The primary purpose of this blog is to provide progress updates on the Venus, a car that was designed and built in the early 50′s by my father, Ken McLoad.
If you know nothing of the Venus car, I suggest you to visit the “official” website that goes into far greater depth than this blog ever will. First please read the History of the Venus, and then The Restoration for the on-going trials and tribulations of this car’s restoration (which began in 2004…gosh, has it been that long?!!)
Last but not least, please feel free to leave a comment, either about the Venus or anything else that comes to mind. I would also like to hear about any problems you encounter, or constructive criticism.
Thank you for visiting!
Great blog Patrick, it must take almost as much time as your restoration. Ok, maybe not. Is the Motor Trend in your header the one you bought from me?
I notice that the grille in the publicity photo (with the Battleship) is different than your restoration and the toys and it’s not the ’55 Chevy grille either. Was this one a custom?
No, quite actually, I have about a dozen or more of those magazines already. On occasions I try to snag MT’s that are in good condition, without a label, and at the right price.
You are so observant Bruce! Actually, I consider the grille with 2 wings per side as the original “prototype”. I have photos of at least 5 different cars with the two-fer style.
The Venus in the Battleship Texas (and other photos) belonged to one of the partners (D.Y. Gorman) and he felt the need to customize his just a bit more with 3 wings per side as well as a convertible top. This particular car was probably the most photographed of them all. I don’t know when the ’55 Chevy grille came into play; may have been a design change when my Dad sold the company. Obviously, it would have had to be sometime in 1955, otherwise those grilles would not have been available from Chevrolet.
I think the Chevy grille looks good, but it is too recognizable.
Thanks for the comments and for the kind words!
Patrick
Hi Patrick- came across your website from a non-related Google search, but found it interesting. I like the vintage hot rods and custom cars, and I’m also familiar with the early Stewart Warner gauges. The photo showing the dash/gauges (what I believe you call a publicity photo) does show early Stewart Warner gauges. The amperes gauge shown next to this photo is a 1970′s to 1980′s vintage, while the ones shown in the dash are late 1940′s to early 1950′s vintage. You might already know more about the gauges by now, but if you have any questions feel free to email me. Regards, Chris.
Chris: Many thanks for the input on the gages. No doubt you clicked on the gage photo for an expanded view, but I have not been able to clearly designate any of these as being SW….but I will bow to your expertise. As you can see there is a variety of pointer styles; some have arrows at the tips, some are solid white while some are partial; some have writing above above the pointer shaft, some below. But yes, it makes sense that most would be SW, I mean, what other gage mfg. was around during those days? But on the flip side, these gages don’t match the “classic” gages in the SW catalog. I think I tried to get SW to authenticate the gages, but I forget their reply….but I don’t think anyone at SW knew. I’m especially interested in the MPH gage as the odometer placement doesn’t match their classic style either. So are you saying that SW changed the design of their gages from the early 50′s to the 70′s? I didn’t know that.
Some of the bezels are different as well.
I guess it doesn’t matter as I’ll probably be going in with a set of SW anyway. I like the looks of the “Wings” series, but those may be of the wrong era for the Venus.
Again, I appreciate your input.
Patrick McLoad