Saturday, March 31, 2012

1948 Tasco

The American Sports Car Company (in short, Tasco) has been founded by a group of Hartford investors for the dual purpose of building a sportscar that can run in the event held in Watkins Glen, and to produce it in small series as the only real, European-inspired sports car in America. No less than Gordon Buehrig designed the body, which was built in aluminium by Derham. All four wheels are separate from the body, but enclosed in fairings, the ones in front turning in connection with the wheels when the car is steered. Chassis and engine both come from a Mercury, but are heavily modified. The Tasco can seat up to four in a cockpit influenced by aviation practices, and covered by removable Plexiglas panels.

The construction of this prototype alone has amounted to 50 to 60,000 dollars, a cost which has depleted the company's capital and raised questions about the feasibility of a $7500 production car. The Tasco has been brought to Wichita where, it has been thought, the Beech company, specialized in aeroplanes but itself the builder of an automobile prototype two years ago, could be interested in producing the car. Alas, it has not been so, and the Tasco ends up as a fiasco.


Tasco
Photobucket
● Introduction: prototype only. Construction: body on separate chassis. Engine: water-cooled V-8, 3.9-litre, 150 hp, mounted at the front. Transmission: to the rear wheels through a manual gearbox. Range: two-door coupe.


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