Editor’s note: Get more news from the 2018 SEMA Show in Las Vegas by checking out our dedicated page.
The annual SEMA Show may have ended two weeks ago, but news about awards is still being announced: Friday, Mothers car care products revealed that a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS won the Mothers Shine Award.
The award — which is along the lines of a best in show prize — is given by an independent panel of judges that assesses a car’s overall appearance, fit, finish, attention to detail, vision, concept execution and the use of both stock and custom elements. That’s a tall task considering the incredible vehicles on display at SEMA.
Hundreds of vehicles were considered this year, but the ’67 Camaro — nicknamed Nickelback — took the prize.
The fit and finish of the winning Camaro is exquisite. | Mothers photo
Built by Superior Auto Works in Frederica, Delaware, the car was originally purchased by Chris Allen, who used it as a daily driver in high school for two years. Allen and his father then began a frame-off restoration, but at that point they parked the car in their garage for 12 years until they called Eddie Denkenberger II at Superior Auto Works to transform the vehicle into a true show car.
“The attention to detail is evident in this six-and-a-half-year build with flush-mounted trim throughout, custom CNC-machined grille, floating turn signals, and a lengthened hood with custom ports, shortened valence and radiused corners,” a news release read.
Even by SEMA standards, this engine is exceptionally clean. | Mothers photo
“The trim is hand made, and Eddie sprayed the custom-mix PPG paint, a two-tone sandstone gold and lava rock with harvest gold pinstripe, to match the interior. The Generation II small-block GM 355CI V8 is topped with a Magnuson TVS2300 supercharger, and the wheels are custom five-piece EVODs. The amount of chrome plating is staggering, requiring three separate companies to complete the work, including Advanced Plating, Paul’s Chrome and Ogden Chrome.”
Editor’s note: November is Import Month on the ClassicCars.com Journal. Get all the news you could ever need about Italian, German, English, French, Japanese and lots of other cars at our dedicated page.
Jay Leno owns more cars than we could ever collectively hope to buy in our lifetimes, but there’s one car that started his hobby. That is theJaguar XK120.
Leno recalled the story that surrounds his love affair with the XK120 on a new episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. According to the comedian and car guru, when he was 9 years old, he spotted an XK120 while riding his bicycle. After watching the owner polish the car for about 10 minutes, the man asked if Leno wanted to sit in the car. Star-struck, Leno said yes.
The avid car collector never forgot that car, and when he had begun earning money in the 1980s, he purchased the car seen in the video. It was the first of many more cars Leno would give a home to in his collection. But this car holds a special place in his heart.
Jaguar built the XK120 from 1948 to 1954. The XK120 was quite a wild thing when it debuted in 1948, as it offered amazing performance for the day. The British sports car pre-dates theFord ThunderbirdandChevrolet Corvette, which made it truly exotic.
The XK120 gets its name from the fact it could go 120 mph with its 3.4-liter inline-6 engine that provides 160 horsepower worth of gusto. Leno sad he’s actually pulled the original 3.4-liter engine in favor of a larger 3.8-liter engine from another Jaguar model. He also swapped the original transmission for a 5-speed manual.
The engine sounded glorious as Leno cruised around in the video. Otherwise, the car as Leno showed it is entirely stock.
As for the XK120 Leno saw as a child, the owner still has it. He even invited Leno to come see the car again, which has sat parked in a garage since the 1970s.
Why work like crazy to make your cars as light as possible and then head to a track day wearing a bulky racing safety suit? That’s what McLaren Automotive and Sparco wanted to overcome with the development of the Sparco McLaren SP16+.
Even in size 52, the suit weighs just 1.3 pounds, yet is FIA certified.
Technically, the suit isn’t new. McLaren’s Formula One racers have been wearing it since 2016. However, the suit now can be ordered by McLaren Automotive customers.
“Weight optimization has defined McLaren cars for more than half a century,” the supercar manufacturer said in its announcement. “Equally, for the past 40 years, it has been the guiding passion for Sparco – a company synonymous with motorsport safety and style. In a unique partnership, these two pioneering companies have joined forces to combine their innovative, weight-saving technologies to create the lightest race suit in the world.”
McLaren racing shoes are $296 a pair
The suits are hand-made to order in Italy. Each suit requires 12 hours of labor, the companies added.
“McLaren Automotive is known for its continuous pursuit of light weighting technology.,” the announcement continued. “Following that thread, a must-have item for McLaren fans, racers and track-day drivers alike, the Sparco McLaren SP16+ is a race suit designed like no other. With the whole suit weighing at least 10 per cent less than any other, the Sparco McLaren SP16+ is the lightest race suit yet approved by the FIA.”
Suits can be customized with color and such options as a phone pocket.
Each suit is priced at £2,344 ($2,995), plus tax, without bespoke options.
Also available are a McLaren Bell HP7 helmet, McLaren RB-8 racing shoes, RG-7 racing gloves and other McLaren Track Wear items.
Editor’s note: November is Import Month on the ClassicCars.com Journal. Get all the news you could ever need about Italian, German, English, French, Japanese and lots of other cars at our dedicated page.
Sidney Allard was a British gentleman racer, specializing in drag racing, hillclimbs and speed trials. He founded his own Allard car company just after World War II to produce lightweight track and road cars powered by brawny American V8s, beating Carroll Shelby to the Anglo-American formula – both Shelby and Corvette’s famed chief engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov raced Allards in the 1950s.
After building raw-boned, cycle-fendered J-series roadsters, Allard developed the K-series cars with enveloping sports car bodies, powered by Cadillac, Dodge or Ford V8 engines.
The Allard’s body was formed from lightweight aluminum
The Pick of the Day is a 1953 Allard K3 “all-weather” convertible fitted with a 351cid Cadillac V8 and updated with a Hydramatic 4-speed automatic transmission and front disc brakes.
The K3 was Allard’s effort to present a more-refined model with mainstream styling, but it was not well-accepted despite its blistering acceleration, most likely because of its lofty $5,300 price tag, and was offered only from 1952-53.
As a result, the K3 is rare in today’s collector car market, but highly regarded for the subtle design of its light-alloy body, engine power, comfort and handling. Rather than being presented as a two-seater, the K3 was offered with three-across seating on its modified bench seat.
The Cadillac 351 V8 should provide breathtaking acceleration
This K3 looks to be in exceptionally nice condition, according to the Monterey, California, dealer advertising the car on ClassicCars.com.
“The current owner purchased the car in 1988 before setting out for a long-term restoration in the 1990s,” The seller states. “The car was completed in 2014 and the mileage set to zero at time of restoration. (Approx. 2,800 miles on the restoration.)
“The paint and body work performed was to a high quality, but body panel fit isn’t perfect, and neither were they from the factory. Interior is excellent. Dash is trimmed in period fashion, correct Smiths gauges with the exception of an updated volt gauge.”
The interior looks to be in excellent condition
After seeing the exceptional display of more than a dozen Allards at the Hilton Head Island concours weekend in South Carolina, I’ve been obsessed with these wonderful cars. While the K3 with its automatic transmission is more of a grand tourer, this would be a great entry for long-distance rallies and a fine getaway car for weekend road trips.
The rare Allard K3 commands a strong price tag in this lovely and drivable condition, with the dealer asking $175,500. Where else could you find such a spectacular American V8-powered British roadster this side of a Shelby Cobra?
To view this listing on ClassicCars.com, see Pick of the Day.
“Duesenberg – Celebrating an American Classic” is the title of a new 20-car exhibition that has opened at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan. The museum believes it to be the largest and most prestigious public museum showing in decades of Duesenberg Motor Cars.
The exhibit runs until fall 2019.
“This all-new exhibit is the result of guest curators and Duesenberg experts Matt Short and Mark Iles scouring private collections nationwide in pursuit of the rarest and most intriguing examples from race cars to the Model J,” the museum said as it unveiled the exhibition.
“Duesenbergs became the choice of not those simply rich, but of the ultra-wealthy,” it continued. “The marque became a status symbol for Hollywood elite, monarchs and captains of industry alike. The list of owners included “A List” movie stars of the 1920s and ’30s: Greta Garbo, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Mae West and Tom Mix.
Duesenberg Model A racer on display
“The Duke of Windsor and the kings of Italy and Spain owned Duesenbergs, as well as industrialists Howard Hughes and William Randolph Hearst. The Wrigley family of chewing gum fame and Ethel Mars of the Mars Candy empire were also included among owners.”
“The Model J was the biggest, fastest and most expensive American car during the 1920s and ’30s,” Short is quoted in the museum’s news release. “In many cases the accolades heaped on some cars are often hyperbole. However, in the case of Duesenberg, they are true.”
Record-setting ‘Mormon Meteor’ also is part of the Gilmore showcase of Duesenbergs
Among the Duesies on display are a couple with notorious histories, including a 1930 J-143 roadster convertible coupe first owned by Al Capone’s partner in crime, Jake “The Barber” Factor, and a 1931 supercharged J-345.
The J-345 was known, the museum notes, “as a Disappearing Top Convertible Coupe, whose name could have foreshadowed the fate of its disappearing mobster owners.
“The New York underworld boss who purchased the car new was killed the day after he bought it. It then went to a Philadelphia bootlegger who was soon shot down in Atlantic City. It then went to Owney ‘The Killer’ Madden, owner of Harlem’s infamous Cotton Club, who was soon after picked up on a parole violation.
“The vehicle passed through the hands of these notorious figures all within its first year then went on to less notable owners before being offered for sale in a December 1953 Motor Trend magazine classified ad for the now-unbelievable selling price of just $1,750.”
Unbelievable especially when you consider that in August, a 1935 Duesenberg SSJ roadster sold at Gooding & Company for $22 million, the most ever paid for an American car at auction.
The Duesenberg family moved from Germany to a farm in Iowa in the late 1880s. Brothers Fred and Augie built and raced bicycles and after the turn of the century began producing gasoline engines for the Mason Motor Car Company, and for a succession of winning race cars.
During World War I, they built airplane engines and then licensed their design, which was used by nearly a dozen automakers.
The brothers moved to Indianapolis and produced their first car, a Duesenberg Model A.
AACA Museum features ‘Land Yachts’
1959 Buick Electra 225 convertible is part of AACA Museum exhibit | Museum photo
Opening Saturday, November 17, are two new exhibits at the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania.
“Land Yachts: Postwar American Luxury Convertibles” features full-size American convertibles built through 1976, when Cadillac produced what was believed at the time to be the last American convertible.
Meanwhile, through January 6, 2019, the museum also hosts an exhibit of Dodge Brothers vehicles curated by the Mid-Atlantic Region of the Dodge Brothers Club.
Petersen showcases ‘Legends of LA’
A stock car and off-road Bronco built by Bill Stroppe and a Don Edmunds’ sprint car are among the Southern California-built race cars in a special exhibit at the Petersen museum | Museum photo
“Legends of Los Angeles” is the title of a new exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA, where a dozen locally built race cars are on display. The exhibit includes a variety of cars, from short-track oval racers and dragsters to off-road, Indy and land-speed machines.
The exhibit also features LA-area race tracks, including the El Mirage dry lake.
“From the early years of auto racing to today, Los Angeles has played a key role in the development and growth of motorsports in North America,” the museum’s executive director Terry Karges said. “Our new exhibit honors the region’s rich history through some of the finest examples of race car engineering and design, telling a comprehensive story about the legends that helped establish Los Angeles as the diverse racing destination that it is today.”
The exhibit runs through December 1, 2019.
Modern muscle at the ACD
2005 Ford GT on display at ACD Museum | Museum photo
A trio of contemporary supercars have joined the classics on display at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum in northeast Indiana, where a 2004 Ford GT prototype, a 2005 Ford GT and a 2018 Ford GT are on loan and displayed under the theme of “revolutionary engineering marvels.”
‘Babs’ joins ‘Chitty Chitty’ display at Beaulieu
John Godfrey Parry-Thomas in the ‘Babs’ at the Pendine Sands | Museum photos
County Louis Zborowski’s “Babs,” the land speed record-breaking car that inspired Ian Fleming to write Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, has joined the exhibit, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 50 Years” at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu, England.
Built as a 1923 Highham Special, the car officially was known as Chitty Bang Bang IV, the fourth of Zborowski’s speed-record cars. The Count died in 1924 and the car was sold to John Godfrey Parry-Thomas, who renamed it “Babs,” boosted its output to 500 horsepower by installing new pistons in its American Liberty V12 aircraft engine, and also upped the land speed record by 20 mph, to 171.
When Malcolm Campbell raised the record, Parry-Thomas made another speed-record attempt but died in the process. His wrecked car was buried at Pendine Sands and remained there for more than 40 years until being excavated and restored in 1969.
Babs has been restored
And joins the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang exhibit
Corvette museum gets its C7 back
Candy and Don Duncan are donating this 2014 C7 back to the National Corvette Museum after winning a 2019 model in another raffle | Museum photo
On June 21, Don and Candy Duncan got a phone call from the National Corvette Museum.
“Do you know why I might be calling you?” the voice from the museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, inquired.
“Probably the same reason you called me about four years ago,” Don responded.
The call in June was made to inform Don Duncan that the ticket he’d purchased in the museum’s raffle of a 2019 Corvette Grand Sport convertible had won the car. What the museum staff had forgotten was that he’d also won one of two special 2014 Corvette coupes that were given away during the museum’s 20th anniversary celebration.
Back in 2014, the Duncans were in Bowling Green on their way back home to Texas after his Vietnam helicopter pilot association reunion. They visited the Corvette museum and bought their ticket.
The couple was back at the museum this week to take delivery of their 2019 car, and while they were there they donated their 2014 back to the museum for its collection, making it the museum’s first seventh-generation model.
Special events this weekend
The Newport Car Museum in Rhode Island will show Bullitt at 7 p.m. on November 14 and plans a “Hoods Up” weekend November 17-18.
On November 16, the AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, hosts an “exhibits Preview Party” from 5:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. offering the first look at its new fall/winter exhibits: “Land Yachts: post WWII Luxury Convertibles” and “Dodge Brothers Display: Mid-Atlanta Dodge Brothers Club.” The museum also will be decked out with its “Cars & Christmas” displays.
The NASCAR Hall of Fame museum in Charlotte, North Carolina, opens its outdoor ice-skating rink on November 16. The rink remains open through January 6, 2019.
The AACA Library in Hershey, Pennsylvania, has converted its 16mm film collection to digital format and will share six of them during a series starting November 17 with the showing of The Films of Jam Handy at 1 p.m. Handy was an Olympic swimmer who became a film producer and did instruction and training movies for General Motors from the 1930s through the ’50s.
Other titles to be shown are Ab Jenkins, Salt King on December 15; several car-based comedies on January 12; early AACA meets on February 16; the Gildden Tour history on March 23; and Shell Oil’s History of Motor Racing Part I & II on April 13.
The REVS Institute in Naples, Florida, hosts “A Special Evening with David Hobbs and Andrew Marriott” on November 16 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. featuring their book, Hobbo — Motor Racer, Motor Mouth: The Autobiography of David Hobbs.
The National Corvette Museum’s NCM Motorsports Park in Bowling Green, Kentucky, offers an introduction to high-performance driving on November 17.
Mark your calendar
The annual library sale at the Gilmore Car Museum in Hickory Corners, Michigan, is scheduled from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on November 23 and from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. on November 24.
The AACA Museum in Hershey, Pennsylvania, stages its Polar Express pajama party from 6 to 9 p.m. on November 30.
America On Wheels’ 11th annual Moonlight Memories gala in Allentown, Pennsylvania, is scheduled for December 1 from 6 until 10 p.m.
Engines roar when the Antique Caterpillar Club visits the California Ag Museum in Woodland, California, from noon until 3 p.m. on December 1.
The National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has opened registration of its Museum In Motion trip to the 24 hours of Le Mans race in 2019. The dates are June 6-17, 2019, and the trip includes four nights in London and three nights in Paris.
Does your local car museum have special events or exhibitions planned? Let us know. Email [email protected].
A 1915 Ford Model T abandoned by evacuees as the Camp Fire tore through Paradise, California somehow survived the blaze, despite everything around it burning.
Ron Westbrook, 74, told The New York Times he was at the hospital for a checkup following open-heart surgery last Thursday when he heard the fire was bearing down on the town.
He and his wife, Bonnie, returned home but only had time to grab a few changes of clothing before evacuating. The couple made the decision to leave their collectible cars behind, including the Model T that had already been loaded on a trailer.
“I thought, ‘You know what, it’s stupid to risk a life for a Model T when there’s so many people trying to evacuate,’” he told the newspaper.
The couple would later watch their home burn down on CNN. They thought the fire had taken everything, including the Model T.
Somehow, the vintage vehicle survived. Photos taken by Times photographer Eric Thayer showed the car was still sitting on the trailer, ready to be transported away. It was still attached to the Westbrooks’ pickup truck, which also made it through.
The Model T appeared to sustain only some minor paint damage. Even the for-sale sign on the back – “Runs Very Well,” it reads – survived.
It seems illogical, as the Camp Fire has burned hot enough to melt cars, including a 1941 Plymouth that was parked in the Westbrooks’ garage. Another blaze, the Woolsey Fire, has destroyed entire collections near Malibu.
But for Westbrook, the Model T surviving the fire is low on his priority list. Paradise was essentially burned off the map and, as of this publication, at least 56 people have died – it is the deadliest fire in California history – and dozens are still missing.
“We’re trying to be as brave as we can,” Westbrook, a retired Costco worker who has been staying with his sister since the fire, told the Times. “When you start talking about it, it’s hard to talk about. We start choking up.”
“Henrietta” has quite an interesting history. The 1926 Rolls-Royce 20hp Tourer bodied by Hooper will be offered for sale November 28 at H&H Classics auction at Buxton in the UK.
The car was nicknamed by Henry Stonor, a British expat and founding member of the Vintage Car Club of Malaya. Stonor raced the Rolls in many events, which she survived, only to encounter collisions with a rubber tree and on a road through the rubber plantation.
Before being nicknamed, the car was ordered new from the Clyde Automobile Company of Glasgow, Scotland, by Chung Thye Phin, a tin miner and rubber planter considered the richest man in Penang, a state in the country now known as Malaysia.
Chasis GCK32 not only had up-rated heavy-duty suspension but a four-door, dual-cowl Tourer body by coachbuilder Hooper of London. It was carried across the oceans aboard by the SS Benalden and became the property of Thye Phin’s nephew, Choon Kee Lam.
This Hooper-bodied 1926 Rolls-Royce Tourer last went to auction in 1969
The car reportedly was loaned to the Duke of Gloucester when he visited in the late 1920s, and was used by Japanese and by British forces during World War II (losing its side screens in the process).
After the war it was acquired by Stonor, who returned — with the car — to the UK late in 1951 and had the Rolls-Royce factory overhaul the engine before he and Henrietta returned to Malay aboard the SS Ulysses.
Stonor drove the car to second place, behind a Bentley Speed Six, at the Malacca Speed Trials in 1953, to second again, behind an Alvis Silver Eagle, at the Sungei Way Sprint in mid-1952, and then won, beating a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost and Jaguar SS100, among others, the 320-mile Rally fo Malay, contested largely on unpaved roads.
Henrietta (right) racing on narrow, unpaved roads
After all that, Henrietta needed some repairs — she was repainted several times while in Malaya — and resumed racing in 1955. She also appeared in a documentary movie about Malaysian palm oiland carried Prince Richard of Gloucester during his visit to Malaya in 1963.
She raced again in 1967, finishing third in a support event for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and then was to Eric Lister, a Manchester-based art dealer and friend of Stonor’s. Lister soon sold the car to J.A. Pearce, a race car engineer and car dealer, who consigned it to an auction in 1969. The car didn’t sell there, but a month later was sold and became part of the Sharpe Family Collection, the largest motorcar collection in England for many years.
The car was stored away for decades
H&H reports that that Stonor regretted selling Henrietta and spent decades trying to track her down. However, she was hidden away in the family collection in England until being purchased in 2012 by the Real Car Company, which sold her to Alan Giles, whose son is consigning the car to the H&H sale.
Alan Giles worked for several decades in Malaya, where he knew Stonor and Henrietta. Giles had hoped to drive Henrietta, and installed a new exhaust system and other parts, but health problems and age led to the car heading to auction.
The management team of Coker Group has purchased the company from its founding family, the company announced Thursday. Irving Place Capital, a private equity firm based in New York City, provided support for the management team purchase.
From a local tire shop, Coker Tire grew under Harold Coker and his son, Corky, into the leading provider of new tires for classic vehicles. Corky Coker and his children will retain ownership of the Honest Charley Speed Shop and Chestnut Properties, but the sale includes Coker Tire, Wheel Vintiques, Universal Vintage Tire, Phoenix Race Tires, and the Specialty Wheel and Roadster Wire Wheel brands.
Wade Kawasaki has run Coker Tire for five years and also is SEMA chairman | Larry Edsall photo
“We intend to accelerate growth with our partners at Irving Place Capital as we expand into newer models and markets while continuing to serve the traditional restoration market that has been our home for six decades,” said Wade Kawasaki, who has been Coker president and chief operating officer for five years, moving up when Corky Coker officially retired in 2014.
Kawasaki also serves as chairman of SEMA, the Speciality Equipment Market Association, the trade group for the automotive aftermarket product industry.
At the recent SEMA Show, in addition to introducing its newest tires for vintage vehicles, Coker Group announced that it had taken an ownership stake in a company that sells classic car tires in Europe.
“After my retirement in 2014, the Coker Group flourished under the leadership of Wade and his team,” Corky Coker was quoted in the company’s announcement. “Coker Group has been and will continue to be committed to our core vintage customer and I have full confidence that this next step will be terrific for the company and the employees.
“The collector car market is evolving, and with the current surge in interest in 1970s, 1980s and even 90s vehicles, no one is better suited to expand the company strategically than Wade, who has always had a deep appreciation for these vehicles.”
“Coker Group will continue to provide our customers with the same best-in-class products, great customer service that they know to expect and we look forward to creating more jobs, offering more products and continuing the Coker Group legacy together,” Kawasaki added.
Hard on the heels of the annual SEMA Show comes a Pick of the Day that’s SEMA-worthy. It’s a 1952 Ford F3 being advertised on ClassicCars.com by its private owner, who notes in that ad that the truck won the F100 Super Nationals in Nashville, Tennessee.
According to the ad, the seller purchased the car from the family of its original owner, who bought it new with the largest engine available and on “a full-ton chassis.” The truck was an F3 with the Five Star option package which included extra padding in the seat, dual trumpet horns, extra chrome on the hood, a headliner, dual wipers, dome light, etc.
The seller notes that the truck was purchased with the big engine and sturdy chassis “to run moonshine” in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama. After such service, the truck was retired to a barn for 29 years, “where I finally talked my friend and prior owner to sell it to me.”
“My promise to him was I would put the truck back to its original glory days,” the seller says. “As an engineer, I got carried away.”
A nut-and-bolt dismantlement took place, and was thoroughly documented, the seller reports.
After the work began, the restoration was put on hold for a decade, but the engine was manually cranked every month and then re-started when reinstalled in the truck.
A dozen years after the project began, the truck went to the body shop, Randy’s, which the seller notes is well-known in the South for its work on Corvettes.
The restoration was completed in March 2016, sadly not until its original owner was claimed by cancer.
The completed truck was unveiled at the F100 Super Nationals, where it won best in class and truck of the year honors.
“The judges had only positive feedback when they worked their way around,” the seller reports. “Comments such as a perfect paint job not even any orange peel, no ripples in the planes, perfect image of a 1952 Ford F3 truck, interior was correct and spotless, engine and compartment was done correctly all the way down to the P610 original DLC (Deluxe Champion tires by Firestone) touching the ground. I even kept the original three piece rimes.
“One of the judges spotted the bracket with the correct Ford part number holding the tail light and said he has never seen one before.”
The truck also won best in class in a return visit to the Super Nationals and now is for sale by a seller who notes, “I am getting old.”
The truck is located in St. Joseph, Tennessee, and is offered for $69,900.
Cars were streaming into the upper level of the South Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center when I visited the site of the Mecum Auction on Wednesday afternoon. The first of them crosses the block around 10 a.m. Thursday. By late afternoon/early evening Saturday, some 1,000 collector vehicles will have paraded across the auction block in front of bidders.
Although the auction company has been staging motorcycle sales at the South Point hotel and casino for years, and handled the sale of a private museum’s car collection a few years ago, this is only its second annual collector car sale in the city that puts New York to shame when it comes to never sleeping.
As has become typical for Mecum these days, the main attractions are cars from major collections and modern supercars, though there’s a shift in the docket for Las Vegas. Instead of an array of contemporary muscle machines, there is simply one spectacular one — the 2012 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sports 16.4 that in 2011 was showcased on the company’s stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show.
The car wears a bright and brilliant shade of red, has been driven 6,060 miles since it rolled off the show stand at Frankfurt and — get this — recently underwent a full service that cost a mere $150,000. And to think you quibbled about the cost of your last oil change and tire rotation.
Regarding the private collections, there are six on the docket, but two of them are overwhelming in both numbers and scope. The estate of the late Ardell Brown is offering more than 130 of the cars he collected, and the Academy of Art University of San Francisco is revamping its collection into a public museum and offering 52 predominantly pre-war classics at the auction.
My assignment Wednesday was to walk among the array of cars in South Hall and select at least half a dozen that I’d want for my own collection.
Actually, I could have easily just selected six of the Academy of Art cars and been thrilled, but that’s not the point of this exercise, and it would belie the scope of the auction docket. So I’ve tried to span the cars on offer, while selecting those that appeal most to me, for whatever quirky reason.
1940 LaSalle Special Series convertible coupe
There are more expensive cars in the Academy of Art University Collection, but this 1940 LaSalle convertible kept drawing me back for another look, and then another. The color is Champagne Gold Metallic, with Burgundy leather interior and red wheels. The car is 1 of 425 produced in 1940, and its pre-sale estimated value is $70,000 to $90,000. Not expensive, but I cannot imagine being anything but proud to be seen driving it anywhere anytime.
1935 Pierce-Arrow Model 1245 Silver Arrow
The Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow was one of the world’s first concept cars, a dream machine showcased at the Chicago World’s Fair (aka Columbia Exposition or Century of Progress Exposition) in 1933. From 1934-36, Pierce-Arrow produced Silver Arrow production cars with some of the concept-vehicle styling cues, including the high-mounted but narrow rear windows. This 1935 example, part of the Academy of Art collection, has won awards at concours and a first prize from the Classic Car Club of America.
1934 Pierce-Arrow Jenkins 12 replica
I’m no fan of replica or tribute cars, but I’d make an exception for this one from the Ardell Brown collection. It’s a replica of the record-breaking Ab Jenkins V12 Special that ran at Bonneville. It was completed in 2003 and was driven at 117 mph on the Salt Flats. Jenkins drove the original, covering a record 2,710 miles in 24 hours at an average speed of 112.96 mph and went back to Utah with the same car with an aerodynamic boat-tail body and set a land speed record of 127.229. His son, Marvin, who was crew chief on the Bonneville effort in the 1930s, helped build this replica.
1970 Checker Marathon cab
Forget Uber and Lyft. Opt instead for your own Checker taxi. Especially this one from the Ardell Brown estate collection. Though its pre-sale estimated value is only $10,000 to $15,000, this is no ordinary Checker cab. It has such performance upgrades and updates as a 350cid Chevrolet V8 with Edelbrock intake and 4-barrel carburetor, 9-inch Ford rear end, power steering and brakes, and aluminum wheels.
1956 Pontiac Safari station wagon
Chevy had its Nomad but Pontiac had its own 2-door wagon, the Safari. This one is done in two-tone Teal and Blue paint with matching interior and wide whitewall tires with full wheel covers, a stunning airplane on its hood, 317cid Strato-Streak V8 and vacuum-assisted brakes. Pre-sale estimate is $50,000 to $60,000.
1953 Packard convertible
Another Brown collection car, this fender-skirted 1953 Packard convertible has a power top, 327cid straight-8 engine, automatic transmission, Esa-A-Matic power brakes and, in Carolina Cream, looks like an ideal boulevard cruiser. I think I could follow that beautiful sculpted cormorant hood ornament pretty much anywhere.
1949 Oldsmobile Futuramic 98 convertible
Yet another car from the Brown collection, this 1949 Olds was among the first equipped with the new Rocket V8 engine and thus was one of Detroit’s first muscle cars. This one is equipped with an Elvis Presley souvenir steering-wheel knob.
1957 GMC pickup
The 4×4 pickup has been owned by the same California family since the truck was brand new. At some point, the family restored and upgraded the truck with a 350cid Chevrolet V8, 700R4 automatic transmission, air conditioning, power steering, custom exhaust, modern audio system, and a transfer case and automatic locking hubs from a Jeep Wrangler.
1958 Morris Minor 1/4-ton pickup
I like pickup trucks and this one is a cutie, and wouldn’t take up a lot of space in the garage. It’s a 1958 Morris Minor that has undergone a complete restoration, and given a little performance boost with a 1,275cc engine from an Austin-Healey Sprite equipped with a pair of SU carburetors. The color is Dove Gray, the interior is Newton commercial heat-pressed Cherokee vinyl, and the canvas cover for the bed is British made. Pre-sale estimated price is $20,000 to $25,000.
1985 Chrysler LeBaron convertible
You’ve heard that it’s better to ask forgiveness rather than permission. I think that’s the case with this 1985 Chrysler LeBaron. I know. I know. It’s just a tarted-up K Car. But this one is gorgeous, even with its faux wood paneling, and has factory air, power windows and a power top.
1955 Chris-Craft 18-foot Cobra hull
Speaking of wood, this vehicle has real wood, and would be a wonderful way to redeem myself from that ’85 LeBaron. This is a 1955 Chris-Craft 18-foot Cobra hull with trailer. And a gorgeous tail fin. And its original Hercules KBL 131-horsepower 6-cylinder engine. Back in 1955, it was the parade boat for the Tahoe Boat Company and was named “Gemalu,” though it’s now known as “Woody Cobra 001.”
