Ever have a day where things seem to be going the wrong way? OK, please be generous and tell me that my attempt at a caption is at least mildly entertaining. I am sure that all of you can do better. I probably can too.
Actually, the background story on this photo is quite interesting. The driver was Harry Hartz. He was a race driver who cut his teeth in Indianapolis in the 1920s. By the early 1930s, he was driving for Chrysler Corporation.
This car was put together as a publicity stunt. It was a DeSoto mounted backwards on its chassis. Hartz drove the backwards DeSoto across much of the US in 1933.
I remembered this photo from a long-ago piece in Special Interest Autos Magazine, and found a reference to it on Allpar as well. It turns out that the backwards DeSoto was part of the project that became the Chrysler/DeSoto Airflow. In the early 1930s, a traditionally shaped car was found to get better fuel economy going backwards than it did going forwards. This car brought home that point, and was one way that Chrysler tried to get the public ready for the new aerodynamic 1934 Airflow.
Although Hartz went on to set over thirty stock car records with the new 1934 DeSoto Airflow, the car was not so successful with the public.
“My doctor says suicide doors are out of the question for me, so….”
“Ready for the prom, kids? I’ll be your chaperone tonight.”
The dean was understandably upset when he saw what the frat boys had done to his car…
Lol, the best caption here 😀
“The cubic vehicle concept would have to wait almost 80 years before Scion and Nissan revived it”
New ceo of RIM, Thorsten Heins, leaves in company car after press conference.
Nice!
At least they’re down to 1 ceo now..
Although he acknowledged a cost disadvantage, Sam doggedly maintained that his solution was far superior to the traditional rear-view mirror.
“Why yes, officer, I actually DID know that it is a one-way street.”
Bob was determined to never be pestered by back-seat drivers again.
Do you all know the origin of this picture? This guy (I believe a Chrysler engineer, or at least someone connected to Chrysler, maybe a consultant) was convinced that the typical two-box car of the times was more aerodynamic running backwards.This is how he proved it, and very convincingly. The backwards Chrysler was materially faster and more efficient, and it led directly to Chrysler adopting aerodynamic principles for the Airflow. I hope this little dose of reality doesn’t spoil the fun…keep them coming!
I find the reality much more interesting than the captions.
I was feverishly working on the update just as you were commenting.
Bob set out to build the first rear-engined front-wheel-drive car.
Same year as Bucky Fuller’s rear-engined front-drive car! Bob’s a genius!
Actually Wikipedia points to an even earlier rear-engine front-drive car, 1930.
…and then Mr. Magoo realized he did something terribly wrong…
You mark my words, there will be Chevrolet pickups with wrap-around corner windows like this someday….
“Get a load of this, guys, the coppers will never see us coming!”
Tires!! I said rotate the TIRES.
Robot Houuuse!
(Yes, I know it’s an homage to Animal House, but it’s still funny.)