Semi-Austerity?

[plee4139]

I saw an ad on the Hemmings site for a 1959 rambler American. It looked very sharp with a red body, white top,whitewalls and conti kit. What really intrigued me was that despite these efforts to "dress it up," it was the cheapest and most austere car you could by, similar to our Scotsman. The inner door panels were truck-like and didn't even have an armrest or door pull. They must have found this one under "Silk purses from sow's ears." Check it out.

[PackardV8]

The J.C.Whitney catalog had pages and pages of useless shiny bits to dress up stripper models.

Ironically, Honda learned from an American, Edward Deming, that it was actually more cost-effective to include the radio, antenna, heater, side mirrors, door pulls, floor mats and all the other small stuff on every car as it came down the assembly line. It actually added to manufacturing cost to keep track of which individual car got which small stuff.

jack vines

[Mike Sal]

I really miss those days of using the JC Whitney catalog as a wish book when I was a kid. You could almost build a Model A Ford from that catalog. I remember ordering some blue dye for the dash light bulbs on dad's '60 chevy from them.
Mike Sal

[DEEPNHOCK]

I used to go the JC Whitney/Warshawski's in Chicago all the time. (Same building, two signs, same company).
They had a coollittle mini museum of cars the owners collected over the years.
An interesting side note...
Those model A and model T parts that JC Whitney and Warshawski's sold?
Those were reproduced and sold for years through JC Whitney and Warshawki's by Jim Schmidt.
Jim later went on to start his own company called National Parts Depot (NPD) selling muscle car parts.
Of further cool Stude related interest is that Jim also collected a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of very interesting and special cars over the years.
Stashed some of them in a cave in Colorado...
Jim set up an NPD branch in Ocala, FL and put his son, Rick, in there to learn the biz and grow the family business.
The building they got was huge (at the time) and Jim and Rick filled half the building with their growing car collection.
Too tight for public museum viewing, but a neat place to go on an invited back room tour.
To keep the Stude content flowing here.....
Rick is friends with Stephen Cade (Of Stephen Allen's Auto fame), and they exchange a lot of info and do some re-pop vendor work together.
Every once and a while the lucky NCFSDCchaper members get a treat and they meet at the NPD distribution center in Ocala for a chapter meeting/mini car show/back room museum tour.
OK.. That's my forum tidbit for the day...

I really miss those days of using the JC Whitney catalog as a wish book when I was a kid. You could almost build a Model A Ford from that catalog. I remember ordering some blue dye for the dash light bulbs on dad's '60 chevy from them.
Mike Sal

[StudeRich]

Very interesting story Jeff, thanks for posting that.

But, (there's always a But) if Jim Schmidt was making and selling Model A and T Parts to J.C Whitney, wouldn't he be about 105 by now?

[Mrs K Corbin]

I wonder if one could still build a new "T"

[sweetolbob]

I wonder if one could still build a new "T"

Speedway Motors got you covered. https://www.speedwaymotors.com/t-bucket

Bob

[8E45E]

Ironically, Honda learned from an American, Edward Deming, that it was actually more cost-effective to include the radio, antenna, heater, side mirrors, door pulls, floor mats and all the other small stuff on every car as it came down the assembly line. It actually added to manufacturing cost to keep track of which individual car got which small stuff.

Before the Japanese included 'extra value' items such as floor mats, radios, map lights, etc., most of the cheap European imports from the 1950's and early 1960's very were austere not unlike that Rambler American. Some of them didn't even have a place on the dash for a radio, and it had to be hung on below if one was installed.

Craig

[qsanford]

Before the Japanese included 'extra value' items such as floor mats, radios, map lights, etc., most of the cheap European imports from the 1950's and early 1960's very were austere not unlike that Rambler American. Some of them didn't even have a place on the dash for a radio, and it had to be hung on below if one was installed.

Craig

True. BMC did offer a Smith's Radiomobile installation kit that replaced one of the Morris Minor's twin glove box doors with a replacement "door' with a cut out for a radio!