1938 Phantom Corsair
Concept Car
Rust Heinz created one of the
most fascinating coupes, which provided enough room to
fit six-passengers. The estimated selling price for
1938 was approximately $12,500. Production on this vehicle was completed, but was
never sold due to the death of Heinz.
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Heinz Comet – what would have been the most famous ketchup truck ever
I’ve never concealed my love for beer trucks, especially the streamlined art deco ones that emerged shortly after the end of Prohibition, but this one’s new to me – a ketchup truck. It seems that Rust Heinz, of the eponymous condiment company, planned and commissioned such a truck in 1938 and envisioned an entire fleet of them hauling around his company’s products. Or so he told the magazines of the day.
Of course, this shouldn’t be new to me – our SIA Flashback from last year on
Rust Heinz’s other, more famous automotive venture – the Phantom Corsair – contained a small photo of the finished (or nearly finished) Heinz Comet. Caption read: “Heinz also designed ‘Comet’ van on Autocar 132-inch chassis for use by 57 Varieties in Pittsburgh. Square Deal Body Co. constructed it.”
That seems to jive with the only other accounts of the Comet that we’ve come across,
both collected by the Museum of Automobile Art and Design. As for Square Deal Body Company, it seemed to have been a commerical body company located in Michigan, but we’ve yet to dig up more information about the company. We’ve also yet to come across more information on the Heinz Comet. Was it actually used to haul around ketchup, or did the Phantom
Corsair monopolize Heinz’s time instead?
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