In the world's automotive, there are many famous iconic works that embrace various design elements from around the world. For example, in the 1950s there's a man named Jay Everett was able to create a custom vehicle that combined European elegance and American style in one single vehicle that made the car enthusiasts in the time were amazed by his special talent.
His car creation was later called the
Astra Coupe, and it began under construction in 1952, while he lived in California and was taking classes at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, a place where many famous car designers emerged from the school.
In addition, California is also known as the heart of hot rod culture in the United States. He has a small garage behind his house where he can work to build the car and that's where his Astra Coupe was born, in the midst of the California custom creation hectics in the mid-1950s.
The vehicle was built almost entirely from scratch to adjust the car with the builder's tastes and desires. So the Astra Coupe has its own exclusive chassis, built by Paul Koonz. Its chassis is a triangular frame built from 2,375 inches long steel tube. On top of the chassis, he uses a smaller diameter tube to determine the car's shape and provides the frames where the vehicle body will be placed.
The Astra Coupe body itself is made of aluminum which has been shaped in such a way as to suit Everett's design and is done by Jack Sutton and Dennis Powers. The car's appearance itself is indeed too radical to be upgraded to a production car.
The car's unique exterior appearance with front pontoon fenders and rear tailfins forms a continuous, relatively horizontal and flat line that sweeps along the car when viewed from the side. However, the fastback roofline is clear and the nose is low, providing a truly unique visual contrast.
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| Simple white-black trim seaters in the interior of 1955 Astra Coupe. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2T6ZNN3) |
When this Jay Everett's creation car first appeared at the Petersen Motorama 1953, it had a distinctive front and rear grille made of tubes. Then the radiator is placed in front of the rear grille, which is an innovative touch at the time.
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| 1955 Astra Coupe was used a V8 'Rocket' Oldsmobile 303 cubic-inch capacity of 4,965 cc. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/2T6ZNN3) |
However, the figure of the car on display at the 1953 event turned out to be only a design study at the time, and there was still no engine installed under its hood. And Jay Everett had really completed this car in 1955, since then the name of Astra Coupe was first officially applied and making it a fully functional and driveable car with better interior and exterior designs.
Where the interior is reworked in a clean and modern style, with a hand-made banjo-style steering wheel placed in front of the gauge whose shape and material mimic the work details around the car's headlights. Then the seats are made in the style of racing bucket seats to replace the original one, as well as six gauges that are artistically arranged on the dashboard emphasizing that this car is finally transformed into a really functional vehicle and able to be driven like a normal vehicle.
As for the performance, the Astra Coupe is equipped with a V8 'Rocket' Oldsmobile 303 cubic-inch capacity of 4,965 cc. The engine is integrated into the rear-wheel drive, with Lincoln automatic transmission with overdrive. Become a unique and extraordinary vehicle creation, no wonder if the Astra Coupe had emerged to be the center of attention in the cover story in several famous American automotive magazines including Motortrend, Hot Rod, up to Rod & Custom, etc.
*** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | ]
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