J u l y 2 0 1 6 The Brass Lamp Those Big Back Seats We are reminded of the famous story about how the notoriously prudish Henry Ford tried to design the backseat of the Model T so that it would be too small for any—let’s just say—amorous indiscre- tions. We’re pretty sure young love prevailed on that one, though definitely not as easily as it did in the cavernous interiors and Photo courtesy of Wikimedia cargo areas of other favor- Photo courtesy of Rick Ridley ite classics. work every day but could Pretty much any full-size car Americans got bit by a se- also serve double-duty on from around 1956 through rious travel bug after vet- long weekend road trips the 1977 model year had erans returned home from and overnight camping more than space for getting World War II. Now consid- excursions. For many, the comfortable and cozy under ered by some to be the Frazer Vagabond of the the light of the silvery moon. “Golden Age of American late-1940s and early 1950s But the Nash Ambassador Road Travel,” it was still an (along with its brother the was arguably the first to ad- era largely dominated by Kaiser Traveler) fit their vertise the fact that their au- the one-car household. lifestyle perfectly. The tomobiles could be convert- Back then, many car buy- Vagabond never got the ed from a daily grocery- ers were content with au- “ultimate date car” reputa- getter into a venerable hotel tomobiles that looked styl- tion with Baby Boomers on wheels. As with the Nash ish enough to drive to that the Nash Ambassador Rambler, one of the key sell- and Rambler later did, but ing points for the Ambassa- the fold-down, uphol- dor was its roomy interior stered rear seats that ex- and the fact that every seat tended all the way to the in the thing had the ability end of the trunk is the to flatten out with the sim- stuff of some legend ple pull of a lever. where backseat escapades are concerned. Continued on page 4 >>> Joseph F Yochim The President’s (314) 602-9498 President Column… Mark Goldfeder By Joseph F Yochim (314) 878-2786 1st Vice President/Programs hattan on Fifth Avenue, they com- Sharon Mercer Greetings, everyone pleted the first road trip across the (636) 928-8672 continental United States. 2nd Vice President/Membership Mother Nature has cranked up the summertime furnace. Rose I found that most interesting. More Louis Allen bushes and the daylilies are now interesting automotive facts and (314) 741-4158 in full bloom. Oh how I love the trivia are located in Kanter advertis- Treasurer smell of summer, freshly mowed ing publications at grass and someone barbecuing www.Kanter.com Susan Ebert some pork steaks or other yum- (314-791-5461) my treats for dinner. Kids off Moving on. St. Louis Moon Club Recording Secretary school for summer vacation and was the host of the St. Louis made families heading out on the road automobile rendezvous that was Dr. Gerald Perschbacher trip vacation. held on June 9, 10, and 11, 2016. A (314) 849-5249 spectacular, well organized, very Corresponding Secretary The first road trip started on May well-orchestrated event, lots of 23rd 1903 from San Francisco, amazing St. Louis automotive inter- Directors California. Dr. Horatio Nelson ests, industry memorabilia and Bill Albertin(2016) Al Mercer(2016) Jackson, Sewall K. Crocker, and publications. (See photos, page 8) John Clark (2017) “Bud”, a goggle-wearing bull ter- Ron Nelson(2017) rier began their journey on that If you were unable to attend our Jackie Allen (2018) day. Horatio Nelson Jackson was HCCM general meeting held on Mike Ebert (2018) compelled to embark on this his- Friday, June 17, 2016, Hot Summer toric journey because of a $50 Nights car cruise, you missed a re- Ron Nelson bet that he made with his friends ally fun activity and a good time. 9826 Affton View Ct. at a bar. He recruited Crocker, a The general meeting was called to St. Louis, MO 63123 22-year-old bicycle racer and order at 6:33 PM. A motion to ad- (314) 638-7131 mechanic to help him along his journ and go for ice cream was Brass Lamp Editor journey. Mr. Jackson purchased a made at 7:08 PM. HCCM members Don Hoelscher used 20 hp Winton that he and friends gathered together in a (636) 939-9667 named “Vermont” after his home convoy format. We all disembarked Webmaster state. Starting out from San from the college and made our Francisco, along the way they way down to Culver’s in Chester- found themselves lost, broken field Valley. Approximately 10 ve- down, and stranded without gas hicles participated in our convoy or parts. This happened many we all had an awesome time cruis- times on their journey. Driving on ing the back roads and going for primitive roads proved to be ice cream. A wonderful time was treacherous and dangerous. had by all! However, somehow they inched their way across the country. Our Father’s Day cars-with-class car Word of their journey got out show held Sunday, June 19, at the and they became famous. Museum of Transportation in St. www.hccmo.com Crowds of people welcomed Louis County was a huge success. (314) 991-HONK them to their town for many of President emeritus Larry Hassel these people were seeing an au- went above and beyond all possi- tomobile for the very first time. bilities and expectations, and the They arrived at New York City, weather was spectacular. We had Celebrating 72 Years their destination, an entire month approximately 73 vehicles show up ahead of schedule – much to for that event. The Museum of In their delight. In downtown Man- Transportation drew the winning St. Louis! 2 ticket that afternoon in their car First Use of the Automatic Transmission in raffle. Robert Norris won the vintage 1953 Mercedes 180D. A a Production Automobile special thanks to all members Joseph F Yochim who participated in any and all capacities to make this event a huge success. Starting in the 1930s, GM thought it would be a good idea to reduce the need to shift gears. At that time manual transmissions were To our members and friends, standard equipment that required much effort on the part of the family and neighbors, you are driver. cordially invited to an exclusive back stage tour of the Fabulous A Cadillac engineer by the name of Earl A. Thompson began work Fox Theater. HCCM club mem- on a shiftless transmission in 1932, and with that, a new department ber David Stephens has been was formed within the Cadillac engineering division. able to arrange an exclusive backstage tour of the Fox Thea- Thompson oversaw the department which included the likes of Ern- ter. Along with a personal guid- est Seaholm, Owen Nacker, and Oliver Kelley. In 1934 the group had ed tour, immediately after the developed a step-ratio gearbox that would shift automatically under tour, Dave will give us a personal full torque. With their advancements in the project GM decided to demonstration of the Wurlitzer move the group to the GM Central research facility to further work pipe organ. How cool is that? on the development of the automatic transmission. Between 1935– 1936, the program was handed over to Oldsmobile for further test- This event will take place on Sat- ing and ultimately go into production. The first automatic transmis- urday, July 23, 2016 at 10 AM at sion that was introduced in 1937 was to the Oldsmobile line. the Fabulous Fox Theater, Grand Ave., St. Louis. This event is open This semi-automatic used a conventional clutch requiring the use of to all club members, friends, and the clutch to shift in and out of forward and reverse but not between family. RSVP and an admission the 2 forward gears. This transmission was offered from 1937 fee of seven dollars per person through 1939. In 1940, the Hydramatic is introduced and boasted 4 are required to participate. RSVP forward gears and a reverse gear allowing for much of the shifting along with your $7.00 per person to be automated. fee no later than July 15, 2016 at the close of our general meeting. General Motors offered the automatic transmission for two main reasons. First was the fact that Oldsmobile produced more vehicles Remember the HCCM club picnic than Cadillac, thus providing a larger market for testing. Second, will take place on Sunday, Au- GM executives wanted to protect the Cadillac name in case of a ma- gust 21, 2016. Location: Paul jor market failure. Schroeder Park in beautiful Ball- win, Missouri. All members are At its debut it was a $57 option and by 1941 it jumped to $100. That encouraged to bring a covered same year, Cadillac began offering the new automatic transmission dish and or a desert to this as a $125 option. Nearly 200,000 cars were sold prior to the halt of event. 11:00 until ???? production in 1942 in order to help the war efforts. HCCM election committee: this is During World War II, many vehicles were equipped with Hydramatic an election year for the club. such as the M5 and the M24 tanks. Because of its use in military ser- Attention: Anyone wishing to run vice; the postwar engineering of the transmission was greatly im- for office or become a board proved and later would be used in advertising and marketing as the member.