Odd Designs...

[Tuckeroo]

A couple of odd three headlight designs from the 50s here:
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2008/11/06/thank-you-chet-kelley-dream-cars-of-tomorrow-from-1953/

[Phantomrig]

WOW there are some really interesting cars there.

[Tuckerfan1053]

Interesting to say the least! Thanks for sharing.

[Tuckeroo]

Today's post for odd designs might be titled "The Italian Connection"

Not sure if we carried information on this car before, but found it interesting. Abarth was toying with three-headlight designs in the 50s, but I found this one to be most striking:

http://www.rickcarey.com/Catalog%20Descriptions/Abarth%20Biposto/AbarthBiposto.htm

The 1952 Abarth Fiat Biposto 1500 was the predecessor of the Alfa Romeo Bertone "BATs" and I personally feel that the Tucker influence is unmistakable. This one-off would find it's way into Packard's studio, where it was largely ignored. The more significant Italian Tucker connection was in the form of the Cemsa-Caproni F11 prototypes. These were front H4 engined, front wheel drive, with the same perimeter-type frame as Tucker. Alex Tremulis & Team were working up proposals to re-body the F11s as a compact line for Tucker (essential what the Henry J was to Kaiser). What they would have looked like, I would be very curious to know. (Anyone know if the proposals existed/still exist?) Until then, I have wondered if they might have looked anything like the Biposto. As for the F11s, there were fewer of those produced than Tuckers, though the layout seemingly would form the basis of a later Kaiser proposal (The "105," while Tremulis was in their studio), the Hotchkiss-Gregorie in France, Ferguson in the UK, Lancia Flavia and Alfa-Romeo Alfasud in Italy, Subaru in Japan (another company where Tremulis worked), and others. Cemsa-Caproni was also tied to the attempted revival of the classic Isotta-Fraschini marque which was to produce a car of it's own not unlike Tucker or Tatra, the Tipo 8C Monterosa. It had a rear-mounted V8 and a similar perimeter frame to the F11 and Tucker (unlike Tatra). No more than 20-26 were likely ever produced.

More of the Biposto: http://www.carstyling.ru/en/cars.1952_Abarth_1500%20Biposto%20Coupe.html

Abarth Ferrari 166/MM 53 from 1953 with 3 headlights: http://www.ultimatecarpage.com/car/2025/Ferrari-166-MM-53-Abarth-Spyder.html

The Cemsa-Caproni F11of 1947-1948 (before restyling at Tucker): http://www.auta5p.eu/katalog/cemsa/cemsa_f11_01.htm

The other Italian "Tucker," the 1947-1948 rear-engined Isotta-Fraschini Tipo 8C Monterosa: http://www.motorbase.com/profiles/picture/index.ehtml?i=230429176;s=Monterosa;p=0

[Tuckeroo]

The French Connection:
Another Tucker contemporary was the Wimille (also known as the J. P. Wimille or Wimille-Ford) built by the French Grand- Prix driver Jean-Pierre Wimille:

http://www.vea.qc.ca/vea/articles/wimille.htm

Three prototypes were built (in 1946, 1948, and 1949). They have tapered rooflines, doors that cut into the roof, rear engines, and center driving positions. The second protype has a single, center-mounted headlight.