Thursday, June 07, 2018
Not the same Frontenac, not the same Continental
The latest Collectible Auto mag has a genuine oddity in its Car Spotter section.
Caption says it's a Frontenac, the Canadian version of the 1933 Continental.
Obviously not the same Frontenac that was the Canadian version of the Falcon, and obviously not Lincoln's Continental.
This Continental was part of the Norman DeVaux mini-empire. DeVaux was something of a scavenger in the automotive ecosystem. When Billy Durant's last company failed, DeVaux picked up the tooling and modified it, using his own name for the car. This lasted for two years, and when DeVaux failed, Continental Motors picked up the company instead of getting paid for its engines. Continental then produced the car under its own name for a year or two. DeVaux went on to scavenge Cord's body for the Hupp Skylark and Graham Hollywood, another brief and pointless venture.
The Wiki article on Continental mentions the Canadian branch but doesn't link to any meaningful explanation.
Continental Motors was the main supplier of engines to most of the 'independents' and occasionally to the Big Three. Continental is still around, making engines and parts for aircraft. Needless to say, it's now owned by the Chinese government.
The Canadian version is the same body as the American, but has a different front clip. Just like the later Canadian versions of Big Three cars.
Seems odd for such a small operation to take the trouble of branching out to Canada, and especially odd to spend money on tooling up alternate body parts!
Caption says it's a Frontenac, the Canadian version of the 1933 Continental.
Obviously not the same Frontenac that was the Canadian version of the Falcon, and obviously not Lincoln's Continental.
This Continental was part of the Norman DeVaux mini-empire. DeVaux was something of a scavenger in the automotive ecosystem. When Billy Durant's last company failed, DeVaux picked up the tooling and modified it, using his own name for the car. This lasted for two years, and when DeVaux failed, Continental Motors picked up the company instead of getting paid for its engines. Continental then produced the car under its own name for a year or two. DeVaux went on to scavenge Cord's body for the Hupp Skylark and Graham Hollywood, another brief and pointless venture.
The Wiki article on Continental mentions the Canadian branch but doesn't link to any meaningful explanation.
Continental Motors was the main supplier of engines to most of the 'independents' and occasionally to the Big Three. Continental is still around, making engines and parts for aircraft. Needless to say, it's now owned by the Chinese government.
The Canadian version is the same body as the American, but has a different front clip. Just like the later Canadian versions of Big Three cars.
Seems odd for such a small operation to take the trouble of branching out to Canada, and especially odd to spend money on tooling up alternate body parts!
Labels: Alternate universe
¶ 3:38 AM
