What car would you buy in 1936?

"JR1" (type35bugatti) 11/23/2015 at 11:16 • Filed to: What Would You Buy When, WWYBW

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Rules: The car had to be sold brand new in 1936.

This is an interesting year. Buyers are beginning to see the last of the dinosaur luxury cars that defined the automotive world for over two decades and they were beginning to see smaller more aerodynamic styling that would last for the next decade or more.

With that in mind I would take the Cord 810. Powered by a 125hp V8 engine this car was fast and stylish. And since it was the first automobile with pop up headlights it is also a rather big milestone. Gordon Buehrig certainly was an unsung hero of American automotive design.

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X37.9XXS > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:20

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The easiest question I’ll get all day

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:23

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Hmmm, probably a Riley MPH if I could afford it. Twin camshafts (albeit an odd twincam-in-block) and a sporty chassis.

Yes please.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:24

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Cadillac Model 60 Deluxe Coupe

MG TA Airline Coupe

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:25

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REO Speed Wagon.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:26

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Unless I was mega-rich in which case I'd get an Alfa 6C 2300 or an 8C 2900...

not for canada - australian in disguise > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:28

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Either a Duesenberg SJ, a Packard 12, or an Auburn Speedster.

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:29

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The Opel Super 6 (above) because the Opel Admiral (below) came out in ‘37.

JR1 > X37.9XXS 11/23/2015 at 11:31

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I think by 36 the only two SSJ’s were already sold

JR1 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:31

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Not a bad choice but I suggest going with the mega rich option

JR1 > Trevor Slattery, ACTOR 11/23/2015 at 11:32

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Go MG it is so much cooler

JR1 > not for canada - australian in disguise 11/23/2015 at 11:33

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Auburn Speedster is really my first choice but I could get that in 35 so I will wait until I make a post about 35 before I pick that

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:33

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1936 Graham-Paige. Crank driven supercharger bolted onto a 3.7L straight 6 putting down 127Bhp @4400rpm.

Awww yisss.

Cé hé sin > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:33

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Making use of my retrospectoscope to maximise the value: this Delahaye 135.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:33

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Standard process as usual - no benefit of hindsight, and similar tradesman’s income at the time: LaSalle convertible coupe if I could stretch for it (budget no-frills Cadillac!), otherwise Ford Phaeton or Hupmobile rumble seat coupe... if I could hold out for the late year new ‘37s.

JR1 > FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem 11/23/2015 at 11:33

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I frankly like the Super 6 more

JR1 > Cé hé sin 11/23/2015 at 11:34

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You can never go wrong with a Delahaye

JR1 > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/23/2015 at 11:35

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Certainly not the obvious pick. I like it

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 11:37

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All three are great picks but for whatever the reason I have always had an odd draw to the Ford Phaeton.

Did your cousin ever go look at that Chrysler?

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:37

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Are there actually other options?

JR1 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/23/2015 at 11:38

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I would get a Duesy from 32 or before. By 36 I would already have at least two Duesys so I need to expand my horizons.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:38

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Yeah me too.

However, I did see a supercharged Riley MPH that ran a 13.8s quarter mile on period-width rubber:

JR1 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:38

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Seriously? That is impressive

punkgoose17 > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:39

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1936 Auburn Supercharged Coupe Convertible. The Roadster is a more beautiful, but the coupe convertible is a little more practical.

yitznewton > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:39

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Totally out of my knowledge base, but looking at stuff on the internet:

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:40

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If Duisenberg for some reason did not exist, or I already had a ton of them, here’s my second choice.

yitznewton > Cé hé sin 11/23/2015 at 11:41

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Damn that looks good

JR1 > punkgoose17 11/23/2015 at 11:42

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Take beauty over practicality. You deserve it

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:42

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I thought so. There were a couple of old Bentley Blowers that chuffed and roared down the strip at a bit of an amble. Then this thing rolled up and I thought ‘much the same as the Bentleys I reckon’.

Then with a supercharger whine as loud as the rest of the engine it just fucked off...

Never did track down the owner to find out how much power it was making, or how much boost he'd squeezed into it...

JR1 > yitznewton 11/23/2015 at 11:43

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Gotta love MG. Didn’t change their design for decades!

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:43

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“MG NB Magnette Airline Coupe” by Ed CallowCropped

Man...pre war MG Airline coupes are the shit.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:43

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The ‘36 Fords are very stately, almost unbelievably for a budget car, and a Phaeton roof is just practical. He did look at the Imperial, but then made grumbling noises about the lack of interior and apparently quite a lot of floorboard and trunk rust. I’ll get him in a barge eventually...
Did you see my post on the brake booster? I’d been wondering just what nonsense was going on with that weird little can on the Capri’s firewall, and now I know. Spent several hours Saturday disassembling the front brakes, and now it’s rollable. This guy has an interesting blog if you haven’t found it already...

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:44

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Well when you had a straight 6 putting out more horses then most of the V8’s on the market how could you not?

JR1 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 11/23/2015 at 11:44

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Probably one of the last years you could get one. Stupid Hitler had to ruin all the fun

JR1 > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:45

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I imagine it was quite a lot. But the car is also very light so maybe it wasn’t a crazy huge amount

JR1 > Trevor Slattery, ACTOR 11/23/2015 at 11:45

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These are beautiful. Might be my favorite MG

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:47

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What the hell? Wow...

RallyWrench > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:47

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‘36 Ford. Kinja is buggering images.

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 11:48

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Props for this one. Riley’s don’t get the respect they deserve in the States.

misfitmascots > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:48

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1936 Delaware Type 135

misfitmascots > misfitmascots 11/23/2015 at 11:48

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Delahaye

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:49

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Yeah I did think the whole lot probably weighed not much more than 600kg. 200bhp would get you a long way with that little weight to pull along...

Matt Nichelson > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:51

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Bugatti 57 Type 57S Atlantic. The Ralph Lauren car gets a lot of hype, but this one is supposedly the first one built and had parts from the Aerolithe prototype. Built in 1936, this is the Rothschild car that eventually had a supercharger added in ‘39 to make it a full on SC.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Trevor Slattery, ACTOR 11/23/2015 at 11:52

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Yeah I don’t know how many they sold over there, but they’re every bit as impressive technically as the Alfas and SS Jaguars of the era.

My granddad had and old Riley Kestrel back in the day. Apparently sold it to a couple for £50! Even with inflation that's a hell of a deal...

FSI - alcohol enthusiast with a car problem > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:57

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American flair in Europe appropriate size.

Haase > JR1 11/23/2015 at 11:59

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Easy. I’d pick up a Murphy-bodied Duesenberg Model J. The disappearing top Roadster to be specific...Maybe with a supercharger.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:01

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Auburn Speedster. Because boattail and supercharged straight-8.

Either that or a Mercedes-Benz 500k

Trevor Slattery, ACTOR > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 11/23/2015 at 12:03

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Riley Sprite 1936 (1½litre). Riley FTW!

Hoccy > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:04

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Why of course a Volvo PV 51..

Or, the Opel Kadett also looks like a lot of fun

Sam > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:04

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Cord Hardtop is best Cord.

Only 3 were made, this one being owned by the founder of Champion Sparkplugs.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. 11/23/2015 at 12:05

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The Hupmobile I posted is actually a variant body of that.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > misfitmascots 11/23/2015 at 12:06

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“Autocorrect, you ignorant slut!”

punkgoose17 > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:12

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Okay you talked me into it.

TheBloody, Oppositelock lives on in our shitposts. > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 12:13

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It was a desperation move by Hupmobile, although Graham at the time was also hurting pretty bad. I wonder what kind of whacky cars they’d be selling now if they survived.

Birddog > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:25

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Studebaker Dictator Coupe.

Who names their car “Dictator”? Pure awesome!

KnowsAboutCars > JR1 11/23/2015 at 12:46

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Voisin V12L perhaps.

Another interesting choice would be Czechoslovakian Aero 30 with Sodomka body.

Or Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Gurney-Nutting Airline Saloon...

Nolan Knight > JR1 11/23/2015 at 13:53

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bentley 4.5 litre, good chap.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 13:58

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I have not seen the post about the brake booster I will go look now. And I am glad to hear it is rolling that is so odd that they were frozen for whatever the reason I though the rear were the frozen ones and the front were fine.

As for the link I am not sure if it is broken or what but it will not open on my computer.

JR1 > RallyWrench 11/23/2015 at 13:59

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I have always been a fan of the 36

JR1 > misfitmascots 11/23/2015 at 13:59

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Such a stunning car

JR1 > Matt Nichelson 11/23/2015 at 14:00

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I just can’t get behind the look of this car. It just doesn’t do it for me. I must be weird because everyone else seems to love it.

JR1 > Haase 11/23/2015 at 14:02

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As I stated elsewhere I figure by 36 I would have already bought my fair share of Model Js so I would want something different

JR1 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/23/2015 at 14:02

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I never cared much for the Merc. And as you can see by my profile pic I have a thing for the Auburn

JR1 > Hoccy 11/23/2015 at 14:03

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Opel somehow looks cuter and more fun

JR1 > Sam 11/23/2015 at 14:03

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I think this one (or one close to it) can be found at the ACD museum

JR1 > Birddog 11/23/2015 at 14:04

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“dictator” I love it

JR1 > KnowsAboutCars 11/23/2015 at 14:05

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All three excellent choices. I wonder what would have happened to the Czech car industry if the Germans would have not invaded?

JR1 > Nolan Knight 11/23/2015 at 14:06

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Great pick

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 14:17

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Basically, the booster on the Lincoln is a funny setup in which there’s a big air piston moving in a cylinder instead of a big diaphragm stretching/pushing backward or forward. The Bendix Treadle-Vac system. That kind of setup is more prone to corrosion-induced wear and the outer seal going bad, and less prone to Epic Fail from a hole in the rubber diaphragm. So, it’s less likely for the *booster* to fail catastrophically, but may be more likely to fail somewhat overall. The big problem is the design of the master cylinder, and being a single-line system - a brake leak leaves you with no brakes at all, boost or no, and that booster design likely doesn’t pump up very easily. The trick may be to swap to a different master cylinder, one that allows dual zones, and replace the plunger seal with a smaller one, machining down the plunger that in the normal setup displaces fluid and using it as just a pushrod:

The front left was sort of rolling, it seemed when I loaded, but I think the tires may just have been moving on the wheels. The rear were free, if sticky, but the fronts... let’s just say on one side a piece of friction material peeled off the shoe rather than let go. The left. The right popped loose easier because the adjuster came out of place. Probably a half cup of rust powder came out of each side. Interestingly, yours didn’t have auto-adjusting brakes, but the difference to make them auto-adjust is one short cable and a stamped metal lever - as seen on the 60. The shoes, the springs, everything is the same, so I may OPGRAD if I can find the parts.

I tried the link just now, and it’s working, but even with an “http” instead of an “https” (secure, might otherwise cause the problem), it redirects to https. WORDPRESS!

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > JR1 11/23/2015 at 14:30

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I can’t tell by your profile pic because on my screen it’s a tiny blob of pixels.

Matt Nichelson > JR1 11/23/2015 at 14:30

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Nah, not weird at all. It is a very polarizing vehicle so I understand your opinion.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 14:34

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While I was under there, I found enough scraps to nail down the *correct* rocker construction:

Floor, inner rocker, rocker brace, outer rocker, outer rocker cover, and rocker bottom. I’m thinking replace the outer rocker cover and rocker brace completely, if I can detach them (#2 and #4 vertical lines). Splice the inner rocker to the floor, put a new lower half on the outer rocker, and then put the bottom on.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 15:44

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Well hopefully this will be one of bigger issues you have to tackle. It seems pretty complicated but not out of your realm of expertise. I did not think the process would be that complicated to get the power brakes back to working but alas I do not know as much as you.

If you get the chance I say do the upgrade it would be worth it in the long term. At least you have the car rolling now which should make moving it/working on it significantly easier.

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 15:45

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Glad you were able to find the correct rocker construction too. It shouldn’t be that hard to fix hopefully. Know that you know what is needed to fix it.

JR1 > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/23/2015 at 15:47

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That is weird I wonder why

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 15:58

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I actually did run across an undercarriage picture on the webs - not very clear, but it supported what I’d been able to suss out. I saw some visible surface rust on the rockers that was as yet going unremarked, possibly indicate worse things afoot. I thought to myself, boy...

JR1 > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 11/23/2015 at 15:59

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Lets hope that you are wrong then and it won't be worse

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 16:02

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The power brakes aren’t really that scary, and the rebuild is relatively cheap - I just may choose to improve them, that’s all. A rebuild kit for the booster for like a hundred bucks, an afternoon of rework and making an adapter plate/changing the plunger, a new seal for like $8, and a brand new Wilwood or similar master cylinder for $80 - price still beats the rebuilt original, would look pretty much original, and would be safer. As long as the booster cylinder isn’t too trashed. If it is - sleeve it! Most likely pretty easy to do that if I had to.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > JR1 11/23/2015 at 16:04

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The other guy’s pic, is what I mean. Saw several things that needed to be nipped in the bud. Mostly, I was like “you’re awfully casual driving this thing around with a rotted torque box. Are you really on top of things?”

Your boy, BJR > X37.9XXS 11/23/2015 at 16:34

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A toy car?

ranwhenparked > JR1 11/23/2015 at 19:46

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Assuming I made about the same relative income, probably a Packard 120.

How could you go wrong? It’s a freaking Packard for the price of a Buick!

JR1 > ranwhenparked 11/24/2015 at 08:14

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Was the Packard 120 the beginning of the end for the company? Did it dilute the brand or would that come later?

ranwhenparked > JR1 11/24/2015 at 09:29

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There’s two schools of thought on that. One is that the 120 sold so well and became so common that it changed the public perception of what Packard stood for as a brand. The other is that Packard lavished development resources on the 120, because of how much cash it was bringing in, while starving their senior models. By the early ‘40s, the 120 was Packard’s most modern and competitive model, while their Senior cars had become hopelessly outdated. When production resumed after the war, they decided not to even bother bringing back the old Senior cars.