Puzzle #85 - Solved! 1953 Paxton Phoenix Convertible

[Otto Puzzell]

Know what it is?

Please, respond below and let us know what kind of car is being created here.

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Thanks!

[Tifosi]

I'll go out on a limb and venture that it might be a 1958 Packard Hawk prototype.  Of course, I could be wrong...


Dan

[Otto Puzzell]

Not a Packard

[Arthur Dent]

Kinda looks like a Triumph GT6 or Reliant Sabra

[SeaLion]

Is it from Argentine? It looks a little as the Institec Justicialista Sports (with a Porsche engine). But this one could perhaps be the Institec Graciela (with a DKW engine)? Institec was shortlived, from 1954 to 1955.

[Tifosi]

Dodge Fire Arrow?   Looks like it could be a Dodge concept car from the early '50's, maybe from Ghia...


Dan

[Otto Puzzell]

Is it from Argentine? It looks a little as the Institec Justicialista Sports (with a Porsche engine). But this one could perhaps be the Institec Graciela (with a DKW engine)? Institec was shortlived, from 1954 to 1955.

Similar indeed, but no.

[Otto Puzzell]

Dodge Fire Arrow?   Looks like it could be a Dodge concept car from the early '50's, maybe from Ghia...


Dan

Not a Dodge.

[Tifosi]

It's the Studebaker 240Z Golden Hawk...



Dan

[Otto Puzzell]

Nope.

[MG]

Institec was shortlived     


Hence the name!   

[smonty]

A Citroen DS 19 prototype?

[Otto Puzzell]

Not a Citroen.

[porridgehead]

Looks like a lump of freakin' clay.

I guess that seems right.  So now that we've determined that it actually isn't a car (come on, name me a clay car. I dare ya. No, Chevettes don't count.) the question becomes "If it were made out of painted stuff, what would it be. Besides ugly as filth." The answer is, of course, ugly as grime. But beyond that, I would imagine that it would be fiberglass, as it obviously was limited in production and a splash could be taken directly from the clay. Furthermore, it probably would be powered by somebody else's engine, because this ain't the big leagues (Just look at those grunts! If it was GM they'd be smoking Chesterfields and swilling martinis, which would go a long way towards explaining the styling.)

Stay with me here, cause I swear I'm gonna solve this.

Looking at the styling cues, I'd place this mutt in the early fifties, 'cause they didn't know much better then. It's the work of a maverick, possibly an engineer or designer, probably whose work is well known outside of the automotive arena. Thank God. Let's face it, whoever designed this probably could create a nice shoe polisher or floor sweeper but I seriously doubt if he could design even a decent Oscar Meyer Weinermobile.

Now that I've made these ridiculously baseless conjectures, I'll toss in another one: has Karn recently posted anything that meets these criteria?

Well hey, looky here: http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=530.0 The Studebaker Sceptre by iconoclast Brooks Stevens! Why don't we check into his other work, shall we? Nuthin' over there... not in this pile neither... under this box of stuff? Nope.. nothin...hold the phone? My, my, my, what do we have here?

Of course, it's all obvious now! How could I have been so stupid? It was the cover car of the April 1957 Road and Track! The Paxton Pheonix Powered by Porsche!



So there ya have it: a little lesson in deductive reasoning, unflinching logic and a tiny dose of digging. Nothing to it.

Naturally, the bigger lesson is that such little lessons are much easier to create when you're working backwards, having blindly stumbled over the answer through sheer dumb luck. 

Oops. Did I type that out loud? Dang.

[Arthur Dent]

haha - good show. I actually posted the Paxton Pheonix as a guess the car on another site as a guess the car thread but didn't recognize the the top picture.

[porridgehead]

It's Karn's little way of turning the merely impossible into the frustrating as <insert invective of choice>. Who else would take a one-off, virtually unknown, already expert-level automobile and post the stinking clay mock-up of the thing?  If I hadn't stumbled upon that exact photo while looking for special bodied 356s for another puzzle, I never would have guessed it.

He's evil, that Karn. Pure, concentrated evil.

[Otto Puzzell]

Who, me?   

[Otto Puzzell]

Top up; top down

[GrahamClayton]

The Paxton Phoenix was certainly an interesting car, especially in regard to the engine. Steam car pioneer Abner Doble was hired by Paxton to develop a steam engine for the Phoenix. The specification was for a 4-cylinder, 8-piston compound engine with a steam generator. Paxton also considered a 2-cycle, horizontally opposed, 3-cylinder engine with 6 opposed firing pistons, supercharged and developing approximately 170 bhp. The prototype was powered by a Porsche 1500 while the Paxton engines were being developed. The car was due to sell for approximately $100,000, but the project was abandoned in 1954 due to high development costs.

[Carnut]

What's this, by whom, from when - for 1 point?:

ANYONE FOUND GIVING ANSWERS OBTAINED BY USING GOOGLE SEARCH BY IMAGE MAY BE BANNED FOR AN INDETERMINATE PERIOD!

[Carnut]

Easy for Experts?

[ropat53]

1953 Paxton Phoenix

[Carnut]

1953 Paxton Phoenix

That's not enough for the point, but I'll lock it for you to look into it and tell me EXACTLY what it is..

[ropat53]

I see it's not the real car, this is the full-sized clay model of the Paxton car with part of the division personnel standing by to admire their handiwork

[Carnut]

I see it's not the real car, this is the full-sized clay model of the Paxton car with part of the division personnel standing by to admire their handiwork

Indeed it is!