Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2020 i Hemmings Classic Car

E-R-I-E JOHN MARGOLIES SPENT DECADES CRISSCROSSING THE COUNTRY WITH CAMERA in hand, documenting the disappearing roadside signs and other ephemera that caught his eye. That included this sign for Erie Foreign Car Parts on Mohawk Street outside of Whitesboro, New York, which John photographed in 1987. The photo’s now in the Library of Congress’s collection, but unfortunately John didn’t include much context with the image. And while Google Street View shows that the scrapyard is still there and still has a similar sign, the cars have been changed out over the last 30-plus years. So your task is to identify the four cars used in the sign. Whaddaya see here? Corbitt Found CORBITT OUT OF HENDERSON, NORTH Carolina, might be best known for its trucks, but it built a handful…

HE WAS A BIG MAN WHO LIKED TO smoke big cigars. Like Lee Iaccoca, Roy Abernethy came from sales. Also like Iaccoca, he was trained as an engineer — taking night classes, at the age of 20, at the Carnegie Institute of Technology while working as an apprentice mechanic at a Packard dealer. That dealer was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 45 miles south of his hometown of West Monterey, where he was born, November 29, 1906. Before long, Abernethy had moved from the grease pits to the showroom floor, and had worked at three more Packard outlets before obtaining his own. There, in Hartford, Connecticut, he recorded sales of $1,000,000 in a single year. His credentials as a salesman well established, Abernethy was brought into Packard’s corporate offices in Detroit and,…

The story starts with Ed Quillin, a successful farmer from Jasper, Missouri. Born in 1879, Quillin and his wife pulled up stakes in 1915 to move to Phoenix, Arizona. A doctor had diagnosed Mrs. Quillin with tuberculosis, and in those days, it was a popular prescription to simply move to a drier climate, in the hopes that the arid desert air would have some effect. So the Quillins, along with their two school-age daughters, pulled up stakes and headed out to the desert. But it did no good: Mrs. Quillin soon succumbed to her illness. Ed Quillin initially worked at a dairy farm on 40th Street and McDowell, near what is now the Loop 202, mere minutes north of where Sky Harbor Airport stands today. In 1916, he became conductor…

We’ve all heard it said, many times before, that being prepared is the key to high-quality paintwork, but so, too, is the preparation required before beginning a restoration. Prior to starting on the disassembly of any car, truck, or motorcycle, you first need to get your workspace in order. From tools to supplies, a well-equipped and well-organized workshop is as important as the work itself. When undertaking such a monumental project, be it a ground-up or body-off restoration, or even a straightforward bare-metal respray, specific tools and supplies will be needed as the process proceeds. You never want to run out of DA discs or paint reducer when they’re needed most. Besides the obvious, such as having the right amount of primer, paint, and reducer on hand, there are many…

Dashing Dash Pads AL KNOCH INTERIORS • 800 - 880 - 8080 • WWW.ALKNOCHINTERIORS.COM  • CONTACT FOR PRICING Al Knoch Interiors has been handling professional interior restoration for GM cars over four decades. Each dash pad has the correct original haircell grain and skin, while featuring exact density foam. Each is said to be 100-percent original and manufactured with original GM tooling. Available for a variety of models. It also offers restoration of dash pads among its specialties. With your original core dash pad (metal or ABS substrate), the company will make your dash look like it did the day your car entered the dealership. Visit the company’s website for pricing and detailed information. Re-creation Grilles UNITED PACIFIC INDUSTRIES • 866 - 327- 5288 WWW.UPAUTO.COM  • $299.95 Stainless steel grille inserts for 1932…

In the history of the automobile industry, not many six-wheeled automobiles have been produced, but Pullman built one. It was that sort of company. To be completely accurate, the entity that initially built Pullman automobiles was known officially as The York Motor Car Company, and it was situated in York, Pennsylvania. The company produced some really interesting cars from 1906 to 1917. They started out strong, but a change in management brought disaster. It’s a case history showing how important good leadership is. It all began with local businessman Albert Broomell, born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1847. His father owned a machine shop that built agricultural equipment, and as a youngster, Albert went to work in the shop. Sometime afterwards, he worked in a watch factory, and by age…

Nostalgia is a powerful force to be reckoned with. Vintage vehicle enthusiasts know this all too well; it’s the most common variable that drives us to own a particular vehicle. It’s frequently a moment from our single-digit youth recaptured for a multitude of reasons. We do our best to articulate the instant the spark was ignited, and ultimately spend a portion of our lifetime nurturing that flash in our memory. Those who suffer the same fate nod with understanding. Guys like Bob Green, who has harbored more than one automotive spark from his days of yore. For this Pennsylvania native still calling the Keystone State home, one such tale originates from his youth, when Bob’s father owned a 1956 Chrysler New Yorker four-door. As Bob explained, “It was finished in…

AS A YOUNG MAN, I WAS FORTUNATE enough to be accepted as an engineering student by General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan. My sponsoring GM Division was to be AC Spark Plug, at its facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At this time, 1952, AC Spark Plug occupied the former Ford Model T assembly building referenced in Hemmings Classic Car issue #182. The structure was very similar in appearance to the one shown in that article for Winnipeg. The long dimension of the Milwaukee building faced East overlooking Prospect Avenue, a major thoroughfare. However, the employees entered and exited the building on the north side, and consequently the building was given a cross-street address, 1920 East Kenilworth Avenue. The building was the property of the U.S. Air Force and provided approximately 450,000…

Museums Partner Up THE AUBURN CORD DUESENBERG AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM AND THE NATIONAL AUTO & Truck Museum are venturing out on joint endeavors in an effort to increase growth and promote interest in the hobby. Both museums will soon launch a campus ticket that will be good for two consecutive days. An individual ticket will cost $20, and a family pass will be $50. This phase of dual promotion will begin in the fall. The two museums, located in Auburn, Indiana, plan to launch other programs in the future with an eye on enhancing the visitors’ experience. Visit www.automobilemuseum.org and www.natmus.org for more information. Model Y at the ACD AN EXTREMELY RARE 1927 DUESENBERG Model Y prototype will be viewable during a two-year loan at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in…

Auburn Labor Day RM SOTHEBY’S CELEBRATED 49 YEARS OF AUCTIONS IN AUBURN, INDIANA, THIS PAST LABOR DAY, with total sales of over $16.6 million and an impressive 90 percent of lots changing hands; in total, more than 600 cars went under the hammer. One of the more interesting cars that sold was this unrestored 1918 Harroun Model A-1 Touring. Designed by Ray Harroun, the first winner of the Indianapolis 500, the car featured an overhead valve four-cylinder engine with a three-speed manual transmission. It was one of 326 built for 1918, but is thought to be one of only two remaining, and it sold for $33,000. A pair of L-179 Lincoln coupes needing work also went home with new owners: the 1929 sold for $11,500, and a 1930 model for…

Airborne Avantis 727- 656 - 2868 • WWW.AOAI.ORG/SHOP  • $29.95 The Avanti was a game-changer for Studebaker, a new grand touring model that electrified the public with its avant-garde style and performance potential. Company executives wanted to maintain the buzz that surrounded this flagship model’s 1962 unveiling, but faced big challenges in the form of an extremely small number of show-quality prototypes and the desire to display those cars to the dealer network spread across the US. Studebaker’s solution was as ingenious as it was unusual, we learn in Studebaker Avanti Operation Airlift—May 1962. This new, 92-page softcover, written by Avanti historian John Hull, details how company president Sherwood Egbert, a World War II Marine Corps air transport engineering officer veteran, conceived and coordinated the military-style “Operation Airlift” that saw two…

IN 1986, I WAS IN THE MARKET FOR my first new car, and the inaugural Hyundai dealership in Newport News, Virginia, opened its first location in the old Center Ford dealership owned by Aunt Fran and Uncle Martin, where my parents bought their 1973 Ford LTD. This was also the dealership where my mother took me to see the all-new 1975 Granadas, and I fell in love with one of my favorite Fords. I was hoping we were trading our 1972 Comet for a Green Ghia coupe, but such was not the case, and the Comet lingered on until 1985. I was leery of buying a Hyundai, not because I didn’t like it after I test drove one, but because I wasn’t sure if they were a fly-by-night company or…

During the previous 183 issues of this storied magazine, we’ve profiled more than 150 restorations performed on a wide array of vintage vehicles. Whether the subject matter was a compact 1931 American Bantam or the vastness of a 1927 Seagrave fire truck, a rare 1928 Gardner Sport roadster or a more commonplace 1968 Buick Riviera, novice owners and professional restores alike have shared the experience of preserving a portion of our automotive past. As we conveyed their stories, we’ve been able to shine the spotlight on a variety of tips that could help save time and ease the budget burden. Many have provided helpful organizing guidelines that could keep your project on track. And on several occasions, we’ve taken a closer look at a recommended array of tools — designed…

Much of Chevrolet’s success stemmed from low pricing, sound engineering, contemporary styling, and a product line that included choices to suit varied customer requirements and desires. For the 1951 model year, offerings included the Fleetline four-and two-door sedans and the Styleline four- and two-door sedans, sport coupe, business coupe, convertible, Bel Air hardtop, station wagon, and sedan delivery. If those weren’t enough, there were also the Special and upscale De Luxe trim levels that could be selected for the body styles within those lines. Several could be had with either one. De Luxe equipment enriched the exterior with stainless steel rear fender shields (instead of the Special’s black rubber), wheel opening skirts (not on our feature car), and bright moldings for the front fenders (with “DE LUXE” callouts), doors, quarter…

Johnny Lightning, a die-cast car brand commemorating 50 years in 2019, may have started as a perceived Hot Wheels copycat, but, in later years, would blow the market wide open for nostalgic subjects rendered in die-cast. The brand, launched by Topper Toys (a division of Deluxe Reading of Elizabeth, New Jersey), started in 1969, surely a response to Hot Wheels’ feverish reception in 1968. The models themselves were largely based on popular production cars at the time — Camaro, Charger, Mustang, Toronado, and the like, with wild nose and tail treatments. Bodies and chassis were die-cast metal. JLs were widely looked upon as aping Mattel’s ultra-successful Hot Wheels models, with their piano-wire axles, bushed wheels, and emphasis on speed instead of outright detail. (Early JL models also sported opening features…

I HAD JUST FINISHED MY JUNIOR year at Texas Tech University and was ready to drive home to New Jersey to see my girlfriend and family. My trusty 1953 Mercury two-door hardtop just had its flathead engine rebuilt by Bill Mills, an old dirt track racer who terrorized the tracks of West Texas with his Ford flathead. This was not a stock rebuild, mind you, but a full-race flathead with a CT Automotive stroker kit, dual Offenhauser intake manifold and finned aluminum cylinder heads, a Melling Machine full-race camshaft, and a Mallory dual-point distributor. Flathead parts were really cheap back then because nobody wanted parts for an obsolete engine, but I had always loved the look of a fully dressed engine. My Mercury had been purchased in 1960 for my…

CAR: 1935 Packard Twelve convertible sedan by Rollston AUCTIONEER: RM Sotheby’s LOCATION: Auburn, Indiana DATE: August 29, 2019 LOT: 2142 RESERVE: None AVERAGE SELLING PRICE: N/A SELLING PRICE: $160,000 THE TWELVE IS CONSIDERED TO BE ONE of the finest automobiles built by Packard. The sedan’s long, flowing hood conceals a refined, smooth, and powerful 473-cu.in. powerplant developing 175 horsepower. The one-off body built by Rollston cost $7,500 when new, which equates to about $140,000 today. This car was built for Augustus Schell Hutchins, the son of Waldo Hutchins, who was a member of New York’s Central Park Board of Commissioners. The family owned it until 1959, and it was later fully restored in 1967. The CCCA Full Classic received a recent repaint and was shown at the 2018 Concours d’Elegance…

It’s 1959. You’re a corporate executive or professional with a comfortable income and a taste for the finer things in life, and you want a new four-door sedan. America’s automotive market includes a wide range of six-passenger four-doors offering eye-catching style, stretch-out room, V-8 torque, and the casual driving ease of a soft suspension and fully automatic transmission. While you likely could stretch to purchase a premium-priced Cadillac, Imperial, or Lincoln, you could readily park a top-of-the-line Mercury, Oldsmobile, or Buick in your drive. All those companies build fine cars, but you’d prefer something altogether different — you want your next automobile to express tasteful restraint in its size and styling, to exhibit up-to-date engineering, and offer refined performance that connects you to the road, rather than isolating you from…

The Seventh Series Packards went on sale in August 1929. That autumn, the stock market crashed, setting in motion the worst economic crisis of the 20th century. Come Monday, June 16, 1930, a day that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average fall yet again, to its lowest point since the start of the year, this stunningly beautiful Packard was delivered to its new owner in New Haven, Connecticut. We can only wonder what this Packard’s first owner may have felt about these developments and whether it affected the decision to purchase a car at all. As a Standard Eight, this 7-33 phaeton was among the more affordable offerings from Packard for the 1930 model year. In fact, Packard’s advertising touted the value of a Standard Eight over time, comparing its…

Those who prefer to perform most of their own restoration work know how satisfying it is to complete a project with ease by employing suitable tools. Conversely, they’ve also likely experienced the horrors that can arise when forced to make due with lesser ones. Enthusiasts undertaking on-car projects for the first time, however, often learn the hard way. Accordingly, this article features a few basic and specialty tools to help first-timers avoid energy-draining, time-consuming pitfalls, but it will also present additional time-saving tools that experienced shade-tree mechanics may find interesting. Anything that can help streamline tasks and reduce stress in the garage is worth discussing. In the photos are tools we’ve collected and used over the years, so a few may not look new, be the latest and greatest versions,…

Its name is Marlin, not Charger or Mustang, and it made no real pretentions about being a muscle car. It was more in the spirit of a working man’s Thunderbird — respectable, but not excessive, amounts of power, and some styling pizzazz to everything inside and out. It was a car to lend some glamour to the otherwise mundane task of daily driving. In reality, the Marlin was aimed at the solidly middle-class, solidly industrial folk who vacationed in Florida in the 1950s and ’60s, when it was a place of palm trees, pink flamingos, sport fishing, and Mom and Pop motels. Folks who could appreciate the value of the Rambler brand, but perhaps not its stogy reputation. With only 18,000 examples made over a three-year production run, Marlins are…

From the book, The Cars That Hudson Built, by John A. Conde, published in December 1980 by Arnold-Porter Publishing Company. One of the most unusual Anglo-American automotive ventures began during the depths of the economic depression, when Hudson engineers in Detroit installed an eight-cylinder Hudson engine in an Essex-Terraplane chassis. It was in late spring of 1933. The special chassis was shipped to England, then a big export market for Hudson-built automobiles. A request for the chassis had been directed to C.B. Thomas, managing director of Hudson Motors Limited in England by Captain (later Sir) Noel Macklin, the celebrated builder of the Invicta motorcar at Fairmile Engineering at Cobham since 1925. Production of the Invicta had just been transferred to Chelsea, and he and his associates were looking for another…

THE HENRY J IS NOW AVAILABLE TO THE MASSES.THE COMPACT AND ECONOMICAL CAR was created by Kaiser-Frazer and comes in a Standard edition, powered by an inline-four, and a Deluxe edition with an inline-six. The new thrifty car can provide up to 30 mpg, plus ample room for five people. Should you need more cargo space, the rear seat can be folded down for a total of 51 cubic feet of space. Each engine is supplied by the dependable Willys-Overland company, making this a reliable car for everyone! The Henry J starts at $1,363. FACTORY PRICES Buick ........................$2,046-$3,977 Cadillac .....................$2,810-$5,405 Chevrolet...................$1,460-$2,191 Chrysler.....................$2,368-$4,465 De Soto.....................$2,215-$3,566 Dodge .......................$1,757-$2,855 Ford..........................$1,324-$2,110 Lincoln .....................$2,505-$3,891 Mercury .....................$1,947-$2,530 Nash .........................$1,710-$2,321 Oldsmobile.................$1,815-$2,644 Packard .....................$2,302-$3,662 Plymouth...................$1,537-$2,222 Pontiac......................$1,824-$2,629 Studebaker.................$1,471-$2,034 CHAMPIONS Indy 500 .......................Lee Wallard (126.246 mph) Formula One....... Juan Manuel…