All Articles Tagged 'design' (246)

The Swedish Ur best translates as 'original', and Ursaab was the Saab’s first prototype automobile*.

Project 92, so-called as numbers 90 and 91 had already been assigned to civilian aircraft, was agreed in 1945. Saab had decided that, with the Second World War drawing to a close, there would be a need to diversify away from military…

Another page of the Mercedes-Benz racecar saga: the W154:

Shortly after the first races were held organizers created rules and regulations to create a somewhat level playing field and to keep things relatively safe. In that light the rules setup for Grand Prix racing from 1934 to 1936 made little…

A little-known family of streamliners from the Netherlands - Gatford/Gatso.

The forerunner of the postwar Gatford and Gatso sports cars was built in 1938 and called Kwik (Mercury). Two-seater, with luxurious red…

It's been a long time since we had an Auto Union racer in our garage. Today, Silver Fish are here again!

Mercedes-Benz domination in Grand Prix ended with the Auto Union Typ C. It took a few years to get it right, but Ferdinand Porsche's daring design with a mid-mounted V16 finally won. It claimed many victories…

Enormous. That's the word for the greatest creation of Ettore Bugatti. Enormous dimensions. Enormous power. Enormous elegance.

The Bugatti Royale, also known as the Bugatti Type 41 is a luxury model car that has a wheelbase of 169.3 inches or 4.3 meters, and an…

This Sarurday, your air mail is brought to you by the most gorgeous trimotor ever built.

It is often said that aviation is the passion of a lifetime that slowly conquers the depth of one's soul*. This statement could never be truer when it comes to the life of René Couzinet, the Father…

Lightweight, powerful and superfast. Meet the Mercedes-Benz W125.

With the rapid development of technology, Grand Prix racing was subject to constant changes in the 1920s and early 1930s and sport's governing body (AIACR) struggled to create a definitive set of regulations that…

Wake up! Your Saturday Air Mail is here, brought by a sleek, stunningly beautiful monoplane.

Allan Lockheed and Jack Northrop teamed up together in 1927 and formed the Lockheed Aircraft Company.  It was a great combination and their Vega became the aircraft of the Golden Age for setting records.  Names like…

I've just come back from a seasonal trip to the UK, and I found evidence of a renewed interest in Modernism, Mod culture, and all kinds of artifacts from the Dieselpunk Era. For example, one major brewery (Elgood's) has been encouraging its pubs to restore their interior furnishings to their original designs - by which, they meant the Twenties and Thirties. Here are shots taken in the Wagon and Horses pub, Cambridge.  

More later!…

Back in 1940, a really hot car emerged from the Alfa Romeo workshops. Meet the 512 Gran Premio, a wannabe rival of the German streamline racers.

In the second half of the 1930s voiturette racing became increasingly popular*. As the name suggests, voiturettes were smaller Grand Prix racers; there was a 3-litre limit for the big…

Just look at this car:

Isn't it fantastic?

The Maybach Zeppelin DS-8, powered by a 8-liter V-12 engine, was introduced in 1931. It was one of the most refined automobiles of the period, a formidable rival of the Rolls-Royce, Grosser Mercedes and Hispano-Suiza. Superficially, the Zeppelin was a rather…

This futuristic concept, drawn by Jo Gault in 1946, could be a Buick:

Real postwar Buicks, no less impressive with their beautiful curves, massive fenders and extensive chrome trim, were developed from 1942 models:…

Between the two World Wars, Renault (responsible for the first mass-produced light tank) remained an important car & truck manufacturer.

Their designs weren't revolutionary but I can't call them "ultra-conservative. " Some luxury models boasted  eye-striking bodywork, like the one we see below, the engines were constantly…

Eva and yours truly finally present: Strangers' Journey.

You don't need to guess twice: it's a book, written in Russian, and the artist behind this cover art is Stefan. Actually, he created two…

This will be a short one - with a few really great pictures, although.

With the increase of passenger traffic on the New Haven's Shore Line requiring trains of fourteen to sixteen cars, the capacity of the I4 Pacifics which had been used for twenty years was severely taxed. As a result of tests with two of…

Sorry for being late. Took a long stroll this morning. Pomegranates everywhere, so today's color will be red.

Red is the traditional Italian racing color. And, with all due respect to Maserati, 1930s races, especially in the first half of the decade, were dominated by Alfa Romeo. But German teams slowly but surely began to steal the laurels from their future allies. Alfa had to develop something new.

Here is …

When I read that one of these locomotives was pressed into service in 1965, I could hardly believe my eyes.

But it's true. The WP class Pacifics were built for Indian Railways from 1947 through 1967. If we agree to call them 'streamliners' (in India, they prefer another definition - 'bullet nose'), here is the largest steam streamliner class…

One cannot but admire the pace of progress during the Diesel Era:

Three years after the introduction of lightweight diesel-powered streamline units, much more powerful locomotives were ready to haul full-weight trains. These locomotives, designed and built by EMC (Electro-Motive Corporation of La Grange, IL), were a serious competition…

The story of Porsche-designed Auto Union racers continued in 1935:

Actually, the work on Type B, an improved version of the glorious Auto Union Type A, started in the autumn 1934. The car received a new 16-cylinder…

This Sunday, our streamliner is small, electric-powered and not too fast.

The EF55 class consisted of three locomotives built in 1936 by Hitachi, Kawasaki, and Tōyō Electric in Japan. They had 2Co+Co1 wheel arrangement and were originally intended to haul limited express trains on the narrow gauge (1067mm,…