Still Having Fun with Vintage Cardboard

Over the past month or so (here, here, here, and here), I've written about my purchase of a lot of 1953-1955 Topps World on Wheels cards.  Today, I'm back with the next installment!  As I've done throughout this series, I'll go through the cards in numerical order as I have them (obviously, I have a lot more to acquire, but I'll worry about what I'm missing some other day).  For today, I'm celebrating what I own!

#114:  Sakhnoffsky Dream Car

This sports car was designed by Alexis de Sakhnoffsky.  It was his idea of what the sports car of the future should be.  It's a two-seater that can travel over 100 mph.  I do think the car looks pretty snazzy!

#115:  Reliant

This British sports car has only three wheels and could go fifty miles on a single gallon of gas.  According to the card back, this bad boy would only set you back $1200 back in the early 1950s (equivalent to just under $15,000 today).  Truthfully, I don't think you'd sell many vehicles that look like the Reliant today, even at that low cost and with the good gas mileage.

#116:  Knox Runabout 1905

We move back into the older cars with this gem from 1905.  Interestingly enough, this car cost $1600 back in 1905 (equivalent to nearly $60,000 today)!  Maybe the Reliant is more of a "steal" than I was giving it credit for!  In all seriousness, I think today I would probably prefer to take my chances with this 2-cylinder card over the Reliant.  

#119:  Hudson Super Jet

I am digging the experimental cars in the set, that's for sure.  This Hudson Super Jet seats four and even features safety belts (the card back brags about this fact).  I had to look it up, apparently seat belts weren't mandatory in cars (in the US at least) until the National Traffic and Motor Safety Act of 1968!  I guess the Hudson Super Jet has reason to brag about being over a decade ahead of its time (at least in terms of personal safety).  

#121:  Brewster Town Car 1915

The card back describes this car as follows (taken verbatim):

No conveyance ever expressed conservative wealth as well as the quiet, unimposing Brewster.  Built by the old New York carriage builders, these cars had no performance, no flashiness, and no noise."

Now, I'm not sure what to make of that blurb, other than perhaps the Brewster Town Cars were more paperweight and less actual, you know, car?!  

#122:  Fiat

This 8-cylinder sports car reached speeds of 125 mph in tests.  The card back brags that Fiat is "the closest thing in Europe to a Detroit automobile factory."  Who could have seen the downturn that Detroit would suffer over the next century or so?  

#124:  Packard Tonneau 1904

This elegant-looking card was the last to make use of the ever-familiar Packard radiator shape.  The card back says that there are no known examples of the 1904 Model K in existence as of the time of the card's printing.  My quick Google search didn't find any examples either.

#125:  Sevens-Duryea Roadster 1910

Apparently, this car was also known as the Model XXX, a nickname that has obviously fallen out of favor for an old-timey vehicle.  Then again, this car was really made for couples - a third passenger would have to ride in the "mother-in-law" seat in the rear.  You can insert your own jokes here.

That'll do for this batch of car cards.  As I've said before, I'm not a "car guy" at all, but I can't help but love this vintage set.  Heck, I even kind of love how beat up so many of my cards are; it adds to the authenticity of the set if you ask me.  I still have one more batch of cards to show off from my purchase, and then I'll have to start hunting down the many missin cards from my set!