"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv)
02/13/2020 at 18:48 • Filed to: Quirks and Features
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"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv)
02/13/2020 at 18:48 • Filed to: Quirks and Features | 4
| 11 |
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that these were probably some of the greatest if not the greatest show cars ever. The World’s Fair was coming up, and the chemical company Rohm & Haas had just developed Plexiglass. When thinking up ways to showcase this new invention, they came up with the crazy idea of building a transparent car. From there, they made a partnership with General Motors and it was decided that two transparent cars would be built based on the design of a Pontiac Deluxe Six. General Motors then gave Rohm & Haas the factory blueprints for the body of the car, and Rohm & Haas proceeded to perfectly recreate all of the Pontiac’s body panels in Plexiglass. The same steel support structure that is found in the original Pontiac’s body is still there, so the Plexiglass acts as a window so you can see how the car is constructed, and all of the trim pieces (and tires) were made either white or chrome while certain mechanical parts were painted copper. All in all, these cars ended up costing $25,000 to build, which was quite a lot at the time, but the finished vehicles looked insane, earning them the nickname “The Ghost Car”. After the World’s Fair, the Ghost Cars toured various Pontiac dealerships until eventually being sold. Only one of them is known to survive, but it still looks just as fantastic today as it did then.
Okay so maybe its not in perfect condition today, but the fact that it still exists at all is awesome.
this car is not ideal for kidnapping...
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 18:54 |
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ranwhenparked
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:04 |
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The Plexiglass has become somewhat brittle with age, apparently it develops another small crack or two every time they move it, so they have to be kind of careful/selective about where it gets shown. Also, the white tires are the originals from 1939 and, though they have a lot of tread life and still hold air, are obviously a bit cracked.
If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:09 |
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Lexus made an LFA rendered entirely in acrylic glass, which makes it admittedly less driveable than the Pontiac.
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Jim Spanfeller
> ranwhenparked
02/13/2020 at 19:12 |
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Definitely not a road trip car...
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ranwhenparked
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:19 |
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Would be nice if Altuglas/Arkema at least pressed a replacement fender
The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:28 |
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How am I supposed to hide the dead hooker now?
Just Jeepin'
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:39 |
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Not as extreme, but those reminded me of the 2017 Jeep Safari concept that included glass doors and a glass roof.
jimz
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 19:41 |
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I’ll see if I can find the article, but I remember reading something about Chrysler doing this in the 1940s or 1950s. Way back before computers enabled finite element analysis on large structures, they built scale models of car bodies out of clear plastic, and would subject them to predicted real world bending and torsional stresses. Anywhere they saw the plastic start to turn white, they knew they had to beef up or re-design.
edit: didn’t take me long:
https://www.allpar.com/fix/body/unit-body.html
BaconSandwich is tasty.
> ranwhenparked
02/13/2020 at 20:03 |
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I was wondering how it held up over time. If anything, I would have expected it to start turning yellow.
punkgoose17
> Jim Spanfeller
02/13/2020 at 20:21 |
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The model reminds me of Priscilla Lane. I am guessing that was just the style in 1940.
SBA Thanks You For All The Fish
> The Crazy Kanuck; RIP Oppositelock
02/13/2020 at 21:41 |
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Beat me to it... I was going a slightly different direction, but...