2009-09-04 10:21:23 | pauls writes:

Car was at auction 8/09
www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/pubweb/publicSite.r

Auction description:
Sale 17327 - Exceptional Motorcars and Automobilia, featuring the Sidney H. Craig Collection and property from the Reggie Jackson Collection, 14 Aug 2009
Quail Lodge Resort and Golf Club, Carmel, CA
Lot No: 222•
The prototype
1955 Flajole Forerunner
Chassis no. S673772
Engine no. W7884-8S
Bill Flajole was an independent designer who began his career right out of high school at Chrysler in 1933, later moved to General Motors, Murray Corporation and Ford where he worked with Bob Gregorie on the design of Edsel Ford’s original Continental.

Flajole (a French name which he pronounced “Flay-joel”) established his own design-build shop in 1939 with John Kehrig, a skilled fabricator who had worked with Frank Spring at Hudson. The Flajole-Kehrig Company undertook subcontract design-build projects for Chrysler, Ford, GM, Nash and Murray. The Nash NXI prototype, a two-seat sportster based on a Fiat 500 Topolino, was built there. The NXI concept eventually led to the Nash Metropolitan, a Flajole design which shared several design cues with the Forerunner.

After World War II Bill Flajole established an independent design consultancy. It was the era of great industrial design from Raymond Loewy, Albert Kahn, Walter Dorwin Teague and Norman Belle Geddes. Like them, Bill Flajole was a generalist designing all sorts of functional objects in streamlined forms now described as “machine design” including toys, packaging, boats, appliances and even homes. At the same time he and Kehrig kept their hand in with automobiles.

Their automobile design culminated in the tiny but important Nash Metropolitan. Its concept and positioning derived from the prewar NXI but, influenced by the desire of Charles Nash and George Mason to create a small, personal car, took a new direction.

Before creating the Metropolitan design Flajole created a special re-designed Nash-Healey for a Johnson’s Wax promotion in 1951. It was given to Boston Red Sox slugger Ted Williams with the winner of the naming contest getting an expense-paid trip to the World Series for six.

Like many designers of the late Forties Bill Flajole was captivated by the Jaguar XK 120 and its combination of aggressive stance, advanced dual overhead camshaft six-cylinder engine and competent suspension. He bought one in 1951 and began to experiment with new designs on the Jag’s 102 inch wheelbase chassis.

In 1953 he bought his second XK 120, an M with performance cams and dual exhausts. He tested its 180hp 3.4 liter engine in the hands of Duncan McRay at the SAC road races at Chanute AFB in Urbana, Illinois and was satisfied with its performance when McRay brought it home first in class. It was Bill Flajole’s XK 120M’s first and last race. He’d decided to use it as the basis for his own futuristic two-seat sports car.

Bill Flajole wasn’t the only American designer who recognized the XK 120’s appeal. Over at Chevrolet Harley Earl and Bill Mitchell also were applying XK 120 principles to their own nascent sports car. It debuted at the 1953 GM Motorama with the name Corvette.

Flajole and Kehrig plunged down the same road as GM, experimenting with the new, adaptable material Fiberglas. Flajole’s staff in their spare time created a full size clay embodying his concepts, the tall fenders, dropped hood, wide grille integrated with bumpers and an innovative retractable roof that slid down to hide under a dramatically sloping fastback rear deck. Working progressively while still learning to deal with the new composite body material Flajole and Kehrig slowly worked their way through the problems.

The Flajole Forerunner debuted in 1955. In addition to the dramatic dropped hood profile it had a sharp translucent Plexiglas roof panel and dramatic recessed cove panels behind the wheels. Painted light beige to contrast with the Forerunner’s original dark green paint (probably Spruce Green, which Bill Flajole later identified as his favorite color), the Forerunner marked the first appearance of coves, before Chevrolet applied them to 1956 and subsequent Corvettes.

It received widespread publicity in publications of the day including Motor Trend, Road & Track and Sports Cars Illustrated. In addition to the innovative coves and retracting roof panel Flajole installed supportive aircraft-type seats with head restraints years before other designers appreciated the value of supportive seats in minimizing accident injuries.

Bill Flajole used it for personal transportation until the early 70s, attracting constant attention on his weekend drives in the car. The current show quality restoration in its dramatic metallic purple with white coves. matching white/purple leather upholstery and chrome wire wheels was probably done by Jeff Tamayo before he and his wife Sara donated it to the Blackhawk Automotive Museum. It was acquired from Blackhawk by Sidney Craig in 1998.

A significant example of American design and creativity in the early Fifties, among the many celebrity cars in Sid Craig’s collection the celebrity attached to Bill Flajole’s Forerunner is that of an innovative, imaginative American designer. Its early experimentation with new materials like fiberglass and Plexiglas and safety concepts like aircraft-style seating that would take decades to make an impression upon the automobile industry identify the Flajole Forerunner as a milestone in design and concept.

It was an era when individual concepts could find expression, admiration and success through persistence, experimentation and openness to new concepts and materials. It enjoys a deserved place of honor among Sid Craig’s collection in the select company of the Ghia 6.4L, Cadillac Eldorado Brougham and Duesenberg J Rollston Convertible Victoria.

The basic research recounted in this description was done in 1998 by Dave Selway, a docent at Blackhawk, including several interviews with Bill Flajole’s children Diana and William.

Without reserve

Sold for $188,500 inclusive of Buyer's Premium

2009-09-06 05:22:24 | Peter Ingram writes:

The factory build date for this is 1953 March

2010-01-09 04:20:05 | Roger writes:

Car is now listed here:

www.hymanltd.com/search/details.asp

2012-01-02 20:51:38 | pauls writes:

Car to return to auction 2/12
www.barrett-jackson.com/application/onlinesubmission/lotdetails.aspx

Auction description:
Barrett-Jackson Lot: 5003 - 1955 FLAJOLE FORERUNNER COUPE CONCEPT
Auction: SCOTTSDALE 2012
Status: AVAILABLE
Sale Type: RESERVE
Price:
Year: 1955
Make: FLAJOLE
Model: FORERUNNER
Style: COUPE CONCEPT
VIN: S673772
Transmission: 4-SPEED MANUAL
One of the most beautiful and innovative concept cars of the 1950's, the Flajole Forerunner was stylist Bill Flajole's vision of the future. Featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in September 1955, the Forerunner was the result of over 7,000 hours of design and construction. The subject of numerous magazine articles, Motor Trend featured the Forerunner on the same cover as Ghia's groundbreaking Gilda design study. Sports Cars Illustrated gave the Forerunner a three page feature article in October 1955, Mechanix Illustrated wrote about the car in September 1955 and the car was recently featured in Octane Magazine. Designed and built by automotive designer Bill Flajole, then Advance Styling Consultant for American Motors, and a well-known industrial designer, the Forerunner incorporates many futuristic design elements like retracting tinted Plexiglas roof, headrest bucket seats and contrasting color fender coves, well before any of these items were put on a production car. Its chassis is among the best of its day, Jaguar's high performance 180hp XK 120M with an SCCA race class win to it's credit while Flajole's studio was creating the Forerunners body. The glass fiber body employed molded-in open louvers and elaborate compound curves never before attempted in fiberglass. Its windshield header mounted rear view mirror foreshadows later designers' use of periscope optics. This important one-off automobile has been completely restored and was shown at Amelia Island in 2010. The car is complete with magazines that featured the car when first built as well as photos of the car taken during its construction in the Flajole studios in the 1950's that have been supplied by Bill Flajole's daughter. A fabulous one-off concept car with great history.

2012-04-12 00:19:25 | pauls writes:

Car to return to auction 5/12
www.worldwide-auctioneers.com/auctions/details.cfm

Auction description:
1955 Flajole Forerunner
2012 The Houston Classic Auction
Lot Number 100
ESTIMATE: $275,000 - $325,000
CHASSIS NO: S673772
An Incredible American One-Off Custom Design From the Fifties Featured in Motor Trend, Road & Track, Sports Cars Illustrated, Mechanix Illustrated, and Octane Magazines

After designing cars like the Nash Metropolitan, Bill Flajole started his own independent design consultancy, which allowed his imagination to run wild. The most famous result was one of the most beautiful and innovative concept cars of the 1950s. The Flajole Forerunner was stylist Bill Flajole's vision of the future. Featured on the cover of Motor Trend magazine in September 1955, the Forerunner was the result of over 7,000 hours of design and construction and over $80,000 in build cost, and keep in mind this was 1955! The subject of numerous magazine articles, Motor Trend featured the Forerunner on the same cover as Ghia's groundbreaking Gilda design study. Sports Cars Illustrated gave the Forerunner a three-page feature article in October 1955, Mechanix Illustrated wrote about the car in September of 1955, and the car was also recently featured in Octane Magazine.

Bill Flajole was the Advance Styling Consultant for American Motors and a well known industrial designer. The aptly named Forerunner incorporates many futuristic design elements, such as its retractable tinted Plexiglas roof, bucket seats with separate head rests, and contrasting color fender coves, well before any of these items were put on a production car. Its chassis is based on the best of its day, Jaguar's high performance 180 horsepower XK 120M, which earned an SCCA race class win during the period when Flajole's studio was creating the Forerunner's body. The glass fiber body employed intricate new molding techniques that allowed the creation of molded in details such as open louvers and elaborate compound curves that were never before attempted in fiberglass. Its windshield header-mounted rear view mirror foreshadows the use of periscope optics on some of the world's finest sports cars

The car received widespread publicity in publications of the day including Motor Trend, Road & Track, and Sports Cars Illustrated. In addition to the ground-breaking styling advances, including the first use of contrasting coves and the retractable roof panel, Flajole was one of the early proponents of passenger safety and installed supportive aircraft-type seats with head restraints years before any other designers appreciated the value of supportive seats in minimizing accident injuries.

Bill Flajole used the Forerunner for personal transportation until the early '70s, attracting constant attention on his weekend drives in the car. The current show quality restoration, with its dramatic metallic purple finish with contrasting white coves and matching white and purple leather upholstery is exceptional. The chrome wire wheels give this legendary futuristic car just a slightly classic feel. This important one-off automobile has been completely restored and was shown at Amelia Island in 2010. The car is delivered complete with all the magazines articles that featured the car when first built, as well as photos of the car taken during its construction in the Flajole studios in the 1950s that have been supplied by Bill Flajole's daughter. This is not just a custom, it's a piece of history that will be both highly desired and admired.

2014-07-12 15:51:10 | Jeremy B writes:

I knew I shouldn't have eaten those mushrooms.