Tuesday, September 25, 2012

1939 Albatross Or the one that got away


 Labor day weekend I stumbled across a car sitting on a trailer behind a RV that caught me off gaurd...I had no idea what it was; I just knew it was cool! I saw a guy rummaging around inside the car assuming he was the owner got to talking he didn't seem to know anything about the car other than it was a 1939 Albatross and they didn't make alot of em'. I made an offer of $4,000 and he said he didn't know about that but it was a fair offer so he took my number and let  him know the offer will still stand.
After my discussion about the car I had a name and a model year! And after a little searching I found some information. I was surprised to learn that this was the only Albatross ever made.From what I learned it was  financed by cartoon artist for the New Yorker because he felt that America didn't have the quality of cars the Europeans had.In 1939 this car cost close to $75,000 to build! I imagine this was why it never went into production.The trim,mounts,seat frames and many other components were all made from solid cast aluminium. The car was made from a 1939 (maybe 38' ?) Mercury frame which was legenthened and in the mid 40's a ford engine was swapped in. The car was sold went from owner to owner and in the mid 60's the front fenders were lost. After that it was sold and lost for years but this past year it surfaced in small town Missouri! Hopefully one day i'll get a call about it and it'll be mine.
     

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