B4 - Wednesday, December 12, 1984 - North Shore News BE auto <5 Some great auto ideas that never sold cars IN THE FASCINATING history of the automobile, there have been many interesting ideas and innovations, both practical and, on occasion, shehthy wacky. With over 2,200 makes of autos produces in the U.S. alone since the turn of the century, there is a wealth of kooky inventions, such as the long forgotton Octoauto, a bizarre-looking vehicle which has eight wheels, the front four all turning together to steer. The Octoauto claimed to have been built on’ the principle of the Pullman Place-Car, giving a smooth ride, and of course, tire wear was stretched Out over erght tires, not four. If you got a flat, you could keep. on going The same company, Reeves, also produced a six- wheeled car, intriguingly call- ed the Sextoauto. This was way back in 1912, when another monstrous vehicle, called the Bi-Autogo, which also had six wheels, but this time tt was a Frankenstein creation. Imagine a car body sitting on a motorcycle with four uny “‘training wheels”’ so it would not fall over tt was powered by one of the first V8 engines Recognizing that Mercedes Benz is truly one of the world’s great car builders, it 1s hard to believe that in 1937 they designed a car that was « ICBC Claims By ELLSWORTH DICKSON hard to look at, under- powered, had almost no lug- gZage space, but worst of all, due to poor weight distribu- tion, had a tendency to roll! over in the corners. Very few were made. They cost $4,000, at a wtume when a new Chevrolet cost only $680. After World War I], one of the most futuristic and promising cars was the Tucker, that never quite made it into” production, though lots of stock was sold. Only $1 are known to exist and today they are worth about $50,000. In addition to the regular headlights, the advanced Tucker also had a ‘‘cyclops”’ headlight in the center of the hood that turned with the wheels Looking like a torpedo, the Tucker was powered by a 335 cid ajuminum alloy flat six and could top 120 mph It even had a padded dash The 1950's brought reliability to automobiles, but also, in some cases, really tasteless styling. The 1957 Hudson Hollywood was distinguished by a three-tone () PIONEE KEX — 50 « Auto-Replay Cassette Deck with Quartz — PLL AM/FM Tuner ) eae TS—6906 © 16 x 24CM. Maxxial* ; Rear Deck-Mount 3-Way Speaker Systems ' $ paint job in white, grey and pink. You could buy a ‘55 Studebaker in two-tone lemon-hime. The 1950's also produ¢ed the horsepower race and one of the fastest cars made was the high-finned ‘S8 Chrysler 300D, which could do 140 mph. This was the car chosen by Gerry Rushing and his brother to run moonshine in North Carolina. They lved with their grandpa and had a pretty cousin. Sound familiar? The popular TV senes ‘‘Dukes of Hazzard”’ was based on their life. And yes, they really had a 20 gallon secret oil tank in the trunk to dump its surprise on the corners when being chas- ed by the Feds. The famed Edsel, which began life in °58, had a few things going for it besides the ‘thorsecollar/tonlet seat’’ grille. The center of the steer- ing wheel contained buttons to shift gears. Neat and han- dy, but the Edsel was doom- ed to oblivion. Other °SOs innovations in- cluded Studebaker's ‘‘ant- creep’’ device that would blast creeps off the road. No, actually it was a gadget that would stop your car from rolling back when stopped on a hill The ill-fated studes also had twin heaters under the front seats to warm your buns and blow hot air into the rear seat area. Good ideas, but they failed to sel! 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