Sydney Allard made more than 500 of these P1 sedans using a Ford flathead V8 and a Ford chassis
1929 Tracta A roadster, one of two, finished first in class at Le Mans | Jim McCraw photos,
Back in 2005, Alain Cerf opened the doors of the Tampa Bay Automobile Museum to celebrate the engineering, design and innovation that went into some of the pioneering cars of the Twenties and Thirties from Europe and America.
Since that grand opening, the museum has grown, evolved, and acquired more and more exotic European machinery, almost six dozen cars in all, many with badges that most enthusiasts have never heard of. That’s what makes it so completely wonderful.
Alain Cerf, his sons, Olivier and Emmanuel, and daughter-in-law Susan, are all involved in the museum and in the family business, Polypack, an international packaging machinery company that shares the property with the museum.
With its sculpture garden, the TBAM building is as cool as the cars inside
They have a collection of historically significant vehicles that dates back to a working replica of the enormous wooden Cugnot Steam Wagon, the very first land vehicle to travel under its own power back in 1770, and goes forward to the 1980s with their newest car, the DeLorean DMC-12, innovative but unsuccessful, like some of the other machines in the collection.
In between, there are half a dozen Tatras from Czechoslovakia, a couple of Tractas, some Deutsch-Bonnets, a BSA that’s not a motorcycle, a Chenard et Walcker, a Derby, half a dozen Citroens, a teeny Hanomag, a pair of Hotchkiss Gregoires, a couple of Salmsons, a Stoewer Greife V-8 and a Voisin. Never heard of a Stoewer Greife V-8? Neither had we. A reminder that there used to be several hundred car companies, and that America did not invent the automobile.
American machinery includes the DeLorean, the world’s only 4-wheel-drive Mustang, a Ford Model A that runs on charcoal, a second-generation Chevrolet Corvair convertible, a couple of gorgeous Cords, a Milburn Electric, a Miller race car, a fabulous Ruxton and a stately Willys Knight.
Founder Alain Cerf, being a Frenchman by birth, has collected more exotic French brands than any other, each one demonstrating pioneering expertise in body, engine, suspension, transmission, lightweighting or aerodynamics. Many of these vehicles are without driveshafts, either front-engine, front-drive or rear-engine, rear-drive. Many others are made entirely of aluminum, showcasing a technology that didn’t become commonplace until the 21st Century.
The museum, in the Tampa suburb of Pinellas Park is, like the Louvre, closed on Tuesdays. You won’t find a better afternoon’s $8 entertainment value anywhere else in Florida.
From 1955, this lovely Salmson 2300 S coupe using a 4-speed Cotal electric automatic, was the end of the line
The French 1933 Derby is the only surviving V8, competed in the Monte Carlo Rally
This is the very first Ruxton ever produced in 1929, one of only 100 of these front-drive beauties ever built
Got lights? This 1967 Tatra 603 has six up front, goofy tailfins at the back
Delahaye 235 was the last of the breed, this one with a coupe body by Henri Chapron, and a 3.5-liter six-cylinder engine
This is a 1922 Citroen half-track vehicle that was used for major desert and jungle expeditions
This is the world’s only 4-wheel-drive Mustang, a prototype built in England by Ferguson that didn’t catch on
This cute little Detra roadster was built in Germany under license from Tatra using a backbone chassis and air-cooled engine
A 1951 Hotchkiss Gregoire sedan from France was rescued from Colorado and restored by the museum
One of nine Mathis VL333 prototypes built in 1946, it used a welded aluminum unibody with a 700 cc flat-twin engine
A Spanish gazogene system uses charcoal to run the engine in this 1929 Model A Ford, carrying its fuel on the roof
Aero 50 is its name, and it came from Czechoslovakia in 1937 with a two-liter four-cylinder two-stroke engine and front drive.
Charming 1947 Talbot Lago Record used a giant 4.5-liter DOHC six with two carburetors
Aluminum-bodied Jensen 541coupe prototype built for the Earls Court motor show
Stunning white Tatra T75 roadster from Czechoslovakia used a front-drive setup with a small boxer twin engine
A Deutsch-Bonnet (D-B) Le Mans coupe with fiberglass body weighs only 1500 pounds
A 1934 Stoewer Greif (griffon) from Germany has an aluminum V8 engine, the only surviving V8 on Earth
Aircraft designer Jacques Gerin built this unfinished Aerodyne prototype in 1925, long before the Stout Scarab and Fuller Dymaxion
This monster is the Cugnot steam wagon replica, the world’s first automobile, from 1770 France
The French Tracta E designed by Jean Gregoire is front-drive with a Continental six
This lovely sedan is an ultra-rare Chenard et Walcker T9T with front-wheel drive and four-wheel independent suspension
The stately 1929 L29 Cord, front-wheel-drive with a Lycoming inline eight
Cute, cartoonish prototype Claveau from 1956 uses a DKW three-cylinder two-stroke engine, never got past the Paris show
BSA of motorcycle fame also made this cute front-drive Scout roadster with a 1.2-liter four
A 1933 Adler Trumpf from Germany featured a Paul Jaray body design and eagle on grille by Walter Gropius
Sydney Allard made more than 500 of these P1 sedans using a Ford flathead V8 and a Ford chassis
The NSU Ro80 was the first production car to use a two-rotor Wankel rotary engine and a semi-auto transmission
With body by Paulin, Peugeot Darl’Mat 302 roadster is one of 103 and raced at Le Mans in 1937 and ’38
Voisin C7 limousine from 1927 carried three trunks, powered by a tiny 1.6-liter four, wins Best Radiator Cap
Franco-German Amilcar built this Compound with a cast- aluminum body and a roll-back fabric top
Panhard Dynamic from1936 was Art Deco personified, and the largest unibody car of its time
Jim McCraw has been writing about cars, motorcycles, design, technology, car people and racing for 50 years, in such publications as Hot Rod Deluxe, Super Chevy, Muscle Mustangs, Road & Track, Car and Driver, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, Penthouse, Winding Road, The Mercedes-Benz Star, AutoWeek, The New York Times, and a number of European publications. He was executive editor of Motor Trend, editor of Hot Rod and Super Stock. He co-holds the record for the drive from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, 96:22, and has run in major events such as the Mille Miglia Storica in Italy, Goodwood, the California Mille, the Colorado Grand, the New England 1000, Forza Mille, and four One Lap Of America competitions He owns a pristine Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan.
