Thursday, June 07, 2007

Behind the wheel!

One of the advantages of wearing that little blue ribbon that says "Judge" at a car show -- aside from the (temporary) fawning attention paid by car owners to your every word -- is the right to step over the ropes that separate cars from spectators and take a close look at the goodies.

To end the photo series, here is what the drivers of some of the great cars from the show get to see (lucky dogs!):

First, the interior of the 3-liter Bentley. The gearshift lever is uncomfortably close to one's right leg and, as was the practice on some early racing cars, the gas pedal is between the clutch and brake pedals. Once you learn, you never forget...



Here's what the driver of a 1929 Alfa-Romeo 6C (not the car pictured before) had to look at...



Even better, and so traditionally British, is the driver's compartment of the SS100 Jaguar. Those large steering wheels were necessary to give the driver some leverage against the front wheels, let me tell you...



More civilized, but certainly a nice piece of mechanical art, is the dashboard of the Tatra 87...



And finally, the pure-1950s cabin of the Lincoln "Indianapolis," a bit calmer design-wise than the exterior...



Here endeth the car pictures, at least for now. Hope you've enjoyed them; putting them all up here has distracted me from a bunch of real-life crap....

8 comments:

Dorrie said...

thanks for sharing... they ARE awesome!

Kimmywoo said...

Ooh, I love the Jag Dah-link!

Anonymous said...

That pedal/shift arrangement on the Bentley is unusual for sure. Was that arrangement common to other European cars of that era or just Bentleys?

MrScribbler said...

l&s -- Many right-drive cars had the shift lever on the right, including the much newer original Ford GT.

The center throttle was used on many racing cars of that period and, in fact, up through the 1950s. Bentleys, Bugatiis, some Alfa Romeos and others had the pedals laid out that way. The last example I know of was a Maserati racer in the mid-1950s.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the cool car pictures, MrScribbler! I especially like the 1956 Talbot Lago. I like the Jag too, hehe.

Anonymous said...

I am soooo jealous...
All those beautiful old cars! I've seen the Saab and Volvo, but we didn't have many Ferrari's, and the like in MN (or NE TN...).
And Dude, you know your cars! Very cool. Sorry I missed all this.
Take care.
WOofy.

Anonymous said...

"A Walk through the car show with Paula"

Bentley
"Oh my, that looks like you couldn't wear very big "rocks" on your right hand without hurting yourself!"

Alfa Romeo
"Looks like the interior of a boat I once knew!"

SS100 Jaguar
"That dash is shaped just like Snoopy's goggles!"

Tetra 87
Hmmm.. not much lap room...
:( "

Lincoln "Indianapolis"
"Looks like a long reach to the radio to me!"

:)

Seriously, great pics, I am gonna peruse them more slowly now....
first I have to make some Zao money!

Anonymous said...

Just brought Ryan over and he was lusting after the "Indianapolis..." but was there no Tucker?