Auto Progress: Memory Lane Collection No. 2
August 1954 Air Trails

August 1954 Air Trails

Table of Contents These pages from vintage modeling magazines like Flying Aces, Air Trails, American Modeler, American Aircraft Modeler, Young Men, Flying Models, Model Airplane News, R/C Modeler, captured the era. All copyrights acknowledged.

In a time before massive overregulation by the government, even starting your own car manufacturing business was a lot simpler. In the early part of the 20th century there were dozens of independent car companies that vied for the hard-earned money of a public growing increasingly demanding of modern conveniences both in the home and outdoors. Unlike recent history where an overreaching government decides who the winners (e.g., Chevrolet - aka Obama Motors) and losers (e.g., Pontiac) are, market forces (i.e., the public) decided which companies deserved to thrive and which deserved to push up corporate tulips. This series of sketches by Douglas Rolfe gives you an idea of some of the early contenders.

See Auto Progress Memory Lane #1, #2, #3

Auto Progress Memory Lane Collection No. 2

By Douglas Rolfe

Rambling down Memory Lane once more we run into a number of cars famous in American automobile history and regarded with great affection by their owners. Some of these makes we will encounter yet again on further rambles. It will be impossible, for example, to pass up the last model 24 of the Pierce-Arrow which anticipated modern body styling by almost a decade and to an extraordinary degree. It will be noted that the cars illustrated on these pages range in styling all the way from the curious old rear-entrance tonneau types to such slinky jobs as the custom Pierce of 1920, and that such refinements as oleo shock absorbers. doughnut tires and automatic: gearshifts have already put in their appearance that is to say by 1920. As a matter of record the electric gearshift goes as far back as 1913, and all the cars shown with the exception of the vintage models such as the Pope-Toledo and the early Peerless had full electrical equipment, including self-starter and horn. Steel disc: wheels had become common and were gradually replacing the old and cumbersome detachable rim. Emphasis has been given to open models, since even In 1920 they predominated.

Posted October 25, 2014

Douglas Rolfe Drawings

• Post-Pusher Parade, May 1961 American Modeler
• Air Progress: The Jet Engine, July 1951 Air Trails
• Air Progress: The Bristol Story, November 1948 Air Trails
• Auto Progress: Down Memory Lane III, December 1954 Air Trails
• Auto Progress: Memory Lane Collection No. 2, August 1954 Air Trails
• Air Progress Famous Firsts, August 1954 Air Trails
• Air Progress: Japanese Air Force World War II Fighters, December 1954 Air Trails
• Air Progress: Lindbergh Era (1927-1929), July 1954 Air Trails
• Air Progress: The Search for Speed, November 1950 Air Trails
• Air Progress: Soviet Air Force Latter Day Types, March 1955 Air Trails