Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2018 i Hemmings Classic Car

Barrett-Jackson Eclipses $116 Million BARRETT-JACKSON WRAPPED UP ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL SCOTTSDALE AUCTION WITH TOTAL sales amounting to more than $116.7 million. Over 1,700 vehicles crossed the block, nearly all at no reserve, including three lots that pulled in seven figures each after the bidding had ended. Among the huge draws, there were a lot of affordable options available including this 1923 Willys-Knight three-door coupe. It had an older frame-up restoration and is completely stock, except for the seat upholstery and carpet. It came with the rear luggage trunk and doctor’s satchel, and featured a sleeve-valve engine and three-speed transmission. The new buyer paid just $7,150 for this rare beauty. Results from Scottsdale are available at www.barrett-jackson.com, and look for Barrett-Jackson at Palm Beach this April. Sotheby’s Results PHOENIX ALWAYS ATTRACTS AN…

“GOOD DRIVING,” ALICE RAMSEY told the press, “Is all above the neck.” By that, the 22-year-old New Jerseyan and mother of two meant that gender played no role in one’s ability to operate an automobile. This would, hopefully, seem like common sense in 2018. In 1909, however, it was far from a foregone conclusion. Ramsey herself was qualified to make such a statement because she was one of the early adoptees of the automobile. Her husband, politician and businessman John Ramsey, had purchased her a Maxwell runabout the year before, and she was an instant devotee of “automobubbling,” in the parlance of the time. By September 1908, she was sufficiently confident behind the wheel to take part in an American Automobile Association endurance race to Montauk Point, New York. It…

The Mustang III is unique and historic in many ways. According to the research of Bob Fria, of the 15 known pilot Mustangs built, it’s one of three known to have survived today. The Mustang III is the only one of them to retain its “S” plant code VIN, as the other two were shipped to Dearborn and had new serial numbers assigned with the “F” plant code. It’s also the oldest-known Mustang in the world still on the road today. It will be participating in the AACA Museum exhibit Mustangs: Six Generations of America’s Favorite Pony Car from May 18 to October 14, 2018, in Hershey, Pennsylvania.…

GREAT ARTICLE IN HCC #161 ON THE European coachbuilt-bodies on American chassis. You showed a photo on page 64 of a 1936 Hudson 8 with a “special sports saloon” body (by Coachcraft). They made 204 of these over the 1935-’38 model years, and it seems that only four are known to have survived. In 1938, there were 48 examples known to exist; mine came to New Zealand new, but was burnt badly about 1950. And seven were rebuilt to original plans by the Steele Brothers of Christchurch. This car is also illustrated in John Dyson’s excellent book about Coachcraft. There is another, unrestored 1938 Coachcraft-built Hudson in England. I saw it about 10 years ago when Barry Kearle, a Railton Club member, owned it. There’s a…

Six-cylinder Packards get a bad rap. The thinking that “six-cylinder Packards were an excellent short-term fix that stuck around for far too long and killed the company” gets a lot of play these days, but the broad-brush, six-cylinder-as-scapegoat approach is neither fair nor right. Before a six-cylinder Packard was the answer to the company’s Depression-era sales woes, the company had a variety of successful model runs with inline-sixes under the hood—all of which led to greater sales success down the road. As far back as 1911, Packards used inline six-cylinder engines; their inherent harmonic balance was perfect for the smoothness demanded of a luxurious automobile. Starting in late 1920, the new 54-hp Single Six saw Packard competing in the emerging high-end owner-driver market, a step down from the imposing chauffeur-piloted…

Standing on the dock in New York in 1863, 18-year-old Thomas Buckland Jeffery appeared to be a nobody, just one of more than 176,000 people who immigrated to the U.S. that year. He left his native England in hopes of attaining a better life in America. From New York, he headed to Chicago, avoiding a flock of dockside recruiters looking for young men to join the Union Army; America was in the midst of its great civil war. Skilled as an instrument-maker, Tom Jeffery found work making telescopes and microscopes. Wages were good, and in time, he saved enough money to set up shop on his own, specializing in building patent models for inventors trying to patent their ideas. In his spare time, he produced his own inventions, including a…

Sport Sedan Your first look will tell you that this all-new 1949 Mercury is longer, lower, wider. Its broad-beamed sturdiness is artfully combined with fleetness of line. Inside you’ll find luxurious, durable upholstery … new colors and fabrics. Its broad seats accommodate six adults with legroom and headroom to spare. The graceful rear deck conceals a world of luggage space. Station Wagon Handsome, practical, and roomy — the all-new Mercury Station Wagon seats 8 in 3-2-3 order. Sturdy steel top and body, with superb wood paneling bonded with stronger-than-wood plastic resins. Two-door design adds to safety as a family car, yet leaves ample room for easy loading. Counterbalanced tail gate. Center and rear seats are removable to leave more than nine feet of cargo space with tail-gate down. Large luggage…

Dodge Brothers in Wisconsin THE DODGE BROTHERS CLUB HAS SCHEDULED ITS INTERNATIONAL MEET TO TAKE PLACE around Green Bay, Wisconsin, this June 17-22. The event will include tours around the Green Bay area, including the National Railroad Museum, The Automobile Gallery — which was established to highlight the automobile as art — The Wisconsin Maritime Museum, and the Wisconsin Automotive Museum. On the final day, there will be a tech session, swap meet, and car show. If you plan to bring your Dodge or Graham Brothers car, visit the Dodge Brothers Club at www.dodgebrothersclub.org/convention, where registration forms are available. Pre-1920 Racing Exhibitions THE SPORTSCAR VINTAGE RACING ASSOCIATION, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH HAGERTY and the Blain Motorsports Foundation, has announced a new exhibition series of races dedicated to cars built up to…

Ride in Style 800-423-5525 • WWW.CALCARCOVER.COM  • $36.99 “Thunderbird glamour” was the inspiration behind — and a key selling feature of — the newfor-1959 Ford Fairlane 500 Galaxie, which was available in six body styles, including this airy two-door hardtop Club Victoria. Charming period advertising makes appealing wall art, as proven by this officially licensed metal sign made by the Michigan firm, Retro-a-go-go! Studios. Generously sized at 19 x 12-inches, it’s made of sturdy 24-gauge steel, the image powder-coated and sealed for durability. This sign (item TINFORGA) comes pre-drilled and riveted, for ease of hanging, and it will look great in your den or garage. Deputy Rooty 203-877-6717 • WWW.OLDEMILFORDPRESS.COM  • $12 It takes more than a knack for rhyming simple words to make a proper storybook for children; a good children’s…

At the dawn of the automotive industry, when back-room inventors like the Duryeas, David Buick, and Henry Ford were simply trying to create “rigs that run,” interchangeability was a distant afterthought. Even at the beginning of volume production, such as it was before the moving assembly line, there was no considerable effort to make sure that the components from one automobile would easily attach to another automobile of the same type. It was simply a given that a certain amount of hand-fitting would be required to keep a car in service. It took a Vermonter, well versed in the “New England” school of manufacturing — in which parts were made to be interchangeable — to show the Midwesterners the next phase in the growth of their new industry. Henry Leland…

SPECIFICATIONS PRICE BASE PRICE Not sold to the public OPTIONS AS PROFILED* Rally-Pac, power brakes, console, AM radio ENGINE TYPE Ford OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads DISPLACEMENT 302 cubic inches BORE X STROKE 4.00 x 3.00 inches COMPRESSION RATIO N/A HORSEPOWER @ RPM N/A TORQUE @ RPM N/A VALVETRAIN N/A MAIN BEARINGS Five FUEL SYSTEM Three two-barrel Holley carburetors, aluminum intake manifold, mechanical pump LUBRICATION SYSTEM Full-pressure ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12-volt EXHAUST SYSTEM Dual head pipes, crossover pipe, mufflers, resonators, twin tailpipes TRANSMISSION DIFFERENTIAL TYPE 8-inch, hypoid GEAR RATIO N/A DRIVE AXLES Semi-floating STEERING TYPE Recirculating ball-and-nut RATIO N/A TURNING CIRCLE N/A BRAKES TYPE Four-wheel drum, power assist FRONT 10-inch drum REAR 10-inch drum CHASSIS & BODY CONSTRUCTION Unitized with a mostly fiberglass body BODY STYLE Two-door, coupe LAYOUT…

Autumn may be in full swing, but come the first weekend in November, collectors and dedicated enthusiasts alike make their way to South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island for the final concours of the season. It’s an event well-worth attending. Held on the scenic grounds of the Port Royal Golf Club, Sunday’s Concours is a vibrant affair with well over 200 collector cars of all years, makes, and models on display. To help make the show even more interesting, there’s a sizeable display of classic boats that allows spectators to view these fascinating vintage vessels up close. An appealing selection of vintage motorcycles and modern custom motorhomes adds to the fun, and in 2016, there was a special Volvo display that showcased many fine examples of restored models. Prior to the…

For nearly 60 years, U.S. Route 66 carried countless people, cargo, and dreams from the Midwest to the West Coast, its 2,448 miles of pavement meandering through towns and cities, big and small, connecting Chicago with Los Angeles. It traversed eight states mapped out across three time zones and connected the Great Lakes with the Pacific Ocean. Christened the “Mother Road” by John Steinbeck, U.S. Highway 66 captured American fascination almost from the time it officially opened in 1926. It’s a pretty safe statement to say that the automobile changed history, but without decent roads to drive it on, we wouldn’t have family vacations by car, long-haul freight, suburban commuting, or traveling salesmen. None of that would have been possible without road building keeping pace with automobile production. Car ownership…

THIS MONTH’S DETROIT UNDERDOG is a personal favorite. Aunt Flossie traded her 1967 Camaro for a beautiful 1974 Malibu Classic Landau Coupe in medium dark green metallic with a medium green vinyl half roof that matched the interior, with its swivel bucket seats and console. I spent a lot of hours in that car, and my mother, who always did the driving when they went on road trips, spent a lot of time behind the wheel and always proclaimed, “It drives like a dream.” Introduced in 1973, the GM Colonnades represented a new era in midsize family offerings. There were no more hardtops and convertibles. The sedans and coupes featured prominent B-pillars, with fixed quarter windows on the coupes. Door glass was frameless. The Colonnades proved very popular and often…

Tillie’s Tourer FORMER SIA EDITOR MICHAEL LAMM IS STILL RESEARCHING OLD CARS,THOUGH HIS latest quest is far more local to him: Stockton, California-based businesswoman Tillie Lewis’s stable of cars. He’s already determined that Lewis at one point owned one of the six 1941 Chrysler Newport parade phaetons, but it’s another open car of hers that has Michael writing to us. In the photo above, that’s Tillie in the front, her husband Meyer Lewis behind her, and an unidentified friend in the rear. We see a nice accessory spotlamp in the foreground along with what may be the biggest clue as to the car’s identity: woodgrain on the door. Presumably that makes Tillie’s car a Chrysler Town & Country convertible, and the various other details (vent window,…

Ford’s Mustang is a great-American success story.The right four-seat sporty personal car to attract young buyers in a newly expanding market segment, it was stylish and affordable, and it could be equipped for performance or economy. Part of the Mustang’s development was to explore diverse ideas—one being a two-seat version. Though the mid-engine Mustang I concept car was so equipped, it was also vastly different in build intent, design, and engineering from the production models. Ford had contemplated the viability of a two-seat production car as well, but the Mustang III was styled and completed outside its hallowed halls. According to Mustang historian Bob Fria’s research, Ford built 15 currently known pilot Mustangs at the Allen Park Pilot plant in the second half of the 1963 calendar year—VIN code “5”…

In 1957, Southern California native Paul Alexander purchased a complete, yet slightly aged 1931 Ford Model A Pickup for $645. The seller handed Paul — still in high school — the keys and title to the closed-cab hauler, as well as dealer paperwork, the latter of which was of little consequence to the young man. “He threw the paperwork away and fixed up the truck,” recalls Kevin, Paul’s son. And since the Fifties was the golden epoch of the hot-rod movement, the term “fixing up” had an alternative meaning, as Kevin explains. “Dad wanted a sleek look, so he removed the side-mount spare and covered the well, and then painted the body in red rust primer. The stock wheels were replaced with modern steelies, and he installed a drop axle…

CHRYSLER’S LUXURY CAR, THE IMPERIAL, IS AVAILABLE IN BOTH A TWO- AND FOUR-DOOR hardtop. The tasteful body styling is guarded by an extra-protection bumper system and a precision-cast grille that hides the headlamps. Each Imperial comes with a standard vinyl roof in your choice of six colors. Also standard are the four-barrel 440-cu.in. V-8 and TorqueFlite transmission with part-throttle kickdown. See the Imperial for yourself at a dealer near you; pricing starts at $7,313. FORD’S FULL-SIZE LINEUP IS DESIGNED AND engineered to give you quiet quality. The 16 Fords come in LTD Brougham, LTD, Galaxie 500, and Custom 500. The new front and rear bumper system complies with federal standards, providing you with added safety. Each Ford is equipped with a 351-cu.in. two-barrel V-8 engine, SelectShift transmission, power steering, power…