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Argonaut - 1000 hp and reaching for the stars at the end of the fifties

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Created on April 16, 2020

Text:

Bruno von Rotz

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Archiv

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Archiv

7

Argonaut Smoke (1959) - Hand drawing of the fastest model

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Argonaut (1959) - Chassis

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Argonaut (1959) - solidly constructed chassis

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Argonaut (1959) - the only chassis ever built with an engine?

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Argonaut Executive Limousine (1960) - the limousine with a slightly shorter wheelbase

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Argonaut Formal Coupé (1959) - Drawing of the spacious coupé

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Argonaut Smoke (1960) - Drawing of the 1000 hp sports car

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Summary

There have always been visionaries with big ideas who pushed the automobile forward and initiated new developments. At the end of the 1950s, the Argonaut was to be nothing less than the perfect car, with over 1000 hp and a top speed of up to 400 km/h. It was to be sold only to the worthy. It was only to be sold to the worthy and nothing was spared in the design to achieve this ambitious goal. Nevertheless, the Argonaut was forgotten again. This report tells the brief history of the American Argonaut models and illustrates it not only with pictures from the time, but also with an extensive collection of original documents, including sales brochures, press releases and correspondence.

This article contains the following chapters

Convincing PR work
Beyond everything that existed
Only for selected customers
Everything from the finest
The "Smoke" - a lot of smoke for a lot of money
Beyond the realms of possibility?
Secrecy
Not the work of a fantasist
Ending without a happy ending

Estimated reading time: 9min

Preview (beginning of the article)

The Argonaut was supposed to achieve 1000 hp and up to 400 km/h around 1960. The visionary entrepreneur Richard S. Luntz was behind the Argonaut Motor Machine Corporation, whose headquarters were located in the Hanna Building in Cleveland (Ohio, USA). In 1956, he called together a group of engineers to develop the ultimate automobile. The idea was so ambitious that the term "automobile" was no longer sufficient, and the car was eventually called the "Motor Machine". The briefing was obviously short: build me the best car in the world, faster and more comfortable than any other. There was neither a commercial deadline nor any restrictions on creativity.

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