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Hemmings Motor News Blog

Hemmings Motor News has been around since 1954. We're proud of our heritage, but we're also more than the Hemmings full of classifieds that your father subscribed to. Aside from new editorial content every month in Hemmings, we have three monthly magazines: Hemmings Muscle Machines, Hemmings Classic Car and Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car.

While our editors traverse the country to find the best content for those magazines, we find other oddities related to the old-car hobby that we really had no place for - until now. With this blog, we're giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what we see and what we do during the course of putting out some of the finest automotive magazines you'll ever read.

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Delcar and the First American Motors

Posted June 22, 2009 5:01 PM by dstrohl

The first American Motors had absolutely nothing to do with the American Motors which followed it by a dozen years and gave a sort of mechanical immortality to such names as Ambassador, Gremlin, Hornet, Matador, and pacer. The American Motors of 1946 to 1949 hailed from Troy, New York. This aged metropolis would appear as unlikely a location for the manufacture of motor vehicles as the Kyber Pass.

The corporation was the result of an idea shared by five men. They envisioned a commercial vehicle which would be boxy, comparatively roomy for its size and otherwise combine utility with economy of operation. Its design would be square, it would be smaller than any other existing truck and be just the ticket to move in and out of traffic impossible to negotiate in other trucks.

Enter the Delcar.

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#1

Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/22/2009 2:13 PM

Some 60 years later, Troy, New York is the home to CR4 and it's parent company, GlobalSpec. We don't have a Delcar, of course, but we do have a Del the Cat.

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#2
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/23/2009 5:22 PM

..That's one cute van.
Del

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#3
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/23/2009 6:55 PM

...and it looks about the right size for a cat!

I would drive one, but it would only be fitting to put on my big floppy shoes, orange afro, poofy pants, and a big round red nose first. Of course all my like suited buddies would be obligated to join me... as long as we could all cram in (which we would with ease).

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#4
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 2:34 AM

'obligated to join me... '

AAAARRRGGGHHH...No.... it's OBLIGED not obligated...think of the letters you save...and it's so much smoother sounding.
This is my own personal most hated Americanism...it is clunky and it grates.
Spread the word... 'obliged'
Please please please please please
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#5
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 3:22 AM

You imagine John Wayne doffing his had to a lady and saying
'Much obliged M'am' when she's given him an extra portion of sticky pie.
It just doesn't sound right with 'obligated'...now does it?
Del

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#11
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 2:52 PM

I was watching a Cary Grant movie once, and instead of asking where the bathroom was he asked for the washroom.

Seemed classier to me.

What do you think? -definitely off topic.

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#12
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 3:39 PM

Hmmmm, trick one....

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#13
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 4:05 PM

Cary Grant was seen in a Sunbeam Talbot - I'm guessing it wouldn't have worked so well with the vehicle of topic. In trying to point out some possible drawbacks to the van, I'm really not sure if I'm Off-Topic. I'll just play safe and minimize....

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#9
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 11:29 AM

Alright, Alright, I will Make great effort to replace the Clunky "Obligated", with the Smooth "Obliged" in future conversations.

I am obliged to give you thanks for the well received criticism, as it may finally allow me to speak with a silver tongue. Just think of all the ways I can use this new found power!

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#6

Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 3:23 AM

First car we bought in year 1961 was Austin (Black car to which Mullin's Trailor is attached). We bought @ $ 600.00.It was rugged car suitable for any bad roads.

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#7

Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 3:51 AM

Way ahead of it's time;

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#8
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 4:23 AM

want one want one....
what is it? Is that a NISSAN logo on the wheels?
(Or may be KrisDelTM ...hmm BTW... do we have a logo?)
Del

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#10
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Re: Delcar and the First American Motors

06/24/2009 1:06 PM

I'd get obsessed with noting the relative position of the square bits on those hubs - driving in snakey lines to try get them all at the same angle.

There was some mutterering that Nissan were going to streamline the thing. Gordon Bennett!- I thought it was for city use, not tanking it along open roads/F1 Track Racing.

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