Mr. Russell's '58 English Ford Prefect

[electra225]

Our high school principal, Hosea Russell, had one of these cars. His was a baby blue 1958 Prefect. It was powered by a little four cylinder flathead engine, that weighed about 100 pounds. His spit a valve seat one time. Lynn and Boney, the two local auto mechanics, hoisted the engine out by hand. It has a three speed floor shift transmission. No radio. Mr. Russell loved that little car. Our senior year, a bunch of the guys hauled Mr. Russell's English Ford up the steps into the gymnasium and deposited it in the middle of the basketball floor. I hadn't seen one of these cars in years and years.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wspue1o5Ic

[TC Chris]

The film says "largest plant in Europe." Henry Ford like big integrated plants like is River Rouge plant in Michigan. Coal and iron ore came in by boat & train and cars came out the other end. Wikipedia says:

"With its own docks in the dredged Rouge River, 100 miles (160 km) of interior railroad track, its own electricity plant, and integrated steel mill, the titanic Rouge was able to turn raw materials into running vehicles within this single complex, a prime example of vertical-integration production"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_River_Rouge_complex

The place was designed by Albert Kahn, one of Michigan's preeminent architects. Most cities in our state have or had some of his buildings, which ranged from industrial to educational to residential. He also designed the Packard plant in Detroit. His brother, an engineer, improved the use of reinforced concrete to allow large unobstructed spaces.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Kahn_(architect)

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

Oh, and by the way, I'm pretty sure my high school principal drove some dreary 4-door sedan, but the assistant principal, the enforcer (and my buddy's dad) had a '57 Olds with theJ-2 option:

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/articl ... mobile-j-2

It was a sleeper. Looked like an old man's car until you stepped on the accelerator.

Chris Campbell

[electra225]

Mr. Russell's wife drove an old Willys sedan, a something-Ace. It was a 1955 model, powered by a Continental 226 cid flathead six. It had a Hydra-Matic transmission and was red and white. They didn't have a real car, per se. They drove those things all over creation.

Mrs Pierce had the nicest car of the teaching staff. Mr Rowe, the superintendant drove a '62 Electra 225 four door hardtop, but of the teachers Mrs. Pierce's '66 Bonneville convertible took the cake. Burgundy, white top and interior, buckets and console, 421, tri-power and eight lug wheels. She was a little gal, maybe 100 pounds with her pockets full of pennies. Mrs. Pierce was the typing teacher and introduced the teaching staff ( and all the high school boys) to the miniskirt. She is still with us, only five years my senior. Just as cute as she was 50 years ago. Miss Ellis was the art teacher. She was deaf as a stump. She drove an old Rambler convertible with a standard transmission. She slipped the clutch badly when taking off. Some of us boys in shop class (yeah, me) tied the rear axle of her Rambler to the parking stanchion outside of the shop room. She took off real good, slipping the clutch as usual, then left the rear axle at school. Oops.....

[William]

That "Perfect" reminds me of a Nash Metropolitan but the "Perfect" seems smaller? Is that possible?

Bill

[electra225]

That old Prefect would make my Mini Cooper look like a commercial series Cadillac in comparison. Teeny, tiny bare bones little car. It had a two-blade fan and an air cleaner about the size of a Skoal can. It was cute, I'll give it that.

In fairness, Buick Limiteds, Cadillac Fleetwoods, big Lincolns, big Imperials all roamed the earth at the same time as the English Ford. The Prefect was probably the same size, or maybe a little bigger, than a Mini Cooper is now. In comparison to other more common vehicles of the day, it was tiny. There was a VW Bug in town that was pretty little. There was a two-cycle Saab a couple towns over that was small and quirky. IT had to burn white gas.

[Firedome]

I first heard of Ford Prefect from Douglas Adams, never saw one in the flesh.

My best friend's father was an aeronautical engineer from Long Island and had a '59 SAAB 92, first one I ever rode in. Pretty rare then, SAAB introduced 96. still a 2 stroke until '67 a couple years later. One was the first car that I actually bought with my own $ in August of '71. Went 70 mph flat out on a level road, lol.
About 4 years later my friends father traded the SAAB on a maroon '63 Buick Special with 215 aluminium V8 and 3 spd on the tree.

I really liked it. My Grandma bought one used, light metallic green, from Smyly Buick in Malden Mass. the biggest Buick dealer in NE in '67. Mr Smyly was a kind of famous Medal of Honor WW II vet and a wonderful man evidently. My uncle saw the '63 on their lot and recommended it, she had it for 7 more years until she died at 83, and my cousin Nancy got it for college. Also a 215 V8, but with ST300 auto. Really nice "little" cars. Here's a pic of Smyly... some nice Buicks in there! I'll take that maroon '66 Wildcat (?).

Mr Gurney our Jr. High art teacher, who looked like Rod Serling, had a green '64 TR-4, the Algebra & Geometry teacher, Miss Dollenburg, a real babe of about 25 then, had a maroon '65 Mustang 289 coupe, and Mr Becker the Bio teacher and my science guru had a gold '64 Dart GT with 273, buckets & console... cool wheels for teachers in 1965!