.
There's a good chance that most of you reading this know a little about
cars. Maybe not so much the actual mechanical aspect, but at least the
historical and emotional side of automobiles. We all have our favorite
makes, models and styles.
.
I plan to highlight a Hot Wheels car that is modeled after a real car
more or less every month (Sorry Trish, I work on that new "sliding calendar").
I'm not going to touch anything NASCAR because the experts out there would
shoot me down in flames. And I don't claim to be an expert on any
other type of racing or car for that matter. Some of you may know
a lot more about a particular model than I do, and are welcome to add your
input. For others who are a little newer to cars (you know, like
actual kids who are growing up with Hot Wheels), I hope to add some dimension
to the ownership of a particular car.
.
If you have a car you would like to see profiled, let me
know. There are
more than enough to choose from. This first profile will shed some
light on the PHANTOM CORSAIR, a 1999 Hot Wheel First Edition!
.
THE MAN
.
The time: 1938. America was emerging from the Great Depression,
war was looming on the horizon, and the promise of a bright tomorrow seemed
a long way off. Popular design of the time was the "Streamline" look. Architecture,
furniture, appliances and cars carried this smooth, flowing design philosophy.
The Chrysler Airflow and Pierce Silver Arrow are two of the more familiar
examples of this idea. But even these automobiles compromised somewhere
in their design. Fenders may have been faired into bodies; noses
rounded off. No car from this era carried a truly organic body design.
Until the Phantom Corsair. No badges, extra trim, or frills.
Rounded contours flow undisturbed from nose to tail, with only headlight
and bumper protrusions as a necessity.
.
It's creator, Rust Heinz, the second son of H.J. Heinz of Pittsburgh,
PA,
owner of the Heinz condiment empire, knew well how to enjoy financial
freedom. He designed and raced motorboats, knew the right people, and attended
Choate, Andover, and Yale, majoring in naval architecture. In Pasadena,
CA, Heinz collaborated with Christian Bohman and Maurice
Schwartz, proprietors of a successful custom body shop. With
their help, he began designing his dream car. Though his family in
PA was reluctant to finance his vision, Heinz's aunt, a Pasadena resident,
was willing to pay the bills. In less than a year, the vision became
a reality in the Corsair. After touting the Corsair in brochures
for a year, and shortly after showing it at the New York World's Fair in
1939, Heinz died from injuries sustained in a road accident.
.
THE CAR
.
The Corsairs aluminum panels were hammered into shape and fastened
to a tubular frame. A layer of cork, at some places 1.5 inches thick,
was applied to the inside of the body, then sealed with rubber. The
1936 Cord L-head V-8 engine and 4 speed front drive transmission were fitted,
along with the suspension and some instruments and other mechanisms.
Inside the vehicle, Heinz installed monitors for everything, including
direction and altitude. An overhead panel contained switches and
indicator lights, and gauges filled every space of the instrument dash,
which ran the width of the interior.
.
The front seat could accommodate four, and two in the back seat sharing
space with beverage cabinets holding spun aluminum tumblers and decanters.
Other touches including a hydraulically operated hood, and push-button
solenoid door buttons that actuated small panels above the door to flip
up when pushed. Tinted safety glass - a rarity then - was used for
the windshield. The bumpers were on telescopic mounts designed to
increase impact protection.
.
Despite the light alloy body, the car weighed in at a healthy 4565lb.
Not
surprising, considering all the insulation, gauges, hydraulics, solenoids,
and drinking cabinets!
.
Its maiden voyage revealed a few problems, though. The standard
Cord
radiator was not up to the task of keeping the engine cool. More
louvers were cut beneath the front bumper, and eventually two Zephyr radiator
cores replaced the original unit.
.
Another issue became obvious the moment it hit the road. The
wonderfully curved and blended windows were too small to be useful. To
make things worse no rear-view mirrors were installed, making lane changes
and parking maneuvers a harrowing task.
.
None of this mattered to its creator, who continued forward with brochures
offering replicas for $14,700 (incredibly high by 1938 standards).
But none were built. The Corsair did make an appearance on the cover
of the March 1938 issue of MOTOR AGE magazine and in a forgettable movie,
The Young in Heart. As "The Flying Wombat", it was seen with Paulette
Goddard and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
.
A year later, it was displayed at the New York World's Fair.
After Heinz died in July 1939, the car passed to the Heinz family which
had no use for it, and sold it to a family friend, who sold it to a used
car dealer. Several owners - including the Granatelli brothers, an attorney
to President
Truman's staff and a member of the Studebaker family - passed the Corsair
along before it was purchased by Hoosier comedian Herb Shriner in 1951.
.
Shriner was an avid car enthusiast, and eventually decided to redesign
he
Corsair, and commissioned Albrecht Goertz (who designed the lovely
BMW 507) to do the styling. Unfortunately, the word lovely could
not be applied to the Corsairs conversion.
.
After Shriners death in 1970, the Harrah Automobile Collection purchased
the car, and restored it to it's original specifications. Now on
display at the Harrah Museum in Reno, Nevada, the car stands as a monument
to the visionaries who created it.
.
Wow Arv. I am impressed. We saw the Corsair at Harrah's
several years ago. Very spooky looking. Trish