 The Manta Ray is a fiberglass-bodied Sport Custom built by Glen Hire and Vernon Antoine of Whittier, California. Like many other futuristic builders of their era, the 1951 GM LeSabre concept car inspired Glen and Vernon when designing their outrageous creation. Both Glen and Vernon worked for the North American Aviation Company, specifically in the engineering and design department of the guided missile and jet aircraft divisions. In fact, the enthusiastic duo had plans for small-scale production of the Manta Ray. This never happened. The car featured a handmade fiberglass body molded in 14 sections. Building the body was no easy task at all. There were a lot of problems, such as deciding how many body supports to have, keeping the body contours within certain constraints so that the shell could be unmolded and many more. The body was built on a modified 1951 Studebaker chassis in Glen and Vernon's garage. Power came from the original 1951 Studebaker V8 engine that came with the donor car. Glen and Vernon were more interested in the car's appearance than performance, so the 1951 Studebaker engine and chassis were retained. However, the frame side rails were shortened by 3 inches. The bumpers were handcrafted from Hudson parts, and the taillights came from a Lincoln. When finished, the Manta Ray was 40 inches tall, had a 112-inch wheelbase, and weighed 1,000 pounds. The car featured Stewart-Warner instruments and a Plymouth speedometer grouped around a cone-shaped steering wheel housing with an attached 1953 Lincoln steering wheel. It had no trunk lid, but the seats could tilt forward for storage. The gas tank filler neck was hidden under the center taillight. Once completed, the car was painted in a metallic gold lacquer shade. It took 4,200 man-hours to complete the build. At an auto show held in Los Angeles in 1954, Glenn and Vernon received a special trophy for the car, as well as a cash award from a local newspaper for "Outstanding Creativity and Engineering." After the show, Bob Yeakel, a prominent Los Angeles car dealer fell in love with the car after seeing it in person and was able to buy it from the duo. In 1959 the car was sold to L.L. Lacer of Junction City, Kansas. By then the car was located in Topeka, Kansas. L.L, also known locally as Peanuts, traded the Manta Ray for a 1952 Morris, a 1952 Volkswagen and a 1953 Packard. It remained in storage until his death in 1990. His son then took ownership and returned it to its original condition. At some point, the original Studebaker engine was replaced with a Cadillac V-8 Dual-Quad, and the car was repainted from gold to light pink. The car made its first modern public appearance in 2016 at the Amelia Island Concours, and remains in running and driving condition.
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The Soviet hot rod: the history of the GAZ GL-1 and its recordsThis car is not a modified 1934 Ford Roadster. The truth is that it looks like it, but its lines could not be more different. It is a Soviet GAZ GL-1, a car specially created by GAZ to break speed records, under orders from the Politburo and the highest levels of the Communist Party. Because? Because in 1938 – in a race organized in the center of Moscow – one of the Russian riders competed with an American Kord 812, reaching a speed of 141.56 km/h. A figure close to the Soviet speed record. Evil tongues say that Stalin himself banned competition with foreign vehicles on the same day. The GL-1 project was born a few weeks later, seeking to demonstrate that the USSR could also manufacture fast cars. Next
Twin-grille 1937 Lincoln ZephyrIf the acclaimed first-generation Lincoln Zephyr had a weakness, it was its V-12 engine. Sharing many design elements with Ford's flathead V-8, the 75-degree H-series V-12 had a narrow design that kept its displacement low and its water passages small, as well as the flathead engine's exhaust ducts running through the block and water jackets, which often led to overheating. Illinois-based inventor Willard L. Morrison could do little about the engine design, but instead believed he could improve the Zephyr's cooling by adding a second grille to the front of the car. |
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