Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i Hemmings Classic Car

Kansas City Mecum MECUM FINISHED ITS 2016 CALENDAR with a big auction in Kansas City, which saw over 650 vehicles up for sale. When the smoke cleared, over 54 percent of the cars found a new home, totaling over $8 million in sales, which also included a 95 percent sell-through of automobilia and road art. Among the American collector cars was this 1950 Buick woodie wagon finished in dark green. A limited number of wagons were made, with only 2,480 leaving the factory, making this a somewhat rare find. This fine example needed some work, but sold for a reasonable $19,500. Full results are now available on Mecum’s site at www.mecum.com. April in Big-D LEAKE FEATURES TWO AUCTIONS A YEAR in Dallas, and its spring sale will take place April…

SPECIFICATIONS PROS & CONS + Very reliable + Sporty hardtop styling + Substantial power for its day – Few parts reproduced – First gear isn’t synchronized – An overlooked model year WHAT TO PAY LOW $8,000 – $12,000 AVERAGE $19,000 – $23,000 HIGH High-$33,000 – $37,000 Add 20% for Tri-Power Add 5% Hydra-Matic transmission CLUB CORNER PONTIAC OAKLAND CLUB INTERNATIONAL P.O. Box 68 Maple Plain, Minnesota 55359 www.poci.org Phone: 877-368-3454 Dues: $39 per year Membership: 9,000 ANTIQUE AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF AMERICA 501 W. Governor Road P.O. Box 417 Hershey, Pennsylvania 17033 Website: www.aaca.org Phone: 717-534-1910 Dues: $35 Membership: 60,000…

Henry Leland’s Lincoln Motor Co. may not have been established with the intent to build some of America’s finest prestige cars — history buffs know Leland tried to build Liberty aviation engines for this country’s effort in the Great War, but peace came before production ramped up — yet that is what the company did, both under his watch and that of Henry and Edsel Ford. Lincoln’s fortunes rose and fell in its first half century, but the outlook was bright in 1971, when it celebrated 50 years of automotive production by creating a distinctive, limited-production variant of its most venerable nameplate: the Continental Town Car Golden Anniversary Edition. The Continental was Lincoln’s “halo” car from its debut in 1939, and would similarly create a stir in the industry in…

In 1902, Charles Minshall, president of the Standard Wheel Company of Terre Haute, Indiana, supplier of wheels to many early automakers, decided to get into the car business himself. He hired a young engineer named Claude Cox to design his new car, dubbed the Overland, after the famous Overland stagecoach. The first Overland, the Model 13 runabout, was fairly advanced for the time, having a single-cylinder, water-cooled 5-hp engine mounted vertically up front rather than horizontally under the seat, and a two-speed planetary transmission. The frame was solid oak, a tiller was used for steering, and styling was simple but quite attractive. The first car was tested February 12, 1903. There are conflicting reports regarding exactly how many were built that first year, but it was probably about 12 cars,…

WHICH OF THESE BEST BUILT WAGONS IS BEST SUITED TO YOUR NEEDS? • DELUXE 2-DOOR Available with either V-8 or 6-cylinder engine. 15 color choices. • CUSTOM 4-DOOR Available as a 9-passenger model with V-8 engine. Or as a 6-passenger model with either V-8 or 6-cylinder engine. 19 color combinations to choose from. • DELUXE 4-DOOR Available as a 6-passenger model with either V-8 or 6-cylinder engine. 15 color choices. It took many long years — and millions of dollars — but Chrysler Corporation engineers have finally done it for 1960: perfected unit construction! Your solid 1960 Plymouth wagon will have its body-frame welded into a single unit. No longer will body and frame be bolted together, with parts added like after-thoughts. Almost all wagons…

Dollars & Cents (AVERAGE) New house – $139,000 Annual income – $23,800 One gallon of gas – $0.90 New car – $13,300 Car phone – $995 Car radio (Alpine; removable) – $199 Beer (Michelob-12 oz.) – $9.95/case First-class stamp – $0.25 Ticket to the movies – $4.00 PLYMOUTH’S HORIZON AMERICA offers plenty of cargo space, with its liftgate convenience. Four-door comfort is combined with front-wheel drive and new standard 2.2-liter engine, with electronic fuel injection, for solid performance and economic value. The Horizon America is available at an affordable $5,999. CADILLAC’S COUPE DE VILLE is the only six-person, full-size luxury coupe available in America. Spacious headroom and seating are complemented with performance in a 4.5-liter V-8 that develops a quiet 155 horsepower. If you want the distinction of a coupe…

Studebaker Sit-Down THE STUDEBAKER DRIVERS CLUB has announced the date for its International Meet. South Bend, Indiana, will host this year’s event, which will occur May 3-6. A swap meet and car corral will take place each day starting at 8 a.m. at the St. Joseph County Fairgrounds. There will also be a concours occurring during the four-day event and Saturday, the final day, will feature an open judged car show with an awards ceremony. The full itinerary also includes a parade, tours, luncheons and chapter meetings to discuss future Studebaker gatherings and events. For a full list of events, fees, registration and hotel information, visit www.sdcmeet.com/Home/Agenda. Pierce-Arrow Gathering THE PIERCE-ARROW SOCIETY is celebrating its 60th year and announced The Great River Meet to take place near the Illinois, Mississippi…

American Motors had a history-making year of sales in 1959.There were four basic model ranges: American, Rambler Six, Rebel and Ambassador. In the Rambler Six line, AMC bequeathed a simple new eggcrate grille with a gap between the grille and the hood where “RAMBLER” was spelled out in stand-up block letters. The Six line was further divided into Deluxe, Super and Custom levels in ascending order of trim. Supers, like our feature car’s Cross Country, were distinguished by a script callout in the rear door near the tip of the missile-shaped side trim spear. The Super Cross Country turned out to be the second-most-popular model in the Rambler Six range, with 66,739 examples produced, topped only by the Super four-door sedan, which rang up 72,577 sales units in 1959. Power…

There is more to life than drag racing. You wouldn’t necessarily know it, going to many car shows today, where you will see rows upon rows of pony cars, compacts and midsize cars stuffed with hot V-8 engines. It’s perfectly forgivable to think that maybe everyone who bought a car from 1964 to 1972 was bent on pairing the smallest body possible with the biggest engine. That’s not the case, of course. Full-size cars didn’t disappear with the advent of the power-to-weight obsession that gripped performance-car culture back then. There was an increased emphasis on luxury trappings in formerly pedestrian brands like Ford and Chevrolet — witness the LTD and Caprice — but power didn’t go anywhere, either. With a little bit of hunting, an enthusiast can really stand out…

For one particular Packard Clipper built in the fall of 1941, fate was to dictate an unusual destiny. It would have General Douglas MacArthur as its first owner. It would survive World War II. It would escape by three days an appointment to be demilitarized and lost to history. It would, by moments, miss becoming a parts car. And finally, by less than four weeks, destiny would once again dictate an escape from the crusher at some undetermined salvage yard. This historic car, a 1942 Packard 120 8 Clipper Custom, engine #E-318750-D, serial #1512-5747, was built specifically for General MacArthur. MacArthur had ordered a car for himself from the Packard factory, paying for it by personal check. That $2,600 check was returned to him compliments of Packard, along with assurances…

AS WITH ANY UNDERDOG I TRY TO shove into your garage, LTD IIs have started popping up for sale lately. I have a personal relationship with the short-lived, Torino-based LTD II, because in 1990, I had a friend who was down on his luck. His Chevrolet Citation had died after racking up more than 150,000 miles. I was working at a restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia, and one of the cooks was selling a 1979 Ford LTD II S for $300. The sedan was beige inside and out, with no vinyl roof nor the rear quarter/opera windows. The only option was air conditioning. I decided to buy it for my friend, which meant I had the pleasure of driving it to my mechanic to have it checked out. The first thing…

SHORTLY AFTER RETURNING FROM World War II service, my older brother, Bob, began building and racing a hot rod on western Wisconsin’s small-town dirt tracks. It was built in a garage well back from my parents’ house. My job as an early grade schooler was to wash car parts. However, my most important job involved protecting Ma’s refrigerator from the mechanic’s greasy hands. Bob’s six pack of beer was deposited at the start of each day, then I was the only one my mother allowed to fetch the beer. I was ordered by my brother to not shake the cans, which I didn’t, but what seven-year old can carry a beer 30 yards without running? The compromise was that the cans were opened very carefully. The late 1940s hot rods…

Fast Little Back BOB ENG OF SIOUX FALLS, SOUTH DAKOTA, was only able to get three rear photos of this fastbacked sports car back in the days of film cameras and only so many photos per roll (that is, about 20 years ago), but even with a photo of the front of the car, we’d still be as puzzled about it. At first glance, it appears to be based on a Cobra or Cobra replica, with a circa 1949-’51 Chevrolet Fleetline four-door fastback body chopped to bits and reassembled around the back half of the Cobra. How the driver saw out the back window — which almost became a moonroof — we’re not sure, but it must have been a somewhat comfortable ride, judging from the hitch being put into…

Since taking over as General Manager of Pontiac in the summer of 1956, Semon E.“Bunkie” Knudsen had been fortifying the then-sixth-place-in-sales GM division with the right people in key positions to develop the new products required to turn its fortunes around. Hiring Chief Engineer Elliott M. “Pete” Estes and Director of Advanced Engineering John Z. DeLorean were two decisions that reveal Knudsen’s eye for talent. Each of them later ascended to the General Manager’s chair at Pontiac and then Chevrolet, and Estes ultimately became president of General Motors. Under Knudsen’s direction, removing the “suspenders” on the 1957 Pontiac hood was a quick fix, as it was ready for production when he arrived. The 1958 models were nearly complete as well, but by that model year, his racing program was showing…

American automakers were definitely enjoying some very robust sales in the Fifties, but not every family had a new Buick, Plymouth or Oldsmobile in the driveway. Tom Becker, one of five boys in his house, recalls how the Becker family ended up with a classic Auburn in the early Fifties in Philadelphia. “My four brothers and I,” says Tom, “convinced my dad that they needed a family car for them to drive, and they went out looking for a car. We were thinking of a Ford, but ended up buying a 1932 four-door sedan Auburn. “It had a seized engine because the car had been sitting on blocks for seven years,” continues Tom, “but it suited our family needs better than a Ford would because it was a much larger…

In September 2009, William Sipko was in New Castle, Pennsylvania, ready to examine a Lincoln Zephyr for sale on behalf of his friend. It should have been a straight-forward trip: Collect details, images and, ultimately, provide an opinion about the car in question. As the day unfolded, however, William discovered that the seller had several other cars for sale. “The gentleman casually mentioned that he had a car I had probably never seen before,” William recalls. “At that point, I was intrigued, and that’s when he led me into a barn. In the back was an unusual red convertible. I wasn’t sure what it was until he mentioned that it was a 1952 Muntz Jet. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular; however, I have a soft spot for cars…

IN THE SPRING OF 1959, I ACCEPTED a job as assistant service manager at a Chevrolet dealership in Chicago. Up to this date in my life, I had ambitions of working at General Motors. I was at that time a service writer (“service advisor,” in today’s terms) for a Chevrolet dealer in Evanston, Illinois. My background to this point was attending engineering school at Northwestern University for one year before deciding to go to General Motors Institute of Technology in Flint, Michigan (now called Kettering University). My dealer agreed to sponsor me in the Dealer Co-op two-year course, which meant I rotated every two months between schooling and dealer on-the-job training. After I completed my schooling, an assistant service manager’s job opened up at the above-mentioned Chevrolet dealer in Chicago.…