Mystery retractable hardtop...can anyone identify?
http://retractable.free.fr/uk/index.html (http://retractable.free.fr/uk/index.html)
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/category/oddities/one-offs/ (http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/category/oddities/one-offs/)
That´s so remarkable that I found the two pics on my hard disc drive immediately:
I ´ve tried to find out more, too, but I wasn´t even able to retrace the pics myself.
When filing them I´ve added all information I had.
So I can just tell that the source said that it was built by a certain Dan Lalee or Dan La Lee and the pics were taken in or near Detroit.
Maybe I was able to help
That is amazing, and it's the best lead yet, thank you! :) Unfortunately I too was unable to follow-up with the name Dan La Lee/Lalee, but I will ensure that you get credit! Who knows, that may be all the info there is!
Quote from: Tuckeroo on July 02, 2007, 12:27:59 PM
That is amazing, and it's the best lead yet, thank you! :) Unfortunately I too was unable to follow-up with the name Dan La Lee/Lalee, but I will ensure that you get credit! Who knows, that may be all the info there is!
I would love to get Hemmings to talk to me about using this place as a resource for articles and other types of partnership ideas I have that I think would benefit both sites. Any ideas on who I should try reaching out to there?
Well, I set a hyperlink to this autopuzzle.com site at Hemmings.
So this is a first step, isn´t it?
Quote from: grobmotorix on July 02, 2007, 02:22:10 PM
Well, I set a hyperlink to this autopuzzle.com site at Hemmings.
So this is a first step, isn´t it?
Helping us grow is what it is all about!
:thumbsup:
Quote from: grobmotorix on July 02, 2007, 02:22:10 PM
Well, I set a hyperlink to this autopuzzle.com site at Hemmings.
So this is a first step, isn´t it?
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/category/oddities/one-offs/
:applause:
Cool, I hope this will bring some publictity to my favoured web-site....
Thanks, grobmotorix - this is great!
It may not be the same, but here is a link showing a Daniel La Lee as manufacturer of a plane.
http://www.airport-data.com/aircraft/N20LL.html
I ´ve seen another link talking about a plane builder Dan LaLee, too, before. So...
The aircraft in question was certified in 1984 and deregistered in 1991, so I doubt that it was the same person because of the time span. The car was probably built prior to WW ll. It might be his son, or it could be the same person...but that seems to be stretching things a little.
Dan
Looks like a home-built-from-kit job to me, so probably no relevance.
Like this:
http://www.mustangaero.com/Midget%20Mustang/Midget%20Mustang.html
Quote from: Allan L on July 17, 2007, 05:12:00 AM
Looks like a home-built-from-kit job to me, so probably no relevance.
Like this:
http://www.mustangaero.com/Midget%20Mustang/Midget%20Mustang.html
It's true. The link I found gave 1991 was the date of a crash, and the Mustang Midgets do seem to be sold as kits.
I found a thread at an Hungarian site about this car:
http://belsoseg.blog.hu/2007/05/06/mysterycar
The roof is very similar to that of Chrysler Thunderbolt from 1940/1941. Five Thunderbolts was built, maybe the mystery car was a test car?
I think SeaLion is correct that this was a custom car. Note the wheels on upper picture. The size and rims are much smaller in cross section and bigger around then the 1940s cars. Looks like the wheels are of the early 1930 instead. Compare the pictures below with the ones above. I see several close details.
otto
You're not the first ones to think of those fantastic Chryslers and Alex Tremulis' work.
I have great admiration for Tremulis, who did the Tucker also, but here is an article from Popular Mechanix, year 1938, identifying the builder as a California airman. If it was the work of a design studio of one the Big Three, they would have sais so.
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2007/08/08/flier-designs-streamline-push-button-car/
How did I miss that one?? I'm a regular viewer of the modern mechanix blog! Thanks for posting that!
...Oh, and being that I am Tuckeroo, I had also made the Tremulis comparison and ruled it out ;) But it does raise the whole chicken and egg question in my mind again...
Quote from: SeaLion on July 19, 2007, 06:04:02 PM
I found a thread at an Hungarian site about this car:
http://belsoseg.blog.hu/2007/05/06/mysterycar
The plate's a little fuzzy, but when I squint my eyes, it seems to read New Mexico.
Quote from: grobmotorix on June 30, 2007, 03:49:46 PM
and the pics were taken in or near Detroit.
If near Detroit - the background reminds me a lot of the old Packard Proving Grounds track , though this does not appear to be a Packard. If anything it reminds of all the custom cars I used to see in Popular Mechanics - built by returning servicemen who;d learned all kinds of metal-working and mechanical skills while in the service, and everyone was off to build the car of the future. So, my guess is that it ws built in the early 1950's. Packard folded in 1958, so maybe these were taken at their proving Grounds after the car was several years old. Just guessin' here.
Motorace:
As i´ve written before. I´m quite sure I had found this pics on the MMM-site (Making of modern Michigan). There was a big package of hundreds of old Packard works pics, too. So the Packard link may be absolutely right.
Strangely enough I wasn´t able to retrace the pics anymore...
Quote from: Motorace on August 30, 2007, 04:46:11 PM
Quote from: grobmotorix on June 30, 2007, 03:49:46 PM
and the pics were taken in or near Detroit.
If near Detroit - the background reminds me a lot of the old Packard Proving Grounds track , though this does not appear to be a Packard. If anything it reminds of all the custom cars I used to see in Popular Mechanics - built by returning servicemen who;d learned all kinds of metal-working and mechanical skills while in the service, and everyone was off to build the car of the future. So, my guess is that it ws built in the early 1950's. Packard folded in 1958, so maybe these were taken at their proving Grounds after the car was several years old. Just guessin' here.
If you check a few comments above and follow the link I've added to the Modern Mechanix blog, you'll see there were pics taken in 1938. So It cannot have been built in the early 50's.
Very belatedly, we shall consider this puzzle...SOLVED!
I joined Autopuzzles.com as I was following the tracks of the "Dan LaLee streamliner". Since Grobmotorix found this identification, confirmed by different leads, I have always felt that this puzzle should be declared solved. All that was maybe missing was the source of this identification, which Grobmotorix said he was unable to track again.
I found it, I think. It's not on "The Making of Modern Michigan", as he thought, but on a related site:
Grobmotorix pictures come from The Detroit News, dated 2-10-1938. Dan LaLee is mentioned in the description. So, a Michigan newspaper, and nothing says that the pictures haven't been taken on the Packard proving grounds, like Motorace thinks, but it can as well be on a California airfield (which would look just the same), since LaLee was a "California airman". Those from Popular Mechanics" are California photographs.
I believe this is enough to recognize LaLee's fatherhood of this car and I wrote to Tuckeroo and asked if he could declare this one solved.
And, by the way, could an admin move this topic to the Solved section?
To further establish the identity of Dan LaLee, here is an older post on the Hemmings blog I had forgotten about:
Then, over the weekend, we had a breakthrough of sorts. The pictures were posted to the AutoPuzzles.com forum and almost immediately, a name popped up in association with the older photos: Dan LaLee.
But who was Dan LaLee? The responses on the forum didn't come up with an answer. So anybody out there familiar with the name?
UPDATE: Kit Foster informs us that the Social Security Death Index lists only one Daniel LaLee, born December 15, 1899, in Michigan, died December 1976, last residence Lompoc, California. "The cohort of people who remember him would be in their seventies and eighties, and they may have a lower-than-average frequency of blogreading," Kit said. But that LaLee definitely sounds like the kind of guy who would have designed the mystery retractable hardtop.
It is written somewhere that the Dan Lalee story will be an endless one. I found, on PrewarCars.com, that the car eventually ended in King Farouk of Egypt's collection (and I couldn't believe my eyes). Here is the proof if you need one (second car from left).
I emailed PrewarCar to let them know how this car, which is becoming a true legend, had been first identified at Autopuzzles.com by Grobmotorix.
Very cool!
Latest LaLee news!
Still on PrewarCar, author Terry Boyce produced a new photo of the car. The license plate (the same as in the movie) comes clearly from Michigan.
Thank you all. Now the photo can be seen at LIFE Magazine´s fabulous web archive:
Latest LaLee news. Other images popped up on the Hemmings blog. I'm not giving the link to the blog, but it's easy to find and much used by all autopuzzlers.
Here are those images of a great car which (let's not forget) was first identified on Autopuzzles.
Tuckeroo,
I think that very few relate to the fact that Alex was a mere 19-20 year old chap when he first started his design career with Cord while working with the experienced Gordon Buerhig.
The Tucker site brings forth that he was instrumental in the design of the Tucker, but did not actually design the car as a whole,
Many may not realize that he also designed many fabulous Austin's for the company.
Much was said about the "Tucker Convertible", few here may know that we were the "others" tallked about in ESPN and many articles.
We turned down interviews with many including the NY Times. We picked up our deposit and cancelled our contract to purchase that car as many learned. Enjoyed working with you and others at the Tucker site Tuckeroo !
Alex was indeed a talented and futuristic designer in many ways and in many fields of design, as well as La Lee.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Sorry for dropping off the planet with the Harris story Ulltra, we recieved another 100 pages of documents on Ben and his creation which have totally overwhelmed and astounded us.
We also recieved / unearthed 28 pictures that were hidden away in negatives for the past 58 years.
There is now no doubt in anything that we have placed in writting about Ben and his futuristic exotic sporting automobile.
Ultra, we feel that we may be of more help in the future in getting autopuzzles a little more well known at Hemmings and perhaps many other known publications , your site and the people that contribute are the best !!!!!
Merry Christmas to all, and please remember, that Christ is the reason for the season.
John
I really would like to know more about the flier La Lee or Lalee...