Archive photos: Odd autos

Archive photos of cars that didn't quite catch on.

Section:Gallery

Sat., May 27, 2006

New Arrival: Most recent of the foreign car arrivals in Spokane is the Borgward Isabella, a four-cylinder German make being examined here by Yvonne Hansen. The car is a two-door sedan. It also is made in a station wagon. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Traffic stopper: Proving that it travels on land or water, H.L. Wheatman of Seattle puts on a traffic-stopping demonstration in the Spokane River with the West German Amphicar he delivered recently to Jaremko Motors, N2020 Monroe. it is billed as "the sports car that swims." Story published March 21, 1962. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Kent Swigard sits in an electric CitiCar. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Mayor Ron Blair took a ride in electric van powered by 20 lead-acid batteries. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.

Clint Watkins The Spokesman-Review
Transportation Secretary Brock Adams shows off a Research Safety Vehicle in Seattle. It is one of 13 to be built by Mini-cars, Inc., of California, under a $6 million contract. The car is designed to protect its occupants in head-on crashes at speeds of 50 mph and should get 31 miles per gallon of gas in the city and 39 miles on the highway. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Look! No wheel! An automobile without a conventional steering wheel? Yes, that's what Clifford Aden, procurement officer for the state patrol, is driving here. He is road testing in the Spokane area a model developed by the Ford Motor Co. and produced in limited quantity. The steering wheel is replaced by two steering knobs which can be operated with either or both hands and gives more sensitive control of the vehicle. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Don't bother to call your nearest UFO reporting center is you see Fred Barker flying his Sky Commuter through the skies of Washington later this summer. The futuristic-looking, 14-foot-long aerocar is from Arlington, Wash., not Mars. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Pictured here is a Talbot "Lago," a French car. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
This is the new four-passenger Leata Cabalero, the second auto model produced by Stinebaugh Manufacturing Co. of Post Falls, Idaho. Handcrafted and hand-built of steel and fiberglass, it has a four-cylinder engine with cast iron block. Gary L. Gockley, sales manager, says the company has phased out the first model of the Leata after selling several hundred. Don E. Stinebaugh, president of the firm, and his sons design the small cars. Photo courtesy of the Commercial Photographer. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Pictured here is Les Brown with his 1913 Stanley Steamer. The car runs on 400 pounds of steam pressure and can run 40 miles on a tank of water. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.
Keys to the turbine car were presented this morning to Cecil F. Innis and his wife, Ann of East 1822 40th in Spokane by A.H. Wilson, Western Area Turbine Service Coordinator, Chrysler Corp. The turbine delivery took Place at the Holiday Inn in Spokane. Pictured from left to right are: Mr. Wilson, Mr. Innis, Mrs. Innis, and Marla, age 10. Photo courtesy of Brown's Commercial Photography. Photo Archive/ The Spokesman-Review.