The Gaylord

NOW HERE IS A CAR! this has got to be one of my all time favorite cars I love this thing.. everything about it.. just the right proportions and color and use of chrome and all JUST GREAT. Ok now I have ALOT about this car so sit back and enjoy learning about a great piece of 50s automobilla. 

The car started off as the dream of the Gaylord brothers, Ed and Jim Gaylord. They wanted to make the finest sports cars in the world, They had the money to do it as they were rich (they were the heirs to a fortune as their dad was the one who invented the bobby pin!) so money aside they were good to go.. and they also knew a great deal about cars and were even personal friends of Ed Cole the big guy at GM. 

They even had a legendary engineer Andy Granatelli make a INCREDIBLY FAST Packard some years before (The Granatelli family became rich as well..

The car was ORIGINALLY going to be designed by NONE OTHER then one of the greats Alex Tremulis (famous for many cars including the Tucker) ..but couldn't due to conflicts with his then current employer FORD.. so he suggested another big name in car design Brooks Stevens (he did a number of designs for the Jeep and his own company EXCALIBER cars years later) AMAZING HOW EVERY ONE IS CONNECTED TOGETHER HUMM? 

Well now Brooks said sure and he did the design.. it was very clean, nice styling and Brooks was always known for very classical styling.. such as upright grille, large headlights and use of classical colors. 

The cars had 100inch wheel base and a retractable hardtop. The car was first shown at the 1955 Paris Auto Salon after being done by Spohn of Ravensburg, West Germany. The "production" cars had Caddy V8s the prototype had 331-cid Chrysler Hemi, the production had Hydra-Matic trans. The spare slid out from under the trunk on a tray and has a large number of instruments. 

Weighing in at 4000lbs. (kinda heavy) it was fast at 120mph and 0-60 mph in 10 seconds. The cars didn't last though as conflicts over the kind of quality (the one brother being VERY much a perfectionist) caused them to hop to a more expensive coachbuilder Luftschiffbau Zeppelin of Freidreichshaven. 

Only four were done, one is at or was at the Early American Museum in Orlando Florida, another was last known to be in Germany. A great car that could have been like so many others that just didn't happen to make it.