Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Pig's Blood, Chicken Feathers and Shellac

One of the best parts of being known as the 'weird car guy' is that people send me cool stuff. Magazine clippings about Crosleys appear under my windshield wipers and on my porch, and quite a bit of stuff comes in over the interwebs.
Josh Chaffin, a Sacramentan now displaced on the east coast, recently sent a clipping from the Economist detailing the history of Magyar (defined as 'of the Hungarian people') microcars. The Economist is one of the world's best magazines, so I knew this was gonna be good.
One look, and wow... just wow.   Hungarian cars make the Isetta look normal.  They make a Crosley seem opulent.  The car above, the Fesztival, has a body made of pig's blood, chicken feathers and shellac. No, I'm not kidding. I dug around a little bit and found the article online here. It's well worth a read and there are plenty of great pictures.
Thanks to Josh for the tip!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, I came upon your site a few months back when I was researching Crosleys on a 'memory lane' trip. When I was growing up in Ohio my dad had 2 Crosleys, a '47 cream yellow wagon and a light green '51 wagon. I was about 10 to 12 at the time and it was my job to fetch wrenches and clean parts as he was always working on one of them while driving the other. I learned a lot about mechanics and swearing working on those cars. I came across a picture of me and him with the little '47, great memories. I'm 67 now and if I ever stumble on a Crosley I can afford I'm sure I'll act on it. I just watched a '50 HotShot sell for $24,000 on Barrett-Jackson (beautifully restored red with dual carbs and alum engine acc) which prompted me to let you know that at least one person follows your blog and enjoys it, I'm not much of a commenter but rest assured I visit and appreciate your efforts and if and when I find myself with a Crosley, basket case or restoration, I will look to you and your fellow enthusiasts for guidance and counsel. Keep up the good work and thanks!

Ol' Man Foster said...

Dave, thanks for checking in! I never know how many people are reading so it's great to know that someone is out there!

Good luck in your quest for a Crosley... I'm sure there's one out there for you...