One of my favorite car ads from 1957

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California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
Speaking of speedo cables.

My '68 Midget had a 1275 cc, 69 hp engine, and the Lucas speedo was labeled to 100 mph. California's Highway 46 had a straight stretch between Wasco and the East side of the mountain that James Dean was killed just past its West side. It took a while, but the speedo eventually went past the 100 mark. Man, this is cool! Then there was a loud clicking noise, pulled over to the shoulder and stopped, the speedo's needle sat between 65 and 70. Owned the car for 3 more years and was always going 67 1/2 mph.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
1948 Hudson ( From Shorpy.com)
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What a cynic I am. My eye was immediately drawn to what appears to be a spot of oil under the engine on the cardboard or plywood.


Our little fire dept back home had a 48 Buick Roadmaster with a straight eight, done up as a hose truck. Might have been that particular car, but I didn't see anything great about the straight eight as far as torque or power. Nice car though. Sort of an open El Camino type pf thing.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
I don't know about Buick, but Hudson made a pick-up truck, The Big Boy, that was well liked. You would see them mostly in the mid-west in the 1950's. They had the big straight 8's that were noted for smooth power which made for less shifting around town.
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