Orphan car fans: we hate to be the last to report that Pontiac is joining the Torq-O Garage.

We’re really late to jump on the story, because we’ve been rearranging the cars in our 250-car orphan garage with a giant Weather Eye conditioned air system.

Just when we had the garage alphabetically organized, GM dropped the P-bomb on us. Since all of our cars are iconic examples of their marques, we traded in our rusty Pontiac Astre for a fresh new Solstice Coupe. (We notice quite a few Azteks on the used car lot. Doesn’t anyone appreciate simple geometry in car design?) Then we had to move every car after Plymouth down one spot. Let me tell you, the Pope Hartford did NOT want to turn over. (So I made my wife crank it up.)

Instead of commenting on Pontiac’s demise ourselves, we thought we’d provide you with a variety of viewpoints from across the internetosphere.

Before Pontiac went floor pan up, the New York Times had an interesting article about the brand’s shriveling. If you’re a newbie to the classic car scene, read this article first.

“It’s a shame,” lamented lots and lots and lots of Pontiac fans.

Then there was a bit of news about Pontiac dealers trying to buy the brand from G.M. No fuzzy dice, said the General.

Steven Cole Smith of The Orlando Sentinel tried to educate readers about our particular brand of classic car appreciation with his own article about orphan cars. He defines orphans as cars “no longer supported by an active dealer network.” Not bad.

We didn’t want to be left out of the party, so we waded into The Torq-O Media Archive to bring you an audio snack. It’s Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker stiffly pitching the 1935 Pontiacs.

But’s what’s a radio commercial without a few visuals? So we hopped on over to The Auburn University Library Special Collections as well as John MacDonald’s Oldcarandtruckpictures web site to add some zazz to to the sounds.

Enjoy the news about those steel turret top bodies!

Tags: Pontiac, orphan cars

At Torq-O we use our vast, underground, low-humidity, former salt mine to store The Torq-O Media Archive.

Over the past 11 years, we’ve acquired a lot of American orphan car media. Some of the interesting material includes a Graham-Paige film called Four Speeds Forward as well as a copy of the Graham-Paige Legion March. (We had a chance to bid on Arthur Pryor’s personal copy, but, alas, we were focused on some other shiny object.)

We’ve also carted home tons of AMC and Studebaker media as well as a sprinkling of Packard, Hudson, and Kaiser-Frazer films and radio commercials. And let’s not forget the Nash dealer training materials.

Recently, however, we “strayed” from our American roots and bought three 1959 British orphan car films from the poor man’s Sotheby’s. They are:


Alpine Challenge: a 23-minute film promoting the success of the Sunbeam Rapier in European rally competitions.


The New Sunbeam Alpine: a nine-minute promotional film about the Alpine that everyone loves - the one with fins that Maxwell Smart drove.


The New Hillman Minx: a seven-minute promotional ode to a British granny car best remembered by humorist/heckler Dave Barry (We love the that article, but we also would love to have a Hillman Minx. It’s very anti-sexy chic.)

Usually, when we buy these films, there are always one or two people who want a copy on DVD. You’d think that would be an easy way to make a buck and help recoup the cost of buying the film.

Not so, Grasshopper. When we transfer these films, we use a service that does a fantastic job. But it doesn’t come cheap. If the film is in great shape, it costs $175/hour, for example.

So we were doubtful when a few members of the Sunbeam Alpine Owners Club of America wanted DVD copies of these Rootes Group films. We said, “Okay, but we need a firm commitment from at least 10 people, and we need payment up front, and we need a list of names and addresses.” Our demands were like a hastily composed ransom note.

To our surprise, the SAOCA members made it happen! The money’s in the bank, the list of investors is in our hands, and the project is moving forward!

I’m happy to report that the films are safely in the hands of our film transfer service. They’ll be converted to 10-bit, uncompressed, 720x486 Quicktime movies ready to transfer to a DVD. (Eat that, wrench jockeys who try to confuse me with terms like “gudgeon pin” and “rear brake proportioning valve”!)

We’re not done yet. There are still several production steps we have to take to finish the DVD. But we’re moving forward.

If you’re interested in joining the ranks of these Alpine owners who put their money where their passion is, send me an email. Once these DVDs have been burned, there won’t be any additional copies.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Torq-O talks with Margery Krevsky, the author of a new book about auto show models called Sirens of Chrome.

Margery tells us how models at auto shows evolved from decorations to walking automotive encyclopedias.

She also takes us behind the scenes and tells us what it takes for a model to become fully turntable enabled.

Also, listen in for a rare soundtrack from an early female product specialist: Florence Henderson. (That’s right, before she married into The Brady Bunch, she was Oldsmobile’s favorite spokesactress in the late 1950’s.)

Go to our Podcast page to get the straight audio podcast or the video-enhanced version featuring stills from the book.

Here’s great news for Pacer fans, especially those of you who invested in our limited edition Gremlin/Pacer DVD last year.

Collectible Automobile Magazine (still no web site) has published a Patrick Foster article on the first “wide small car” in its April 2009 edition.

I applaud Foster and CA for starting to incorporate some quotes into their stories. I often rant about auto history stories that read like book reports. However, I have to give Foster & Co. some credit for actually incorporating quotes from Gerald Meyers, Roy Chapin, and Bill Luneberg. (I realize it’s easier for Foster to use quotes from actual interviews, because many AMC execs are still alive and accessible. Eg., take a listen to our Bill McNealy and Gerald Meyers podcasts.)

To add to the Pacer love, we’d like to offer a very special video. It’s a late-1974 news story from Chicago’s WMAQ-TV. It’s eerie how timely this story is. (We could not include this video in our Gremlin/Pacer DVD, because we stuffed the DVD with other important and previously unseen films.) Enjoy!



By the way, we have a few extra copies of our Gremlin/Pacer DVD. Only four or five. If you’re interested, please email. We’ll provide information.

I went to the 2009 North American Auto Show on Friday. Before I got into the building, I knew I had something great to show you.

Right across the street from Cobo Center, Smart had built a tower and stacked it full of its Matchbox-sized automotive triangles.

It reminded me immediately of Nash's Tower of Progress at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. The Nash tower was a glass-enclosed box with an elevator that raised and lowered cars inside the tower. Really amazing for its time.

Turns out that good ideas never really die. They just get remixed. Check out this photo on Virtual Tourist of a Smart Car tower in Germany. It's virtually identical to Nash's 1933 effort. The cars rise and lower inside the tower. However, the Smart version is more like a vending machine. A customer could choose a car to take for a test drive, and the car would exit at ground level ready for a spin around town.

Smart's tower: smart but not first. Nash has already been there. Done that.

Jeff Teague, the son of Dick Teague, AMC's Vice-President of Design, has published some 3D renderings of an updated AMX and Gremlin on the Hemmings Auto Blog.

I like the AMX version, and I really like the top of Jeff's Gremlin, but together, they don't make my EKG start beeping fast. They need a little more zazz.

Autoblog said about the Gremlin "we like that it's not blatantly retro." I'd have to disagree. I think virtually all of the blatantly retro designs from the past 10 years have been very appealing. Maybe retro design is waning, but I've never found ugliness in the clever updating of classic designs that have proven timeless and successful. A few more classic Gremlin and AMX design cues would not have hurt those renderings at all.

So Jeff, here's my $10 Torq-O Challenge: please update the Matador Coupe! Since AMC used the letter X to denote a lot of trim variations in their cars, I'm putting up a Hamilton to see what you can do to help out the aesthetically challenged Matador Coupe. Send the renderings and your PayPal ID, and I'll be happy to share your work with the rest of the world.

Now's you're chance to add to the Teague legacy. Rescue the one Dick Teague design that needs it the most! Give us AMC fans a Christmas present, and I'll send you 10 of the U.S. Treasury's finest George Washingtons.

Look for Bob Palma's story about Studebaker's fast Fifties and Sixties cars in the February 2009 issue of Collectible Automobile.

Lotsa facts and figures. (Couldn't you guys do that stuff with some friendly charts or graphics? Why keep writing these stories like college textbooks? Will there be an exam after the article?)

Nevertheless, Palma does a good job shoehorning all those stats under the hood of a nine page story that is 65% pictures. And I DO like seeing those beautifully styled Hawks, Larks and Avantis.

In the January 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car, Jim Richardson says the right things in the wrong way.

Jim tells the story of a guy who had a rare 1933 Hupmobile that was all original and had been stored since World War II. He then listened in horror as the owner said he was going to rod it out and "personalize" it. Understandably, Jim reacted like a guy who had been whacked upside the head with a lug wrench.

Jim feels, and I agree, that it's better to restore these vehicles to their original condition rather than turn them into just another canvas for self-expression. A canvas with a small block Chevy engine in it. "...Please, in the name of decency," Jim pleads, "don't destroy a good original car."

I've always felt that street rods were okay if the owner was rescuing a basket case. If that car was one step away from the crusher, it's better that a car gets rodded out rather than squished into a door stop.

However, if that car is an orphan, especially a rare one like a Hupmobile, ya gotta keep it the way the manufacturer built it. It's more important as a rolling piece of history rather than your personal art car.

But Jim: please keep the hood on your contempt for street rodders. Accusing them of lacking "wisdom and maturity" won't exactly keep the purple flames off of their Packards, Willys Americars, or Studebakers. Just like our current national political situation, I think we need to find a way to unite the street rodders with us rather than driving them away. They'll respect us a little more, and I think we'll find that we all have a lot more in common than we first thought. And the next time an old original Graham-Paige or Hudson pops up, we might just steer the tempted owner away from the Dark Purple Side.

What better way to stir up interest in our favorite orphan cars than the threat of GM, Ford, and Chrysler going chassis up?

While the media chew on the subject, I found a BusinessWeek slide show that devotes a picture and a paragraph each to dozens of our favorite orphan brands.

(What's up with some of those weird pix they chose to represent some of the most famous brands? If you mention a Lark or an Avanti as an example of a Studebaker, wouldn't it make sense to use a picture of said vehicles? Hmm.)

I just learned from Chris Custin, the Historian for the Metropolitan Owners Club of North America, that Evelyn Ay Sempier, Miss America 1954, died last Saturday.

Courtesy of David Austin

Evelyn was special to Metropolitan fans, because Nash sponsored the Miss America contest when she was crowned. Nash called upon her to officially "unveil" the Metropolitan to the public at the Chicago Auto Show in early 1954. She also bought (with some of her Miss America prize money) one of the early Metropolitan convertibles for her brother.

Evelyn Ay Sempier when Torq-O spoke with her: July 12th, 1997

Back in 1997, we started to interview all of the surviving participants in the design, building, and selling of the Metropolitan. Evelyn was our second interview.

We went to her home near Philadelphia and spent the afternoon of July 12th, 1997, talking to her about her association with the pageant and with Nash. We shot about four hours of footage with her.

My favorite anecdote that she shared with us was about a typical day in the life of Miss America: always smiling, sleeping on the plane, riding in Nash Ambassadors, breathless, hungry, expected to have opinions on world hunger, Communism, crop rotation, and juvenile delinquency.

She was a class act through and through. Generous with her time. Perfect and articulate with her answers. Patient with our process. A wonderful lady. Farewell.