Anyone who trailers a precious classic car or vintage racer has to face the ultimate, and sometimes humiliating, moment of truth: backing up into a tight space.

Let’s see. Steer right to go left… steer left to go right … Wait. Which way am I pointing?

Yes, it can be hard to negotiate in reverse with a car in tow, especially when the trailer is so big that you can’t see behind you. That’s when you enlist your spouse to go around back and guide you. This is a risky approach for any marriage. Although it can provide your buddies with a good laugh. Jackknife much?

Ford introduces a new piece of technology for the 2016 F-150 pickup truck that could eliminate much of the fear, and humiliation, of backing up with a trailer. Called Pro Trailer Backup Assist, the electronic wonder actually takes over the steering of the truck while the driver guides the backup proceedings via a dial on the dashboard.

The automaker is introducing the trailer system to its dealers and the media with hands-on demonstrations of how it works. I had the opportunity to try it out in the cordoned off parking lot of a Phoenix resort, where I was amazed at my skill at backing into a narrow slot defined by cones. With Backup Assist on, that is. With the system off, not so much.

The big pickup was hooked up with a midsize travel trailer so that rear vision was zero aside from the side mirrors. The parking slot was off to the side so that you had to make a 90-degree maneuver to slide the trailer in place. Sort of what you’d face when backing into a space to unload your car at a show or race track. Or lining up your boat trailer to go down a ramp into the lake.

Here’s how it works. Pro Trailer Backup Assist operates with a camera on the pickup’s tailgate that monitors the position of the trailer hitch. You place a special sticker on the trailer tongue, and then input some measurements of the trailer and its hitch that remain stored in the system.

When you are ready to reverse, turn on Backup Assist by pushing in the dial and letting go of the steering wheel. The dial is weighted to center so that the truck and trailer will go backward in a precise straight line, unlike the jiggling corrections with most humans in control.

Now comes the fun part. Watching your mirrors or looking over your shoulder, begin backing and steering by turning the dial right to make the trailer go right or left to go left. Let it go to straighten out. The steering wheel spins ghost-like as it reacts to the dial input. You are still in control, but the electronics do the calculating.

It is quite easy, and more intuitive than awkwardly turning the steering wheel in the opposite direction yourself to guide an uncooperative trailer. The truck’s electronic power-steering system, rather than hydraulic, allows the backup system to work. The system works only with conventional trailers, not goosenecks or fifth wheels that attach within the truck’s bed.

The F-150 has another trick that makes it easier to accomplish the dreaded hitch linkup when hooking the trailer to your truck. What usually takes a half dozen back-and-forth moves, and lots of hollering from your spotter, becomes a simple task of looking at the video-screen backup-camera display, where a dotted line shows you where to guide your truck hitch in relation to the trailer hitch.

The Pro Trailer Backup Assist system comes with the optional trailer package on most 2016 F-150 pickups, which will appear in showrooms this fall. It can also be had as a standalone option for base-model F-150 work trucks. Hitch Assist is already available on the 2015 trucks.

Cars from the Harold Coker collection going to Hershey sale | RM Sotheby’s photos by Darin Schnabel

RM Sotheby’s has announced that nearly three dozen cars coming out of the collections of two prominent classic car enthusiasts will be offered for bidding at the auction house’s annual Hershey sale, scheduled for October 8-9 in conjunction with the AACA Eastern Division Fall Meet.

“It is quickly becoming tradition for RM to offer incredibly interesting private collections at Hershey” Gord Duff, RM Sotheby’s car specialist was quoted in a news release. “Similar to the fascinating A-to-Z Collection at our 2014 event, both the Roy and Coker collections represent very special groups of highly sought-after early automobiles, assembled by two men for whom the AACA represented a lifelong community.”

Inside Richard Roy’s collection, which includes an airplane

Those men were Richard Roy and Harold Coker.

Roy attended the AACA’s annual gathering in Hershey, Pennsylvania, for nearly four decades. He lived in Branchville, New Jersey, and his collection focused on cars with ties to Sussex County, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and especially, as RM Sotheby’s put it, “cars of particular originality or peculiarity.”

Roy purchased his first car in 1949, when he was 17 years old, and that 1929 Chrysler Series 75 roadster, nicknamed “Blossom,” is among the 25 cars from the Richard Roy Estate Collection being offered at the Hershey sale.

“While he drove and showed his earliest acquisitions at club events, after the mid-1960s, access to his garage remained limited to his favored local community groups and select car aficionados,” the RM Sotheby’s news release notes. “His family estimates that no more than a few dozen people saw the collection for an extended period. RM Sotheby’s is proud to finally unveil Richard Roy’s lifetime of collecting to the public, where it will be offered entirely without reserve.

The auction house adds that highlights of the Roy collection include:

Richard Roy’s 1929 Chrysler ‘Blossom’

• An “extremely original” 1922 Mercer Series 5 Sport, formerly part of the Fredrick Crawford Collection.
• One of 10 surviving examples of a 1923 Mercer Series 6 Sporting, formerly part of the Bill Harrah and Alfred Ferrara collections.
• A “remarkably well-preserved” 1916 Pierce Arrow Model 38-C-4 five-passenger touring, formerly owned by A.K. Miller.
•  A 1908 Holsman Model H-11 touring that was the first automobile sold in Sussex County.

 

Also being offered are 10 cars from the Harold Coker Collection. Coker’s passion for classic cars led him to leave his job with BFGoodrich to launch the Coker Tire Company in 1958 to provide tires for the collector car community. Coker built his own classic car collection by buying one car nearly every year for five decades.

Among the Coker cars going to Hershey are:

1909 Petrel from Coker collection

• A 1905 Thomas Flyer Model 25 side-entrance tonneau believed to be the only example to have survived intact.
• A 1907 Thomas Flyer Model 4-40 four-passenger runabout, a sister car to the winner of the 1908 New York to Paris race.
• A 1911 National Model 40 Speedway roadster, a twin to the car that won the 1912 Indianapolis 500.
• A 1903 Columbus Electric folding-top runabout believed to have been owned by silent movie star ZaSu Pitts.
• A 1909 Petrel 30 HP roadster believed to be the only surviving example.

 

A year ago, the Hershey sale featured the Jeffrey Day Collection and John Moir’s amazing A-to-Z car collection and generated more than $14 million in sales. The 2015 sale will include some 150 automobiles and selected automobilia.

60’s Ford ad | AHPS Photos

“Lots of museums have the physical specimen but the written history of the automobile is being lost,” said Craig Sparks, director of marketing for the Automotive History Preservation Society, which was founded in 2010 with the intention to preserve that written history.

Today, the AHPS has more than 250,000 pages of documents, including factory-published works such as service manuals, assembly guides, vehicle brochures and press relations materials, as well as magazine and newspaper advertisements.

“Let’s say you wanted to read about the 1961 Corvair and what road test it went through or what was said about the car in a magazine or newspaper. We have the articles from different sources written about the cars,” Sparks said.

General Motors ad for the 1969 Chevrolet Corvette

And much of that material has been digitized and is available online.

“As a society we acquire documents and scan them into our digital library to preserve the written history of the automobile,” Sparks said.

The digital library also includes some technical materials, driving impressions, and biographies of prominent car people that mostly come from old magazines.

The AHPS attends car shows and exhibits to raise awareness about what t are doing, but also because, “We are car people and we like to see cars,” Sparks said.

While attending events society members often come across excellent representations of original cars and trucks and will feature them in the society’s Emag, No-Limits.

The Emag is sent to members and society sponsors twice a month and includes  features, interviews, guest columnists and more.

Vintage Hurst ad

According to Sparks, almost all of the documents in the library have been donated.

“Most car enthusiast of any kind have old magazines and brochures,” he said. “Sometimes they reach out to us and ask if we want them, or they let us borrow them to scan into our library.”

On the occasion the donator doesn’t want the piece back, the society auctions the material to raise additional funds.

Another source of material is from the manufacturers’ archives.

“We have a really great relationship with the people at the Ford archive,” Spark said. “Just the other day they sent us some stuff we didn’t have and we sent them some stuff they didn’t have.

“We tend to preserve and feature cars pre-1984, just because that’s the primary interest of our society, readers, and website visitors.”

With headquarters in Michigan, the society has 850 members.

The digital library is mostly used for research, car restoration, to access to old magazine articles, factory-specification sheets, educational research and general entertainment.

To become a member of the society, the AHPS asks for a yearly $25 donation. Members receive a license plate, certificate and access to a portion of the library that is closed to the public due to the material’s copyright restrictions.

1957 Ford Thunderbird with removable “porthole” top | ACD Museum Photo

The Auburn Cord Duesenberg Automobile Museum’s 10th annual benefit extravaganza is scheduled for Thursday, September 3, and will feature the auction of three vehicles as part of the fund-raiser for the museum’s education program. The evening will have an aviation theme.

“This event allows the museum to share its history, create awareness of its financial needs, and celebrate with its supporters each year,” said Laura Brinkman, executive director and chief executive of the ACD museum.“This year, we celebrate vintage aviation and its connection to the Auburn Automobile Company and Cord Corporation.“

Crossing the block at a live auction will be a 1987 Jaguar XJ6 with just over 106,000 miles; an Indy race car shell built by Dallara Automobili of Parma, Italy, and formerly used for display and as a driving simulator; and a 1957 Ford Thunderbird with removable “porthole” top and updated air conditioning.

In addition to the vehiclesbeing auctioned, the auction will include various one of a kind items and experiences. For more information or to purchase tickets to attend the event, visit the museum’s website.

Extravaganza 2014