Simanaitis Says
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OLD ’ZINE FUN PART 1
MY FIRST R&T WAS MAY 1954, BUT OVER THE YEARS I’ve accumulated earlier ones, including a specially published set of five from December 1949-April 1950, reissued by pal John Dowdeswell’s Brooklands Books in 1987. I’ve looked at these recently whilst rummaging through the garage for something else entirely.
What fun old ’zines are! Here, in Parts 1 and 2 today and tomorrow, are tidbits gleaned from January, February, and March 1950, together with occasional references in SimanaitisSays ranging from its inaugural August 13, 2012, to today.
Gable’s Jag. No. 3 of a Series of “My Favorite Sports Car,” March 1950, featured a Hollywood favorite and his XK-120.
Image from R&T, March 1950. See “What Do Clark Gable and Eddie ‘Rochester’ Anderson Have in Common?” SimanaitisSays.
Indeed, “Clark Gable, Car Enthusiast Extraordinaire” had another appearance at the website.
“World’s Biggest Small Car Buy” “World’s Most Successful Sports Car. English car distributors and dealers regularly appeared on R&T’s inside front cover.
Image from R&T, February 1950.
A Goodly Number of 1950 Sports Cars From Which to Choose. The CPI Inflation Calculator equates the Crosley $950 to $13,100 in today’s dollar; the MG TD’s $1750 at $24,132; the Jag XK-120’s $3945 at $54,400; and the Ferrari M.M.’s $12,500 at $172,369.
American and British marques, R&T, February 1950; the rest of the world’s (pre-Japan), R&T, March 1950.
Blown Performance. “The new I.T. rootes-type, low-pressure supercharger is now available at very low prices.” Complete kits for everything from Alfa Romeo to Studebaker.
Image from R&T, February 1950.
Both Tony Pompeo and John Edgar were familiar names to R&T readers. Another “Pom,” Laurence Pomeroy, F.R.S.A., M.S.A.E, described another Rootes-blower equipped marque: “Pom on the 4 1/2-Litre Supercharged Bentley,” SimanaitisSays.
Getting a Grip on Things. John Edgar offered a neat Nardi aluminum steering wheel. Me, I lusted for a wire-spoke, mottled tortoiseshell Bluemels.
Image from R&T, March 1950.
John Edgar also supported a guy named Carroll Shelby in his later campaigning a 4.5-liter Grand Prix Ferrari around the U.S. (I met Shelby at Giant’s Despair in 1956; it was he who taught me that “dum’son’uh’bitch” was one word.)
Wott’le She Do? Another mentor of mine, though our encounters were solely telephonic, was John R. Bond, R&T’s Technical Editor in 1950. John, aka “Fifth Wheel,” taught an important lesson back then: “The American public still is rather naive regarding the honesty of the little needle that ‘lies’ on the dash…. To throughly disillusion the Joe Blows with their 120 mph Flash-O-Matic products, the following table is submitted.”
Image from R&T, January 1950.
John offered the formula HP REQUIRED = (V/375) x (.016W + .0013 AV2). V is velocity, .016W is rolling resistance as influenced by the car’s total weight W. And .0013 AV2 is wind resistance where .0013 is the coefficient of wind resistance of a typical 1949 sedan and A is its frontal area.
Tomorrow in Part 2, we’ll turn to another personage of note: Think of early TV’s Today show. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2026
Simanaitis Says 
Fun stuff ! .
I never knew they’d reprinted any .
In the 1960’s it seemed every garage / basement / etc. had stacks of old magazines, I’d read ’em all and learned quite a bit .
I see the February 1950 issue had a Metropolitan Nash DHC on the cover, in the late 1950’s I was young and wanted to get one of those “kiddie cars” I saw on display, my parents were unsuccessful in explaining they were not in fact made for children “but just _LOOK_ Dad ~ they’re too small for normal people, obviously for children” .
I digress .
In time I bought two of them, firstly a DHC, had much fun with it but I like to motorvate quickly and the body flexed alarmingly, then a buddy converted one to a Borg Warner M35 three speed slush box from a 1979 Datsun B210, I bought it and modified it to become a fast commuter and road rally car, sadly after up grading he suspension and peaking and tweaking the engine more than a little it went -so- fast I discovered the wheels would break in high speed cornering, this almost killed me so after breaking six wheels in less than a year I retrenched and set up a different road rally / touring car .
I still miss it .
https://www.ramblerlore.com/AMC/Nates-Metro/index.html
-Nate
Congratulations for surviving!
I’m old enough to recognize the Nash brand, but young enough that the ones I definitely remember seeing on the road were mostly Metropolitans (that tiny thing). It was a somewhat upscale brand. My parents had a Studebaker by the time I was old enough to be actually aware of cars, which was a cantankerous beast and after the automatic trans (Borg-Warner?) gave out on a modest trip out of town it was traded off the back of a tow truck for a 57 Chevy wagon, 6-cyl, innocent of options beyond a Powerglide. Worst brakes of any car or truck I’ve driven, nautical handling/ride, and seriously rust-prone. But it served as the family bus for over 10 years.
Then there was the “Little Nash Rambler” song … Beep Beep … of course available on YT.
That Studie IIRC used the same Borg Warner tranny, it had been developed for the Ford flathead V8, I always liked it because it shifted firmly and quickly, didn’t sap much power to run it, very important when it was adapted by Nissan for their little economy cars .
It’s interesting you mention the ’57 Chevy’s poor brakes as they were Bendix and replaced the awful and (IMO) dangerous “HUCK” (rhymes with suck) brakes used in all Chevrolet cars and light trucks from 1937 ~ 1950, they must ave been developed for the little coupe as driving a fully loaded passenger car or light truck equipped with these had to e experienced to be believed .
The suspension was no great thing but unless worn out it was actually pretty good for the times .
Fun to look back and reminisce, isn’t it ? .
I’m still driving a clapped out ’59 VW Beetle as fast as it’ll go and loving every moment of it but you can bet I plan my stops in the hills =8-) .
As a young child in the 50’s I was consumed with learning how & why some loved their cars, others hated the same ones, turns out it mostly has to do with how they’re maintained, I still prefer older vehicles and have no problems making them reliable and enjoyable to drive .
-Nate