Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Most unique classic wooden roadster

It's probably one of the most unique custom cars I've seen in that it isn't based on any particular car, and was actually built by a west-coast boat builder in 1959. Check it out, it looks like a cross between a rat rod, farm tractor, and so on. And according to VisualNews, the roadster was created based on the article in the September 1956 issue of Mechanix Illustrated magazine.
1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd)
As reported by Hemmings Daily, the Standard Catalog, as faulty and full of holes as it is, actually has an entry on the Speedball Special. They have it listed as a 1956 Buckboard, though they note that "it may have been known as the Bruce or Bruce Buckboard." That would be because they say a Donald S. Bruce designed the car. They list the manufacturer as Automotive Associates Co. in White Plains, New York.
Left side view of 1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd)
Here's the result: a modified version of the Speedball Special. The car is equipped with an impossibly rare 1952 Ariel Square Four motorcycle motorcycle engine and transmission and that the suspension was taken from a Citroen of the era, except lights, guages, etc., the rest was all hand fabricated.
Rear side view of 1959 All-Wooden Speedball Special Roadster. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1YgBrd)
A smooth-running four-cylinder 1,000 cc engine able to push out about 42 hp. That might not seem like much, but when driving the sequential four-speed and with a weight of only a mere 750 lbs this little wooden car has got to be a rocket. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | HEMMINGS DAILY | VISUALNEWS | JALOPNIK]
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