The Brooks Walker Fifth Wheel

 You think about the advancements today with self parking cars and it makes you wonder what took so long. Truth is, the idea of making parking cars easier has been around since at least the 1950s. 



A few years back we spotted this 1953 Packard at an area car show with a similar invention by a gentleman named Brooks Walker of San Francisco, Ca. It may very well have been created by the same gentleman that crated the Cadillac in the video above.



We did a Google search and were able to turn up some patent designs from Mr. Walker that date back to 1928. There are a few other similar patents out there, however Mr. Walker's seems to be the most thought out and engineered example. This patent from 1932 seems to be the most similar to the one in the video, but the application seems nearly identical to that on the Packard we saw. We also found this Life magazine article showing off Walker's invention.

Now the big question. How does it work? The spare tire is mounted to s separate frame that connects to the drive shaft that can be lowered from inside the car electronically or hydraulically. This lowers the spare tire to the ground lifting the drive wheels of the car off the ground. This allows the spare wheel the drive the car in to a parking spot.

Simple as that. It's a very cool idea in theory even if it may not be the most practical. Since there's little info on Brooks Walker's Fifth Wheel, we hope this will help to serve as a memory to his idea.



Comments

Anonymous said…
Nice post with beautiful images....
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Anonymous said…
More info on Brooke Walker

Google Brooks Walker SR and you will find a newspaper article on him from Miami July 24, 1984

A video of a 1933 Packard with his fifth wheel can be found at www.criticalpast.com

Patent Information and Drawings can be found here http://www.google.com/patents/US3061028
Anonymous said…
More info on Brooke Walker

Google Brooks Walker SR and you will find a newspaper article on him from Miami July 24, 1984

A video of a 1933 Packard with his fifth wheel can be found at www.criticalpast.com

Patent Information and Drawings can be found here http://www.google.com/patents/US3061028
Beautiful car. Seems like its a Vintage auto. Nice share. Thanks Cheers.
Suzan Baker said…
i love vintage cars but the sports car mentioned above all is simply fantastic. looking forward to see such images again, thank you.cheap car parking Luton

Unknown said…
Exactly, what took so long? thumbs up for Brooks Walker.cheapest gatwick parking
carlagrace said…
Amazing use of technology. Beautiful images. Looks easy parking car with 5th wheel. airport parking gatwick
Manish Batra said…
Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definitely be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the conversation and bring a bit more to the table, but am just taking in as much info as I can at the moment. Thanks for sharing.
Wheeled Walker

Keep Posting:)