APRIL 21 STAR OF THE WEEK: 1947 CHRYSLER…RATTIES COME IN MANY FORMS
Rat rods have made many appearances on the pages of MSCC and in most cases they’re something like a stripped down Model A or a an early 30s truck.
They’re rarely a ’47 Chrysler 4 door sedan.
But that’s the inherent beauty in the world of ratties because anything can be a blank canvas for this particular piece of automotive art.
This Star of the Week was at a June 2012 and it was right across the street from another ’47 Chrysler.
That one was stock and impeccably restored and it drew a lot of interest but this rat rod brother 30 feet away drew people like it was a Hollywood star.
That’s the intangible “Steve McQueen cool” factor that rat rods bring to the party.
APRIL 20 STAR OF THE DAY: ’40 WILLYS–A GOOD LOOK AT A STREET MACHINE
The 1940 Willys was born to be a force on the strip. They were the perfect platform for the Gassers because you could stuff a giant motor in these innocuous looking cars and turn them into Frankenstein.
They were the textbook combination of wheelbase and weight distribution for the Gasser class so before long you couldn’t find a cheap ’40 Willys.
That was inevitable because the goal at the track is win-nothing else matters. These Willys Gassers were winners from Day 1.
This ’40 Willys was on the street last August and it was clearly a tribute to the Gasser heritage…that made it an automatic MSCC Star of the Day.
APRIL 19 STAR OF THE DAY: 1960 CHEVY BEL AIR AT SUNSET–COOL RIDE WHEN DUSK FALLS
One of the best times to get a great picture is at sunset. One of the worst times to get a picture is at sunset.
It’s the photographic equivalent of a coin toss.
This picture was taken at dusk on July 7 2011 and it worked out great because the Star of the Day was a classic 1960 Chevy but there was a bigger factor at play that night that made this shot work.
Sheer luck.
APRIL 18 STAR OF THE DAY: 1957 PONTIAC AMBULANCE-AN EMERGENCY VEHICLE WITH 50S COOL
The 1950s were breakout years in many ways. Rock and roll was born, the space race started, TV shows replaced radio and we entered the jet age with the Boeing 707.
Clearly it was a heady decade and the cars kept up with the wholesale changes in society with “sky’s the limit” changes every year.
There was nothing practical about giant fins and massive doses of chrome but they oozed cool and that’s why the 50s were one of the most important decades in the history of automotive style.
This ’57 Pontiac ambulance is a case in point because this Star of the Day not only got you to the hospital fast…it got you there in style.
APRIL 17 STAR OF THE DAY: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE CAR CROP
Car crops used to be the highlight of a drive in the country because a scant few decades ago, society saw the beauty in a collection of old iron.
But the “times they were a changing” to paraphrase Bob Dylan so great car crops are nearly extinct in 2013.Great car crops used to be on every section of land because farmers never got rid of anything so decades of old iron graced nearly every farm.
Eventually car guys saw gold in these old cars and trucks so the best stuff was sold for peanuts and the rest eventually went to that monster known as the Great Car Shredder in the Sky…victims of environment laws and high scrap metal prices.
This Star of the Day car crop goes back several decades but it does remind us of a kinder, gentler world where big collections of old iron were plentiful.
APRIL 16 STAR OF THE DAY: ’57 CHRYSLER 300C-ORIGINAL MOPAR MUSCLE
There’s a misconception about Mopar muscle car because the non-automotive world believes that it began in the 60s and peaked in the early 70s with cars like the ’70-71 Hemi Cudas.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Mopar muscle began when they built the first Chrysler 300A in 1955. That’s when Chrysler engineers realized that a hemi under the hood of the right car could be a true force on the street.
The 1957 300C took it up a notch. The hemi was built up to 392 cubic inches of pure malice and these “banker’s hot rods” dominated every speed trial that year.
Letter cars were big, rough and loud and they inflicted pain on the competition. That’s why this Star of the Day stood out like an albino grizzly bear in the middle of an elk herd at a big Mopar show last August.
APRIL 15 STAR OF THE DAY: ’56 BUICK-TIMELESS CLASSIC FROM FIVE YEARS AGO
There’s a huge advantage to ownership of over 70,000 pictures of old and classic iron when a Star of the Day is one of the daily features at MSCC.
You get to review pictures from years ago and decide what kind of gut reaction and subsequent description will make that picture a Star of the Day.
This one was buried back in the 2008 archives and it was one of those shots that you get in the early fall when the light changes in seconds.
This ’56 Buick was on its way out of the show because a lot of car guys like to get home before sunset and the sun sets like a rock in late September.
Fortunately the owner didn’t have a clean getaway…someone wanted to chat so he stopped long enough for this Star of the Day shot.
For past Stars of the Day please follow this link.
