Suburbacontest

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POPULAR MECHANICS NOV. 1965 35 CENTS

PM's Suburba-car contest! DESIGN A BODY-WIN THIS CHASSIS!

PLYFOAM: Exclusive first report! NOW! BUILD ANYTHING IN FIBERGLASS!

DESIGN A BODY FOR THE

WinThis H

OW would you like to be the lucky guy to own this one-of-a-kind Suburban Car? You'll find it the hottest thing on three wheels for scooting about the neighborhood. Your wife can use it for picking up groceries, running errands, carting the youngster to school. And you could be the envy of fellow commuters in breezing up to catch the 8:05. Equipped with a fine Honda engine, this sporty two-seater will stretch a gallon of gas like a rubber band, and it can dart in and out of parking spots like a rabbit. How do you win it? Simple—you design a body for it and submit your design to PM Suburba-Car Contest, 575 Lexington Ave., New York, N. Y. 10022, postmarked no later than Dec. 20, 1965. There's nothing to buy; nothing to build. If judges select your design as best, the powered chassis shown at right and on the cover, will be shipped to you lock, stock and barrel, just

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as it appears in the photo (minus briefcase and umbrella). Then you can add your own prize-winning body and sport the coolest puddlejumper in town. You need not be an artist or designer to win. The quality of the drawings you enter will not be a factor in the judging. Your entry, however, must be shown in drawings to a scale of 1 inch equals 1 foot. The drawings must include a side, front, rear and top view of the body you design, fitted to the dimensions of the chassis shown below. The materials you plan to use must be indicated on the drawings, and you should label any special features. You may also attach a written description of your Suburba-Car body and may submit a model, if you wish, to help the judges interpret your design. However, such additional material is not essential. Only the design itself will be considered in the judging.

PM

PM SUBURBA-CAR AND

Chassis!

Entries will be judged as follows: Appearance. Your S u b u r b a - C a r should draw admiring attention wherever it goes. You may give it sleek sports-car lines, or the conservative lines of a small family car. You may want to make it look like a beetle, a bus or a teardrop. In any case, the lines must be pleasing to the eye. Your design may soon be parked in your driveway and you'll want to be proud to have it there. Utility. The chassis has been designed, in overall size, to carry two persons and two large bags of groceries. Does your body design take full advantage of this chassis space? Have you provided easy access to the storage compartment such as the body provides on the vehicle shown on page 84? Are your doors of adequate size, and so placed that members of your family won't have to be contortionists to get in and out of your dream Suburba-Car? Ease of construction. If you win, remember you'll be building your win-

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NOV. 1965

ning design yourself. So the materials you specify should be readily available and adaptable to your design. Where compound curves are involved, you may wish to suggest Plyfoam as a material, after reading our exclusive report on page 146. But you are not limited to any one material. The judges also will consider whether your entry can be built with the tools (including power tools) that can be found in a well-equipped home workshop, so don't plan on using a commercial shop. Safety. In most states a car must have the following equipment as a minimum: safety-glass windshield, taillights, headlights, brake lights, turn signals and wipers. Don't overlook them. They can be found in most auto-supply stores and may be specified in your design. Economy. No limit is set on cost of building your design. But, judges will take into consideration the estimated cost of your completed Suburba-Car in

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(Please turn to page 242)

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If you want to

STOP SMOKING here's how!

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Motorized Humidifier (Continued from page 240)

(between 30 and 40 percent is the ideal for most homes). Since the furnace blower runs oftener in cold weather when more moisture is needed, the unit tends to maintain a fairly consistent relative humidity, once adjusted. For fully automatic control, add a humidistat which works like a thermostat to turn the unit on only when it's needed. You can buy one for under $10. The amount of maintenance will depend on the mineral content of the water you use. I supply softened well water to my unit; since it contains a fairly high concentration of sodium carbonate, a white sludge forms in the pan that has to be removed monthly. When water has a low solids content, you'll have to clean pan and drum only once or twice each heating season. When the system is connected with a domestic water softener, be sure to shut the unit off during the regenerating cycle or a brine solution will be carried into the pan which could cause corrosion. ***

Win This Chassis (Continued from page 89)

relation to its value. Obviously a SuburbaCar should cost less than a ready-made, full-size family car or sports car. * Don't forget to write your name and address plainly on every sheet of paper you submit, and tape it to your model, if you decide to submit one. Entries will be judged by a panel of experts including William L. Mitchell, vicepresident, styling staff, General Motors Corp.; Gene Borniat, vice-president and director of styling for Ford Motor Co.; Franklyn Jacoby, ASID/IDI, PM's design consultant; and Wayne C. Leckey, managing editor of PM's Shop and Crafts. The decision of the judges will be final, and professional designers, as well as Popular Mechanics employes and their families, are not eligible to compete. Contest is void in states where prohibited or restricted by law. All federal, state and local laws apply. All entries become the property of Popular Mechanics, and only one prize is to be awarded. The winner of the Suburba-Car contest will be announced in our March issue, with a sketch of the prize design. For nonwinners who want to build the chassis for themselves, complete plans will begin in our April issue. Good luck! By spring you may be driving a handsome new short-tripper that you designed! *** 242

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