(Cohort photos by johnh875) There’s no disputing that Gordon Buehrig was one of the very finest American automotive designer ever. His name is associated with three of the most celebrated cars ever: the Duesenberg Model J, the 1936 Cord 810 and the 1935 Auburn Boattail Speedster. Well, after that list of accomplishments, we can cut him a bit of slack for his 1948 Tasco, which he later called “my Edsel”. Was he referring to the nose, or its failure, or presumably both? If you think the front is a bit wild, wait till you see the rear. Or the interior.
The Tasco was the the result of some investors that approached Buehrig with plans to build “The American Sports Car”. It was built mostly out of aluminum, and Beech Aircraft was approached about building it. It all amounted to nothing, but it makes for an interesting historical footnote.
The interior is straight out of Buck Rogers. The gauges look like they are aviation-grade. But the Tasco had one important design feature that became popular in later decades: it had the world’s first T-Top roof, with removable plexiglass panels.
Wow, this thing looks wild from any angle. The interior is especially jarring. I know folks weren’t big on ergonomics in the forties, but, oh my god. For instance, what’s with those pedals? That must start to hurt after about five minutes or so.
I hear that the really hot versions were to be named Tabasco. Never came to that though.
Those (clutch and brake) pedals are how things were done back in the ’40’s. They’re probably the most normal part of the car.
Obviously, the concept of ‘sports car’ hadn’t really been defined during the Tasco’s development. Nobody involved with this car had ever been to England, or driven something that comes from there.
1948? Wasn’t that the year Jaguar introduced the XK-120? And this was expected to compete?
So you have driven this vs. an XK140? Please provide us with a detailed comparison.
I don’t think a comparison was even necessary to predict the outcome of that.
The XK-120 would have blown this out of the water. The Tasco is fully acknowledged to have been a fisaco by historians. Its backers really didn’t know what exactly they were trying to do, and yes, when the XK-120 arrived in 1948, it absolutely redefined the modern sports car. And just about every sports car ever since has either copied it or been highly influenced by it. None more so than the Corvette.
The chassis and engine were from a Mercury, meaning a solid beam front axle, Model T springing, and the flathead V8.
This is the first time I have seen the TASCO. The door would appear to be from a 1941-1948 Lincoln Continental, complete with push buttom door “opener”. The Lincoln would have used the same FOMOCO chassis approach as a Mercury and the engine would have bolted to the Lincoln transmission if, in fact, the chassis used was from a Lincoln.
Never heard of or seen one of these before,that plexiglass roof looks like it should be on a warplane,move the rear lights and put in guns for a rear gunner.
Wild is the right word! The general shape (aside from the fenders being separate) reminds me of the Messerschmitt KR200 bubble car, another aviation-inspired design, which followed in the 1950s. Given the obscurity of the Tasco, it is probably a case of convergent evolution rather than imitation.
It would be interesting to know what is under the hood. Given the sporting intention of the car and the length of the hood, I would guess an inline six or even a straight eight.
Mercury chassis and flathead V8 engine. 1932 engine technology sitting in an updated Model T chassis. Sorry.
A stark contrast — aviation-inspired styling, but thoroughly pedestrian mechanicals. The Messerschmitt, as comically tiny as it was, at least had a dose of new technology with lightweight construction and independent suspension.
The car as a whole comes across as a bizarrely styled but otherwise quite ordinary 1930s Ford hot rod.
We are sure of 1948? I have seen a few photos of cars from late ’20’s till early ’30’s with pontoon wheels like that. But at this epoch that has to be the the first retro-mobile design.
This car is part of the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum collection in Auburn, Indiana. It doesn’t look any better in the flesh. Minor nit-Plexiglass is the trade name for acrylic plastic as manufactured by Rohm and Hass and should be capitalized.
Its very airplane influenced, taken to the extreme though, with a dash of heavy art deco. Looks like the pushbutton doors came from a Continental.
I too love the aviation inspired gauges. My best description of the whole thing is that it is form over function, masquerading as function over form. Also, I’d say that the rear visibility was prescient of today’s CUVs.
Two questions:
1) What is the big red box coming out of the console?
2) How did they make a solid beam axle work with the faired wheels? Is there a big vertical slot in the sides of the hood for it to move in?
Ford beam axles were very low, with a dropped center section. Here’s a picture of the stock chassis and front end. The Tasco might well have had an even more heavily dropped front axle, like most hot rods do.No need for openings in the hood.
Ah, that explains it. Thanks.
The red thing? Good question, but if you look at the video of 1948 Cars of Tomorrow, Beuhrig is seen driving it and puts his hand on it and moves it. But what it does is a mystery.
The way he uses it reminds me of the handle on a taxicab meter. “What’s my fare, Gordon?”
Back in the day it wasn’t unusual for high-end cars to have altimeters and such. Those instruments could very well be actual aircraft units.
My first question was about the tall red thing on the dash. A gravity-fed saltine dispenser? Then I saw the bank of four red knobs. Each of the wheels must have been individually throttled? Or that was the impression they were after.
To be fair, I suspect that there were a lot of people who thought that cars of the future would be taking on a lot of airplane characteristics. Even if not culminating in flying cars, I can see how (in 1946-47 when this thing was conceived) someone could think that the airplane-like vehicle would become the next thing. They were, of course, very wrong. Planes were planes and cars were cars, and other than a few little design flourishes, it would stay that way.
Gordon Buehrig also sued GM for using T-Tops in the 1968 Corvette without permission and won.
Albert Drake’s book, “The Age of Hot Rods,” tells a slightly different story:
“…(Buehrig) picked up a copy of Road & Track, and saw on the cover a new Corvette using his top. Since the patent would not expire for another year, Buehrig contacted GM about this infringement. Eventually they offered him a sum of money for the rights to the T-Top, and since he knew he would not be able to sue GM, he accepted the offer.”
This is SO COOL!
You found the Ambiguously Gay Duo’s car!
About the front end design- apparently the “suitcase” cowlings over the front wheels tended to catch the breeze,causing “interesting” steering characteristics at speed. With the less than up to date front axle design, I can’t help thinking that it might have been quite nasty to drive….