval in Carpinteria, CA. The track was called the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.
The Carpinteria Thunderbowl was operational between 1947 and 1956. Anton Krivanek reminisced about the circuit: "I used to go there when I was about 14. The guy who owned it had a great big streamliner called the "Thunderbowl Comet". It had the name painted on the side and it had a big fin on the back end with a stylized comet with a tail of sparks and stars painted on it. He'd trundle it around the track before the races to impress the rubes (me). In my memory it was so long it could hardly make it around the corners."
And what would have happened to the "Thunderbowl Comet"? Krivanek wondered? "Years later I saw it parked alongside Highway 14 out near Acton as a draw for a sad little western roadside attraction. I told Strother MacMinn about it and he drove out there and checked it out. Turned out it was a pseudo land speed car built for a movie in the '30s and he had seen it parked on the street in Hollyweird in the late '30s or '40s. It was on a stretched L29 Cord chassis and eventually was bought and dismantled for it's Cord parts. I'd love to know what movie it was used in and/or have a photo of it."
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That's exactly what I have too, but then I found another source, with the other picture and a different story, or just the beginning of this....
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I don't know the name, but I know the movie. It was made for a 1936 action movie called "Speed", directed by one Edwin Marin and featuring James Stewart as the main character.
Plot summary from IMDb:
"Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests."
This car was in the movie an lsr car with which a 300mph record is broken at Medoc lake in rather unusual circumstances.
"Jane then secretly appeals to company owner Emery, whom no one but Mr. Dean knows is her uncle, and they agree to finance Terry's attempt to break the land-speed record. Some time later, at Medoc dry lake, everyone watches as Terry goes down the track and swerves off after completing the first half of the course. By rules of the contest he must complete the return trip within thirty minutes, which now seems impossible. Frank and the others rush to the car and find that Terry has almost been asphyxiated and urgently needs a doctor. Frank puts Terry back in the car and races back down the length of the course, not stopping until he arrives at the hospital in town. When Terry awakens, he learns that Frank's quick action not only saved his life, but earned the new land-speed record for the car. Terry also learns that Jane is really the heiress to Emery Motors and has been secretly helping him all along. Realizing that Jane and Terry are in love with each other, Frank calls the delighted Jo and suggests that they drive back to Los Angeles together."
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That's really interesting but nothing of all that is reported in my source. I hope that these two cars are really the same!
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C'mon...a name is needed here....
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I think Ray B. or Arunas will find this eventually....
but if you know the source, it's easy for all!
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Golden Hawk?
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I've found something like 'Tom McHill has called his car... Maserati', but I'm not sure that it is about this streamliner.
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I've found something like 'Tom McHill has called his car... Maserati', but I'm not sure that it is about this streamliner.
Not Maserati
Golden Hawk?
You are really close, can't be a coincidence. Locked for you till your next reply.
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I've found little snippets of information on various web sites, one states that the car was called 'Golden Hawk' in the 1936 film Speed, however as with most information online it is difficult to know what is right and what is wrong so I will have a shot in the dark and guess that the car is called 'Goldhawk' (on the basis that 'Golden Hawk' is close) before relinquishing the puzzle to someone who can find the correct name (assuming my guess is incorrect).
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The name of the car is written in capital letters on the car, and there is also the figure of the golden animal, but it's not an Hawk.
Make your guess!
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Golden Eagle?
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Well done! :applause: :applause: :applause:
This car was going to be equipped with 3 different engines in order to compete in different cubic-inch divisions to win four speed records: a straight eight, a bigger 350hp straight eight and a 24-cylinder 1200hp. Ted Ellis was meant to drive it.
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This article appeared in September 1941. This makes it unlikeky to be the same car as the one in the James Stewart's movie (1936). Did anybody see it, or found pictures with the record car?
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I've tried to find a copy of the film but I don't think it has ever been released on DVD, however I have found a short (and very small) trailer online at http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=2729.
The only car featured on the trailer that looks anything like the Golden Eagle is this...
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Great! I knew it had been on TCM.
It does seem to have a fin, but I find it hard to say if it's the car. Is it the front or rear?
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This is the front view, and yes its impossible to say whether this is the same car or not. I will keep an eye on the TV listings for this one. A search of torrent files for this film came up blank too.
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An update... I have found a copy of the 1936 film and taken a few stills from it, the featured car does look very much like the puzzle car.
BTW. It's not a bad film (but not a brilliant one though).
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Fabulous!
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It does not look very much like the car. It's exactly the car.
That's what I like here. Thanks, neilshouse!
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Front view:
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:thumbsup: as always, PJ!
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Any idea?
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It's a small world afterall. After trying to find out what this car is, you guys already knew! So here's a few more. That's Alex Tremulis in the driver's seat. Pete Politis, his brother-in-law, looking over the engine. Anyone recognize who is in the side shot??? These look to be from around 1970ish in Acton, CA, near Highway 14, just as Anton Krivanek described.
So my guess is that Krivanek told MacMinn. MacMinn called his good friend Tremulis. Tremulis got Politis (who was also in the crew for the Gyronaut land speed record motorcycle) and they went to check it out on a road trip. Tremulis is wearing his Triumph Gyronaut pit crew jacket - very appropriate. Tremulis would also have been able to recognize any Cord L29 parts used on the car as he was Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg's chief stylist in 1936/37 when this was being built. I'll keep searching, but it's possible he knew about it back in the day. That clay model is very intriguing. So, where is it today???
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/gyronaut/IMG008.jpg)
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/gyronaut/IMG002.jpg)
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/gyronaut/IMG014-1.jpg)
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/gyronaut/IMG006.jpg)
(http://i652.photobucket.com/albums/uu248/gyronaut/IMG016.jpg)
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:thumbsup:
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What about another period pic, lads?.
Here is a new one thanks to Charlie Beesley's blog <<< link removed >>>
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Coincidentally I was just watching it at another 'place' that very moment. :)
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...and another view:
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Please respond and identify this car , for 1 point ! :)
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PM sent! ;)
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Experts ?
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It's the 1936 Thunderbowl Comet aka the 1936 Golden Eagle from the movie called "Speed" (which I've never seen), but it's a multi-time duplicate here.
No points for me on this one.
Here's one of many photos of it:
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OK , I found PJ85 !
Merged with it ?
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Standard practice here is to let re-posts - if identified as such - to run in the Rooke section, and them merge them with the original posts.
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And another...
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or...
Harry Fengler's Falcon with which he hopes to better Eyston's 24-hour distance record. Captain George Eyston, ace British driver, established what was said to be the first official world speed record for Diesel-powered cars, when he drove his Ricardo 12-cylinder Diesel over Bonneville Salt Beds, Utah, at a speed of 158.87 m.p.h. April 30 (1936 - Motor Age May 1936 pp.42-43
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What is this car ? for 1point :)
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Experts !
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Alluminium Rocket Car, based on a Rolls Royce chassis.
One of four 'movie -props' for Buck Roger's serials.
Build by Martin Aircraft Company.
Used in the movie "Speed"1937
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Golden Eagle, Ted Ellis, respectively Thunderbowl Comet, based on a Cord L29, movie 'Speed'
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Built by Harlan Fengler for MGM Filmstudios, 1936
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picture attached
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A complicated story
The Falcon was built in 1936 by Harlan Fengler for the film "SPEED"
The car makes various tests for speed records, with different engines (including the Cord L29 ); and with different names: Golden eagle special and Thunderbolt Comet
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Sorry but it is necessary to give 1 point to each ( hermanoto and fromwien ) ! :)
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Thanks!
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Merged.