Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i Hemmings Classic Car

“In the second race she crossed the finish line with a winning speed of 49.31 mph, which set a record for the category she competed in.” WHILE IN California for the 73rd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, we attended a seminar titled “Packard: America’s Premier Marque at 125—Past, Present & Future,” the panel of which included a friend of mine. Conveying Packard’s legacy in short form is a monumental undertaking, but the panel masterfully imparted the company’s contributions to early motoring, performance, and luxury. The seminar reminded me of when I photographed and rode in a 1905 Packard Model N Runabout in 2009. While doing research for that story (HCC, February 2010), I found a tantalizing paragraph from the Cape May Herald that detailed how Mrs. C.C. Fitler entered her 1905…

WE HAD HEARD OF A legendary stash of Porsche 911s hidden in a warehouse in the West, but it was only a rumor, and we didn’t have a lot of hope that it was true. Then, through a series of fortuitous events, we found that the rumors were not only true, but the truth was much more than we could have asked for. Hidden in plain sight in a small Wyoming town is a stunning collection of original, rare, and outlaw Porsches surrounded by a hoard of parts. After we tracked him down, owner John Small invited us to look inside. We were not disappointed. All the Porsches aren’t in one place, they are spread around the area in three different buildings. The rarest and most expensive cars are protected…

“Dairy products were loaded, then covered with ice to keep cool. Not surprisingly, the melting ice caused trucks to rust from the inside out.” ASK PEOPLE ABOUT Divco and a percentage remember that it was a manufacturer of unique-looking door-to-door delivery trucks—what the industry today calls “last mile” vehicles. Ask what DIVCO itself stands for, and most admit they don’t know. For the record, it’s Detroit Industrial Vehicles Company. When I was a kid, in the era when fresh milk was delivered to your door by a uniformed driver, we had a neighbor one street over who was a milkman. Like most milkmen, he drove a Divco truck, the preferred vehicle for dairy deliveries in my area. John Kay (Mr. Kay to us kids) was a tall, happy man, father…

Thumbing through some old issues of Hemmings Motor News, we can get a snapshot of the automotive industry, as well as the collector car hobby at any moment in time. Customization and kit cars were a popular trend during the 1970s. In the May 1977 issue, a pair of interesting Cadillacs were advertised in “The Bible” that had me wondering where these converted Caddies could be today. First up was an advertisement for Evel Knievel’s Cadillac Pickup Truck available for sale in the January edition. Avid watchers of ABC’s “Wide World of Sports” may remember this truck, customized by Gene Winfield. It was a 1974 Coupe de Ville with a similar grille pattern to the 1976 model year with the “Flying Lady” mascot perched above. The pickup box was not…

1.JEEP TRICK BORGESON UNIVERSAL 860-482-8283 Bring your Jeep’s steering performance back to the way it was when it left the factory with these new power steering pumps. These pumps are remanufactured from premium cores and are restored to better-than-new condition, with tolerances that are said to exceed OEM specifications. They are hand assembled and tested with a ¾-inch press-fit pulley shaft. In addition, the pumps and housings are black powder coated for a slick and smooth finish and each includes a new OEM-style cap assembly. Specifications include a 2.7-3.5 gpm flow rate and 1,200-1,350-psi pump pressure. Ask about p/n 800324 (’72-’74); 800325 (’75-’83) and 800326 (’83-’90) for more details. $183.39 BORGESON.COM 2.AMC POWER STEERING BOX CLASSIC INDUSTRIES 800-854-1280 Replace your AMC’s weak or nonfunctional steering gearbox with one of these…

“My perception that technology is becoming outrageously complex is not just the illusion of a crabby old man. Consider this: The Model A Ford did not have a fuel pump.” THE ONE THING missing from today’s technology is “simplicity.” As a kid I had a choice of seven television channels, but now I can watch 700 if I can only find what I am looking for. Back in the day, television was free too, but now there are 100 streaming services that take tiny bites from my credit card each month. It is like being eaten alive by piranha. As for today’s cars, I concede that they’re faster, safer, more economical, and require less maintenance than those of the golden age, but they are also infinitely more complex, and horribly…

I GREW UP in Fort Worth, Texas, and developed a love of cars and an interest in working on them while I was in high school. However, I couldn’t afford a car then, and thus didn’t buy one until halfway through my freshman year of college at The University of Texas at Austin. That day came while home during Christmas break, when I bought a 1972 Datsun 240Z from a junkyard. The car ran well, except for a slipping clutch. I found out why it was at a junkyard in the first place as soon as I got it home. Having proudly parked the car out front, I brought my family out to see it… and it wouldn’t start. It turned out the battery had fallen into the wheelwell thanks…

There’s no mistaking a ’57 Chevy. For the fans of the fixed-roof versions, the Bel Air Sport Coupe sits on top. The seller boasted of lots of originality, including the 283-cu.in. V-8. Its dealerinstalled Power Pack option included a four-barrel carburetor, revised cylinder heads, and dual exhaust. This Bel Air was equipped with a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. The paint on the engine looked fairly new in the photos. The seller presented the odometer reading of under 19,200 miles as accurate. In a world of countless red ’57 Chevys, this Dusk Pearl 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Sport Coupe stood out and achieved a selling price right at the high end of the recent market range. Reserve: $60,000 Selling Price: $64,050 Recent Market Range: $46,000-$64,000 1940 FORD DELUXE Plenty of ’40…

SPONSORED BY GULLWING MOTOR CARS Its cars haven’t sold in substantial numbers in the United States, but Lancia, one of the automotive world’s genuine historic curios, has had a well-earned reputation for artisanship and technological daring from its earliest years. It’s always had a pronounced motorsport bent, given the fact that founder Vincenzo Lancia was a Fiat works racing driver before striking out on his own. Advanced engineering has been part of Lancia’s core since its very beginnings in 1906. The Lancia Theta of 1913 was Europe’s first car to feature a standard, integrated electrical system. It was followed, eventually, by the Lancia Lambda, which debuted in 1922 and is still saluted as one of history’s most influential automotive designs. The Lambda incorporated a pioneering monocoque chassis design and an…

SMASH-UP DERBY ASKING PRICE: $35 - $100 (ONLINE) FOUND AT: 2024 CARLISLE EVENTS’ SPRING CARLISLE (CARLISLE, PENNSYLVANIA) ‘‘HOW DID I NOT KNOW this existed when I was a kid?!” Those were the first excited words uttered when my eyes fell upon Smash-Up Derby in a vendor’s booth at Carlisle Event’s 2024 Spring Swap Meet in late April. Associate Editor David Conwill rushed over, as if I had found a bucket of freshly mined gold nuggets, while my mind raced back to the night my parents brought my brother and me to the local circle track to experience our first demolition derby. Hours of metal-crunching entertainment captivated us. So much, in fact, that the next day we commandeered Dad’s Stanley hammer and recreated the spectacle in 1:64 scale. I’m not sure…

America’s leading volume divisions were not supposed to offer luxury models. There were corporate siblings whose job it was to provide discerning buyers the smoothest rides in plush accommodations with effortlessly powerful engines. Yet at General Motors—for one—all the luxury expectations of a Buick, or even a Cadillac, could have been obtained in a Chevrolet Caprice, such as this 1971 four-door hardtop.…

EMAIL YOUR THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS TO: mlitwin@hemmings.com BARRY KLUCZYK’S RECENT look at the Canadian auto industry in the August issue was wonderful, especially how Barry explained the styling combinations on the same car that sometimes appear a bit odd to us Yanks. See the 1985 Mary Steenburgen movie One Magic Christmas for a good look at a late-1950s “Plodge.” I also liked that HCC featured the Mustang II in the September issue. If there’s one car that doesn’t get much love (at least up to now), this is it. Author Jim Donnelly also noted the car’s history and key differences from the Pinto. I would like to point out a slight understandable error in the September issue, however, relating to the 1919 Kissel 6-45 Speedster at the Arizona Concours. Kissels…

TORINO DISC BRAKE SWAP Q: I would like to upgrade my 1970 Torino GT to disc-brakes from the current drum-brake setup. Could you tell me which spindles from Fords in that era would replace my current spindles? I would also need the caliper brackets. Any help would be appreciated. JIM SWARTZENDRUBER CLEVELAND, OHIO A: If you are sourcing used spindles, you can use 1970-’71 disc-brake spindles from a Torino, Fairlane, Ranchero, Montego, Cougar, Comet, Cyclone, or Mustang. Similar spindles from 1968-’69 used smaller-diameter wheel bearings. The caliper mounting brackets (and calipers) were used on all mid-sized Fords and Mercurys from 1968-’71 and on 1968-’73 Cougars and Mustangs. If you are looking for new spindles, Total Control Products offers a 1968-’71 Torino disc brake spindle (#SPND-01) that will fit this application and…