Saturday, February 19, 2005
One meet to rule them all!
AMC historian Patrick Foster has a good idea. If you read his column in the March 2005 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, he writes about the idea of a "Super Meet."
Essentially, the idea is to create a mega show that consists entirely of orphan marques and models. The result of getting so many orphans into one place would be a show the size of a Big Three meet.
I love everything about the idea, except for the name. (The name could be just as ambitious but more precise.)
Check out his column, and tell me or Foster what you think. This is an idea whose time has come.
posted by Todd on 2/19/2005 11:44:00 AM
Sunday, February 13, 2005
The Met Set: Sneak Preview coverage
Yesterday, Saturday February 12th, my two-human crew (Laura, my wife, and Gary Templeton, my editor) traveled to Anderson, Indiana, to hold the very first sneak preview of Torq-O's forthcoming DVD about the Metropolitan. It's called The Met Set (with our apologies to the Wisconsin Met chapter that bears the same name).
DVD Cover
We met in the tiny outcove of a Ponderosa Steakhouse, but the room was packed full of Hoosier Mets
Todd and Gary introduce The Met Set to the Hoosier Mets.
Gary and I started by telling the audience that The Met Setis a brand new take on historical storytelling. Instead of making a straight documentary about the car, we decided to use two dealer training filmstrips that Nash/AMC produced in 1954 and 1960 as a structural framework for telling the Met's story.
We've also stuffed the DVD with exclusive interviews with the people who designed and sold the Metropolitan back in its heyday. You'll hear one-of-a-kind stories and commentary from Roy Chapin, Jr. (AMC's CEO in the 60s and 70s), Evelyn Ay Sempier (Miss America 1954), Bill Reddig and Bob Thomas (Nash designers), Guy Hadsall Jr. (AMC's Special Promotions Director), Carl Chakmakian (Nash/AMC product planner), and Bill Flajole (designer of the NXI prototype. This is the only videotaped interview that Mr. Flajole ever gave, and The Met Set is the only product you'll see him on.)
After we spoke we held a special drawing to see who would "drive" the presentation. When Jenni Current won, we handed over the DVD remote to her and started the show.
Todd teaches Jenni how to drive.
Were diehard Met fans pleased? See for yourself.
Lots of smiling faces
The Hoosiers seemed happy, and we were pleased that we could give them something unique.
For all those who gotta, gotta, GOTTA have a copy of this DVD, Torq-O is pleased to announce that it will be available nationwide through this web site on June 24th. Mark your calendars.
And if you're an Illini Mets chapter member, mark your calendars for March 5th! We'll be hosting another sneak preview, and you will NOT want to miss this one. We're only going to do one more (to be announced) sneak preview after that. So be sure to show up and be among the very first people to see a DVD that's unlike anything the collector car crowd has ever seen before. See you then!
posted by Todd on 2/13/2005 06:37:00 PM
Torq-O on the radio: The Bald Guy Files guest appearance!
Yesterday was busy!
As if holding the very first sneak preview for our forthcoming Met history DVD called The Met Set wasn't enough, I also made my very first radio show guest appearance!
Adrian the Bald Guy asked me to be a guest on his Colorado radio program The Bald Guy Files.
It was a blast! We talked about my favorite orphan, the Nash Metropolitan, as well as a variety of orphan marques like the Amphicar, Hupmobile, Locomobile, Edsel, and a little bit about the DeLorean.
Todd makes a (probably unimportant) point to Adrian the Bald Guy.
Adrian emailed me to tell me that "it was fun. I hope we can do it again some time in the future." Vague promise? I hope not!
Thanks to Adrian, Linda, Gerry and Mike for keeping the show upbeat and non-mechanical!
For all of you folks reading, we're going to have an audio stream of the program available in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!
posted by Todd on 2/13/2005 05:27:00 PM
Saturday, February 05, 2005
The New Metropolitan Convertible?
Now for more about the Smart ForTwo ragtop. Let's go to the pix:
Smart started out as a collaboration between Mercedes-Benz and Swatch. The idea was to build a cute, small car with interchangeable body panels so that an owner could change the buggy's appearance as often as she changed her watch.
Well, Swatch dropped out of the partnership, but Mercedes continued to build the car.
Although Swatch's participation is now almost never mentioned, a woman at Smart's information kiosk told me that the body panels can still be swapped out rather easily but with one big gotchya: the owner has to have the job done by Smart mechanics at their garage. Cost: about $1,000. Ouch! That smarts!
But, as an orphan car fan, here's the really interesting parallel between the Smart ForTwo ragtop and a certain other ragtop from way back in the Twentieth Century. Compare the pix:
Notice something familiar? Even though the Smart people wouldn't lower the top on this car, they described a cloth top that would lower down into a rear boot while fastened to rails on either side of the car.
Hmm. Sounds a lot like the "overhead structural rails" on the Nash Rambler Landau!
Some great ideas never die. They just get smaller and Smarter.
posted by Todd on 2/05/2005 07:46:51 PM
The New Metropolitan?
My friends, I have made my annual pilgrimage to Detroit for the 2005 North American International Auto Show.
As I wandered around trying not to buy the fudge that's always for sale on the show floor, I spotted them behind the DaimlerChrysler display: the Nash Metropolitans for the new millenium.
The brand is called Smart, and, not surprisingly, it's a division of D-C.
Just as the Metropolitan was an extremely small car for its time, so too are the Smart cars in today's automotive world. I'm a little over 6 feet tall, and I'm here to tell you: the cars are barely longer than I am if I lay down next to one.
There were 4 different models on the show floor, and here are some pix of the most Met-like of the litter:
These are pictures of the Smart ForTwo coupe. It's a true contender in the Shopping Cart Class, but I love it! My brother tells me that D-C has sold about 700,000 of these go karts in Europe and that they easily travel at highway speeds. In fact, he drove one in Italy and loved it!
In the next day or so, I'll publish some pictures of the Smart ForTwo ragtop. The convertible is still micro like the Met, but its convertible mechanism is a lot like another famous Nash. More soon!
posted by Todd on 2/05/2005 07:13:20 PM
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