Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2021 i Hemmings Classic Car

IF YOU HANG AROUND ENOUGH car folk, you are bound to hear quite often, “I’ve never seen one of those in person.” I know I’ve said it even about cars I have forced you to ponder in this column. However, this month’s feature car I have not only seen in person, but also, a high school friend’s family had one. I remember it well. It was yellow with a black roof. I recall the first time I saw it. The 1973 Plymouth Cricket belonged to the host family of our AFS exchange student for the 1979-’80 school year, when I was a junior. Her name was Caroline, and she was from Austria. She is now a professor and author. Two years ago, we celebrated 40 years of friendship in her…

If you’ve traveled through New York’s Catskills region during the past two summers, you may have spotted an imposing Full Classic wafting down the road —an imperious vertical grille fronting some 16 feet of burgundy-leather-lined cream-yellow sheetmetal, trailing genuine old-Hollywood glamour in its wake. It’s an incredibly rare sight, a Dietrich-bodied long-wheelbase Packard Convertible Sedan, and thanks to the careful restoration of its engine, interior, and top, this special car is enjoying a new lease on life. The firewall data plate reveals the origin of this Twelfth Series Model 1205 — it was the 11th 144-inch-wheelbase Super Eight Convertible Sedan built for 1935, delivered to its original owner that August in Newburgh, New York — but the car reveals nothing of its life before Allan and Pat Kehrley came to…

One of the hottest and most creative categories in the automotive aftermarket is Restomod. Update the drivetrain components of a classic factory ride to make it as rowdy as it is reliable, then tuck modern suspension up under it to handle all that new power, top it off with a great wheel-and-tire combination and slick paint scheme and you got yourself a restomod that’ll handle the street and track with ease, or just look great standing still – which probably won’t be often! After all, a restomod is designed to run the wheels off and have fun doing it. At Fesler USA, we’re restomod fanatics. And we know every stage of the restomod build, no matter the make or model. But one of the elements of any build that’s most…

THE YEAR WAS 1968, AND I WAS returning home to South Bend, Indiana, after my freshman year at Wake Forest University. I needed a summer job and it just happened that my father worked for the Wheelabrator Corporation in Mishawaka. He suggested that I apply for a job there. I did just that, and soon realized that this was not going to be a typical summer job. For one thing, I needed to become a member of the UAW, which I did. I was assigned to work on the second shift at the Balcrank division. I had never heard of Balcrank, but I soon became familiar with its products. Balcrank, from Cincinnati, Ohio, was then a recent acquisition by Wheelabrator. Balcrank produced auto lube equipment for service stations, and Wheelabrator…

CAR ............................................1950 Studebaker Commander Regal Deluxe AUCTIONEER ......................................................................... Mecum Auctions LOCATION ........................................................................... Kissimmee, Florida DATE....................................................................................... January 13, 2021 LOT NUMBER.............................................................................................W173 AVERAGE SELLING PRICE .....................................................................$14,500 SELLING PRICE........................................................................................$9,350 STUDEBAKER’S SECOND POSTWAR DESIGN, NEW FOR 1950, INCLUDED THE FAMOUS AND distinctive “bullet-nose” front end and rear fenders that housed vertical tail lamps. The Commander was Studebaker’s offering above the Champion line, and the Regal Deluxe was the middle option between the Deluxe and Land Cruiser. The Commander rode on a longer wheelbase than the Champion and featured bright chrome and trim that didn’t take up the entire width of the front, standing out from many of the other cars of that era. This Commander had undergone one repaint of its Shenandoah Green exterior. It was fitted with a rare front aluminum visor, and…

The Blackberry Chrysler OUT IN THE SECTION OF SOUTHERN OREGON AND NORTHERN CALIFORNIA THEY call the State of Jefferson, the blackberry bushes grow easy, fast, and thick with fruit of a size and taste unequaled anywhere else in the country. And yet, landowners hate the bushes with a passion for how difficult they are to remove and how they swallow everything in their vicinity. Custom cars, for example, and the history that goes along with them. Carl Judy took in this particular custom on trade many years ago, after a previous owner had freed it from a thicket of blackberries. “It appears to be more than an amateur build,” is all Carl can tell us about it. Indeed, it’s difficult to find many of the seams one would expect on…

MY COMMENTS ARE REGARDING the February 2021 article on the 1964 Pontiac Catalina (“The Wink,” HCC #197). I grew up in Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, about a block away from this car. I remember seeing it parked behind their home on Wyoming Avenue. The car was always in nice condition. I was a few years younger than Joe [original owner Joseph Shedlawski], but remember talking with him once as I commented on the Pontiac. Even then I recognized that car as special to that family. Mention was made of Lou Boch of Boch’s Auto Body, also in Forty Fort. His shop was small and set up behind his home on Murray Street. I lived just up the street and got to know Lou when my Saxony yellow 1968 Mercury Cougar XR-7…

“I love Indy Pace Cars, and the 1970 Oldsmobile is striking,” Brenda Kalivianakis says. Her affection for the rare Rockets that served at the Brickyard runs in the family. Her dad bought a 1974 Delta 88 Royale 500 “Festival” car (HCC, September 2016) back in 1979 and cherished it for more than two decades. Brenda, an attorney from Fountain Hills, Arizona, and a divisional staff officer in the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, inherited her father’s special Olds in 2000 and still treasures it. She found this 310-hp 350-powered Cutlass Supreme convertible Pace Car/Festival car for sale online in 2015. The Y74 option for the Pace Car replicas included the W25 dual-intake fiberglass hood with low-restriction air cleaner, Super Stock II wheels painted body color, Pace Car decals, stripes, black…

One day, years ago, we were in George and Kathleen’s garage, and she’d thrown a plastic sheet over the open Packard. At that time, their garage roof had a leak. That piece of plastic was bellowed down in a big bowl over the front and back seats, and it was full of water. We thought about saying something, but decided to keep quiet since it was none of our business… we never thought we’d someday own the car! She had a new roof put on the garage, and thank goodness that plastic never leaked! Someone must have come along and dumped out the water, because the interior wasn’t hurt a bit.…

Luxury and beauty often, but not always, go hand in hand. Just because a thing is expensive and of high quality does not necessarily mean it will also be pleasing to behold. Automobiles are no exception, and in the earliest days of the industry, style was often something of an afterthought. The years of the General Motors Art & Colour Section, 1927 to 1937, were a period of transition for GM products where form became integrated with function in a way never witnessed before in the industry. This is not to besmirch the attractiveness of General Motors interiors before 1927, but the arrival of Harley Earl to head General Motors new Art & Colour Section that year heralded the start of a revolution in integrating quality with aesthetics at the…

IT’S HUMAN NATURE TO FIND COMFORT IN FAMILIARITY, WHETHER that’s in food, clothing choices, vacation spots, or collector vehicles. When it comes to the latter, there’s a lot to be said for owning something like a Mustang or MGB —automobiles easily maintained due to their mechanical simplicity and widespread parts availability — but there’s likewise enjoyment to be had in trying something different, standing apart from the crowd. It’s a big old-car world out there! “Just as we at Hemmings Classic Car take a ‘big tent’ approach to embracing car collectors of all stripes, Hemmings Auctions frequently offers alternatives to those known quantities,” explains Auctions Editor Terry Shea. “For example, this past month we sold a 1928 Chevrolet National AB Sports Roadster, the perfect analog to a Ford Model A…

Boca Raton Concours Rescheduled THE ORGANIZERS OF THE BOCA RATON CONCOURS D’ELEGANCE HAVE CANCELED the 2021 show due to COVID-19 concerns and have announced that the next show will take place February 25-27, 2022. “We look forward to our continued support of a spectacular three-day Boca Raton Concours d’ Elegance weekend in 2022,” says Rita Case, CEO of The Rick Case Automotive Group. The event was founded and directed by the Rick Case Family and The Rick Case Automotive Group in 2007 to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County and the more than 12,000 at-risk young people it serves. To date, the event has raised more than $11 million for the charity. The 2022 show’s Marque of the Year will highlight prewar Chrysler and Imperial coachbuilt cars.…

Skylark Stuff YEAR ONE MUSCLE CAR PARTS • 800-932-7663 • YEARONE.COM  • $109.93 Old-car owners know that age and heat can affect the plastic parts in the engine bay, and the radiator hold-down plates used in 1970-’72 Buick Skylarks were no exception. GM’s plastic plates would tend to warp and crack after years of use, but reproductions are now available for three- and four-core radiators. The plates incorporate fan shroud attachment points, and the pieces are said to be more durable overall than the factory parts from five decades ago. Each plate requires reuse of the metal and rubber insulators on the sides, or you must order new ones if they require replacement. The hold-down plate is listed under p/n 93126NR. Lincoln Seals STEELE RUBBER PRODUCTS 800-447-0849 • STEELERUBBER.COM $215.99/PAIR Front door vent…

Mrs. Bertha “Tiny” (Linsenmeyer) Lutfy of Phoenix, Arizona, was the youngest of eight. Her family owned a number of properties around downtown Phoenix, including the sites of the town’s first Kmart and Circle K stores, and owned a couple of markets that bore her maiden name. Tiny may have lived up (or down) to her nickname physically, but by all reports she was a formidable woman of many talents: She was a world-class champion trap and skeet shooter, from the days when pigeons were not made of clay, and traveled extensively throughout the U.S., Mexico, and Europe on the competition-marksmanship circuit. Later, she would pursue oil painting with the same vigor. During the late 1950s, in the days when Mercedes was still flirting with Studebaker, she bought a new Mercedes…

In his anthem for the era, Scott McKenzie’s 1967 song advised anyone going to San Francisco to “wear some flowers in your hair.” Chrysler did that one better and wore the flowers on the roofs of its cars. Mopar’s “Mod Top” option, offered on a number of 1969 and ’70 Dodge and Plymouth models, was a bold and curious effort to market vehicles directly to women, using the popular flower motifs that had been co-opted from the counterculture movement into a mainstream fashion statement. Offered in three color schemes, the floral print design was incorporated on the vinyl top and matching upholstery inserts, on the seats and door panels. Advertisements touted the “Pop Print” designs, but Barracuda and Satellite models were labeled “Mod Top” on quarter window decals (Barracuda) and…

Attempting to return a decades-old automobile to showroom condition is a quest filled with many challenges, chief among them finding new — or like-new — examples of those parts and pieces unique to that particular model. We’re fortunate today to have the support of a vast network of outfits dedicated to providing those very specific bits long ago abandoned by the original manufacturers. But how did that tapestry of specialty providers come to be, and how did they get to develop such levels of expertise in long-obsolete goods? For Doug Pollock, it began with a desire to fill an order. Back in the mid-1970s, Doug was a young man with a college degree in economics and an unclear path forward. He and a friend decided to open an automotive repair…

Houston Highlights MECUM’S HOUSTON, TEXAS, AUCTION, HELD DECEMBER 3-5, HAULED IN $14.7 MILLION WITH AN 83-percent sell-through rate. More than $3 million of the sales were American cars, reaching as far back as 1909. One of the top lots from this group was a stately 1963 Lincoln Continental convertible that changed hands for $106,700. The car’s ground-up restoration took place in 2019 and included a rebuilt suspension, brakes, new leather interior, and more. The triple-black, four-door convertible showed 79,388 miles on the odometer and was powered by a 320-hp V-8 engine with an automatic transmission. A 1954 Buick Roadmaster convertible, finished in Lido Green with an ivory/tan interior, also sold in Houston and netted $62,700. It was powered by a Buick “nailhead” V-8 engine topped with a Rochester four-barrel carburetor…