Sunday, October 9, 2011

Friday, September 23, 2011

Car Cemetery in Switzerland

All these cars found their final resting place at the Autrofriedhof in Switzerland. Photographer Thomas Margelist captured their modern looks and spirit.






Thursday, September 22, 2011

Chassis assembly

Chassis assembly at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in Untertürkheim, around 1921

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Hélica

Leyat was a French automobile manufacturer established by Marcel Leyat in 1919 in Paris. The automobiles were built on the Quai de Grenelle.

The first model was called Hélica, also known as 'The plane without wings'. The passengers sat behind each other as in an aircraft. The vehicle was steered using the rear wheels and the car was not powered by an engine turning the wheels, but by a giant propeller powered by an 8 bhp (6.0 kW) Scorpion engine. The entire body of the vehicle was made of plywood, and weighed just 250 kg (550 lb), which made it dangerously fast.

In 1927, A Hélica reached the speed of 106 mph (171 km/h) at the Montlhéry circuit. Leyat continued to experiment with his Helica, he tried using propellers with two and four blades. Between 1919 and 1925, Leyat managed to sell 30 vehicles. (Wikipedia)






Saturday, September 17, 2011

Car Accessories

Some drivers like to decorate their vehicles. Maybe such bizarre car accessories are supposed to bring a good luck. Who knows?