Monday, August 21, 2006

Waiting to Ride the Mark V Autopia Cars 1959

A nice view of the newly designed Mark V autopia cars at the load area. These cars were designed to replace the earlier cars that had much mechanical difficulty in the first four years. Although a great looking design, the cars proved to be very heavy and slow with the wrap around bumpers and the extra trim adding to the weight. The cars were replaced in 1965 by Mark VI cars which was also the first year for the center guide rail. The cars were then replaced in 1967 by the Mark VII that ran for more than 30 years. In fact the chassis and engines designed for the Mark VII cars are still running the autopia vehicles of today.

2 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Jeez, I had no idea that the Autopia vehicles that are in use today have the original engines and chassis. The vehicles in the photo have those distinctive headlights (with eyebrows!). And I've always liked those vintage paint colors, the one in the foreground looks like copper.

Matterhorn1959 said...

The car body in the garage is the Mark VII that was installed in 1967.