Puzzle #258 - Solved! Venus #1

[SACO]

Venus roadster ?

[araknid]

I'm looking for the person who made it.

[SACO]

Ken McLoad in 1954

[pguillem]

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Back in the late 40's and early 50's, a 34 year-old Ken McLoad (my father), embarked on a venture to produce and sell a sleek, fiberglass-bodied sports car which he named the "Venus". It used a donor chassis and running gear from a '49-'52 Ford, though I suspect it would mount on almost any chassis. He began design work on the Venus while in Dallas. In 1950 or 1951, he took a job as an engineer at a geophysical cable manufacturing company in Houston known as Vector Cable. (He later became President and served in that position for 18 years before the company was purchased by Schlumberger.) Naturally, he brought the Venus project with him from Dallas. In the next few years, he built a complete full-scale "plug" of the car body out of wood (from which to make molds).

As if a full-time engineering job and raising 3 kids was not enough, he and two other guys formed a company around 1953 or 1954 called Ratio Mfg. Co. to build and sell this car. Mr. D.Y. Gorman set up the business and handled the management of the company; Mr. E.F. Rockett was the pattern maker; and my father handled all of the design work. One of Mr. Gorman's teenage sons, DeWitt, actually worked on the Venus bodies, applying additional sealing resin and making then ready for shipping.

They built a prototype (and probably several more), had it photographed, and a story was written in the May 1954 issue of Motor Trend. I suspect they sent the story and photos to Motor Trend, as opposed to Motor Trend seeking them out.
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[araknid]

Yep.  I knew it wasn't going to last long at this level.   

Restoring a production car is difficult enough, but Patrick McLoad took on a much more difficult task by not only locating a rare Venus – a car his father, Ken McLoad, attempted to produce in the 1950s – but also undertaking the piece-by-piece restoration of the Venus and documenting the resto on his blog.

More cool tidbits regarding this car:

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[Ray B.]

Now that it's solved, if nobody minds, I'll call it a repost of this:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=1294.0

Since I'm not the majority here, I'll leave it to the editors to see if it must be merged.

[araknid]

Now that it's solved, if nobody minds, I'll call it a repost of this:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=1294.0

Since I'm not the majority here, I'll leave it to the editors to see if it must be merged.

Yes, please merge.

[Carnut]

Your Dad pguillem?  I'm mightily impressed..

You must know your own name so I assume that McLeod is a typo because they didn't believe he was called McLoad!!

[pguillem]

Your Dad pguillem?  I'm mightily impressed..

You must know your own name so I assume that McLeod is a typo because they didn't believe he was called McLoad!!

I'd be glad to be Venus' father's son.  It would give me the chance to be called Eros...  

[Otto Puzzell]

Merged

[Carnut]

It's interesting to read the whole thread again, esp. the discussion about resposts!

Here's a nice picture of a Venus; I don't know if it's been posted in this thread already because like a lot of pictures at the moment on AP they've all vanished and I can't see any of them.

[Wendax]

That one is new to the thread. 

Funny, I can see all pictures, but I do have problems seeing my own newly posted pictures when adding new puzzles.

[Paul Jaray]

I can't see pictures but if I download them they do exist!
It's quite annoying...

[Otto Puzzell]

Paul,

In this thread, which photo or photos can you not see?

[Paul Jaray]

Araknid's ones on Reply 29.
I can't see just 5 thumbnails here:
http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?board=35.0
the Venus, Ferver, Isotta Fraschini, Motto MG and Audi 100 Coupe.

[Carnut]

I have exactly the same as PJ.
They are there if I click on them and download them but up until a day or two ago they were all always there within the thread automatically.  I wondered if I'd changed some setting on my computer at work by mistake but it's just the same on my one at home, so it seems the problem is not at this end.

[Otto Puzzell]

Can you see the pics in reply #29 now?

I can still see the pics OK in the threads.

As to the thumbnails here: http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?board=35.0 

... the missing ones are the result of the poster including a hotlinked puzzle pic (i.e., the puzzle pic is hosted on photobucket or another site). As time allows, I re-insert the pics into the puzzle threads. I'll take a whack at doing more of these over the weekend. 

[Paul Jaray]

I still can't see them.
I think I found a car from the Black Hole, it was a formula car of the sixties but I can't see 9\10 of the pics that are there and I can't remember who post it...
I don't think you'll be able to re-insert all the pics I can't view (they are hundreds!)...but what happens?

[Carnut]

No, I still can't see them either.
A lot of members' avatars have disappeared too, for instance Wendax's is just an empty box with a red 'x' in the top left corner and no amount of clicking on the cross (or right clicking and asking to see the picture) will bring it up.

[Otto Puzzell]

 

I've viewed the site from a work PC, my home PC, a tablet, and a phone - no problem viewing the pics. Two other things come to mind.

1. Have you cleared your cache lately?  That might be worth a try.

2. Have any new internet rules gone into effect in the EU?

I'll submit an inquiry to the keepers of the code to see if they updated the forum software.

[Carnut]

Haven't cleared my cache, no, but it would be a bit coincidental if that was it as the pictures have failed to appear both on my work and home computers at exactly the same time, and it's the same pictures that don't appear.  About 60/70 pct of them do still, but the older they are the less likely they seem to be to appear - even ones I've posted in my own puzzles..

Don't know of any new rules; as mentioned the pictures are there but need to be downloaded.  It's just that they don't appear off their own bat like they always have..