Cars at Large

Tractors - A unique part of the collecting field

2008-03-14T01:58:00.000-05:00

Car collectors are a strange bunch. They spend loads of money on out dated technology, are delighted if it runs some of the time, and can be cult like in their devotion to certain brands or types of vehicles.

But cars can be driven on the road with relative ease...tractors cannot. Tractor collectors are just as crazy as car collectors--but they collect something much more purpose built than cars. Tractors have always been designed to be work horses made for unique jobs. People did not buy tractors as luxuries (unlike cars) and furthermore, tractors were run until they were couldn't run any more, then they were fixed until they couldn't be fixed anymore.

As a result, the survival rate was extremely low, similar to military vehicles. Besides the rarity, one of the reasons that tractor collectors love their quirky vehicles so much is because the tracts were so purpose designed, and included many interesting little bits and pieces.

One such tractor is the 1942 Ford N9 featured here. Ford built tractors shortly after he had found success with the Model T. Initially just building tractors in England, the tractor division expanded to the US in 1928. Although some success was found, Ford ultimately lost money on the venture and pulled of the US market. The N9 is an interesting footnote in history though, as it is very late pre-WWII tractor, and the one shown here was very well outfitted and preserved by noted Ford collector Jack Hogan. One of the most interesting features of the N9 was its wrench.

Tractors were made to be work horses, so niceties were minimal. This included foregoing a fuel gauge. Instead, fuel levels were checked with something else, something that always went with the tractor...a wrench. Markings on the wrench delineated how much fuel was left in the tank. Just dip the wrench in, and see how much of it was wet when you pulled it out!

This tractor sold for $18,000, including premium, on June 30, 2007 at Bonhams & Butterfields' Jack Hogan Auction in Aurora, Oregon.

Winter. In Chicago. In a Bugatti.

2008-03-11T01:52:00.002-05:00

Bugatti is one of those names that evokes a certain amount of mystique in those familiar with both the newest Bugattis and the true Bugattis. There are few marques that garner as much respect, adoration, and money as those that have been produced with the horseshoe grill and red oval.

While the current Bugatti 16.4 Veyron is the epitome of the same cannot be said of Bugattis of yore. Ettore Bugatti, 'Le Patron' as he was known, was a man of principles. And if you didn't agree with his principles, to bad. He was an incredibly brilliant designer and engineer from a family of artists (his father was a furniture designer, his brother a sculptor) and accepted nothing less than perfection, or whatever he personally defined as perfection. When he continued using cable operated brakes long after hydraulics had become the established norm and customers complained about the stopping distances of their expensive new cars, Ettore rebutted, "a Bugatti is made to go, not to stop!" When a client in the Northeastern United States wrote regarding his car's inability to start in the cold winters, Ettore wrote back, "if you can afford a Bugatti, surely you can afford a heated garage!"

Nonetheless, Bugattis sold well as a result of their absolute dominance on the racetrack and the glory and prestige that comes with such success. The most successful racing Bugatti ever was the Type 35, which won more than 1000 races in its day! The Type 35's siblings were the four cylinder Type 37 and the DOHC eight cylinder Type 51 (a fantastic spotter's guide of these similar cars is available here).

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday in November I had the extreme pleasure to get my first ride in a Bugatti, a 1926 Bugatti Type 37. Well presented by a Chicago area lawyer, the car has been under the care of the same owner for the past 40 years and is a beautiful example of a well preserved race car. The Type 37 was built to race though, and as such, as no roof, doors, windows, or weather protection. Despite this, we went out on a blustery November day and blitzed down the Edens, I-94, having no trouble keeping up with the 70mph traffic.

It was a truly visceral experience. The one and a half liter, SOHC inline four is barely muffled and very cammy. The cockpit is cramped and leaves nothing to the imagination, everything is exposed. It was fun to take this 82 year old girl out on the road, and enjoyable to see the excited faces of our fellow motorist, shocked to see such a car on the road. It was also heartening to be going 70mph on the Edens, staring at the wheel wells of the cars next to us and knowing the only thing that would bring us to a halt was a set of large, vented, cable operated drums.

So what would it cost to obtain a Type 37 to enjoy this experience for yourself? Expect to pay around $250,000. For a SOHC, I8 Type 35 closer to $400,000 and for the incredibly rare Type 51, a solid six figure price is a good place to start!

Recalls: Manufacturerer Errors Since the Model T

2007-05-26T23:17:00.000-05:00

Ever since there have been cars (or anything else for that matter that has been series produced) there have been errors made by the manufacturers. It seems that almost once a week, we hear about about a manufacturer recalling a model because of some small error made in production. This affliction is not unique to the world's largest car companies, plenty of instances exist where some of the most expensive cars made in tiny numbers have been recalled as well. Recalls are a fact of production since no matter how much time you spend engineering and refining a complex machine like an automobile, there always exists the chance of mistake or a less than wonderful design feature.

The ubiquitousness of recalls is undeniable, but their history is somewhat more convoluted. Until the establishment of consumer safety agencies, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Association in 1970, recalls were largely the provenance of manufacturers. While today, product recalls are typically forced on the companies by safety agencies, recalls in the past were typically done by manufacturers to correct errors that were reducing sales. Because of the fly-by-night nature of recalls in automobiles, the history of recalls is somewhat poorly documented (unlike today when you can get it online). One prime example of a historical recall almost sunk what would become one of the most mass produced vehicles in history.

In mid-1908, Ford Motor Company brought out its new Model T. Priced at $850 (the early T's, up until the moving production line really kicked into gear in 1914 were not quite car of the masses yet), these early T's were simple and easy to drive. Reliable power from an L-Head inline four displacing 176.6 cubic inches was routed through a two-speed planetary gearbox. A number of innovations, such as use high-strength steel for added stiffness and lower weight, an engine and transmission oiling system that was powered by the engine and drew oil from the crankcase, and the first car in the US produced with a left hand drive steering wheel.

Unlike today, where vehicle controls are pretty much standardized (go on the right, clutch on the left, stop in the middle), no such congruence exists in 1908. Ford's early T's had two pedals (clutch on the left and brake on the right) and two levers (reverse gear engagement on the right, handbrake/neutral engagement on the left). While the driver's feet were relatively unhindered (mash the clutch for low gear, release it for high gear, brake pedal operated like they do today), his/her left hand was inordinately busy when it came to going into reverse. This was because the car's reverse gear was engaged by pushing the right side left forward and pulling the left lever back. Forward motion was engaged by doing the opposite. The close proximity of the levers meant that one would likely skin their knuckles in performing this procedure, or at the very least be doing a lot of unnecessary reaching just to backwards or forwards.

Ford recognized the ungainliness of this drive system quite early on and subsequently built only 800 two-pedal/two-lever T's. The remained 20+ million cars had three pedals (clutch, reverse, brake) and one lever (handbrake/neutral engagement). The change was obviously a positive one as it made the car safer (if you engaged reverse before putting the car in neutral the results could be pretty bad for you and the car) and easier to drive.

Ford's recall clearly demonstrates that there is nothing new to the phenomenon of manufacturer product recall. So next time you get a letter int he mail from the maker of your car telling you that you need to bring it in to fix the widget that caused some other cars to crash, consider yourself a member of a group that has existed since the cradle of the automotive age: the recall victim.

Pictured: An early 1908 Ford Model T that was among the first 800 cars built. The car currently resides in the Towe Auto Museum in Sacramento, CA.

Back, finally!

2007-05-26T23:11:00.000-05:00

Pardon the long absence, but up until now, I have been without a personal computer, only a PC at work. I have finally gotten myself a computer though, so I can return to posting regularly.

Survivors: True blue survivors (Part III)

2007-04-12T22:31:00.000-05:00

Up to now, I have been speaking mostly about cars that have been restored from their original condition. In other words, vehicles that for whatever reason, were taken apart and recommissioned with new parts, fixed old parts, or fabricated parts. While they would often emerge looking fantastic, they had forever lost that element of originality, the simple fact that the last workers to really touch the car were the workers that built it.

It is far easier to restore a car than get an original one. The reason, of course, is because a car is only original once. You can't make a car untouched, you can only restore it back to its original condition. Of course, for a car to be unrestored and still be viable as a piece of operating machinery, the vehicle has to be lucky enough to enjoyed most of the following things:

1. It wasn't used much, but was well kept during its useful life.
2. The vehicle was stored in a covered, indoor location.
3. The vehicle was properly stored and drained of its fluids
4. The vehicle and its storage facility are subject to dry, warm climates year round.

That fourth point is the most important. Many a great car has been spoiled by metal, wood, and fabric's worst enemy: moisture. In the event that all three of those elements are present, the results can be stunning. Vehicles have been pulled out of storage after sitting for decades and have been started after minor mechanical refreshening. Some didn't even need to have their engines opened, the just needed to be filled up, set up with a new battery, and turned over.

The look and smell of an original car is simply something money can't buy. The paint is usually deteriorated, showing the cracks, flakes, and dulling of age, but it still has a nice, warm character to it. The leather and fabrics mellow with age as do the woods. Chrome and brass take on a rich patina that is unmatched. And most importantly, the car represents a time capsule that transport you back to when it was built.

So next time you see an original car, take a moment to savor the sight. Look closely at the craftsmanship and the details--elements that were fashioned by their original craftsman using the original tools, dies, stampings, and parts. And if you think the car looks old, imagine how you'd look after sitting for 50 years and rethink that previous statement!

Pictures, clockwise from lower left are of a 1914 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Landualette by Barker, a 1967 Jaguar XK-SS, a 1928 Mercedes-Benz SSK, a 1924 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Sedan, and a 1911 Austin Tourer.

Survivors: Over-restoration and the 'Dark Ages' (Part II)

2007-03-24T21:29:00.000-05:00

Pardon the long delay, but I am getting things sorted out slightly. Without further adieu, my first real post in a while...

The collector car hobby as evolved and changed ever since 'collector cars' were really just new or slightly used cars. As it has evolved though, the standards by which perfection and provenance have been judged have changed. Up until the early 1970's, most classic cars were not worth enough to invest significant amounts of money into to restore, so they were instead just kept up to snuff. The small number of cars that had already become valuable tended to be restored to some extent or well maintained. In many cases though, the cars were not maintained to the lofty, historical standards that we see today. As the cars became more and more valuable, reaching into the hundreds of thousands, and even the millions, of dollars range, collector cars went from the weekend adventure machines of hobbyists to the playthings of wealthy folks. This has continued until today, although there has been some overlap, by which I mean rich hobbyists, but not many.

One of the side effects of the collector automobiles jump into the price stratosphere was the fact that the cars themselves went from fun old machines to status symbols and prizes. From the mid-1970's until the late-1990's, aesthetic perfection became paramount, and historical originality took a distant back seat. Wealthy individuals that liked the way the cars looked, but didn't particularly care for the historical value of their aged looks had cars restored to better than new condition. At the peak of this madness, in the later 1980's, cars that graced the finest of show fields tends to be mere silhouettes of their former selves. Every bit of rust or aged metal was replaced with brand new fabrications. Cracked leather seats were replaced with soft new hides. Seats were restuffed, tops were redone, paint was stripped off, patinaed chrome was rechromed, and smoked glass was replaced. The result was stunning, cars that had perfect panel fit, rich deep paint and interior leather, and mirror smooth chrome. While these cars were supremely gorgeous in appearance, they were like recreated Mona Lisas. Devoid of the cracks, fading, and discoloration that comes with age, they were basically brand new old cars.

It wasn't until the late 1990's that the hobby began to really accept, and truly save, the most coveted and rare of vehicles: the untouched and unmolested original survivor.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, are a 1948 Chrysler Town and Country Sedan, a 1907 Rolls-Royce 40/50 'The Silver Ghost,' a 1937 Duesenberg J Bohman and Schwartz Towncar, and a 1911 Mercedes 37/90 Skiff.

Back, almost

2007-03-21T23:02:00.000-05:00

Hi All! I've arrived in San Francisco, but have not yet gotten a computer so I am working on a borrowed PC. I don't have the time or the hardware to make a decent post though, unfortunately. I just thought I would put this up to let you all know that I have not forgotten about my blog and my readers! I will return to more regular posting as soon as I can!

-Eric

Apologies, Moving, and General Craziness

2007-03-13T00:46:00.000-05:00

Those who follow the blog know I don't talk about myself much, save for the odd major life event and such. Even still, I feel bad that my postings lately have been a little slow in the coming and I want to apologize for that. The reason for lag in posting frequency is that I have been traveling a lot lately for both business and pleasure. On the pleasure end, I drove all around the southeast part of the United States and on the business end, I went to San Francisco to interview and get what is ostensibly my dream job (see the 'major life event' above).

Lately I have been packing everything I own (and part of what my parents used to own but have been kind enough to give to me) in preparation for my move to San Francisco. My car is now all filled up and gassed up and ready to make the 2200 mile journey westward.

I will start posting as soon as I get settled, and buy a computer since I will not have one initially. I'll try to find another computer to post from, but in the meantime, enjoy the archive and feel free to email me your comments, questions, or recommendations for my site or posts you'd like to see.

Survivors: Avoiding the crusher is just step one (Part I)

2007-03-08T22:16:00.000-06:00

When you think about it, it is really a wonder that we have as many old cars left as we do. Imagine the work, effort, expense and luck that had to go into keeping around a 3000 lb hunk of out-dated metal? While many of these cars are worth oodles of money today, 50 years ago (or even 20 years ago, in some cases) those very same cars languished on used car lots as outdated hunks taking up space on the lot. Why use up valuable lot space on a Figoni et Falaschi bodied Delahaye that was worth maybe $3000 when you could replace it with a new Chevy worth $4000? No that Chevy is worth $40,000 and the Delahaye is worth millions--but hindsight is always 20/20 and if we knew then what we know now, my college fund that was set aside when I was a baby would have all been in Microsoft stock.

Today, we have a field of 200 completely different and unique marvels show up at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance every year. That is 200 unique cars that manage to survive anywhere from 120 to 30 years. Quite a feat, really.

But many of these cars survived only just. Some of them were nothing more than a box or parts or a rusted out old chassis lying i n a field or in a barn. They had to be brought back to life by a team of skilled craftsmen and someone with the will and wallet to wait and pay for the resurrection to happen. The restored results often look fabulous, better than the factory could have produced in many cases (paint, leather, metal crafting, and just about everything else has advanced quite a bit in the last century), but on the same note, they are not longer the original car. They have elements, core ingredients really, that were crafted by the original assembly workers, but the vehicle has been worked over by modern hands.

Beyond the rarefied air of restored cars, however, there is something that can largely be considered a diamond in the rough. I am talking about original, unrestored survivors. Cars that have managed to avoid any form of appreciable destruction, deterioration, or wear since they left the factory however many years ago. These vehicles are something more, a step above their less fortunate brethren that were not cared for as long, loved as long, or simply unlucky enough to have been bought and driven in an inhospitable environment (which is pretty much anywhere but desert areas).

Next time I'll delve into the wonderful world of unrestored, original cars. I hold a special place in my heart for these vehicles since they represent the cream of the crop. They are cars that are not only still around, but are still (largely) the product of the people that original built them.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of Ralph Lauren's restored 1934 Bugatti Type 59 (one of 6 or 7), JB Nethercutt's restored 1931 Bugatti Type 51 Dubos Coupe (1 of 1), Raulph Lauren's highly restored (by Paul Russell) 1938 Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic-Elektron Coupe (one of two built), Arturo Keller's 1938 Bentley 4 1/4 Liter Pourtout Coupe (1 of 1), and Joseph Cassini's 1938 Horch 853 Erdmann and Rossi Sport Cabriolet (one of two).

New Job

2007-03-06T23:39:00.000-06:00

As those who know me or have read my profile here are aware of, I have been searching for a career involving vintage motorcars for sometime now. After much searching, my efforts have come to fruition as I have recently been offered, and have accepted, a job with Bonhams and Butterfields in San Francisco. I will be starting as the Business Manager in the Motoring Department there on March 20th.

In this role, I will be responsible for many of the administrative tasks involved with planning auctions for motorcars, motorcycles, and automobilia. I am hoping that besides working to plan and execute the busy auction schedule that Bonhams puts on each year (among other things), I will also be able to learn about the auction business so that my role in it can increase in the future.

Since I will be traveling to all of Bonhams' auctions, please do stop by and say 'hi' if you happen to visit one. The next auction on the calendar is the Brookline Collectors' Motorcars and Automobilia auction in Brookline, MA on April 21st. I look forward to meeting some of you at our future auctions!

Back from the Dead: Boxes to Vehicle (Part II)

2007-03-05T00:57:00.000-06:00

Back in September of last year I left a cliff hanger of sorts by creating a post on restorations with the intention of making it a multi-part series. Due to lack of photos, however, I didn't make a part two, but now I can. The restoration of an automobile is a process that can be fun, exciting, expensive, and difficult. Depending on the car you are restoring, and the condition and completeness of the subject (as well as you determination to make it as original or unoriginal as possible), it can be a long road from idea to running vehicle. A skilled craftsman, a good understanding of basic mechanical work, and a steadfast commitment to completing your goals can all make for a successful restoration.

The question of when to restore something can occasionally be asked, and is raised more often that not nowadays. The relatively recent emergence of valuing originality over restorative good looks has created the question of what makes a survivor? I don't want to attack that question now (I will save that for a later date), but rather I'd like to focus on vehicles that are definitely not survivors, but are not so far-gone that they are beyond restoration. The most common source of these types of vehicles is, ironically, restorations.

The huge commitment of time required to restore a car (often hundreds or thousands of man hours) is daunting, and the decision to restore a car is much easier than the process of actually restoring the vehicle. It is also much easier to take apart a car than to put it back together again. As a result, many still born restorations end up as 'cars in a box' wherein the owner decides to restore a vehicle, takes it apart, may do some work on it, but never gets around to putting all the pieces back together again. As a result, these cars often show up as projects for others to undertake.

One such example of this is a 1952 MG TD that is being restored by my good friend, Dr. James Wagner, the President of my Alma Mater, Emory University. President Wagner is a car buff to the n-th degree and a fantastic constructor of all things mechanical (besides being a great University President). Recently, he acquired the MG in question in parts and has began restoring it. It is a process that requires a lot of work, but it gives those involved the best opportunity to learn how a car really works--because cars don't get much more basic than an MG T-car. As the photos indicate, the chassis/frame is almost complete, but the body still needs to be finished (these older cars are assembled like modern trucks, body on frame). The engine has been professionally rebuilt and looks stunning. The only problem I have with the car is the fact that is was purchased after I left Emory, or else I'd be there with grease under my fingernails too.

I look forward to seeing the completed vehicle in the future, but until then, it is a long road ahead. If you have the time, money, and wherewithal to do a restoration of a car that had ended up as parts in a box, I'd fully recommend the undertaking as a way to learn about how cars work, as well as to build your own vehicle. I've helped on a few projects, but I haven't done my own vehicle...yet. I think I'll need some more money, and a garage, before I can do that!

For a humorous review of a 1952 MG TD, check out the one on the CarTalk website.

Also, to read about someone's own restoration of an MG TD (with pictures), click here.

Blackhawk Museum

2007-03-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I have recently returned home from San Francisco, which is home to one of the more well known car museums in the country, the Blackhawk Museu m in Danville, CA. The Blackhawk is a fairly young museum (founded in 1988), but it has grown to a certain degree of prominence because of the vehicles it has displayed and its affiliation with the Smithsonian. The museum is a featured piece on the classic car website Classics.com and has been reviewed before by other websites as well.

Their website is very thorough on the history and vehicles at the museum, so I won't dwell too much on that, but rather focus on my own experience there. The building is tucked away in a mall of sorts, off the main drag in Danville, which is just across the Bay Bridge from San Francisco. Housed in a good sized, modern building, the vehicles are exhibited in a very plain, matter-of-fact sort of manner. Cars are parked in rows in dark rooms (black walls and ceilings are above black marble floors) with lighting that is OK at times, scattered at other times. The rows are roped off with enough distance that the cars are typically at least three to six feet away from you at any given time, basically far enough that you can't touch them, but also can't get a great look at them either (especially the ones parked against the walls, which is most of the cars there). They also don't allow tripods (but they do allow monopods), so pictures are an iffy proposition without a steady hand, a high ISO, or shadowy flash shots.

As you can tell, I am not a fan of the setting. The area seems more suited to having a dinner party than displaying cars, and indeed the museum prominently hawks the fact that you can have events there. The cars are so far away and closed up (the windows were up on virtually every car, making interior pictures near impossible) that you feel more like you are at an art museum looking at sculptures rather than at a car museum looking at automobiles. Now this is not to say that they vehicles present are not the epitome of automotive sculpture (more on that later), but simply that you could only get one or two (often poor) angles of the car. It was like looking at a multi-faceted diamond that you can only see from straight on. The idea is there, but you really can't get a complete look at the car. You could rarely ever see the interiors (which is a pity) and none of the hoods were raised to display the engines.

With all that said, the collection of cars present, which was good sized but not huge, was phenomenal. The vehicles assembled represent the very finest and best examples produced by their respective marques. The types of vehicles displayed were mostly Grand Classics (1925-1941) and post-WWII European sports-racing cars. Many of the greatest marques are represented, including Duesenberg, Mercedes-Benz, Hispano-Suiza, Bugatti, Isotta-Franchini, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Ferrari, and many others. There are cars here that can only be described as one-of-a-kind, epic marvels, and true rolling sculpture. The museum is simply a can't miss because of the vehicular jewelry assembled. Any car guy worth his or her salt cannot miss seeing the cars that are featured. If nothing else, after you have visited, you can say you have seen the cars there in the flesh (albeit a poor, partial view of them, but seen them nonetheless).

Overall, I'd say the museum is really bolstered by what it has, not how it shows them. While less high falutin collections like the aforementioned Lane Motor Museum and the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum may not be stocked with the kind of prestigious cars that the Blackhawk has, both of them have a much more down to earth feel and the Lane's museum doesn't even have barriers! If you are in the Bay Area, you have to go see the museum simply to see the cars there, but bring a step-stool or something so you can maybe get a look inside of them!

3750 Blackhawk Plaza Cir
Danville, CA 94506

The Lane Motor Museum

2007-03-02T10:49:00.000-06:00

Lately I have been doing a fair bit of traveling, which is my primary reason (excuse?) for my infrequent posting habits of late. Besides my aforementioned roadtrip, I just returned from a jaunt to San Francisco for a job interview. I am back in familiar waters, for now, and will resume a more normal, and frequent posting schedule.

To begin that schedule, I'd like to review a few museums I have visited lately. Today I'd like to focus on the Lane Motor Museu m in Nashville, TN. The museum was opened in 2003 based on a donation of 70 vehicle by car enthusiast Jeff Lane and his wife Susan. Since then, the collection has grown to 300 cars, about 150 of which are displayed at any given time in the facility. The building itself is the former home of the Sunbeam Bakery and features large windows that provide lots of natural light. A detailed history on the museum can be found here.

To be honest, I felt the museums was one of the hidden gems that is not mentioned often enough when people list the top auto museums in the country. The collection itself can best be described as 'eclectic' since all the vehicles featured are extraordinarily unique. You won't find many grand classics at this museum (save for a few Panhards and a Lancia Lambda), but you will find a number of cars that, as the Lane's promise, will put a smile on your face. The spotlight is placed on European cars, specifically ones that represent the outlandish and unusual sides of the automobile's development. Three wheelers, rear engined cars, dual-engined cars, propeller powered vehicles, and many other oddities inhabit the cavernous, 40,000 square foot open space. A number of the vehicles are very rare or one of a kind. Some marques are more represented than others, such as Tatra and Citroen, both known for building cars that didn't exactly follow the rules.

Besides the fantastic selection of interesting cars (all of which can be bragged about for being strange, but few for being very expensive), the presentation is top notch. Unlike many car museums that are in poorly lit rooms with the cars roped off so that you really can't see or photograph them all that well, the Lane Motor Museum wants you to really get a great look at the cars. All but a handful of the cars are parked in rows devoid of ropes and barriers, giving you the opportunity to look all around and inside the vehicles (just don't touch them, a reasonable request indeed). This not only gives people a wonderful opportunity to see the cars as multifaceted pieces of machinery, but also to marvel at the design elements that show through in every part of the vehicle. Plus, as an aside, it shows enormous trust on the part of the Lane's that their vehicles will be respected by the visitors of the museum and it certainly made me feel more welcome and at home (I guess it was a little Southern Hospitality).

Overall, I'd place the Lane Motor Museum in the Highly Recommended category, up there with great museums like the Nethercutt and National Automobile Museum. While the cars aren't the multi-million dollar vehicular art you often see at car museums, they did represent a collection of vehicles that are just as interesting. Plus, you can't beat the fact that there are no barrier and ample information given on each car. So next time you're in the Nashville area, be sure to stop by and check it out:

702 Murfreesboro Pike
Nashville, TN 37210

Pines Winterfront- Your Best Friend On a Cold Winter Day

2007-02-23T10:54:00.000-06:00

Today, we take for granted the fact our car will start right up on those sub-zero days. For the most part, the only thing we care concerned with is that the battery has enough cold cranking amps to get the engine to turn over, not weather the engine will be hot enough to run. Thanks to electronic fuel injection we don't have much to worry about, the engine computer takes care of everything. In the earlier days of motoring, however, life was not so simple.

The biggest hurdle when starting a car in the cold is that the engine is well below operating temperature. The metal block is so cold that ignition may not be able to be properly sustained under such harsh conditions (remember, there is no electronic control, only mechanical control). To get the engine to operate properly, it must warm up a bit first. One way to do this is to minimize airflow into the radiator to prevent the coolant from dropping in temperature when it needs to be warmed up.

Since most cars just had an open radiator grille, something would need to be placed in front of the grille to limit airflow in the cold, at least until the car warmed up. Enter the Pines Automatic Winterfront. Pines was a company in Chicago (which, by the way, had anoutdoor temperature of 13 F/-10.6 C last week) that built a special grille that could be affixed to the front a vehicle to help it warm up in the cold. The grille had opening and closing slats that were regulated by a thermostat that monitored the temperature of the coolant. When the coolant passed 130 F, the slats opened up. Conversely, when the collant temperature dropped below 130 F, the slats would close. Some less expensive models produced by other companies were simple solid metal that had to later be removed to prevent overheating.

More expensive cars, such as Auburns, Duesenbergs, and Rolls-Royces had a similar system built into the grille. If you look closely, the grille slats on all of these cars could swivel, opening and closing automatically (based on mechanical regulation) to maintain the optimal operating temperatures in the engine.

Today, you rarely ever see a Pines Automatic Winterfront on a car since nobody drives their old cars in the winter (too much salt and grime, all of which is bad for the metal). As a garage novelty though, you can often find an old Pines Automatic Winterfront hanging in the garages of many collectors.

Roadtrip!

2007-02-15T18:50:00.000-06:00

I will not be posting at all for the next week as I am driving around the southeastern United States. Specifically, I am going to Memphis, TN for the world's best ribs, New Orleans, LA for Mardi Gras, Atlanta, GA to visit some friends, Nashville, TN to go to the Lane Motor Museum, Elizabethtown, KY to go to the Swope's Museum, Lafayette, IN to visit a cousin, and finally back into Chicago, IL. All together, I'll be driving around 2,200 miles over the course of the week and passing through ten states. See you all when I return!

Hot Rods: Foose, Coddington, Barris, and the Birth of the Ultra Rod (Part VII)

2007-02-15T00:10:00.000-06:00

The popularity of Beatnik rod's demonstrated a public interest in hot rods that spilled well beyond the shores of the disgruntled teens. Additionally, those teenagers of the 1950's and 1960's were getting older, getting jobs, and getting less rebellious. One of the first generations to really enjoy the virtually unbridled prosperity of the post-WWII era, the Baby Boomers, as they are now known, may have traded their jeans and undershirts for suits, but never lost their wayward spirit. The heady days of their youth, when time was limitless and money was tight had given way to the opposite situation as they entered their 40's and 50's in the 1980's and 1990's. Nostalgic urges and dreams of days gone by prompted many Boomers to want to relive their glory days (both real and imagined), and the automobile was one route that they could take to do this.

It was out of this cauldron that a new type of hot rod was born. Wanting to revisit their past, many guys that had once built or lusted after hot rods as teens could now afford to pay for someone else to build one for them. No longer constrained by the limitations of meager fund or extra help, Boomers of means were willing to pay for the ride of their dreams to be built. These radical new rides were still extreme and individual, but were somewhat tempered with the age of the clientele. No longer willing to deal with the sacrifices of a home built car, these new 'hot rodders' wanted a noticeable ride, with all the attributes of a true hot rod, but built to incredibly high standards. The Ultra Rod was born.

The idea of a very stylish hot rod, built to impeccable standards, and designed to standout was largely the provenance of the Barris Brothers, Sam and George Barris. The two were born in Chicago but later moved to Southern California as children. After Sam's tour of duty in the US Navy, they opened the shop and created the first 'Kustom Cars,' and early prelude to Ultra Rods of today. Together, they created the first truly modern 1952 Hirohata Merc, based on a 1951 Mercury Coupe. Still an icon today, the car started a series of Barris customs that would set the trend for top notch hot rods.

Following the Barris' lead, other young designers began to get into the business of building hot rods. Boyd Coddington, a machinist from Idaho began building hot rods in the late 1970's. His memorable creations helped kickstart the career of other young designers like Chip Foose. Foose, a Southern California design student, worked part-time for Boyd after graduating from the Art Center College of Design and later ended up running Boyd's company. Foose's unique hot rod's represented a decidedly modern look at a classic concept. He based his cars on the designs of everything from old Fords and Chevys to European classics such as Delahayes and even 1960's muscle cars. He now has his own company that not only builds cars, but also merchandises everything from clothes to models, much like his predecessor Ed Roth. These and other designers pushed forward the style of the Ultra Rod.

As with anything, when you hire someone else to do the work, it doesn't come cheap. The high cost of parts and labor meant even the most basic rod could cost a minimum of $50,000 and the most expensive rods could peter out at half a million dollars. The rebellious nature originally associated with hot rods was still strong, and it was cemented by the wide spread appearance of hot rods in the music and videos of rockers such as Sammy Hagar, ZZ Top, and other popular bands. Today, the super-premium hot rod market is thriving and permeates popular culture in TV (through shows like Overhaulin' and American Hot Rod) and movies. A lot of traditionalists scoff at the phenomenon, mostly because it side-steps what many consider to be the most important part of the car, the fact that the owner built it, but no one can deny the convenience of it or the importance of the Ultra Rod to the modern popularity of the hot rod.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of Billy Gibbon's 1949 Cadillac Series 62 Sedanette "CadZZilla," Chip Foose's 1998 Foose Design Shockwave, the buck used to make the aforementioned car, and finally "Grand Master," a 1935 Chevrolet Master 2-Door Sedan based hot rod

Hot Rods: Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and the Beatnik Rods (Part VI)

2007-02-14T00:27:00.000-06:00

Drifting far away from rat rods, but remaining of the theme of extreme personalization, I'd like to focus on Beatnik Hot Rods. To many, Beatnik rods are considered the ultimate in imaginative design, with shapes and colors that literally look out of this world. To understand these cars though, you have to look at the people who built them--namely: Beatniks.

Beatniks are an outgrowth of the 1950's and early 1960's 'Be at Generation,' who were basically the rebellious youths of their day. Personified in the writings and life of Jack Kerouac, beatniks had all the makings of great hot rodders; they were counter-culture youth longing to express themselves and possessing huge amounts of artistic and creative talent...combined with the free time that comes with being an unemployed or slightly employed disgruntled teen or twenty-something. Beatnik rods were designed to transport the user and viewer to another place, more mentally than physically. Unlike rat rods, which are ruggedly utilitarian, Beatnik rods were alien and unworldly. Even more so, the use of original parts was uncommon, almost every part of the car was fabricated, much of it from an old material fairly new car building-fiberglass.

The true pioneer, icon, and greatest champion of Beatnik rods was hot rod builder and artist Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth. Roth, a Southern California child of the Beat Generation started his career painting pin stripes and flames. It was during this time in the late 1950's that he developed an icon that still lives on to this day: Rat Fink. The unofficial mascot of the Beatnik rod (and most every other hot rod, save for the ultra modern, high tech, and expensive rods I'll talk about tomorrow), Rat Fink was a crazed, hideous rat-like creature with a penchant for burn-outs. Also in the late 50's and early 60's, Roth created a bunch of vehicles that fit the Rat Finks wild persona.

Unlike anything that had ever been seen before, Roth's hot rods were based on the usual bits, mostly 1920's and 30's Fords, but were bodied with strange and wild fiberglass bodies topped off with eccentric pearlescent paint jobs. Roth also was one of the first designers to put a bubble top on a hot rod, something that had become increasingly popular among jet-age automobile designers. With exotic names like 'Be atnik Bandit' and 'Mysterion' and looks that were wild enough to stand above the rest by attractive enough to be adored by the masses, Roth capitalized on the phenomenon with a series of t-shirts, models, and posters that are still popular today.

The style the Roth pioneered and championed still lives on now with some hot rodders. Recently, a freshly completed 1955 Ford Custom called the 'Beatnik Bubbletop' sold at auction for a touch un der $400,000 (see lot 141). Roth's cars are currently on display at the Petersen Museum in LA call Ed "Big Daddy" Roth: The Original Rat Fink. It is definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. Also, for a comprehensive list of Roth's show cars, check out MrGasser.com.

Tomorrow I'll look at Kustom Kars and the growth of the modern 'ultra-rod.'

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of the 1960 Beatnik Bandit, the many faces of Rat Fink, the 1959 Outlaw, the 1963 Mysterion, Carl Casper's Hemi-powered 'Ultra-Rod,' and a a 1933 Ford Hot Rod by Ron Price and painted by Ed Roth.

Hot Rods: Rat Rods- The Counter Counter Culture (Part V)

2007-02-12T22:14:00.000-06:00

Arguably one of the most eclectic and interesting elements of the hot rod and hot rodding community are Rat Rods and the people who make them. A Rat Rod is basically a modified vintage American car, built using entirely vintage parts, and designed to look rough or unfinished. A certain emphasis it put on maintaining a level of incomplete authenticity with exposed welds, the use of surface rust as an exterior color, the absence of paint or the use of matte paint, and a strong level of general 'badassitude.' These cars are not for the weak of heart, the conformists, or the folks who want to have a car that clearly states 'I am very concerned about how people perceive me.' Rat rods are built by and for people who are intentionally bucking against convention and living up to the standards and practices enforced by their earliest hot rodders. When you get right down to it, a rat rod is really just an early hot rod built by your Average Joe. It is rough, crude, cheap, and so personalized and individual that it more of an attachment of its builder than a piece of property that he or she owns.

Modern rat rod culture is engrossed in the romance of rebellious teens in the 1940's and 1950's. James Dean is a hero and rockabilly music is still outlandish and full of counter culture angst. Think slicked back hair, a healthy number of tattoos, jeans with the cuffs (neatly) folded up, chain wallets, and flames painted onto their leather boots. This unique version of rebellion is alive and well among select thrive groups, and it is among these individuals that rat rods have grown in popularity. A common starting point is any pre-WWII Ford, preferably a Model A of later, but other models are popular to such as early 40's Plymouths and Chevrolets. While chrome is non-existent, you will hardly miss it looking at a rat rod. A common theme is slamming the car as close to the ground as possible, sometimes so low that the axle is mounted directly to the frame. Wheels are usually left exposed, and the interior is left handsomely bare, with the seats usually consisting of a minimally cushioned bench with a Mexican rug draped across it. The engine is often exposed, a tribute to the old-school machinery powering it and a perfect homage to the rugged utilitarian nature of the motor that is not decorated with chrome and plastic.

To be perfectly frank, I find rat rods and rat rod culture to be one of my favorite brands of car culture. More so than any other group, rat rodder capture a part of history and proudly display it as if time had stopped. Being a history nut and a traditionalist, I admire the people and their creations with a great amount of respect. Be sure to stop by The Jal opy Journal or Killbillet.com to get a taste of this fantastic, and often overlooked (intentionally and unintentionally) part of car culture.

Ironically, rat rods have gained such momentum that some major automakers have even made them, most notably Toyota, which displayed a rat rodded 1967 Toyota FJ40 at SEMA.

Tomorrow I'll explore another unique brand of hot rodders: beatnik builders.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of 1936 Ford V8 Coupe, Voodoo Diablo (based a 1928 Dodge sedan) side, interior, and the builder, 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan, a 1940 Plymouth Coupe, the Sloppy Jalopy (a 1934 Ford Pickup) side and rear.

Hello SC.net folks

2007-02-12T15:49:00.000-06:00

Hi all, and thanks for coming to my site. I know I have not updated it since last week, but I have a few new posts coming tonight and tomorrow so please stop by again. For those of you who frequent the Supercars.net forums, I am the member known as Duesey. I hope you all enjoy your visit and come back and visit again.

If you want to see anything featured, please feel free to comment below or email me.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks again to Rich for linking to my site.

Hot Rods: The Birth of Drag Racing (Part IV)

2007-02-06T00:03:00.000-06:00

As hot rodding moved into the cities, the urge to have races and speed contests remained. No one wanted to drive all the way out to the desert to do a land speed run on a dry lake bed that would gum up the paint though, so people raced on the streets instead. People would gather on long, open straightaway streets and test their cars and themselves. Weekend nights on streets such as Wilshire Blvd in downtown LA would be filled with the sound of screeching tires and roaring engines. In addition to racing in straight lines, some even more daring individuals would take to the Hollywood Hills and race along Mulholland Drive. Before and after races, people would gather at fast food joints like In-N-Out Burger and show off their cars--an image that still holds true today with local cruise in gatherings and numerous examples of pop art from and representing the era.

These fete's of speed and demonstrations of testosterone addled invincibility were often accompanied by personal injury and property damage for the drivers and those around them. This bad boy, rebellious image became attached the hotrod. To try to stem this association, some hot rodders formed organizations to conduct short distance speed trials under safer, sanctioned conditions. The most important of these organizations was the Nat ional Hot Rod Association. By defining the structure under which drag racing, including 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile trials, was to be conducted and facilitating the creation of safe tracks to perform the races on, the NHRA began a tradition of safely conducting speed trials that it continues today.

Hot rod drag racing still had plenty of rebels racing on the streets long after the 1951 establishment of the NHRA, of course. We still have street races today all over the country. But for the most part, drag racing moved to the track. Even still, pop culture had its go at glorifying the rebellious teen drag racers in such movies as the previously mentioned American Graffiti as well as songs by the Beach Boys like Little Deuce Coupe and Shut Down.

Next time I'll explore the growth of the Kustom and Beatnik rods.

Pictured is the famous "Little Deuce Coupe" from the Beach Boys 1963 album of the same name.

Hot Rods: Early Individual Customs (Part III)

2007-02-05T23:17:00.000-06:00

In continuing my series on the hot rod, I'd like to turn my focus to how hot rodding became more mainstream. While I won't jump to George L ucas' first truly big movie, A merican Graffiti, the movie's subject is telling. Hot rodding couldn't survive on dry lakes alone. There were a number of die hards that lived and breathed speed records on the salt, but for most people, a lake bed racer required too much work for a product that was very good at getting one thing (speed) but not another thing crucial to every young male (girls). For that, hot rodders had to turn their attention to aesthetics and streetability in the city. With these changes came new types of vehicles, but old social mores kept the presence of racing (in some form or another) a part of the hobby and many of the modifications continued to find their origins in lake bed cars.

In cities like Los Angeles, young teens and twenty-somethings desired the same things in the 1950's, 60's and 70's and they do now (and I'm pretty sure that young ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and even cavemen are no different here): girls and thrills. Cars, since their inception, have provided both, but usually at a high monetary costs. What hot rods did was bring this cost down somewhat. The basis was the same as I have mentioned before, mostly pre-WWII Fords and Chevy's with simple flathead V8s (not too many Chryslers were used because they often only had inline sixes). As time moved on, people began to use newer cars that had trickled onto the used market, namely 1949 and 50 Mercury Coupes.

The modifications where similar to those done by the lake bed boys, dropping the cars down to the ground by chopping, channeling, and sectioning the cars (also see the previ ous post). Unlike before, however, looks were key. Cars were smoothed out and polished and items that detracted from the slick lines of the car, such as door handles, trunk handles, and other elements were eliminated or 'shaved.' Headlights were inset in the body work, or 'frenched.' Paint was liberally applied in bright pearlescent colors (so called because early pearlescent paints got the glittery shine from crushed sea shells). Chrome was usually liberally applied with toothy grills, elegant trim lines, or heavy bumpers. Engines were usually worked over as well with the usual exhaust and head cover replacements combined with occasional flame thrower pipes. The resulting product, called a 'Leadsled,' a 'Deuce,' a '3-Window,' or any other of a host of names (depending on the make, model, and mods performed) tended to be an outright expression of personal taste, rebellion, and an individual's idea of a chick magnet (as with fish and birds, brightly colored shiny things seem to be what men think girls love).

Guys would cruise the streets in their ride, which was often also their daily driver and only car. This meant that while the car was being fabricated, they had to drive the unfinished wreck around, so a finished car was something to be proud of. Boys being boys meant that just looking pretty wasn't enough. While there were certainly competitions for whose car was the best looking, whose car was the fastest was also important. Next time I'll take a look at how racing moved from the lake beds to the cities with drag racing.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of the 1929 Ford Model A Roadster "Tin Man," the 1951 Mercury "Knight Cruiser," a 1932 Ford Model B SoCal Deuce Roadster, a hot rod being built, a flathead Ford V8 with Offenhauser heads, and a 1929 Ford Hot Rod Roadster driven by Elvis Presley in Loving You.

Hot Rods: Dry Lake Racer Roots (Part II)

2007-02-04T23:29:00.000-06:00

In continuing with my series on hot rods, these unique cars have had an interesting evolution from their early roots in Southern California. One of the most significant parts of this evolution was speed and the attainment of it in any way possible. Young, mostly blue collar guys, many of whom were recent veterans of WWII, were bored with life and needed some sort of excitement to spice things up. Then, as now, living on the edge of death proved to be a way to satisfy these testosterone driven urges.

To go fast, hot rodders required a few essential elements: a cheap car, an easily modified engine, a lot of space, a fair amount of creativity, a slight disregard for personal safety, and some semblance of mechanical ingenuity. Many of these things could either be attained around town or learned with time. Space, however, was an element that could not be constructed or bought, it had to be found. Lucky for Southern Californians, there was a ready made race track that existed right near Los Angeles: dry lake beds. Without going to much into the geological history of the southwestern United States, parts of the country used to be under salt water seas. As the landscape changed, these seas dried up leaving vast, open dry salt lake beds. Because the lake beds dried evenly, they were very hard and table top smooth--the perfect conditions for going fast.

Hot rodders would typically start with commonly available cars with cheap, powerful engines. The most popular cars were Ford V8 roadsters, which were easily found and could be attained for a song after WWII when no one wanted them. Rodders would start with easy modifications that cost next to nothing, like removing weight and streamlining the body. All non-essential items, such as fenders, tops, windows, and windshields were removed. These items were rarely removed permanently, as the cars often served as the daily drivers for the people that raced them. In addition to body modifications, the engine would usually be modified to make more power by adding better heads and more aggressive cams. Characters like Vic Edelbrock got his start on the dry lakes. Cars were sometimes lowered on their frame rails to bring the car closer to the ground (or channeled), the roofs were lowered (chopped) and sections off the body work were removed (sectioned) all to give the car a lower appearance.

Cars would then race along a track drawn in the salt, trying to attain the highest speed over a given distance. As the sport progressed, many major innovations were made, such as the inclusion of 'belly tank' racers made from the old long range fuel tanks used by WWII fighters. Eventually, sanctioning bodies were formed to create rules, regulations, and classes that allowed for some form of order to be brought to the grassroots sport. Today, lake bed racing continues to thrive both among old car enthusiasts and innovative new pioneers who use jets and other alternative means to power their cars. In the end though, it was the early efforts of the first dry lake bed pioneers that founded the sport and helped start the evolution of the hot rod.

A video of early dry lake bed racing can be found on Hot Rod TV. Pictures on the left side are of a1932 Ford Highboy Roadster known as the "Miller Automotive" Special. On the right is the very famous 1934 Ford Pierson Brothers Coupe, a 200+ mph streamliner.

New domain name: carsatlarge.com

2007-02-02T14:39:00.000-06:00

Among the changes I am making to this website, all of which are focused on appearance and none of which will tamper with the overall format or topics covered, is obtaining a new website domain. While I will still run this through the folks at Blogger.com, starting tomorrow the website will move to carsatlarge.com (no www) . The obvious change here is that I am dropping the *.blogspot from the name, hopefully giving the site a bit more independence. I will also see about taking advantage of the stand alone status (since I will no longer be confined to just the structure of a blog, although the primary focus will remain the blogging nature of the site) and creating new windows and pages within the site to further the experience and information provided to visitors of the site.

With all these changes, I'd like to make sure that you all are enjoying my website. If you have any questions, comments, or recommendations, please don't hesitate email me or make a comment below, I love receiving correspondence from my readers. I am always open to recommendations for future topics to cover or to answer any questions you might have, be them about specific vehicles, auto makes, automotive history, or even questions on the acquisition or sale of collector cars.

Hot Rods: The Embodiment of Individuals in a Car (Part I)

2007-02-01T00:46:00.000-06:00

One subject I have not yet dedicated any amount of space to on this blog is hot rods. While most of what I have focused on has been historical in nature, I have tried to maintain a loose theme integrating the automobile to human culture. As I have stated before, cars tend to mirror the people that designed, built and drove them. This is true in a general sense for makes, models, and even eras, but no one make or model can accurately portray the true feelings, moods, and desires of an individual as much as a hot rod.

A little back story before I continue. The history of hot rods is a little fuzzy because it began, and continues to grow and thrive, as a largely organic and grassroots movement. Disputes will arise to no end as to the true origins of hot rodding, or even the term 'hot rod,' but a few things are certain: those who started were young and broke, the movement started in Southern California, and the primary reason for hot rodding was to show off. The former elements here are much less vague than the latter, and it is the reason I could never cover the subject in one post (enough books have been written on the subject to prove that point as well).

The term 'hot rod' is probably derived from the phrase 'hot roadster.' A roadster, of course, is a roofless car with slimmer features than a convertrible , no side window, and a rudimentary top meant for emergency purposes only. Hot rod culture began to appear in Southern California in the 1930's and really blossomed in the late 1940's and 1950's as bored G.I.'s (especially former pilots) looked for ways to add some excitement to their now unexciting lives. There have always been two main groups of hot rodders, those who built their cars for cruising around town and those who built their cars to go as fast as they could go.

Since hot rodders were predominantly young males in their teens and 20's with very little money, most hot rods were based on cheap cars. The most popular make was Ford whose Model T's were already very common and easy to work on and whose 1932 Model 18 (commonly called the Model B or Deuce), which offered a great body and a cheap flathead V8 that was easy to modify. Later, other cars became popular, especially the long and low 1949 Mercury Coupe. No matter what they were based on, however, they always represented the style, beliefs, and personality of the individual or people who built them. The fact that each hot rod was modified on its own, and not in series production, meant that each car carried with it a certain element of the person who built it; both in the time the person dedicated to building it and the way the car was designed to reflect some inner element of the builder.

For the next few posts, I'll focus on specific types of hot rods, namely, Rat Rods, dry lake racers, Beatnik rods, and more modern showcase rods. So hide the kids, shut the drapes, and prepare to be town into the [formerly] angst and rebellion ridden world of hotrods.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, are of 1929 Essex Coach "Asreal," a Barris modified 1947 Hudson, the 1998 Foose "Shockwave, 1951 Mercury "Knight Cruiser," a 1923 Ford T-Bucket, and a 1932 Model B Hotrod.

The Blog, It Is A Changin'

2007-01-30T02:05:00.000-06:00

I'm doing a bit of remodeling to my blog's general appearance, but I am woefully unprepared to tackle the HTML code needed to go about the changes expediently. Please bear with my as I work with my limited HTML knowledge to improve the appearance of my blog. Thanks for your patience.

Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect, Car Designer(?)

2007-01-26T22:34:00.000-06:00

Frank Lloyd Wright is probably one of the most famous architects of the 20th Century. The pioneer and champion of Prairie Style architecture (the incorporation of long, horizontal lines to blend the structure in with the landscape) was known for his simple beauty, deft design, and timeless style in the buildings, homes, and furniture that he designed. Many of his homes are highly prized today and people pay millions of dollars to live in them. But what, you might ask, does Frank Lloyd Wright have to do with cars?

Well, Mr. Wright was a connoisseur of design, and cars certainly piqued his fancy. Architect Robert A.M. Stern summed it up best:

"Part of his greatness was the degree to which he was in touch with American life, American psychology and to some extent, the degree to which he was in touch with the 20th Century. We dismiss him as a 19th Century figure often. It’s easy to do that. But he understood the car. He understood the modern workplace." (source: PBS)

While most people will note that he designed the interior for Max Hoffman's Manhattan Mercedes -Benz dealership and consider that the extent of interest in cars, Wright also owned some interesting cars and even had a hand in restyling some automobiles. Unfortunately, his deft touch at creating futuristic and exciting buildings did not carry over to his car designs.

One of the cars that he purchased after he had established himself was a 1929 Cord L-29 Cabriolet that he had painted in a bright orange hue he called Taliesin Orange (a color he used on many of his cars). Wright like the Cord for it innovative technology (front wheel drive) and attractive style. It wasn't until the Lincoln Continental came out in 1939 that Wright created his most, eh, memorable design of his own on a car.

The Continental was new and stylish looking, futuristic and practical. It was the automotive embodiment of Wright's own designs. In modifying it, Wright, ironically, took the design a few steps backwards from Bob Gregorie European styling. Starting with a 1940 Continental Coupe, he completely eliminated that rear greenhouse by sealing up the rear window and creating small half-circles out of the once expansive rear quarter panel windows. To open the car up, literally and figuratively, Wright lopped off a section of the roof, creating a sort of landau coupe (what what we would today call 'T-Tops' or 'Targa'). He also chopped the windshield down slightly to give the car a more low slung look, but did not lower the rear profile at all. In addition to the design changes, he painted the car the same bright shade of orange as his Cord. The sum of all this work, however, creates a very closed-in, somewhat hump-backed car that would give rear passengers a certain measure of claustrophobia. Beside that, it was just plain ugly.

While Wright never did see any success designing cars, his architecture met much success marketing them. The futuristic look of his homes served as the perfect backdrop of Harley Earl's cars of the 1950's, and many ads features Earl's cars in front of Wright's homes. Today, you can see Wright's work all over the world (but especially in Oak Park, IL, which was the location of his home and studio for many years) and new buildings built to resemble his seminal classics. His Cord is on permanent display at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN.

Tires: Never a black and white subject

2007-01-24T23:41:00.000-06:00

Tires are a fairly new technology, only really coming into their own over the last 170 years or so. Tires as we know them today are the result of a series of innovations that occurred from 1844 until today. Since the bulk of the history of tires and the innovations that occurred can be found online, I won't delve too much into that. Instead, I wanted to focus specifically on the way we have gone from white tires to black tires.

Tires have always been made from rubber (except during periods in WWI and WWII when rubber was scarce and people used lesser alternatives). Early tires were the were the bare minimum definition of 'tires,' basically rubber strips wrapped around steel or wooden wheels. The earliest inflatable tires were made of natural r ubber, which is derived from the sap para rubber tree. The milky white sap produced tires that were similarly milky white in color--until they were driven on the muddy roads of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, that is.

As vulcanized rubber became used more prevalent, in part because of its durability and better traction, tires became black (because vulcanized rubber is blackened by the carbon the rubber is combined with). Initially just the treads were made of vulcanized rubber, creating a black outer strip with white side walls-a whitewall tire. The look was popular, especially on luxury cars and limousines and white wall tires remained popular until the 1970's (and are still sold today, occasionally popping up on new Cadillacs and Lincolns).

Eventually though, most tires became black. Whitewalls were a style thing by the teens, and as with all thing fashion related, they didn't go with every outfit. Sporty cars and boring sedans did not benefit from the whitewall tires as much as the flashy limos of the day. By the 1960's, with muscle cars all the rage, whitewall tires began to fall off the radar screen.

Today, whitewalls still grace many of the most famous classic cars. No new cars are sold with whitewall tires, although as I mentioned above, some people still buy them for their new luxocruisers. So next time you look at those four boring rings of rubber on your wheels, consider the history that has gone into creating them and be thankful that they are there, the ride would be much rougher without them!

Tires, clockwise from lower right, are modern tires on a 2005 Bugatti 16/4 Veyron, 50's whitewalls on a 1953 GM Futurliner, early whitewalls on a 1924 Franklin Model 10C, solid rubber tires on a 1921 White Tanker Truck, natural rubber tires on a 1903 Duryea Three-Wheeled Phaeton, natural whites again on a 1913 Mercer Raceabout Type 35 J, and early black tires on a 1910 Oldsmobile Limited Touring Seven Passenger

Oldest of the Breed: The very first production Ford Mustang

2007-01-23T22:48:00.000-06:00

While Henry Ford's first car was sold to help finance the growth of his company, by the time Ford Motor Company came out with the Mustang, money was not so much of an issue. Largely the product of the effort of a younger Ford executive named Lee Iacocca, the Mustang was really just a glorified version of Ford' dowdy compact sedan, the Falcon or convertible body onto the Falcon chassis and offering a strong 260 . By dropping a sexy, 2-door notchbackci V8, Ford created a success that took the world by storm from the moment the public first laid eyes on it in April of 1964 at the World's Fair in New York.

Ford took orders for 22,000 Mustangs on the very first day it was offered for sale. The very first Mustang to come of the line, serial number 5F08F10001, was a Wimbledon White Convertible with a black leather interior, the top of the line 260 ci V8, an automatic transmission, and all the power goodies. Ford toured the car all around the United States and Canada to build interest in the car. Dealers would take turns displaying the car as customer quickly placed orders to buy a Mustangs for themselves.

One would think a vehicle of this importance to the company would be carefully monitored, but that was not the case. While on display for the promotional tour at a dealership in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadan airline pilot Capt. Stanley Tucker spotted the white droptop surrounded by a crowd in the window and promptly went in and purchased the car, replacing the Pontiac he had shown up in.

When Ford finally got word that their very first production Mustang, basically a preproduction prototype had been sold, they immediately went to task trying to retrieve the car. After much persuasion, Ford finally convinced Capt. Tucker to give the car back, some 10,000 miles, almost two years, and nearly 1 million Mustangs later. As part of the negotiations, however, a deal was struck: Ford would trade the first Mustang for the millionth one. On March 2, 1966 in Dearborn, Michigan, as the 1 millionth Mustang, another Wimbledon White convertible, rolled off the assembly line, Capt. Tucker was waiting to receive his new baby.

Since 1966, Mustang serial number 0001 has resided in the Henry Ford Museum, now The Henry Ford, in Dearborn, Michigan. It has been kept in the exact same condition as it was when Ford finally got the car back from Capt. Tucker; road wear, rock chips, and all.

To fully decode the body plate picture I have included, taken at the 2004 Meadow Brook Hall Concours, use this Classic Ford Mustang Dataplate Decoder.

Oldest of the Breed: 1903 Ford Model A Rear Entry Tonneau

2007-01-22T23:16:00.000-06:00

Being the first of something or at something, especially something monumental, is memorable. We all know Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest (and the first to get back down again, alive), but the second man to reach the peak (Tenzing Norgay) is sometimes less remembered. Likewise, everyone knows Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon, but ask people to name the second guy to leave Apollo 11's Lunar Module (Buzz Aldrin, for those paying attention) and most people would come up blank.

Cars carry have a similar 'first-one' kind of importance. A vehicle that is the first of a series of successful vehicles (such as the very first 1953 Corvette or 1964.5 Mustang, both of which I'll cover soon) is highly prized over the dozens, hundreds, or even millions that follow it. But what about the first car ever built by a brand that is one of the most important car manufacturers in history? That is the importance of the car featured here.

The primary reason for the grave importance of this car is that it was the machine the launched Henry Ford on his way to becoming the foremost American car builder. Barely able to stay afloat, the sale of this first Ford vehicle in July of 1903 for the princely sum of $850 ($750 for the car, $100 for the body). With the sale of this, and three other similar cars, Ford was on his way to creating the car that would really make a name for himself, the Model T, which he would release only five years late in 1908.

This car was sold on January 19th, 2007 at the RM Auction in Phoenix, AZ for $693,000 (including commission). It represents one of the most historical vehicles in history. Detailed information can be found on RM's site, the car is listed under lot number 247. More pictures of the car, as it was auctioned, can be found on the Autoblog post on the car. The car was purchase by Texas lawyer John O'Quinn and will join his car museum, which will be opening in the future in Houston, TX.

The car pictured here is not the same as the car auctioned, but rather another surviving 1903 Ford Model A Rear Entry Tonneau. It can be seen at the National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV.

Car spotting on the streets of LA

2007-01-19T00:50:00.000-06:00

Automobiles have always served as more than a means of transportation. Cars have, for many people, become an extension of their personality and a projection of who they are or (more often than not) who they want to be. In few places is this more apparent than in Los Angeles, CA, one of the greatest hotbeds for car culture and the 'you are what you drive' capitol of the world. This is especially true in the image conscious city of Beverly Hills, the home of many of LA's well to do.

As I have mentioned before, I was recently in LA and in paparazzi like style, I kept my camera out to capture the local motoring scenery. For those looking to catch a glimpse of the cars of motoring days gone by, you will be disappointed. New and expensive is the name of the game, and the more ostentatious the better. A few older cars were see humming about, including a mid-80's Porsche 930 Slantnose and a Shelby Cobra (although that could very well, and probably was, a newer version of the original, not a genuine 1960's Cobra), but for the most part, newer Italian, British, and German metal was what people flaunted.

While I was not surprised by any of this, I had seen it before on prior visits, it is always fun to revisit the area and see it all again. After a while, about 10 minutes, you get jaded to the point where a mere BMW or Mercedes-Benz won't pass for anything more thrilling than a Toyota Camry and only a Ferrari, Lamborghini, or Rolls-Royce will do. And when you think about it, it goes to show that people there are willing to pay a lot to project this image. A Rolls, Ferrari, or Lambo costs about $10 a mile to drive (maintenance and depreciation costs being the bulk of it) and even a run of the mill BMW runs about $0.65 a mile. Alas, in the words of Max Bialystock, "if you've got it, baby, flaunt it!"

National Automobile Museum: A brief history of the Harrah Collection

2007-01-14T01:48:00.001-06:00

As I mentioned earlier in the week, I traveled to the National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV recently. It was probably one of the five best automobile museums I have ever visited in terms of the depth and diversity of the cars presented (other notables include the Nethe rcu tt Collection in Sylmar, CA, the Schlumpf Collection of the National Automobile Museum in Mulhouse, France, the Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum in Cleveland, OH, the Bruce Weiner Microcar Museum in Madison, GA, and the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, England). The museum itself is quite impressive, but the story of the museum is interesting as well.

The museum (the official history of which can be found here) is a vestige of the car collection of the late Bill Harrah, founder of Harrah's Casinos. William Harrah once owned one of the most impressive and complete car collections in the world, featuring over 4000 cars of all makes, models, and years. Just about every car you can think of was featured in his collection in some capacity and many of the world's most significant cars spent some time under his ownership. Until his death in 1978, the collection was displayed in a museum and housed in warehouses on the outskirts of Reno. After his death, however, the cars, which were incorporated into his company, became property of Holiday Inn, which purchased Harrah's casinos. Interested more in casinos, than cars, Holiday Inn auctioned off almost the entire collection over the next few years. Public outcry in Reno led the Holiday Inn to donate 175 cars to the National Automobile Museum, which now displays the cars in its facility, along with about 50 more cars than owners loan to the museum.

Today, the museum stands as one of the greatest collection of cars amassed in a single location. Much like Harrah's original personal collection, the National Automobile Museum has a wide variety of cars from all eras and featuring all sorts of makes and models. There are many vehicles at the museum that you will never see anywhere else (such as this 1925 Julian Sport Coupe that I will some day go into more detail on). Cars are displayed in four distinct galleries, each focusing on a different era or theme. Cars are aligned on gravel beds with a walkway snaking between them. Each car has its own placard with a thorough history on the car company, the model, and often the specific car. Technical information is also provided.

While I have only praise for the collection itself, I found the way it was displayed to be a bit lacking. The lighting was all done by fluorescent lights, which create poor conditions for photography. Additionally, because the walkway snakes around the cars in groups, rather than individually, it is difficult to see the interior or certain aspects of various cars because of their orientation to the path. If the cars were simply aligned in rows or lanes, it would be easier to get a closer look, but this is not the case.

The collection costs $9 for adults to visit. It is located right next to the Harrah's Casino and downtown Reno. Open from 9 AM to 5:30 PM on most days, there is ample time to visit and I would allot at least 2 hours to see everything. Optimally, set aside 4 hours if you want to read the placards on all the cars and take some pictures. Tours are offered throughout the day, but I didn't have time to go on one, so I can't comment on them. The museum's site to plan your visit.

Additional reviews of the museum can be found here and here. Also, Motor Trend's Matt Stone recently wrote an article on Harrah and his collection which can be found here.

Back on the Third Coast

2007-01-14T01:15:00.000-06:00

I have returned to Chicago and will begin posting stuff as soon as I have gotten the 1000+ pictures I took uploaded onto my computer. The primary attractions I was able to visit that concerned cars was the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, CA and the National Automobile Museum in Reno, NV. Both museums were quite good, but I am more of a traditionalist, which makes me like the National Automobile Museum more (although it requires you to go to Reno to visit, which is disappointing since it is the only reason I can think of to warrant a trip to Reno).

The Petersen Museum was founded by Publisher Robert Petersen, who got his start with Hot Rod Magazine in the late 1940's. The museum's permanent exhibits (which feature a stationary theme with a rotating assortment of autos) focus mainly on the history and growth of the automobile in Southern California. Upstairs, rotating galleries with different themes features all sorts of cars based on those themes. The general layout of the museum is very much geared toward people looking to visit a museum about cars, rather than to gearheads hoping to visit cars at a museum (and there is a distinct difference, as car chasers like me know).

The National Automobile Museum is more upfront about its mission and goal. This is a museum dedicated to the car and the focus is simply to show as many different and interesting cars as possible. The museum is worth visiting solely because of the cars there. You will see cars that you have heard about and lusted after. Highlights include a Mercer Raceabout AND a Stutz Bearcat, a 1941 Chrsyler Newport, the 1939 Phantom Corsair (the Flying Wombat), the 1908 Thomas Flyer that drove from New York to Paris, a 1949 Tucker Torpedo, and loads of other important automobiles of every variety. To put it bluntly, if you ever happened to be even near Reno, go to this museum and allot at least 2 or 3 hours to take it all in. But then get the hell out of Reno because besides that museum, there wasn't much else worth seeing. A more thorough review is featured here.

Tomorrow I'll more thorough explain the origins of the National Automobile Museum and try to organize my photos into stuff that you all will enjoy in the future. Topics to look forward to will no doubt include: early hybrids (again, this time with better pictures), early cars, radial engine powered cars, super unique cars (copper bodied Rollers and Ferrari powered Jeeps), important hot rodders, and a host of other topics that now have photographic support.

Off to California!

2007-01-04T01:47:00.000-06:00

I am going on a trip to California for a week and a half, but will return with a host of interesting pictures from various car collections. I will try to post while I am gone, but if not, expect a post by Jan 14th. Take care!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T17:10:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year!

Gasoline: Octane limitations (Part III)

2006-12-24T03:03:00.000-06:00

In continuing in my brief discussion on gasoline, I want to look at octane. The most basic definition I can give for octane, or more specifically, the rating that bears it's name is that an 'octane rating' is an indication of how stable the fuel in question is. By stability I mean how unlikely it is that the fuel will combust when a pressure is exerted on it. This is important to engineers designing cars because an internal combustion engine compresses the air air in the cylinder, and an unstable fuel will detonate before it is supposed to, limiting the amount of compression that can be exerted. Are you all still with me?

As you might have noticed in the pictures attached to my previous post, the gas pump only offered one grade, and the octane rating of that grade of fuel was not listed anywhere on the pump. As I mention before though, the octane rating of gasoline before WWII was usually between 45-55. This low octane rating meant engine designers had to design much lower compression engines to prevent knocking or ping. As a result, engines could not produce nearly as much power as they might have, had they been designed to run on today's high octane pump gas. This is not to say higher octane fuel was not available, airplane ran on higher octane fuel as did most racecars, but for the common consumer, engineers had to detune engines to operate on the poor fuel offered.

In the grad scheme of things, this really just meant that cars were intentionally made less powerful. Sure, they weren't as advanced as the cars of today are, but the amount of power they produced was greatly affected by the fact that the fuel they consumed was of such low quality, not because they were not well designed. Take this into consideration next time you see that a 1935 Cadillac V16 with a 452 c.i. V16 engine made only 170 horsepower.

Gasoline: Early troubles (Part II)

2006-12-18T00:45:00.000-06:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, gasoline has truly left its mark on society. But gasoline has done more than that, it has pushed forward and spurred the development of the automobile. Pictured is a restored vintage gas pump. It is an interesting piece of history that holds a bit of romance for most people who behold it, not bearing what once came out of it. The gas pump itself has even been immortalized by the great 20th century painter Ed ward Hopper in his classic 1940 painting Gas.

What is worth noting though, is that it has only one grade of fuel offered. Not only that, but the grade of the fuel is not specified on the pump. Contrary to today, in which gas grades (measured by its octane rating) are clearly separated and rigidly enforced, gasoline used to be loosely regulated and completely unrated. The octane rating for gasoline sold well into the 1950's was not entirely specific and varied from station to station, pump to pump. For the most part though, the leaded gasoline sold before WWII had an octane rating of between 45 and 55.

The low octane rating created many problems that manifested themselves in the ways car were designed and the way they performed. Stay tuned for how poor gas helped to understate the true potential of many of yester-year's cars.

Gasoline: The automobile's lifeblood and demon (Part I)

2006-12-18T00:07:00.000-06:00

Cars are an interesting thing. On the one hand, they are loved by people in a lot of ways. They get us around, allow us to do errands with ease or see the country from its roots. They let us express who we are and who we want to be perceived as in public. Cars are, in many ways, a reflection of society. This is nothing new to those who read this blog regularly, I have said that car mirror society before. But this is cars at their best and brightest. Cars are also one of the most reviled inventions in history. They clog our streets, pollute our air, and cost us billions of dollars a year to buy, insure, and maintain.

Interestingly, this dichotomy exists with the key motivator or automobiles as well, gasoline. Gasoline, the crude oil based fuel that provides the motive force for virtually every car in the US and many cars abroad has enjoyed a love/hate history with society. On the one hand, it has consistently provided us with a cheap, powerful, and plentiful source of (literally) bottled energy with which to make our cars run. On the other hand, gasoline produces pollution and drains the world of its oil reserves at an alarming rate.

For the next few days, I want to look into how gasoline has helped the car grow, adapt, and thrive. Beyond that, it is worth considering how gasoline has also limited the automobile and pushed it to find alternative means of propulsion.

The World's Most Expensive Car: 1907 Rolls-Royce 40/50 "The Silver Ghost" (Part VI)

2006-12-13T00:04:00.000-06:00

First off, pardon the absence, a tree branch fell onto the cable at my house and knocked out the internet. Anyhow, my last post on the subject of the world's most expensive cars. You might notice that, up to now, the cars were in chronological order, with each successive car being newer than the previous one. The reason I have intentionally left this vehicle off until the last post is because it is unique in two ways: (1) it is largely considered to be the most valuable automobile in the world and (2) it's price has never formally been determined by the market.

The car in question is not a model, as the previous cars have been, but a specific car. The individual vehicle I am referring to is the 190 7 Rolls-Royce 40/50, "T he Silver Ghost," chassis number 60551, plate number AX201. There are a number of reasons this car is considered one of the most important vehicles in the world. For one, it was one of the first truly reliable cars ever built. For another, it was the car that basically started the Rolls-Royce car company. Because of those two reasons, it has become one of the most famous, and valuable cars in the world.

The Silver Ghost was not the first Rolls-Royce ever built, it was just the most important. Charles Rolls and Henry Royce used her to prove the bulletproof build quality and reliability of their cars by running her on numerous rallies and road tours. The Barker bodied Silver Ghost (in Roi de Belges style, named after the body style preferred by King Leopold II of Belgium) really hit its stride after completing a Scottish reliability trial, and driving from London to Glasgow 27 times. Raking up 14,000 miles with nary a problem, The Silver Ghost had proven that cars could not only be quiet, powerful, and smooth, but also reliable.

The Silver Ghost got its name because it was largely unpainted, revealing it polished aluminum body, and was 'quiet as a ghost,' a often noted sentiment by passer-byers who were amazed by who silent the car was. The name became so famous, in fact, that every Rolls-Royce 40/50 came to include the tag 'Silver Ghost' despite the fact that there is only one real Silver Ghost.

The history of the car is intriguing beyond its important reliability trials. After completing those tests, the car was purchased by an employee of Rolls-Royce who drove the car a subsequent 500,000 miles before returning the car to the factory for 'minor servicing.' Unfortunately, he died while the car was in the shop, but his family decided to donate the car to the Rolls-Royce company. The car recently changed hands, but not on its own, as part of the break-up of Rolls-Royce and Bentley following the 1998 fiasco that took place between BMW and VW. In the end, the VW, the owner of Bentley, ended up with the car but displays the car at many Rolls-Royce events.

As for the value of this famous car, lets just say VW claims that it is insured for somewhere north of $50 million.

The World's Most Expensive Car: Bugatti 16/4 Veyron (Part V)

2006-12-07T22:56:00.000-06:00

In this second to last part of my World's Most Expensive Car series, I want to set my sites on the current vehicle that hold the title of being the world's most expensive new car, the Bugatti 16/4 Veyron. Now those of you who regularly read my blog probably know by now that I am not exactly a huge fan of new cars. There are few vehicles that have been built in the last 40 years that have captured the passion, art, style, innovation, and individuality that cars from the 1950's and earlier possessed. Regrettably, this Bugatti is not among that select few.

The Bugatti Veyron is a product of the Volkswagen company (who bought the Bugatti name in 1998 for $60 million) and is related to the great Bugatti products of yore in name only (the story of that conflaguration is best left to another time, lest this post go on for too long). Unlike the McLaren F1 featured in the previous post, the Veyron was not the product of one man's dream, but rather one man's idea. Fred inand Piech, grandson of Fredinand Porsche (founder of Porsche, designer of the Beetle, among other things), wanted to have a vehicle to highlight the capabilities of the VW brand and its parts (Bentley, Lamborghini, Seat, Skoda, and Audi); he purchased the Bugatti name and got a company together to do just that.

The goals were extremely high: A top speed of 252 mph, 0-60 mph in less than 3 seconds, 1000+ horsepower, and racecar handling. All of this had to be put into a stylish package with all the creature comforts of a Bentley and all the drivability of a VW Golf. Concepts began to trickle out of the company and a full blown Veyron concept showed up in 2000 and again in 2001. Then the problems came. The McLaren had tried to do a few things (handling, speed, reliability, style, uniqueness) very well while eschewing others (radio, AWD, power anything, real-world street-ability). The Bugatti wanted it all, and all those parts created one major problem: heat. The engine was a quad turbocharged W16 that produced more heat that the main engines on a Saturn V rocket. Add to this all of the power and comfort bits (steering, ABS, traction control, stability control, power seats, leather, carpets, trim, sound deadening, climate contro, AWD) and you had a veritable BBQ grille on wheels. The car would consistently overheat, and it was not until 10 radiators had been shoehorned under the body work that the car performed normally under most any conditions.

By the time car car went into production in late 2005, some two years late, the sticker had ballooned from $800,000 to 1,000,000 Euros (about $1.2 million). The car is certainly fascinating, anything that can do 252 mph is pretty cool, but it just lacks the individuality that the McLaren had. It is a supercar by committee. The McLaren, as well as some of the supercars that have followed it, such as the Pagani Zonda C12 and Porsche Carrera GT, have also required a modicum of participation from the driver, forcing him/her to at least operate a clutch pedal. The Bugatti not only has an automatic (well, not a torque converter auto, but one without an exposed clutch pedal) but traction control, stability control, ABS, and a special suspension system that can adjust to road conditions at the touch of a button. These are all nice features...on a luxury car. On a supercar though, they steal away from its innate personality, making what is supposed to be a unique vehicle admired for individuality just an over-blown luxo cruiser that costs as much as a really nice house.

I love Bugatti, it is one of my favorite brands, but only in its original incarnation, the rest have been pretenders. This new car is no different. And if you need any more proof of the cars utter boringness, just look at who is purchasing it; not enthusiasts but rich people who just want to show off. That is usually the best indicator that a car is soft and unexciting, when the people who buy don't do so out of passion.

The World's Most Expensive Car: McLaren F1 (Part IV)

2006-12-04T22:59:00.000-06:00

In continuing the subject of the world's most expensive vehicles, I want to come to a car built in the very recent past (the last 20 years) that has been one of the most expensive vehicles in the world since its inception: the McLaren F1.

The McLaren stands out for a number of reasons. First, it was the most expensive, most high tech, fastest, and most successful (homologation) racecar when it debuted in 1994 up until the last car rolled off the production line in 1998. Second, the car was unlike any other vehicle that had been produced, now and then. Finally, it was the vision of one individual, Gordon Murray, that really brought the car from paper to the road.

Costing $1 million when new, and designed to go zero to 60 mph (100 kp/h) in a hair of three seconds and topping out at 230 mph, the McLaren was truly a supercar. The entire body and monocoque chassis were constructed of carbon fiber, the engine was a BMW unit made primarily of magnesium (to keep the weight down), and the driver sat perched in the center of the car, with two passengers seated on either side (not the first time this arrangement had been used, but the first time it had ever seen series production). The car was designed to Murray's exacting specifications, using the lightest (and most expensive) materials, and featuring many elements that distinguished the car not just as a supercar, but the brainchild of one man. Murray didn't like to listen to the radio, so the McLaren didn't have one. He did like rock and roll though, so the car came with a custom designed Kenwood 10-disc autochanger and special speakers that didn't have magnets in them (it was lighter that way).

The vehicle was produced by McLaren Cars, and offshoot of McLaren Automotive, which primarily designed and built racecars. Only 64 road cars were built, along with a hand full of special road racing models, and an additional crop of dedicated racecars. In total, only 107 McLaren F1's were ever built. All were snapped up by unique individuals, many by well known entertainers, businessmen, and entrepreneurs. Today, when a McLaren turns up on the market, it sells 25% or more of what it originally cost new. Of course, the cost of ownership isn't cheap, with regular service requiring a technician to be flown in from England and major service requiring the entire vehicle to be shipped back to the factory. The owners are loyal though, more so than most supercar owners, and treasure their cars and marvels of engineering and a unique one man-one car achievement.

The World's Most Expensive Car: Ferrari 250 GTO (Part III)

2006-12-03T00:36:00.000-06:00

Ferrari, as a brand, has carried with it a certain mystique that few brands have been able to match. Since the company's founding in 1947, Ferrari has been closely associated with three things: racing, sportscars, and millionaires. Enzo Ferrari cut his teeth as a team driver and manager for Alfa Romeo in the 1930's (the Scuderia Ferra ri title, translated from Italian to mean Team Ferrari, along with the prancing horse crest of his team are still hallmarks of the Ferrari brand) and later founded a car manufacturer that bore his own name after WWII. Although many people know of Ferrari today for its street cars, Enzo was not a fan of road-going vehicles, producing them only to fund his racing exploits.

Ferrari's racecar were exceedingly successful. One stand out with the 1962-1964 Ferrari 250 GTO. GTO stood for Gran Turismo Omologato, or a grand touring race car that was homologated for street use. The 250 GTO was considered the ultimate 'Gentleman's Racer;' a car that could be driven from one's home to the track, race, win, and then driven back home again. The powerful, and now famous 3 liter V12, one of the Colombo engines, provided reliable power. The car's sleek and aerodynamic looks were not only sensual, but functional. Carroll Shelby employed the help of Peter Brock to design a successful competitor to the 250 GTO in the form of the Cobra Daytona Coupe not long after having his blocky Cobra racecars destroyed on the back straights of Sebring and Daytona raceway.

Shortly after Ferrari had completed the 36 250 GTO's it constructed (and 3 additional 4-liter V12 powered 250 GTO's, although they should be called 330 GTO's), Ferrari made the car outdated and obsolete with its new 330 racecars. An obsolete racecar was useless as it couldn't be used to win on the track, and was often too loud to drive on the road. Ferrari 250 GTO's fell in value and traded hands for as low as $5000 in the late 1960's and early 1970's (this is when Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason purchased his 250 GTO that he still owns today). Price rose rapidly with the Ferrari market bubble of the 1980's, however, and by 1987, rumors ran rampant about Ferrari GTO's selling for up $15 million in private transactions.

Today, prices have settled a bit, but market valuation for the car still stands between $6 and $12 million, but no 250 GTO's have traded publicly in some time. Even still, this makes it the most valuable post-WWII car in the world.

The World's Most Expensive Car: Bugatti Type 41 Royale (Part II)

2006-11-29T00:17:00.001-06:00

For the second part in my series, I'd like to set my sights on one of the most prolific cars ever built, the Bugatti Type 41 Royale. The Type 41 holds a number of sizable records: world's biggest production car, the largest engine ever fitted in a production car, and most notable for this post, it is one of the most expensive cars on the planet, both when new and now.

The Bugatti Type 41 Royale was the brainchild of engineering genius and sportscar builder Ettore Bugatti. Bugatti was a man of singular purpose who built cars for himself that he expected others to buy. He was unforgiving, resolute, and stuck in his ways. These factors certainly helped lead to the demise of his company shortly after WWII, but they have also created the backdrop for what is one of the most famous car makers in history.

The Type 41 was Ettore's greatest triumph, or so he had hoped. He wanted to build the greatest, biggest, fastest, and most spectacular car the world had ever seen. So great was this car he wanted to build, that, initially, he wanted to only sell it to royalty (hence the 'Royale' moniker). The timing for the car was poor, however, with the first chassis emerging from the factory in 1926 and production not beginning until 1929. The Great Depression hardly created a market for a car that had a 15 foot wheelbase, a 12.7 liter Straight 8, and a $20,000 price tag without coachwork.

The economic situation, and Bugatti's own idosycracies, was such that Bugatti never actually sold a single car to someone of royalty. In fact, he could barely sell the few cars he actually produced at all. After making only six chassis, and selling only four of them, Ettore halted production before he bankrupted his company completely. Bugatti had already built 25 engines, however. The remaining 19 engines were pressed into service powering a motor yatch and, more significantly, very fast commuter trains.

Today, all six Bugatti Type 41's are surviving and in excellent condition. Three of the cars are on public display, two at the Musee National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse and one at the Henry Ford Museum. A seventh car, a replica of a previously destroyed body built on a spare chassis, is also at the Musee National de l'Automobile de Mulhouse.

The price of the Type 41 has fluctuated from around $43,000 new, to as low as $350. Although a Bugatti Type 41 has not sold publicly in about 10 years, the last car to sell garnered a record Â£5,500,000 ($8.7 million) at a Christies sale in November of 1987 (Click number 4).

The Type 41 picture here is built off of the first chassis, the body is from 1931, a "Coupe de Ville Binder", by Jean Bugatti.

The World's Most Expensive Car: 1921 Heine Velox (Part I)

2006-11-26T17:38:00.000-06:00

Lately, my posting has been best described as 'sparse.' This past week has been quite busy for me, but I should be back on track now. I'll start my more consistent posting schedule with a series on the world's most expensive cars. Now that title, 'world's most expensive car' can easily be haggled over to no end. What are we defining as 'most expensive?' Highest cost when new? Greatest expense to build? Most valuable now? Well, I'll use all those as possible answers and cite an example for each one.

I'll start with a car that was considered the most expensive car of its day, when it was available for purchase in 1921. The car I am referring to is the strikingly rare Heine-Velox. Built in San Francisco by piano magnate Gustav Otto Ludolf Heine, the Heine-Velox was a car built well ahead of its time. It featured a V12 engine built by Weidely, a hydraulic brake system by Lockheed, side mounted luggage trunks and a canted dashboard designed to hide the gear shifter, handbrake and steering column.

All this innovation (and luxury) came at a cost though, with the price of the massive, 148" wheelbase car coming in between $17,000 and $20,000. To put that into perspective, a new Rolls Royce 40/50 cost about $10,000 and a Ford Model T still cost less than $500. Buyers were hard to come by, however, and subsequently only five cars were ever built.

One of them, the vehicle pictured here, can be viewed at the Blackhawk Collection, where it is currently for sale for $300,000.

Happy Thanksgiving

2006-11-22T19:27:00.000-06:00

It's Thanksgiving here in the United States and tomorrow families from around the country will gather together to stuff their faces with turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a host of other dishes. Thanksgiving, of course, is the celebration of the pilgrims dining together with American Indians back when Europeans were fairly new in this part of the world. In searching through my photo library, I found the three cars that best typified Thanksgiving were a 1924 Rolls Royce 40/50 Silver Ghost Pall Mall, a 1957 Pontiac Star Chief, and, of course, a 1957 Chevrolet Corvette.

Why those three cars? Well, they seem to mirror the holiday. The Rolls is special because it represents an Anglo built in the US (Rolls Royce had a factory in Springfield, MA from 1921-1925), so there is the pilgrim part. The Pontiac pays homage to its namesake, Chief Pontiac of the Ottawa Tribe, and takes care of the Indian element. And the 'Vette is pure Americana (and, coincidentally made by General Motors, who also made the Pontiac, so you could say they were 'dining together' at the communal table, of sorts). That is at least how I will phrase it.

As for the Turkey, well, I guess I could ascribe a car to that too. For the honorable position of turkey, I think the best fit would be an 1958 Edsel Citation. Not a bad car, but such a big flop that it could be considered a bit of a turkey itself.

Anyhow, I hope all my American visitors have a happy Thanksgiving! And to my international visitors, happy Thursday!

Picture, clockwise from lower left, are of a 1958 Edsel Citation, a 1924 Rolls Royce 40/50 Pall Mall, a 1957 Pontiac Star Chief, and a 1957 Corvette.

Knock-offs

2006-11-19T13:56:00.000-06:00

In automobiles, as with most hobbies, there are a lot of words and phrases that can sound like gibberish to outsiders. This car-jargon can be heard at car shows around the world and we car people probably sound like we're talking in tongues when we get into an argument over whether the Jaguar XK120 or XKE was the more important post-WWII Jaguar.

That aside, I'd like to clear up one car term that get heard a lot, especially regarding vintage racecars and sports cars: knock-offs. This is not in reference to a fake or cloned vehicle, but rather a type of wheel nut. Racers have always sought to get an edge up against the competition, be it through an improved car or through improved racing logistics (the latter being one of the most unseen elements of racing). Minimizing the amount of time needed to do basic work on a vehicle, such as fill it up with gas, change a wheel or tire, or other basic race maintinance was a trial an error process. One of the results of this process was knock-off wheels.

Knock-offs were designed to help a technician change a wheel more quickly. In the era before air -powered impact wrenches, mechanics had to manually crank off a wheel nut with a large hand wrench. The knock-off was a simple solution to the time-consuming problem. But adding a set of wings to the wheel nut, the mechanic could take the wheel nut off simply by hitting the wings of the nut with a hammer. Hence, the mechanic could 'knock-it off.' Knock-off style wheels appeared very early on, in the late teens or early 1920's, and lasted up until the 1960's. The association with racing made knock-offs popular among street car owners, and many companies such as Chevrolet, Ford, Ferrari, Jaguar, and Mercedes-Benz had knock-off wheels on a number of their sports cars.

Wheels, clockwise from lower right, are from a 1957 Maserati 2000 Grand Sport Spyder, a 1964 Ferrari 250GTE, a 1967 Shelby Cobra, a 1937 Alfa Romeo 2300 MM 8C, and a 1930 Cord L-29 Cabriolet.

Building a fantasy: Duesenberg J Landau

2006-11-17T00:29:00.000-06:00

Ever since there have been cars, there have been people who have made up creations of their own to modify existing vehicles. We've all drawn them at one time or another, in varying degrees of success, but few people have seen their off hand drawings become a reality.

Old cars are especially liable to having fanciful bodies plopped on top of them. The fact that many pre-WWII cars had bodies delivered separately from the chassis makes it a ready target, should a bare chassis come through the pipe. An example of such fantasy is a one-off Duesenberg Model J Landau built in the early 1970's based on a drawing published in J.L. Elbert's book Duesenber g: The Mighties t American Motorcar. Originally published in 1951, the book featured only one drawing of the Duesenberg that never was, but that proved to be enough to result in a full scale version being built.

The car is now privately owned, but it represents an interesting specimen for Duesenberg folks. It looks vaguely European, almost like a Hibbard and Darrin (or Fernandez and Darrin) designed car, but closer inspection reveals certain elements that are a bit 1970's, such as the somewhat plastic like feel of the body and the modern looking interior design. Interesting, but not the most beautiful of designs.

Losing a Legend: Albrecht Graf Goertz

2006-11-15T01:46:00.000-06:00

I regret to report that the famed auto designed Albrecht Graf Goertz died on Oct. 27th at the age of 92. Goertz was a renown designer of a number of important cars, including the BMW 507 and 503 as well as the most beautiful Japanese car ever built, the Toyota 2000GT. Besides designing these famous vehicle, Goertz left a lasting mark on every BMW with his famous C-pillar nip, the slight inward jab the body work on the c-pillar makes at the base of the rear-side window (see the photos of the 5-Series, both new and old).

Goertz, who was born in to the German aristocracy and held the title of a Count, was a fixture in the automotive world for over 40 years. His impact on car design is immeasurable and he will surely be missed.

Part of the Culture: Automobilia

2006-11-14T01:18:00.000-06:00

This past weekend, San Francisco, CA based auction house Bonhams and Butterfields sold a large collection of Steve McQueen memorabilia at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles, CA. The sale was well attended, with most of the items selling for four figures or more and the bulk of the motorized vehicles (almost entirely made up of motorcycles) selling at a high rate with the high sale being $245,000 for a 1937 Crocker 'Hemi Head' V-Twin motorcycle.

The sale flesh out a crowd looking for something that I want to focus on here, namely, automobilia. While the Steve McQueen auction was highlighted by items of all sorts that used to belong to the late, great actor, there is no denying McQueen's close connection to the automotive world through such flicks as Bullitt and Le Mans. Automobilia can largely be considered anything that is related to cars or the culture of the automobile, but that is not an actual vehicle. This can include everything from posters and hood ornaments to neon signs and gas pumps. The latter two are especially popular as decorations to private garages.

The neon sign has held a position very close to gear heads' hearts as they have always been a part of car culture. Dealers and repair shops used them to identify themselves, and the most famous road in the US, Route 66, was defined by the neon signs that lit the towns that bordered her meandering path from Chicago to LA.

Today, auctions and catalogs abound the automobilia market is booming. Best of all, the cost of entry into the realm of automobilia is considerably cheaper than the cost to get into the collector car market, making it more appealing to a larger number of people. You may not realize it, but automobilia is in more places than you think, you might even have some in your house right now if you own any one of a number of Lalique paperweights (the Chrysis, Eagle's Head, Swallow, and Rooster are all original Rene Lalique hood ornaments).

Old cars and blindspots

2006-11-12T21:41:00.000-06:00

I love driving old cars, but there are a number of stumbling blocks that make it difficult to use them on modern roads. Most of these issues are related to the other drivers though, not the roads themselves. Old cars don't go, stop, or turn as quickly as newer cars do. To add to these problems, many old cars did not come equipped with any power steering, power brakes, or turn signals. Aggravating this issue even further is the fact that outward visibility tended to be poor due to small or poorly placed windows and tiny or absent rearview or sideview mirrors.

Case in point, pretty much every convertible built before WWII (and a good deal of those build afterwards as well). Unlike today's convertibles, which have a thin C-Pillar on the top and smaller rear quarter windows (in four seat drop-tops, at least), older convertibles had large scissor like mechanisms. As a result, they often had tops with a lot of fabric and little visibility. The best example of something like this is a convertible victoria body. In this body style, there are only two windows, but four seats, with the rear of the car completely enclosed. In all cases though, the only visibility out from behind the side windows is through the (often) tiny rear glass.

So if you ever find yourself in one of these old convertibles with the top up, I suggest bringing a friend. At least with one other person, you can have him/her look out the rear window to see if there is anyone directly behind you before executing that turn signal-less turn!

Pictures are of a 1941 Lincoln Continetal Convertible and a Duesenberg Rollston Convertible Victoria.

How it's made: Panel Beating

2006-11-09T17:39:00.000-06:00

One element of the automotive world sometimes not discussed is how cars were made. We've all heard the story of Henry Ford and his assembly line, but that just explains how the parts were all put together, not how the parts were actually fabricated. I'd like to focus specifically on how automobile bodies were made.

In traditional automobile construction, cars were basically built in a similar fashion to carriage, they had a frame with an exterior mounted to it. Like carriage, the bodies of most early automobiles had a wooden skeleton (mounted onto a steel frame) and had metal sheets wrapped around the wood. Mass produced cars were usually made of stamped, steel parts, much like cars are today. But custom bodied cars required a further step.

Because it was too costly to create stamping molds for low output vehicles, companies would instead build wooden bucks that appeared as the skeletal form of the car-to-be and then skilled craftsmen would beat metal panels across the bucks until they took the form of the bucks. This process of panel beating was often done with aluminum metal, since it was easier to work with than steel (and you probably thought Audi had hit on a new idea when it made it's A8 luxury car out of aluminum).

Companies used this metal banging technique for many decades. After coachbuilding died out in the US after WWII, the Europeans continued using wooden bucks for metal shaping well into the 1980's. In fact, most Ferrari's were made over wooden bucks, all the way up to the Ferrari 365 GT4 BB Berlineta of the late 1970's and early 1980's. Today, few designers still use bucks, but some specialized metal crafters, especially motorcycle fabrications, use the age old techniques to create unique bikes.

Images are of a 1929 Auburn 8-100 Cabin Speedster replica from the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in Auburn, IN.

Alternative Fuel: Hybrids (Part V of V)

2006-11-09T00:01:00.000-06:00

I have talked about the fact that hybrids aren't new in the past and cited Rauch and Lang as an example of a vintage hybrid. In reality, the Rauch and Lang was a minor hybrid, really only featuring a magnetic motor system in place of a clutch, rather than a completely separate electrical engine system. Of course, there are even older cars that are really true hybrids featuring separate gas and electric engines designed to work in tandem.

One example is a the Woods Motor Vehicle Company from my hometown of Chicago, IL. Originally a company devoted solely to electric cars, in 1915 Woods debuted the Dual-Power, one of the first true hybrids. Just like a modern hybrid, the Dual Power had a gasoline motor abetted by a battery powered motor. Also like a modern hybrid, the two motors could work alone, or in tandem, and both motors drove the same set of drive wheels. Of especially high note is the fact that the Woods, like a new Toyota Prius, used regenerative braking, the process of using the magnetic resistance of an electric generator to help slow a car down while producing power at the same time.

The Woods Dual Power was a short lived car, only lasting three years, but it represents a true milestone in the development of more fuel efficient cars. While it was very simple by today's standards, it is important to remember that when the Woods was built, there were no computers at all, everything was controlled mechanically.

This concludes my little five part piece of alternative fuels. I hope you all learned a little something and have once again recognized that, while it may seem like it is new, it probably isn't!

Alternative Fuel: Turbines (Part IV of V)

2006-11-06T21:47:00.000-06:00

So far, I have covered a few alternative fuels or engine types that are relatively well known (save for coal powered engine) or common power sources for cars. The turbine, however, has never been a mainstream power unit for cars, but that has not stopped people from trying. The turbines I am talking about, however, are not trust producing turbines, but rather turbines that primarily produce rotational power through a shaft drive. In either case, the basic principles by which the engine operates still categorize it under the umbrella of gas turbines.

Turbines are unique in that they are very efficient, have no reciprocating parts (unlike your run-of-the-mill piston engines), can produce lots of torque, and can be made to operate on just about anything that burns with very little adjustment. In the 1950's and 1960's, Chrysler and GM both experimented with turbine powered cars. GM produced a series concept cars known as 'Firebirds' that featured futuristic styling largely rooted in jet aircraft design that it displayed at its Motorama Shows across the country. Chrysler took the turbine concept one step further and actually produced a series of 55 Chrysler Turbine Cars that were lent to the public in a special trial program from 1963-64.

Chrysler's turbine program allowed people to apply for a tenure with one of the Turbine Cars. Applicants were chosen based on their location (and the exposure that location would provide) and various other qualities would expose the cars to people of all sorts. Each family would get the car for a few months and was expected to drive the cars under all sorts of conditions, from long trips to stop and go traffic. They could literally run on anything that burned, and they were tested on all sorts of fuels. People poured everything from vegetable oil to Chanel No. 5 in the tank, and the cars still ran fine.

All the cars were painted bronze and looked exactly alike, covered in sheetmetal produced by Italian coachbuilder Ghia. In total, 203 families got a chance to enjoy one of the 55 cars. The program was eventually ended due to problems with emissions from the turbines. Although they ran very efficiently, they produced high amounts of NOx pollutants. In addition, the US government wanted to collect import duty on the Italian made bodies, and Chrysler opted to crush all by 9 cars rather than pay the tax. Today, 4 of the 9 cars still run and are scattered across the country.

There have been a few recent attempts to bring turbines back to road use, most notably by a company called Marine Turbine Technologies (MTT) that produced a turbine powered motorcycle, which is known as the world's most expensive bike (it costs $150,000). The major roadblocks to turbine use is the fact that turbine run very hot (exhaust gas can be well over 500 degrees Fahrenheit) and are best suited for operation at constant speeds, not the up and down variation required for stop and go traffic. Turbines are once again being considered, however, for use in hybrids. In essence, the turbine in that application would act solely as an electric generator and would only have two speeds, full speed and off, motive power for the vehicle would be provided by the electric engine.

Only time will tell if turbines will come back, but it is still notable that they were used so successfully on the road in the past. For an amazing account of one families experience with a turbine car, as well as a fantastic collection of historical documents and information, check out this site.

Alternative Fuel: Coal (Part III)

2006-10-31T23:41:00.000-06:00

I know what you are thinking right now, you're thinking, "coal-powered cars? You already talked about steam cars though!" But I am not talking about a coal steamers (especially since steam cars mostly ran on kerosene or gasoline), but rather cars that ran on coal gas.

As with most things, necessity is the mother of all invention, and this situation is no different. During WWII, gasoline was in short supply because the war effort was consuming all of the world's gasoline production, leaving little for consumers. Tinkerers and inventors the world over began thinking of replacements for gasoline (and for rubber, cotton, and a host of other rationed goods). One solution for the gasoline crisis was to find other sources of combustible gases to force into the cylinders of existing vehicles. In France, the solution came in the form of coal gas.

The basic principle of the engine was based on the fact that the combustion of coal produces a similarly combustible gas, coal gas. As such, a conversion kit was devised that would mount two coal gas generators on the fenders. The generators would burn coal, then suck the gas straight into the engine and running the engine off of the coal gas.

Few surviving conversion kits exists, but one such kit turned up on a 1938 Citroen Traction Avant at the 2006 Amelia Island Concours. Photos sourced from Stanley Motor Carriage and Ultimatecarpage.com

Alternative Fuel: Electricity (Part II)

2006-10-31T23:40:00.000-06:00

The electric car has always been a part of the automotive landscape, but never a major focus. For a long time, electric cars were actually the most popular type of automobiles. Back in the late 1890's up until the mid teens, electric cars actually out sold gasoline and steam powered cars. There was a very simple reason for this: ease of use. Electric cars always have been the easiest cars to work with because they have very few moving parts in their motors, no reciprocating parts, are dead silent, and were easy to start at any time, in any temperature.

This last part was actually the biggest reason for their success in the early part of the century. Gasoline engines were loud, clunky, full of vibrations, difficult to work with, and very hard to start before the invention of the electric starter in 1911 by Charles Kettering (with the first self starting car being a Cadillac). Without an electric starter, to start a car, you had to crank start it. Besides being dangerous (the crank was directly connected to the crankshaft, so if the engine started and you didn't disengage the crank, it could whip around break bones), it was very difficult, requiring the strength of a strong man to operate.

Electric cars opened up motoring to men and women alike. Electric cars were offered in prices from less than $1000 to over $5000 for ornate limo-like vehicles. Dead silent and smooth, an early 20th Century electric car could drive around 80 miles on a single charge at reach speeds of up to 25 miles per hour. Not fast by today's standards, but actually inline with most gasoline powered cars' abilities.

As with the GM EV1 of recent past, early electric cars were not killed by any corporate conspiracy by the oil companies or anything, but rather by real market forces. When gasoline cars became more refined, and self starting, the ability to drive farther and faster in a gas car outstripped the slow, silent running of the electric cars. Gasoline cars quickly pulled ahead and have remained ahead ever since.

Images are of a 1910 Detroit Electric

Alternative Fuel: Steam (Part I of V)

2006-10-31T23:39:00.000-06:00

With the election looming there in the United States, I thought it was high time I did a little series on alternative fuels. With the current fixation on oil dependence, it is little wonder that alternative fuels have become to new baby of the election season, with every politico spouting off how they support some alternative fuel. Of course (and I'm sure you're expecting this out of me by now), alternative fuels are nothing new. Every fuel we use today has been applied in some fashion in the past, be it recent past or turn of the previous century past.

For the first part, I want to focus on steam technology. The steam engine is nothing new and is, in fact, one of the oldest propulsion systems out there, short of wind power. Invented in 1705 by Thomas Newcomen, steam engines have powered everything from boats to cars to generators for the past 300 years. Steam was actually one of the more popular vehicular propulsion systems up until the 1920's.

Steam's popularity was rooted in the fact that it was simple, powerful, efficient, and very quiet. A good steam car could easily outpace a gas powered car and do so while making only the light puff puff of the steam piston. The major downside to steam was its difficulty in operation and dangers. Early steamers took about 20-30 minutes to build up full steam pressure and consumed large amounts of water, about a gallon a mile. This was compounded with the fact that you had to decompress the boiler when you arrived at your destination. This required you to open a pressure valve and release all the hot steam. As such, steam cars, with their high pressure steam and hot boilers were one of the few contraptions that could both burn and scald you at the same time.

Many of these problems were righted by former train engineer Abner Doble and his Doble Steam Cars. The quick start-up time of less than 30 seconds on a cold day, fluid power deliver, and ease of use were all boons for steam, but this technology came at a price: around $8000 in 1925. By the 1930's, steam cars were all but gone, a victim of the gasoline engine, which had become easier to use and more developed with such innovations as the electric starter and better carburetors.

Today, there are still steamer fans out there, like Jay Leno, and some new companies are even considering steam hybrids. BMW created a steam hybrid system called the turbosteamer concept late last year, but little has been heard about the project since.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, are of a 1925 Doble Model E Convertible Coupe by Murphy (three shots), a 1908 Stanley H5 Gentleman's Speedy Roadster, a 1909 Stanley R20 Roadster, a 1910 Stanley Model 71 4-Passenger Touring, and a 1916 Stanley 725 5-Passenger Touring.

Profile: DeLorean DMC-12

2006-10-30T21:57:00.000-06:00

For reasons that have been argued about at length for decades, most cars have originated from the following countries: Germany, France, Italy, England, the United States, and Japan. Virtually every major automaker is based in one of those countries. Interestingly, some of the most fascinating and strange cars have come from outside of the above countries. One such anomaly is the DeLor ean DMC-12, which holds the notable distinction of being one of the only cars ever to come from Ireland.

The DeLorean was the brain child of former GM executive John Z. DeLorean. Already a famous executive by the time he went off on his own, DeLorean wanted to produce a unique, new sportscar unlike anything on the market at the time. The first prototype debuted in 1977 and cars started rolling off of the line in early 1981. What separated the DeLorean from other cars were its unique gullwing doors and stainless steel body, which was left brushed and unpainted.

While the cars were wild looking and made a scene whenever they opened their doors, they were not sure what they wanted to be. They had nice styling, understated and sporty by Giorgetto Giugiaro, but little grunt from their underpowered Peugeot built 2.8L V6. Worse still, the factory had come online too quickly, and the Irish factory workers were poorly trained and ill-adjusted to factory line work. As a result the cars suffered from dreadfully poor build quality.

After only 2 years in production, and about 8500 cars, DeLorean closed its doors. Ironically, the failed sportscar maker received its greatest publicity after it went out of business with its starring role in the Back to the Future trilogy where a modified DeLorean played the time machine. Now, everyone knows what a DeLorean is, but most people only know it as 'that car from the Back to the Future movies!'

Contrary to common belief, of course, the real DeLorean cannot travel through time.

Hiding behind a mask: Exterior modifications

2006-10-30T00:09:00.000-06:00

This weekend I took advantage of my youth and dressed up for Halloween and went into downtown Chicago to enjoy myself with some friends. A buddy of mine and I dressed up as The Blues Brothers, which enjoyed a healthy amount of recognition and positive response, which was the intended result.

The reason I bring this up is because the whole element of costume brought up an interesting point. On Halloween, people dress up in costume to reveal a part of them they normally don't let out in public. The hide behind a mask, an outfit, or an alter-ego and enjoy the fact that they can freely express themselves in this manner, for one night a year, without fear of retribution or strange looks.

In the car world, this ideal is taken a step further, I think, with severe exterior modifications. In the 1950's, it was hotrods, in the 1960's it was muscle cars, in the 1970's it was the aforementioned muscle cars and a trickling in of European imports, and the Japanese import has dominated this scene since the mid 1980's (but especially in the 1990's). People have created a mask for their car to express a part of themselves that their unmodified car lacked.

Unfortunately, all too often, this modification is tasteful only to the individual modifying it. And unlike that Halloween costume, which in my case consisted of a black suit, a white shirt, a black pencil tie, sunglasses, and a fedora, at the end of the night, you can't remove the modifications to your car so easily. Alas, it still represents and interesting, and pervasive, element of the culture of the automobile.

Standard of the World: A 60 Second History of Cadillac

2006-10-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

The Cadillac XLR Is A Punk Rocker, Like Iggy Pop (60 Sec)

Few companies have as storied a history as Cadillac. Founded in 1902 by Henry Leland (who would later go on to create Cadillac's biggest competitor, Lincoln), Cadillac has always been a main stay in the luxury car market. While Cadillac's prestige as fallen in the last 20 years (and as you watch the video, you'll be able to see why as the cars become less and less exciting), Cadillac is now trying to reinvent itself as a real world competitor.

What I find most appealing about this ad, besides the graphical wow of it all, is the way that you can visually track social change as portrayed by the design of each successive vehicle. The cars featured in the ad are as follows:
1) A horseless buggy, the automobile in its infancy at the turn of the century, a 1903 Cadillac Runabout.
2) An antique car in full and the face of the teens, a 1912 Cadillac Model 30 Touring.
3) A full classic and quintessential 1930's Depression-era luxury car, a 1931 Cadillac V16 Fleetwood Phaeton
4) First full fendered Cadillac and modern looking car and the defining look of the 1940's, a 1941 Cadillac Fleetwood Series 62
5) The evolution of fins and the aerospace influence 50's, a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible
6) Jet-age influence and fins at their maximum, a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible
7) 1960's modernism and general badassedness, a 1968 Cadillac Eldorado Coupe
8) 1970's American gas-guzzler (the beginning of the end of the US auto industry), a 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Eldorado Convertible
9) 1980's minimalism and excess, a 1985 Cadillac Seville
10) Attempted 1990's revival in the form of a slab-sided Mercedes SL clone, a 1992 Cadillac Allante
11) 21st Century rebirth and creased art and science design, a 2007 Cadillac XLR-V

We've come full circle, from the very birth of Cadillac as a mold-breaking company back to Cadillac as a trend setter (or at least it would like to think so). Cultural influences were what created every car featured, from the simple Runabout at the beginning, to the Frank Hershey designed V16 Phaeton, through the Harley Earl years of the late 1940's and 1950's, becoming modern under the eye of Bill Mitchell in the 1960's and 1970's, and finally showing the reluctance to change that Cadillac is now trying to correct. Even if you aren't a car person, you still know when each of those cars was built, and that is the true test of cultural impact. A really great ad, on the face of it.

(If the video isn't working, click HERE to view it)

Cars At Large Classic Car Search Engine

2006-10-27T00:28:00.000-05:00

Google, in its continued quest to make everyone's lives easier, has recently released a new program that allows you to create your own customized search engine. I am no tech wiz or anything when it comes to the computer, but I am always up for trying new things. As such, I have decided to try to use this new application to create a special search engine for finding out information on classic cars. My special search engine, Car At Large Search Engine, is still a work in progress, as I am trying to smooth out the general look of it, but I'd like to ultimate try to make into a useful tool for searching information related to classic cars. Please do check it out and drop me a line with sites you might like to add to the search list, or if you'd like to help out in making the search engine grow.

Low Mileage Conundrum: 1970 Chevelle LS6 with 29 Miles

2006-10-24T20:13:00.000-05:00

One of the more bizarre aspects of the collector car world are ultra low miles cars. I am speaking of vehicles that were laid away, for whatever reason, and were never really driven. This is a fairly recent phenomenon, but there are cars as old as half a century that have turned up with next to no miles on them. I am always astounded by these cars since they seem to go against the express purpose of the car, and create a major conundrum for the prospective buyers.

Cars are designed and built to be driven. Like any other machine, they must be operated on a fairly regular basis in order to maintain their mechanical integrity. If a car is never started, never run, never moved, and never driven, critical parts, such as seals, gaskets, and bearings begin to rot and fail. Cars aren't paintings and they aren't designed to be left on static display. Despite all of this, people occasionally purchase a car and hide it away in the hope that someday it will be worth something, a brand new old car, if you will.

The problem that arises, however, is what do you do with a car like that? Take the vehicle I have pictured here, a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle LS6 Coupe. The car has only 29 miles, after having been stored in a climate controlled environment for the last 36 years. As such, it is a brand new, three and a half decade old car. It is not just any Chevelle, either, but an LS6, the top of the line model with the most potent engine. A car like this commands a huge price, but what do the low miles do for the car? On the one hand, it is unique to find a car with so few miles, giving the car the special title of 'most original Chevelle LS6 in the world.' Fancy stuff. On the other hand, it is only going to remain unique, and maintain its high price as a result of its low miles, if it is never driven.

A prisoner's dilemma is created. If you drive the car, it loses a huge amount of value for ever click of the odometer. If you don't drive the car, you have basically purchased a very large sculpture and can never enjoy the car for its intended purpose; but you don't lose any money as a result of added miles. Either way, it is a sour deal. This is just one man's opinion, but as far as I am concerned, ultra-low miles cars are waste of money. They rarely command a price that is significantly higher than their more well driven brethren, and their entire purpose is lost as a result of the aforementioned dilemma created by their unique nature. For my money, I'd avoid them and stick with something you can enjoy, a car you vintage can drive with little worry about the cost of depreciation per mile.

Oh, and if you're curious about what happened to the Chevelle, it was a no sale at $330,000 at Mecum fall auction three weekends ago.

Somewhere West of Laramie: Vintage Advertising Genius

2006-10-23T23:56:00.000-05:00

Advertising is everywhere. The world we live in today is fueled by ads and they are probably the chief content provider for the world today since every major media outlet is fueled by them. Needless to say, advertisements, in all of its forms, have had a distinct and noticeable effect on our culture. One example of this genius in advertising was the 1923 campaign by the Jordan Motor Car Company.

Jordan was founded in 1916 in Cleveland, OH by former advertising executive Edward S. Jordan. A pioneer in evocative advertising copy, Jordan tried his hand at the automobile business building cars mostly from parts purchased elsewhere. Drawing from his previous endeavored, Jordan gave his cars ear-catching names like Playboy, Tomboy, and Sport Marine. Exciting color schemes and more provocative styling was also part of the package, which encapsulated otherwise unrevolutionary vehicles (save for their all steel construction).

What vaulted Jordan into then annals of automotive history and kept the name of the obscure company alive was its June, 1923 advertising campaign. One of the first automotive marketing programs directed specifically at women, the ads featured the tagline 'Somewhere West of Laramie,' and a description not of the car, but of a wild spirited young woman driving across the American wilderness somewhere west of Laramie, WY.

The campaign worked and helped Jordan prosper until 1931, when the market become too competitive for small producers like Jordan. While his company was gone, the slogan, which has been named one of the top 100 advertising campaigns of all time (coming in at #30), keeps the Jordan spirit alive. Few Jordans survive today, but you can still find them around. Fine examples are on display at the Crawford Auto Museum in Cleveland, OH on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. The two models on display there are a 1920 Jordan Playboy Roadster and a 1929 Speedboy G Phaeton.

Pedal Cars For Grown-Ups

2006-10-23T01:58:00.000-05:00

While leafing through the most recent issue of the Neiman Marcus Christmas Book catalog, the quintessential tome for holiday excess, I ran across one of the special gifts that pop up every year in the book. While the new BMW M6 convertible (which sold in record time) has stolen most of the spotlight, the Twike 'Human-Electric Hybrid' is what seems to be the most unique automotive oddity offered. The bulbous little car (which looks a little like a 1959 Velorex Oskar)works on the same basic principles as any other hybrid car, using an engine (in this case, you peddling) and regenerative braking to charge the batteries. The car claims a range of 90 miles on a charge and a top speed of 55 mph.

While this is all good and fine, it is certainly nothing new. The pebble/engine concept has been around about as long as the car probably has. Since cars tended to be larger, however, pedal power usually was not feasible, except in the case of the Flintstones. There were a number of cars that had gas engines with pedal assist, however, similar to mopeds. One company, Velocar, built a business around pedal powered cars with small engines (and also produced the first recumbent bike). A simple Velocar was basically four-wheeled bike with a little engine in it. Other companies also built similar vehicles.

So, as usual, nothing is new, it is just refreshed and revised.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, are of the Twike, a 1967 Benelli Delivery Vehicle, and a 1935 Velocar Camionette.

Startix: The stall prevention system

2006-10-20T01:49:00.000-05:00

Apologies for my absence, it has been an exceedingly busy week.

Of the many innovations in automobiles that have been made over the years, one that has received little recognition is the Startix system. Equipped on selects models from around 1932 until 1940, the Startix system was a simple circuit switch that would try to prevent the engine from stalling. Mounted in conjuncture with a Bendix starter, the circuit would simply crank the engine whenever the car's ignition switch was in the 'On' position (the other positions being Ignition and Off).

The system, in theory, is quite nice. As anyone who drives a manual transmission knows, it can be annoying and embarrassing to stall the car. The Startix system tried to mask this problem by immediately restarting the car. So, if the car stalled, the Startix system would automatically activate the starter until the engine cranked up again. This was especially nice in older cars that might not start as easily if left off for too long.

Of course the system isn't perfect in practice. One of the main problems with it is that the driver would have to remember to keep his or her foot on the clutch if the car stalled. Failure to do this would mean the Startix system would engage with the car was in gear, causing undue wear on the starter as it tried to jerk the car forward while cracking the engine. For many owners, this fault was more bothersome than the problem is sought to fix. Even today, most cars that have the Startix system (all post 1932 Auburn's have the system) have had the system disconnected.

Even still, it is a worthwhile and interesting little piece of automotive history. All photos included here are of a 1935 Auburn 851 Cabriolet. Notice the Startix box just behind the backwards-'L' shaped hose. It is mounted on the right side of the engine and the two large wires coming from it go into the starter. A detailed, period description of the Startix system can be found here.

I will be out of town until Sunday, and will resume posting then. There will be some good future topics coming up however, including a review of the Brighton Run tour (the one in Illinois, not England, unfortunately) after I complete it in early November.

Numbers Matching: The Lost Ferrari, Chassis # 0202 (Part V)

2006-10-14T21:37:00.000-05:00

In this final post on the subject of numbers matching, I'd like to provide one of the most striking recent examples of the value of number stamped on a car. You may have heard about it, as it has been in the papers a bit. As the story goes, a guy bought a Ferrari off of eBay for $26,000...but the car turned out to be a $2.8 million Ferrari that had been lost of over 40 years!

Well, close, but not exactly. What the purchaser, Tom Shaughnessy, actually bought was a rusted out chassis of a multi-million dollar car, specifically, a 1952 Ferrari 340 America Sp yder with body by Vignale. To most people, the '$3 million Ferrari' Mr. Shaughnessy purchased was just a rusted out wreck not even worth a second glance, but to those in the know, it was a valuable piece of history because of four numbers stamped on the chassis: 0202.

Very few Ferrari 340's were ever built, and almost all of them are accounted for, but this car had been lost. It was known that Ferrari stamped all of its racecars with an even serial number, ranging from 0002-0896 and 1002-1050. The fact that the rusted out chassis is stamped with the number 0202 identifies it not only as a rare model, but as a very storied one too.

Mr. Shaugnessy did not find the car by accident. He had been chasing the car for some time and had received a tip (which cost him $20,000) as to the real vehicle hiding beneath the Devin. A qualified Ferrari restorer who has found lost cars before and already has much of what is needed to restore the 340 back to its former glory. He expects it to cost around $600,000 to complete, excluding the engine, body, transmission , rear end, pedal box, radiator and oil cooler which he already has.

It will be exciting to see the car back in its former glory in three years, but for right now, it is certainly one of the finest examples of how valuable a few number stampings can be. So next time you see an old hunk, before writing it off, consider doing some research on the numbers stamped on it, you might be sitting on something very valuable.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, the Devin body and the actually frame (both from Popular Mechanics), the old Devin body sitting next to another Ferrari barn find (from Ultimate Car Page), and a restored 1952 Ferrari 340 Mexico Spyder by Vignale (from Supercars.net)

Numbers Matching: Modern VIN decoding (Part IV)

2006-10-13T22:56:00.000-05:00

Today, ever new car comes with a 17 digit Vehicle Identification Number, or VIN. This number (which also includes letters) is, for all intensive purposes, the car's Social Security number. It is unchangeable and the most important link between the car, the owner of the car, and the history of the vehicle. All records concerning the vehicle are tracked and filed by the car's VIN.

Like the broadcast sheet, build plate, and other vehicle information I have covered in the past week, a car's VIN is not just some random compilation of letters and numbers, it is really a detailed statement about manufacturer, where it was built, options, the year it was built, and the sequence in which is was built. All of these things are sourced from a standardized code enforced by the International Organization of Standards. Here is a quick explanation on how to decode VIN's care of Auto insurance Tips:

1^st character- Identifies the country in which the vehicle was manufactured.
For example: U.S.A.(1or4), Canada(2), Mexico(3), Japan(J), Korea(K), England(S), Germany(W), Italy(Z)

2^nd character- Identifies the manufacturer. For example; Audi(A),
BMW(B), Buick(4), Cadillac(6), Chevrolet(1), Chrysler(C), Dodge(B),
Ford(F), GM Canada(7), General Motors(G), Honda(H), Jaquar(A), Lincoln(L), Mercedes Benz(D), Mercury(M), Nissan(N), Oldsmobile(3), Pontiac(2or5), Plymouth(P), Saturn(8), Toyota(T), VW(V), Volvo(V).

3^rd character- Identifies vehicle type or manufacturing division.

4^th to 8^th characters- Identifies vehicle features such as body style, engine type, model, series, etc.

9^th character- Identifies VIN accuracy as check digit.

10^th character- Identifies the model year. For example: 1988(J), 1989(K), 1990(L), 1991(M), 1992(N), 1993(P), 1994(R), 1995(S), 1996(T),
1997(V), 1998(W), 1999(X), 2000(Y)------2001(1), 2002(2), 2003(3)

11^th character- Identifies the assembly plant for the vehicle.

12^th to 17^th characters- Identifies the sequence of the vehicle for production
as it rolled of the manufacturers assembly line.

For more information, click the title of this post (or this identical link) to go to the Wikipedia entry on VIN's, which is really quite comprehensive. The VIN can be located in the lower righthand corner of the windshield, in the driver's side door jam, and in various other spots in the car.

Next time I will cite one of the most recent and exemplary examples of the importance of numbers to a cars value. I'll just wet your interest for now by saying that you never know what you might find in a barn. Sometimes its nothing, but sometimes its a long lost Ferrari hiding under an Irish camouflage.

Numbers Matching: Decoding a Muscle Car (Part III)

2006-10-11T20:32:00.000-05:00

In continuing my discussion on what 'numbers matching' means and why it is important, I want to take the time to actually decode a build sheet and accompanying build plate(s). For this specific example, I am going to use a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Barracuda.

Before I do so though, a brief comment on why this is so important. The numbers associated with a vehicle are really its true name and identification. They prove that the vehicle is really what it purports to be. Some might ask, "so what, it is just a car. Who cares?" Well, the car is like any other historical artifact, its importance, relevance, and value is based on its authenticity. Take a quick example:

Which is more valuable? A genuine Vincent van Gogh painting or a print that looks just like the real thing?

See my point? One is worth tens of millions of dollars, the other is worth tens of dollars (maybe). This is why a car with the right numbers, even if it is identical to another car, can be worth so much more. Race history, ownership history, rarity, and historical importance all can add value to a specific vehicle.

With that out of the way, time to do some detective work! As I mentioned yesterday, a Broadcast Sheet Decoder (or Build Sheet Decoder) can make sense of the madness. Take note of the two build plates (or fender tags) and the broadcast sheet, both at right. All three are from the same car (pictured above). The build plates are affixed the to left front fender, just inside the hood. The options decoded from the two fender tags:

E74- 426 Hemi Engine 2 X 4 (two separate four barrel carburetors)
D32- 727 Automatic Transmission
FJ5- Sublime
A01- Light package
A21- Front rubber bumper
A36- 3.55 Axel Package, 8 3/4 rear (final drive ration and rear axel housing size)
A62- Rally Dash Cluster (woodgrain)
B51- Power disc brakes
C16- Console floor mount
C55- Bucket Seats
G31- Both chrome racing mirrors
J45- Hood pins (notice front hood clips)
L31- Fender mounted turn signals
M21- Drip rail moldings
M31- Wheel lip moldings
M88- Rear deck moldings
M91- Luggage rack
N41- Dual exhaust
N42- Chrome tips (on the exhaust pipes)
N85- Tachometer
N96- Shaker hood (air clean that is attached to the engine sticks out through a hole in the hood)
R22- AM 8 Track stereo, 10 Watts with rear speaker
YO5- Build to US Specs
26- 26" radiator max cooling

Whew. There it all is, every option of the plates converted into plain English. This car is worth significantly more than many other 'Cudas because it came so well equipped from the factory and with many rare options, namely the Hemi engine, which was a hugely expensive option at the time.

Next time, I'll go into modern VIN decoding and after that provide one of the most striking examples of the value of numbers to a car's importance.

Numbers Matching: Muscle Cars Defined (Part II)

2006-10-10T19:30:00.000-05:00

As I promised last time, my topic for this post will be explaining what a 'numbers matching' muscle car is. It isn't just having the engine that is in the car today being the same one that was in it when it left the factory, it is much more complicated than that.

After WWII, as cars became more standardized, companies began using a series of numbers to identify a specific vehicle. This became known as a Vehicle Identification Number, or a VIN, and was eventually standardized to a 17 digit alpha-numeric code. All cars today come with a VIN tag, usually found somewhere in the lower corner of the windshield, on the driver's side (it is also stamped elsewhere on the car and in various hidden locations). In addition to this VIN, car makers would also affix their own built plates for factory use. These built plates would usually have a series of alpha-numeric codes on them and would detail what options the car was originally equipped with. These build plates would directly correlate to the options and information specified on the build sheet.

The build sheet is quite possibly a vehicle's most valuable asset. An intact build sheet with verifiable information on it can mean the difference between a run of the mill $10,000 car and a $2 million stunner. Car companies recognized the importance of having a paper record of the vehicle available, in case the car was ever altered and then passed off as having items that it did not. Copies of the build sheet were often hidden in the car, usually above the gas tank or behind the rear seat.

The build sheet is, in a manner of speaking, a complete profile on the car. It details where and when the car was built, what dealer ordered it and what customer it was being delivered to, and most importantly, what options (engine, comfort features, etc) the car was originally equipped with. The number of different possible combinations was very complex usually require a Build Sheet decoder (check the link the left!) to understand. Once translated though, you can learn a lot about a car.

For simple understand purposes, I've included a quick decoding document on the numbers on a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro L-78 SS396 Convertible along with a few shots of the car, the VIN plate, and the chassis plate (not covered on the decoder).

Next, I'll translate the build sheet and built plate for a 1970 Plymouth Hemi Cuda Hardtop. Hopefully this will help further your understanding of what makes a build sheet and matching build plate important and how they figure into this whole 'numbers matching' equation.

Numbers Matching: A definition and explanation (Part I); even you seasoned car guys might learn something!

2006-10-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

Muscle cars are the hottest thing in the vintage car market, and one of the most important features of most any muscle car is that it's a 'numbers matching' car. Now you've probably asked yourself what exactly does 'numbers matching' mean? That is a very good question and one with an answer that might surprise you a little. But first, a little background to introduce the subject. Muscle cars will be covered tomorrow in depth.

Virtually every car ever built in some form of series production has been identified by some alpha-numeric sequence. This sequence of numbers and letters has been used by different companies to indicate different things. In the 1920's and 1930's, when coachbuilt cars were popular, vehicles often had three different identification plates: a body number, an engine number, and a chassis number. Duesenberg's, for example, had a three digit engine number (such as J-446), which would identify when the engine was made in the sequence of all Model J engines (starting with J-101 and ending with J-588). The chassis was marked with a four digit number, which, like the engine, identified when the chassis was made in the total sequence of all Model J chassis (starting with 2125 and ending with 2614). You're probably thinking that this meant that the engine and chassis sequences would match, right? Well they didn't because engines and cars were built on separate assembly lines, but there are records of which engine went with which chassis and not all engines or chassis stayed together.

As such, in its most basic form, 'numbers matching' simply means the car (or chassis) has the same engine block that it left the factory with initially. Pictured are an example of a numbers matching Ferrari, in this case, a 1967 Ferrari P412 Mark 3-4. This very important and rare sports-racing car features two separate stampings, one for the engine and one for the chassis. Unlike Duesenberg, the chassis and engine stampings were meant to go together as a pair for this series of vehicles. As you can plainly see, both numbers are identical, indicating that the engine block is the same one that the car left the factory with.

But that is the most basic definition, the meaning of 'numbers matching' for a muscle car is much more complex. As they say on television, "tune in next time for the conclusion of this exciting mystery!"

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, the Chassis Plate for a 1925 Diana Light Eight Sedan the 1967 Ferrari P412 Mk 3-4 Chassis Plate, Ferrari Engine Plate (notice that they are the same number), the whole Ferrari, a 1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Sedan (Chassis No. 2284, Engine No. J262, Murphy Body No. 923), Body plate for the Diana, the entire Diana, the Diana's engine plate.

Review: 11th Annual Mecum High Performance Auction

2006-10-09T10:40:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the absence, but I am now home and have all of my pictures uploaded onto my computer. All 557 of them. Anyhow, I thought this would be a good time to quickly review the highlights of the weekend.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the auction, which took place in St. Charles, IL was conducted by Me cu m Collector Car Auctioneers. The auction featured over 750 cars, almost all of which were American muscle cars built between 1960 and 1971. There was a smattering of cars from the 1950's as well as a few hotrod from the 1930's and a half a dozen or so cars built somewhere other than the US. There were many good buys to be had, but the unrealistic reserves on many of the cars left a number of vehicles as 'no sales.'

The major sales of the auctions included a number of Plymouth Hemi 'Cudas, some COPO Camaros (and a few COPO Chevelles), and some Plymouth Superbirds. The biggest specials were a collection of Super Duty Pon tiacs from the Randy Williams collection and a 1965 Dodge Coronet drag car known as "The Yankee Peddler."

The Cuda's were all stuck by a case of unrealistic reserves and unmotivated sellers, unfortunately, with none of them selling, despite bidding reaching as $700,000 for one of them. The Yankee Peddler did sell, however, at a high bid of $750,000. The Super Duty collection was handled a bit differently. Initially offered as a five car collection to be had at a single bid, the $1.55 million high bid for the collection was not deemed sufficient. As such, the five cars in the collection were sold individuals. The cars sold were a 1961 Pontiac Ventura 389 Super Duty drag racer (sold for $135,000), a 1962 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty Dual-Quad Factory Lightweight (sold for $235,000), a 1963 Pontiac Catalina 421 Super Duty 2-door sedan(sold for $285,000), a 1963 Pontiac Swiss Ch eese Catalina drag car (sold for $440,000), and a 1963 Pontiac Super Duty Tempest Union Park Wagon (sold for $625,000).

All of the above sales are shown without buyer's premium of 5%. Overall, an impressive showing and loads of fun to see.

Pictures, clockwise from lower left, the Super Duty Collection being sold, a 1970 Plymouth Superbird, the Yankee Peddler being sold, a series of Corvette Convertibles (1963-1967), the 1963 Pontiac Super Duty Tempest Union Park Wagon, the Yankee Peddler, and the last 1971 Hemi 'Cuda ever built.

Auction Weekend!

2006-10-06T20:25:00.000-05:00

This weekend I am at the 11th Annual Mecum High Performance Auction in St. Charles, IL. Mecum Collector Car Auctioneers are a 20+ year old company that has been selling muscle cars since the beginning, unlike most other auction companies (I'm looking at you Barrett-Jackson). Mecum's auctions are run in a very traditional fashion, there is no circus (again, BJ), pandering to the cameras (you know who you are, Kruse), and lower commissions (unlike bigger houses like Christie's).

The no nonsense productions has its pluses and minuses, however:

Plus:

Straightforward auction, no games
Focus is on the cars, not the media circus or spectacle of it all
Simple commission structure compounded by low commissions
Wide selection (750+) cars

Minus:

Not as exciting to watch for spectators
No available online or phone bidding
Minimal catalog information
Buyer beware: Owner's provide most of the vehicle information, so do your research before coming!

In all honesty, I have only really been to one other auction like this, Kruse's Auburn auction over Labor Day weekend. Most of the auctions I have been to have been conducted in traditional British fashion, with a slow talking, but quick-witted British auctioneer and formal, subdued bidding. Mecum's auction is a more American auction, with a fast-talking auctioneer and ringmen (people who watch for and communicate directly with bidders and alert the auctioneer to bids) who scream up bids. Formal coverage will come of the auction as soon as I can upload the pictures on my own computer.

Automotive Irony, Ford's Gift to Israel: 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Limousine

2006-10-05T01:30:00.000-05:00

Automotive history is littered with ironies. The close connections between automotive personalities, cars, and governments have created a number of these ironic twists. A quick example: Communist leaders Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union and Chairman Mao Tse-Tung of the People's Republic of China both rode around in the most expensive car in the world (at the time), a Mercedes Benz Pullman 600 Limousine (more pictures here).

Another wonderful irony is relationship between Henry Ford II, Ford Motor Company, and the State of Israel. Ford Motor Company had a tumultuous relationship with the Jewish people as a result of its founder, Henry Ford. While Ford (the man) was an amazing innovator, businessman, and entrepreneur, he was also an out-spoken anti-Semite (tying in closely with his anti-immigration views). Ford expressed his views in his newspaper, The Dearborn Independent. In his most infamous anti-Semitic action, Ford published The International Jew, a series of article published from May to October of 1920 supported the Protocol of the Elders of Zion and created a Jewish conspiracy theory in some groups.

Henry Ford's grandson, Henry Ford II was not of the same mind set, however. When Israel was founded on May 15, 1948, Henry II was quick to support the fledgling state. In 1949, Ford attended a luncheon for American businessmen and philanthropists with Israel's first President, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, in New York City. After the meal, Ford personally donated $50,000 to the United Jewish Appeal. Ford further extended his helping hand to the new Jewish State by offering liberal terms to new truck buyers in Israel. His help was recognized by Israel's ambassador to the United states, Eliahu Elath, who singled out the Ford Motor Company in a 1950 speech as "the first to provide help" to the young nation.

As part of this assistance, Ford also donated a very unique 1950 Lincoln Cosmopolitan Limousine. The car was based on a regular Cosmopolitan sedan, but it was heavily modified with a slew of luxury features. Designed as a presidential limo for US President Harry S. Truman, the Cosmopolitan Limousine included many artful touches such as gold plating, reading lights, and letter desks. Advanced electronics were also employed, providing such features as a two way intercom between the passengers and driver, and full power windows, all of which could be controlled from the President's seat. Only 18 were built, 9 of them went to the White House, 8 of them went around the United States to places Truman frequented, and one of them was specially shipped to Israel to be presented as a gift to Dr. Weizmann.

A detailed history on the car with pictures of the vehicle before, during, and after its restoration can be found in the most recent issue of RM Magazine (on page 34) or by clicking the title link to this post.

The car is now on display at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel (near Tel Aviv). I recently saw the car there this summer, and it is really a spectacular car. It was the second time I had seen the car (first time was at the 2001 Pebble Beach Concours), and it was impressive both times.

Driving old cars on the road today: My experience driving a 1947 Packard Limo for the weekend

2006-10-02T23:57:00.000-05:00

Driving, probably more than any other activity, brings out some of the most interesting things in people. Some of the most docile people are reckless drivers, and vice versa. People often pay little attention to the world around them and car little for the cars around them. When you're driving a modern car, this fact can be more of a nuisance than a danger. The same cannot be said for when you're driving an old car.

I recently borrowed a friend's 194 7 Pack ard Deluxe Eight Custom Limousine to pick my mom and her fiance up from O'Hare Airport in as sort of a surprise. Before picking them up, however, I spent part of the prior day tooling around in the car to get acquainted with it. Some things I should note before continuing:

Unloaded, the car weighs in at 4920 lbs.
The wheelbase is 148", which for comparison purposes, is a little over 5" longer than a Mini Cooper (not the wheelbase of the Mini, the whole car).
Overall length is somewhere around 20'.
The car is powered by a 5.8L, flathead I8 producing 165 hp funneled through a 3 speed, manual transmission.
The car has no power steering or power brakes. Come to think of it, the only thing with 'power' are the rear wheels.
The car was custom fabricated by Professional Car builder Henney Motor Company off of a standard Packard Clipper sedan.
The specific vehicle I was driving was largely original and unrestored, but in good condition nonetheless (better than this car at least)

As you can imagine, steering a 5000 lb. car with no power steering requires a bit of arm strength and stopping it with no power brakes (and drum brakes at that) requires a good bit of advanced planning.

What I find most interesting is how people react to the car. Some people honk, wave, or flash you a big thumbs up. Others might take a good look at the car as they drive by or glance at it quickly at a light. Many more don't even seem to notice the car, despite the fact that it is as big as a Ford Expedition and sticks out like a sore thumb.

The biggest problem with driving an old car on the road today though is that, like I said earlier, many drivers don't really consider the world around them. This presents a problem for someone like me when I am driving a car that takes 400 feet to stop from 50 mph and accelerates as quickly as you might imagine a 5000 lb car with 165 hp would accelerate (which is to say not very quickly). Many drivers would cut me off or swerve around me at a stoplight to accelerate up to the next red light. More than a few times, drivers refused to give me any sort of sympathy when merging, which is complicated by the fact the sideview mirrors are 3" in diameter and pretty much useless. People just don't consider the limitations imposed by a 59 year old car compared to their much newer car.

Despite this, it was still a lot of fun to drive, and my friend Jay Leno agrees with me (see the last three paragraphs). It was loads of fun making people smile, especially at the airport. Even though it was 9 AM on a Sunday, the people there were pleasantly surprised, not the least of whom were my mom and her fiance. I look forward to tooling around in many more old cars in the future. And if you see one drive by in the Chicago area with a young guy and a mop of hair on his head driving it, be sure to wave since it might be me!

Charting a car through time: 1929/30 Stutz Model M Supercharged Coupe by Lancefield

2006-10-01T11:13:00.000-05:00

The often heard phrase, 'if only these walls could talk' is readily applicable to cars as well. Every vehicle has a story to tell, a history to ravel in, and a tale to regale. One car that has a very exciting recent history is the 1929 (and sometimes 1930) Stutz Model M Supercharged Coupe with coachwork by Lancefield. The early history of this car is a little fuzzy, but the most exciting part is the recent history of the vehicle.

The car is unique for a few reasons. First, it is a supercharged car, on of two supercharged Model M's, with the blower placed prominently in the front of the car, just below the grill (similar to a "Blower" Bentley 4 1/2). Second, the car was built by an American company, Stutz, but bodied by an English one, Lancefield, and represents one of the few examples of a Lancefield body on something other than a Rolls Royce. Finally, the history of the car is intriguing and adds some value to it.

The car's original purchaser is unknown, but what is known is that the car was documented in a November 1929 article of Autocar magazine. The car later found its way to the United States where it became part of the collection of one A.K. Miller, a reclusive Vermont farmer who amassed one of the most impressive and neglected collections of Stutz cars in the world. Mr. Miller kept the cars unseen for decades, until his death in 1996 (he died when he fell of the ladder of a Stutz firetruck that he was using to change a barn window) prompted a Christie's auction of the estate to pay for the back taxes he owed the IRS.

At that auction, the car featured here sold in 'barn find' condition for $135,000 (its the fourth car fromt he bottom). After a comprehensive restoration was completed and a Pebble Beach class win, the car once again went up on the block in New York on Sept 23, 2000 at an RM Auction, this time selling for $348,800 to racecar driver and race driving school pioneer, Skip Barber. As the Sports Car Market profile I have linked to details, there was cause to believe the car would continue to increase in value even then. Skip refined the restoration and entered the car in the Peking to Paris Rally and took Best of Show at the Greenwich Concours in 2006. The most recent chapter in the car's history was its sale this past August by RM Auctions at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours. Spirited bidding carried the price of the car up to a $715,000! The car is now in the always growing O'Quinn Collection in Houston, TX and will no doubt continue to appreciate in value.

For comparison purposes, check out the profile on this 1932 Stuts SV-16 Derham Convertible. The prefx on the chassis number is 'MB,' denoting that this is a Model M like the car featured. Notice the price. This might give you an idea of the value collectors hold for unique styling, interesting history, and grand rarity.

Note: The year confusion is due to the fact the car was built and delivered in 1929, but titled as a 1930 model.

For a detailed history of the car and some more pictures, see the RM Auction Profile (second from the top, lot 251).

Back from the dead: Restorations (Part I)

2006-09-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

Something that most non-car people usually don't consider when they see a gorgeous old car is the amount of work that goes into making that old car look brand new. In some respects, the fairly recent phenomenon of massive restorations (it is only about 30 years old) has created a skewed view in people's minds. They go to Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance or a similar show and think that those old cars have always looked like that, with perfect panel fit, smooth, tight leather, and glistening mechanicals. The truth of the matter is many of those cars didn't even look that good when they were new. Furthermore, the test of time can wear heavily on cars, and it is no a minor miracle, but a major miracle that these cars can be brought back to life.

One question that can weigh heavily on an enthusiast's mind, however, is whether or not to restore a car, and if so, to what extent. Sometimes, a car is found in very good condition save for some slight mechanical work, such as the Duesenberg Model X Jay Leno discovered. That car is completely original save for a rebuilt engine. On the other hand, some cars have been treated so poorly that a complete restoration is required and the vehicle ends up looking practically new in the end. Pretty much every car that wins Best of Show at Pebble Beach falls into that category.

Of course, every once in a while, a car comes along that is completely original and looks stunning. It is rare, but it happens. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is a stunning 1929 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Coupe that has recently been shown at the Meadow Brook Hall Concours (where it won the Preservation Award for best original car) and Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival. The car is completely original, include the still fantastic black paint. The only thing that has been done to the car in 77 years is to have the wheels repainted. Amazing.

For more pictures of pre-restored barn find cars, check out a great selection of pictures from the A.K. Miller Collection.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, a 1974 Dino 246GT, a 1974 Dino 246GTS getting ready to look like the car pictured below it, a 1954 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing Coupe in the process of being restored, and two shots of the aforementioned 1929 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Coupe in original, unrestored condition.

History Repeats Itself: The Selden Patent

2006-09-29T03:35:00.000-05:00

Patents have long been used as a method to protect ones inventions and creations. Why shouldn't the years of hard work that is required to create a new invention be rewarded with the exclusive rights to produce it or control its production by others? Of course, this power is sometimes abused, and such is the case of the Selden Patent.

Much like the recent lawsuit over Blackberry's rights to 'mobile email,' the Selden Patent tried to accomplish a similar problem, by patenting a vague but important invention: the automobile. In simple terms, the Selden Patent, the history of which can be acquired from the title link, was an attempt by a patent attorney named George Selden to patent the gas-powered automobile. His patent was based on his previous research on combustion engines, but the vehicle he patented was not built until long after he began exploiting carmakers for royalties.

Most carmakers gave in to his demands, rather than risk legal battles, but one budding automaker refused to bow down to the Selden Patent: Henry Ford. Ford contested that the patent did not cover cars with an Otto Cycle engine, but rather vehicles with a Brayton Cycle engine. While Ford initially met resistance in court, after eight years of legal battles and 14,000 pages of case documents, Ford won the case. After all, his car (and virtually every single piston-powered car) had an Otto Cycle engine, and no cars had a Brayton Cycle engine.

In the end, Selden lost his patent just a year before it expired. The lasting effects of the patent can readily be seen on most cars built before 1911 though, just look for the little brass plaque with a picture of a car on it.

A full copy of the Selden Patent can be obtained here.

Photos, clockwise from lower left, George Selden and the sole version of the vehicle he patented (courtesy of Engines of Ingenuity), a copy of the drawing Selden patented (courtesy of Wikipedia), and three pictures of a car the was subject to the Selden Patent, in this case a 1904 Olds Curved Dash (the top picture is of the actual patent plate, mounted on the back of the car)