Jay Leno 1930’s Test Drive: Nethercutt’s 1930 Ruxton – The Forgotten Front-Wheel Drive Pioneer
Jay is back at it with a car like none other, and one that I’m willing to be most folks out there have never heard of before. I know I hadn’t, but I sure do dig it! Like the Cord from the same timeframe, this big beast is front wheel drive. I know we all think of front wheel drive as being something only seen in modern cars, but the truth is that there have been some iconic front wheel drive machines over the years. I think everyone out there in muscle car and hot rod land remembers the Cadillac Eldorado and Oldsmobile Toronado that came out in the Mid 1960’s, but earlier machines like this Ruxton and the Cord were the real pioneers of front wheel drive.
With that said, after the Cord finished production in 1937, there wouldn’t be another front wheel drive American car until the 1966 Olds Toronado mentioned above.
I will say that there is nothing quite like a big giant front wheel drive burnout in a Toronado or Eldorado. I don’t think Leno will be doing any of those given the fact that this Ruxton here is just one of less than 20 ever produced. That makes this thing rare beyond rare. Wow.
Video Description:
This week’s episode features a car you’ve probably never seen — because almost nobody has. It’s the 1930 Ruxton, one of fewer than 20 ever made, and one of the earliest American front-wheel-drive cars. Designed for style over substance, the Ruxton is a rare Art Deco icon that tells a story of ambition, lawsuits, and Depression-era automotive dreams.
Jay is joined by Cameron Richards of the Nethercutt Collection to take a closer look at this extremely rare, ultra-low-slung luxury sedan with one of the boldest factory paint jobs ever put on a pre-war car — and a shifting mechanism that seems almost experimental.
