It came, it went and I miss it…

by Wallace Wyss –

Like many a car aficionado, I yearn to have a car with my own nameplate. Just last week I saw Jay Leno toodling about in a Cunningham and I thought how lucky Briggs Cunningham was to be able to build a car to his own design.

But the more I look at my taste, I am wondering if it’s increasingly becoming totally out of whack with the modern world. It turns out I like cars like the Gaylord. Count me in for ostentation.

The 1955-1956 Gaylord Gladiator two door coupe was an American automobile that offered luxury car refinements and sports car performance. Perhaps it indulged too much in the fads of the auto industry at the time so that the result is that now it looks very dated.

Gaylord Gladiator

Gaylord Car Ltd. Of Chicago was started by two brothers, James and Edward Gaylord. Their father invented the bobby pin so let’s say if they weren’t born with a silver spoon in their mouths it came along eventually.

They decided they didn’t just want a Jaguar or Ferrari, no, they would design their own luxury car and did. They went to Wisconsin designer Brooks Stevens who, being a classic car collector had the same ideas about grandiose grilles and huge headlamps, recalling the features of prewar grand touring cars.

The German coachbuilder Herman Spohn was selected to build the Gaylord Gladiator. One site called Chrisinmotion.com says Zeppelin in Germany was the production car builder. Yes, the same people that made the blimps! Spohn’s coachwork was impeccable, it’s just that he wasn’t able to dissuade them from some of what I’d have to call “Americanisms.”

There were two different models of the Gaylord Gladiator, the two door with the disappearing top and a four door.

In 1955 the brothers set as their goal the production figure of 25 cars per year with a price tag of $10,000. If you think about it a three bedroom house in the ‘burbs back then was about $15,000 so it was pretty pricey. They showed the first one at the 1955 Paris auto show and the ousted Egyptian King Farouk bought one to cruise about the Cote d’Azur in and in Hollywood actor Dick Powell stepped up to the plate.

Now if the Gaylord brothers had been paying much attention to patents they would have patented their retractable hardtop (though I think a French company offered that before WWII). Like the Chrysler powered Dual Ghias, the prototype Gaylord Gladiator had a Chrysler V8–a 365 cubic inch 305 horsepower unit connected to a Hydra-Matic four speed transmission. But in those days Cadillac was also thought to have a powerful engine so in 1956 the Gaylords were displayed at the 1956 New York auto show with Cadillac V8s.

The chassis, designed by Jim Gaylord, was purpose built, of chrome molybdenum, independent in front, using coil springs and tube shocks. Rear suspension was typical Detroit with a live axle, leaf springs and tube shocks. Drum brakes were on all four wheels, (discs only beginning to be used in the UK on race cars). Costs kept climbing and by 1956 they had to up the price to $17,500. Only the Spohn prototype and three production cars (those Cadillac powered) were made by 1957.

I’ve only seen one interior picture, and it was your basic slab of wood with a row of gauges, similar to Rolls Royce or even the modern day Clenet Series 2, another modern car built to recall prewar car glamor.

So what do I like about it? The inset vertical grille which I think was also on the Facel Vega, but especially well done on the Facel II. I liked the big round headlamps that looked like Lucas P100 on the prototype but now think they were a bit over the top even then and I could live with the quads on later versions.

The two tone paint schemes are a fad that came and went, and I think they are a bit distracting on cars that have a nice body shape. The scooped out side is another fad, they add some character but are on the edge of being too much. The tailfins aren’t as bad (as tall) as a ’59 Caddy or some ‘50s Chrysler but definitely date the design if they bring it back (aren’t there any Gaylord grandchildren that want to revive Gramp’s designs?). The vertical chrome assemblage on the rear really isn’t needed.

So don’t worry about me rolling out a four wheeled assemblage bearing a chrome nameplate, I know the auto biz is not the same anymore. Now you can’t just build what you like, you have to deal with the “initial” agencies, the NHTSA, the DOT, the EPA and whatnot.

I’m hoping some Silicon Valley entrepreneur, flush with cash and eager to enshrine himself in automotive history, builds an exotic sports car that will, in one fell swoop, challenge Rolls Royce, Bentley and the top tier. But don’t hold your breath, even the Gaylord Gladiator was obsolete in styling before the paint was dry….

Let us know what you think in the Comments.

Wallace Wyss

 
 
 
THE AUTHOR: Wallace Wyss is the author of the “Incredible Barn Finds” series of books available straight from the publisher, Enthusiast Books, at (715) 381 9755.
 

Summary

Article Name

The Gaylord Gladiator

Description

The Gaylord brothers decided they didn’t just want a Jaguar or Ferrari, no, they would design their own luxury car and did. It was called the Gaylord Gladiator.

Author

Wallace Wyss