23 February 2016

Phantom Corsair (1938)

The Phantom Corsair is a prototype automobile built in 1938. It is a six-passenger 2-door sedan that was designed by Rust Heinz of the H. J. Heinz family and Maurice Schwartz of the Bohman & Schwartz coachbuilding company in Pasadena, California.

The Phantom Corsair's steel-and-aluminum body measured just 57 in (140 cm) in height and incorporated fully skirted wheels and completely flush fenders while forgoing running boards. The car also lacked door handles, as the doors were instead opened electrically using push-buttons located on the exterior and the instrument panel

The body measured an impressive 237 in (600 cm) long and 76.5 in (194 cm) wide, enough to accommodate four people in the front row, including one person to the left of the driver.  The back seats could only hold two passengers, however, in large part because of space limitations posed by on-board beverage cabinets.  Though weighing a hefty 4,600 lb (2,100 kg), the Phantom Corsair could achieve speeds of up to 115 mph.

Heinz's death in a car accident in July 1939 ended those plans, leaving the prototype Corsair as the only one ever built.
1938.  Nineteen thirty-eight.  Amazing.

(How do the front wheels turn when they are fully skirted?  I presume the skirt moves with the wheel...)

Image via The Age of Diesel.

12 comments:

  1. My understanding is that the wheel skirts do not move. Rather, there is a small amount of room for maneuvering hidden beneath the skirt giving it approximately the same turning radius as protons in the Large Hadron Collider.

    Other cars such as the 1955 Lincoln Futura had half height cowling for the wheels and suffered the same fate.

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    Replies
    1. I just looked at the Lincoln Futura. Oh my god what horrid styling. And, I'm sure if you sat in / drove that thing on a sunny day you'd get roasted.

      Lurker111

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    2. In fairness to the designers, I assume they were looking to design a very expensive luxury car for people with giant houses with circular (a.k.a. horseshoe) driveways and chauffeurs who could just take the car around the block when they went into the city. It wasn't meant for regular Joe's who have to parallel park on occasion.

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  2. Here's a video of it turning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z8HtjTgkqw

    And a funny clip from a movie that gives you a sense of the interior and under the hood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpUHvXIXFQY

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    Replies
    1. Isn't it strange the driver seat is on the right?

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    2. Not completely on the right - just to the right of where it is on modern cars (more left-center). See the photo.

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    3. In the video clip the driver is on right, passenger on left.

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    4. Ah - the movie clip, not the car show clip. I would think, since only one copy of the car was manufactured and the movie was made in England, that the producers just crafted an outer shell to place over an existing British or European car (notice the movie car also doesn't have the "onboard beverage cabinets" in the back seat.

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  3. I'm in love.

    Lurker111

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  4. that looks like the basis for the bugatti EB112?

    I-)

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