2013 Los Angeles Auto Show

Concepts and Intros and Tech, Oh My!

New makes continue to fill the gaps left as high-end marques abandon the Los Angeles International Auto Show. Ferrari and Lamborghini left years ago, and Rolls Royce passed on the Show this year. But the West Hall at the Convention Center was still crammed with glistening sheet metal and plastic (and a few cars in the now-fashionable flat paint).

Euphoria? Well, Sorta

The theme that ran through the press conferences at this year’s Los Angeles International Auto Show (hereinafter referred to in the interest of brevity as the LA Auto Show) might be summed up by the title of an old show tune, “Everything’s Comin’ Up Roses.” To hear them tell it, all car companies are having trouble keeping up with demand.

Hurricane Sandy may have something to do with that, but in truth, cars are selling well. Most carmakers posted gains this year, many doing better than they have in years. So what are they doing to keep that trend going? In a word, “product.”

What’s New?

You’ll excuse me if I didn’t get all excited over a new Toyota RAV4 (although it still deserves a look in that class), but there were a few debuts that did catch my attention.

The Eyes! The Eyes! Audi started a trend with their LED running lights, but Acura takes it to a whole new level with LED headlights – lots of them! I don’t have the stats but a representative claims BMW 5-series dimensions outside with 7-series room inside. The inset shows they could be right.

“A New Breed of Cat!” That’s how Jaguar introduced the XK-E fifty-one years ago. They have not introduced a new sports car since. That oversight is remedied with the new XK-F (“F-Type,” if you’re British). Jaguar abandoned the E-type’s Le Mans-bred inline six years ago, and the new car sports a V6 and a couple of supercharged V8s. It also breaks with Jaguar tradition by not showing so much as a splinter of wood in the interior (inset). Nice stitching though.

The most competitive auto segment currently is in the heart of the market – family-size sedans. Since the introduction of the Hyundai Sonata here in January 2010 had me calling the competition “staid” by comparison, other carmakers have been racing to introduce prettier cars, with varying results. This new Mazda6 follows the trend to sleeker roof-lines and side sculpting. Tech stuff includes a turbo-diesel option and regenerative braking that stores kinetic energy in a capacitor instead of the battery.

In the US one still cannot underestimate the importance of big cars, either. Hugely important for General Motors is the new big Chevrolet, resurrecting the label “Impala.” Note that it also follows the trend to side sculpting.

I had a vested interest in attending the introduction of this car. I have a client who is overdue in replacing his current ride (the second I found for him) and we’ve been waiting for the revised Porsche Cayman. Based on the recently updated Boxster, with more power, I find it perhaps the best-looking car available, in an old-school kind of way. It’s available in April, from orders taken starting next week. This is the “S” model.

If the Cayman ($52,600 base, plus delivery) is a bit over your budget, $24,449 (including delivery) will buy you a stripper Ford Focus ST that only yields 23 horsepower to the German coupe, but trumps its 213 pound feet of torque by 57 – and it has a back seat! You don’t have to get the Tangerine Scream paint. It adds $495 to the sticker anyway.

Dodge discontinued building the brutal V-10 Viper last year. Chrysler then created a separate division, analogous to BMW’s M-division and Mercedes’ AMG, called SRT (from “Sport/Road/Track”) who designed a new one. To the relief of car nuts, civilizing the Viper did not kill its muscular character.

What’s Coming?

An Auto Show is a manufacturer’s opportunity to grab public attention, so they roll out a succession of concept cars that range from the ridiculous to the almost-ready-for-production.

Dodge Mopar concept looks like a cosmetic treatment until you raise the hood. They’ve shoehorned in a Viper 8.4 liter V-10. They claim all the parts are available through their eponymous aftermarket parts supplier.

Car guys Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno introduced the Acura NSX to Superbowl watchers last winter, and car nuts have been following development for years. So when does a concept finally become something people (rich people in this case) can buy? Stay tuned.

Rule of thumb: If a concept car appears without a “B” pillar (the one between the front and back seats) holding up the roof, you can be pretty sure you’ll never see a car in a showroom in that configuration. It’s about roll-over standards. Some form of this BMW i3 Coupe Concept will appear one day, but not like this.

Already seen in another form in the last Mission Impossible movie, the BMW i8, like Acura’s NSX, creeps toward production form, probably as a hybrid.

Lexus continues its campaign to convince consumers that they don’t just make quiet, smooth-riding luxo-boats for the rich and aspirational. The latest attempt is the LF-CC, an aggressively-styled 2+2 Hybrid Coupe.

Honda envisions an electric sports car. The EV-Ster (Playing on Porsche’s “Boxster” name?) seems to be mainly a styling exercise, with body panels bleeding into the interior and a chartreuse driver’s seat.

The Big Omission

The big tech news from the LA Auto Show this year is the car that wasn’t there, the Tesla Model S. Motor Trend‘s Car of the Year, and Automobile Magazine’s Automobile of the Year, and if there is any justice, likely winner of the North American Car of the Year award at the Detroit Auto Show, was conspicuously absent from the LA Auto Show. This is especially egregious as this is where it should get it’s rightful crown – The Green Car of the Year Award. It wasn’t even nominated!

The LA Auto Show was awash in hybrids and electric cars. I drove an example of this Ford Focus Electric at the AltCar Expo, and it’s another modern car whose electric motivation is noticed primarily for the absence of noise and vibration. In other words, it drives like a car.

Instead of the all-electric Tesla Model S, the high-buck, high-tech end of the green car range was held by Fisker’s extended-range electric EVer. When the batteries run low, a GM-sourced four-cylinder gasoline-powered engine charges them. Interior features luscious leathers, reclaimed woods.

Other Stuff

The exhibitors always come up with something new to catch your eye. It’s what keeps us coming back. Here are a couple highlights.

Lincoln Nostalgia

With little new to show, for their press introductions (not the public show) Lincoln opted to mine a vein of historical heritage. Harking back to the days of rumble seats and radiator mascots, this 1932 LeBaron Roadster’s 448 cubic inch engine alone weighed 1070 pounds.

Into the optimism of the Fifties, Lincoln introduced its most ambitious “personal” car. Virtually hand-built, these elegant coupes in 1956-1957 carried little of the chrome and styling excesses of the day, and they’re considered post-war classics.

There is one new car at the Lincoln exhibit, the MKZ. (Another “Z” car! What is it that makes that letter so tempting to marketing departments?) It’s a competent enough luxury car, with the singular distinction of being the only car I know of that comes with either hybrid or straight internal combustion power, without charging a premium for the higher-mileage of a hybrid. It’s difficult to imagine many people cross-shopping it against a comparably-priced Cadillac, except on the basis of gas mileage in the hybrid version.

Last of the Exotics

Aston Martin, Like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati no longer exhibits at the LA Auto Show. Aston Martin benefits though, from the support of Galpin Motors in Van Nuys, CA. Here they show a “Year of the Dragon” special edition of the Virage Coupe.

What Now?

There are so many “ifs” – if the economy continues its steady but sluggish improvement – if the European financial instability can be reined in – if wages can reverse their steady decline – that it’s impossible to forecast what we’ll see here next year. I’m confident though that there will always be plenty of shiny, colorful, interesting cars to lure you in. Anyway there are this year. Come on down!

Note: To view images in more detail, click on the image. Below the larger image title, click on the numbers indicating “original image size” The cursor becomes a “plus” sign in a circle. Clicking again will enlarge the image to full size.

CARMA is a publication of The OM Dude Press,
a service of Options in Mobility
Author, Editor, Publisher, Reporter, Historian, Archivist:
Dick Stewart.
All photographs are by the Author unless otherwise indicated.

Fix for Local Car Junkies – The Palos Verdes Concours

Ocean Backdrop for Some Great Cars

No Surprise Here

The “French Curves” class is a Southern California specialty, with significant exhibits in the Nethercutt Collection in Sylmar and the Mullin Automotive Museum in Oxnard which is devoted almost exclusively to French Cars. Both have a record of Best in Shows at Pebble Beach. So it was no surprise at all when the Nethercutt’s  1931 Bugatti Type 51 Coupe with coachwork by Dubos that won its class, also took the top honor as Best in Show at Palos Verdes.

Lots of Fun Classes

There was a special class for “American Fins” celebrating that 1950s era when cars seemed poised to take flight. This 1957 Lincoln Premier did not place but what an example of the exuberance of the times!

A popular class with those who were just getting their licenses in the mid-60s was the Pony Cars, this year won by a car other than a Mustang – this 1969 Camaro Z-28. In 1968 Chevrolet offered a Regular Production Option RPO Z28, which included many of the modifications needed to make the cars competitive in the Trans-Am Sedan Championship Series. The first year, cars carried no external indication of the package, instead merely sporting a “302″ badge on each cheek. Their racing success led to the word getting out that this was the package for the serious driver, and marketing quickly replaced it with the Z-28 badge seen here. 

The middle model of the numbered XK Series Jaguars was the XK-140, so named for its projected top speed potential. This is a Roadster, distinguished from a “Drop-head Coupe” by the door cutouts and absence of wind-up windows. Talk about seductive! This car went on to win  its class.

A stalwart staple of collectors, the Model A Ford got a couple of classes to itself at the Concours. This Tudor Coupe won its class.

I don’t know if the wood on the Ford Model A trucks (this one technically a Model AA) looked this good from the factory, but it’s pretty enough to give this one a second in class.

In the other “Utility Vehicle” class, this intricately painted 1911 Maxwell Fire Chief’s car won its class, and delighted the crowd.

Flamboyant Figoni et Falaschi coachwork helped this 1937 Delahaye 135m A win a special Dutch Darrin Automotive Excellence award. It’s from the Mullin Collection.

I suppose it was too much to expect two red Jaguars to win their classes. This stunning 1965 E-Type 4.2 FHC took second in class to an earlier 3.8 OTS in opalescent blue, like Dad’s 4.2.

In March, 1964, Car and Driver published a “Comparison Test” of the Pontiac and Ferrari GTOs. This is the car they tested, a Royal “Bobcat” GTO that had been clandestinely built with a Super Duty 421 cubic inch V8 in place of the stock 389 of the song. Jim Wanger, marketing manager and the man behind the Pontiac push for performance back then, is in the passenger seat.

Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, Michigan was Pontiac’s performance dealership, producing “Bobcat” tune-up kits and acting as intermediary for the car magazines. That’s how the 421 cubic inch Tri-power V8 (above) was snuck into the test. It’s visually identical to the stock 389.

Leaving the event, you get one of the benefits of local participation. Many of the cars belong to nearby residents. Here the Porsche 911 Class-winning Carrera RS and a couple of rumble-seat occupants lead the way out of the Trump National Golf Club onto Palos Verdes Drive South.

Note: To view images in more detail, click on the image. If the cursor is a “plus” sign in a circle, clicking again will enlarge the image further.

CARMA is a publication of The OM Dude Press,
a service of Options in Mobility
Author, Editor, Publisher, Reporter, Historian, Archivist:
Dick Stewart.
All photographs are by the Author unless otherwise indicated.

Monterey in August – Sensory Overload for Car Freaks

Smorgasbord for Car Lovers

Getting the Full Effect – Or Not

Back when construction was roaring along in California (My day job was managing school construction.) I took the whole family to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, paying full freight, including a pass to the Club d’Elegance so we could park where everybody else got off the buses from the remote lots at Spanish Bay. The catered breakfast & lunch for two, the event poster signed by the artist, and the designer paperweight were just bonuses.

Marjean, Coco, and Katie in front of the Club d’Elegance. We took our roles pretty seriously in 2005 when the whole family went to the Pebble Beach Concours. Anyone with the scratch can hobnob with the rich and famous (Jay Leno always does a charity schtick) and pretend that you too, might one day enter a fancy car in the show.

A Club d’Elegance pass this year was $500, and a ticket to the Concours was $200 ($250 at the gate), so that little extravagance would have cost me $1,100 to $1,250 today. Somewhere between that and sleeping in your car should meet anyone’s budget.

Wednesday – the Preliminaries

Although there are rallies and such starting as early as Monday, the real stuff starts Wednesday. Most of the auction houses (there were at least five this year) have their previews starting Wednesday, and there are a few fun events like memorabilia shows where you can pick up a vintage oil company sign or suchlike for your den.

Last year I blogged about the Little Car Show in Pacific Grove. The cars are mostly less expensive (other than the occasional vintage Porsche, whose small engines qualify them), but still interesting if you take the time to talk to the owners. It’s held on Wednesday and it’s free to the public.

Or you could just pick a corner and stand there, anywhere on the peninsula. It won’t be long before some interesting, fast, beautiful, or expensive cars roll by.

On any street corner on the Monterey Peninsula, you’ll see wild sights like this street legal (Yes. I asked.) Can-Am-Style car above or the Lamborghini Aventador below, and it doesn’t cost a dime.

Thursday – The Tour d’Elegance

You don’t have to pay to see the really expensive cars – the ones that may contend for the prestigious Best in Show title at the Pebble Beach Concours – either. All you sacrifice is a little shoe leather or some sack time if you want a good close look.

Taking the concept of exotic cars to a new level, how’s this? In 1934 Thorpe & Mayberly built this All Weather Cabriolet body on a Rolls-Royce Phantom II chassis for the Majarajah of Rajkot. In 2010 his grandson, Manhatasinh Jedaja bought the car back at auction, and agreed to exhibit it at the Concours on Sunday – and drive it in the tour on Thursday. That’s him and his wife below, graciously answering questions from all and sundry, including your correspondent.

Yuvraj Saheb Mandhatasinh Jedaja of Rajkot with his wife and his 1934 Rolls-Royce Phantom II All Weather Cabriolet, ” Star of India.”

Many of the cars that will be on the fairway on Sunday participate in the Tour d’Elegance, which wends its way along the peninsula’s roads, down to Big Sur and back. It may elicit a grumble or two from merchants along the route as traffic snarls, but all those spectators have to eat somewhere, and a lot of them want to take home something more than a memory and a full Sandisc. The tour route is easy to find online.

It’s great to see the cool cars at the weekend’s shows, sitting there all cleaned up and shiny, but when there are cars like the original Dragonsnake Cobra drag racer in the field, don’t you want to hear its open side pipes roar? Stake out a spot on the tour and you can.

If you want to see the cars up close and examine the details, that’s when being an early riser pays dividends. After the Tour d’Elegance, the cars are lined up four abreast on Ocean Avenue in Carmel for a couple of hours. The entire world knows it though, and they all descend on Carmel around 10:00 or 11:00. If you arrive then, bring good walking shoes, because you’ll be parking a long way away.

After you’ve had enough of the chuff of brass-era buggies, the whir of the silent luxury cars of the Classic era, the blat of vintage racers and the thunder of the big American V8s, you can elbow your way through the throngs at Carmel’s display of the same cars, and delight at the beautiful and intricate details of the cars, like the lacing of the chrome wire wheel on the Duesenberg above.

How about an American Indian with cowboy boots wrangling a giant tusked snail with brass chains. Chevy “Big Block” engines come as big as 454 cubic inches displacement. The 1911 Fiat Tipo 6 of Alan and LaDel Clendenin, with the wildly imaginative mascot above, displaced 551.

With all the exotic brightly-painted and chromed hardware in Carmel on Thursday, who’d have thought an anonymous white Dino was worthy of a look. This one is. The unsanctioned transcontinental race from New York City to Redondo Beach, called the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (parodied in Burt Reynolds’ Cannonball movies) was run from 1971 through 1979. This car won in 1975, setting the record that stands ”in perpetuity” - 35 hours and 53 minutes. Anonymity has its benefits when you are averaging 83 mph (including fuel stops and nutrition and comfort breaks) and don’t want to attract the attention of traffic enforcement.

Friday

Italian Accent – The Concorso Italiano

Years ago a few Alfa Romeo, Ferrari, Maserati, Lancia and Fiat owners thought the atmosphere at Pebble Beach was a bit stuffy for their Italian flamboyance and gathered at the Quail Lodge on Friday for their own celebration. The venue has changed three times, and has now settled under new management at the Laguna Seca Golf Ranch just down the road from the entrance to the race course.

That new management has made the last three years there wildly successful, with a beautiful setting, great cars, prestigious guest speakers, and utterly professional presentation.

This year was no exception with great cars and great people. My notes got lost somewhere along the road, so the following is mostly going by memory.

I did reconnect with John Buckman, the driver of the green DeTomaso Pantera whom I had met at the Big Sur Gallery and Café. Of course I neglected to get a picture of him or his car all dressed up for the show. His is a rare unmodified Pantera.

Owners of Panteras are the only owners of Italian Exotics I know of who are not obsessive about originality, and you see some pretty wild modifications. Many remove the trunk liner to display eye-searingly bright polished engine, transmission and chassis bracing.

The rest of the pictures will speak for themselves.

John Buckman’s Pantera is the more commercially successful successor to this DeTomaso Mangusta, one of the most menacing series production cars ever to appear in a rear-view mirror. In 1971 when I was discharged from the army and flew into Orange County (now John Wayne) Airport Dad picked me up in his fly yellow version of this car. I had to leave my luggage in a locker. There was no room for it in the car.

If my memory serves me correctly and I have referenced the right business card, this is Bert Meli’s Lamborghini Murcielago. To put Trekkers minds at ease, the license 16 of 50 is not a Borg designation. This is the sixteenth of fifty 40th Anniversary Murcielagos, and the only one made in that particular shade of electric blue.

If you’ve seen the ads (no, not the ones with J Lo) you know an Italian car does not have to cost a quarter million to be sexy. When this Abarth (we always pronounced it “Ay-Barth” but the ads say it’s like the ab in “abdominal”) version of the Fiat 500 appeared at the LA Auto Show Press Days I had to call my buddy Ephraim for intervention. 60% more power in a car this small will tempt you to think irrationally.

Nuccio Bertone was the genius behind many of the great Italian cars of the sixties and seventies. He nurtured some of the great talents who went on to found their own carrozzerias, like Giorgetto Giugiaro. This is the star of the Concorso, the Nuccio, named after him. Personally I prefer the Pandeon that was introduced in 2010 and shown at Pebble that year, but that’s just me.

No, it’s not the prize for the great-grandmother of all Mary Kay Cosmetic sales achievements.  It’s a Lamborghini Murcielago pinked-out to publicize the push for “The Cure” for breast cancer. It sure got my attention!

This 1975 Bertone-designed Maserati Khamsin has Maserati’s powerful 4.9 liter four-cam V8. The vertical glass panel in the rear gives it visibility superior to other high-performancs sports cars, with counterintiutive blunt-tailed aerodynamics pioneered by Wunibald Kamm in the 30s.

Influences that led to the Khamsin can be seen in the silhouette of Marcello Ghandini’s (another of Nuccio’s successful proteges) Bertone Lamborghini Espada. The extra length required to accommodate a 2+2 layout has led some critics to find the car tail-heavy.

Every year producers of events like the Concorso Italiano face the difficulty of topping the previous show. While it is certainly to their credit that they continue to bring such a high level of professionalism to the task, those of us who love the cars know they need not fret. As long as people continue to bring cars like this Gorgeous Ferrari 250GT Lusso, the only example of the model at the show this year, car nuts will keep right on coming.

Auctions – Friday

Bonhams (whatever happened to Butterfield?), Gooding & Co., Mecum, RM, and Russo & Steele all hold major collector car auctions at Monterey over the week. Except for the Mecum auction, they are all at night so as not to compete with the daytime events. Gooding & Co’s is the only one spilling over into Sunday night.

You can see the cars up close, often for a fee, at previews throughout the week.

RM Auctions

In the year when both Carroll Shelby and Roy Salvadori passed, Aston Martin, whose DBR1 they drove to victory at Le Mans in 1959, is regaining some luster as a collector car, with several examples under the hammer at the auctions. The DB4s and DB5s bodied by carrozzeria Touring in  ”Superleggera” (super light) form are among the most handsome. This DB5 at RM is not really a sports car, but is a comfortable, smooth, fast, luxurious car in the Continental Grand Touring tradition.

RM Auctions had one of the premier consignments of the Monterey auctions. Auto Union was the result of the merging in of 1932 of the Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer brands (the origin of the four-ring logo of today’s Audi). Of these, Horch was the luxury marque. This 1938 853A straight eight roadster won Best in Show at Pebble Beach in 2004. With that on its resumé, one wonders where it can go from here. That may account for its disappointing hammer price of a mere $4.7 million.

The RM Auction is a pretty tightly controlled event. While some of the key consignments are prominently displayed in the lobby of the Portola Plaza, where you can ogle to your heart’s content, it costs $50 to get into the main preview area on the outdoor plaza (or $150 for a catalogue), and the really important stuff (like the Ford GT 40 of Steve McQueen’s Le Mans) is inside where you can’t get in without a bidder’s paddle or guest pass. Press access has tightened too, and not being a “major media” outlet, I have not been granted credentials in two years.

This year they had some big sales to crow about. The $4.7 million bid for the Concours-winning Horch may have been a minor disappointment but it was still a record for a Horch sold at auction.

They set another world record, this time for an American car sold at auction – eclipsing the $9.4 million record bid for the Whittell Duesenberg at Gooding as reported here last year – http://carmacarcounselor.wordpress.com/2011/08/23/new-auction-records-at-monterey/.

It was set by the Ford GT 40 that was modified to carry the cameras in filming real racing sequences in Steve McQueen’s movie, Le Mans. You may recall that the King of Cool’s ownership, along with its appearance in that film, boosted a rather ordinary Porsche 911S from a book value around $30,000 to $1,250,000 at this very auction last year.

That kind of provenance resulted in a hammer price of exactly ten million dollars. I am sure that the new owner will be glad to have all the original body panels that had to be removed to make room for the all the cameras and other equipment used in the filming. They were included in the sale.

Saturday

Cobra Celebration – Laguna Seca

The death of legendary racer and automotive entrepreneur Carroll Shelby, along with the 50th anniversary of the introduction of his masterpiece, the Cobra – a combination of AC chassis and Ford V8 engine, guaranteed that the Historic Races (now called the Motorsports Reunion) at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca would be special. After years of snubs from the new management, denying me press credentials, this was about the only thing that could have tempted me back. I was not disappointed.

I’ve been complaining lately about the overuse of the word “iconic” to describe important figures, places, and things, but among American car freaks who are not Chevrolet die-hards (or indulgers in sour grapes, considering their Corvettes were rendered impotent by them), real Shelby Cobras are true icons. This one is THE Icon. CSX2000, the first Cobra. It had never left Carroll Shelby’s possession and while repainted frequently to leave the impression among journalists that there were many at the time, as the upholstery shows, it has never been restored.

The starting grid of Cobras, Laguna Seca Historic Races 2012, in the race dedicated to the one car. These are all real Shelby Cobras, whose owners are willing to put their expensive cars on a race track with others of their kind and drive them as they were meant to be driven. The number 9 car (behind the leading red car) is a rare Daytona Coupe. Although the 427 version is considered the more macho car, the red 289 number 81 won.

No car in history (with the possible exception of the Meyers Manx) spawned as many imitators as the Cobra and GT 40. Autocraft, Factory Five, ERA, Superformance and innumerable other manufacturers produced kit cars and turnkey drivers. Eventually Shelby did too, producing “continuation” cars to compete with the pretenders. You can buy one new today. The cars above are just a few that showed up on race day, lining both sides of the drive. Click on the image to enlarge.

There’s less  need to enlarge the image below. With many of the original Cobras engaged in the activity for which they were ideally suited – racing – few remained for static display. This five eventually expanded to about double that number as the day progressed.

When you’re not distracted by all the Cobras and their clones, the paddock at Laguna Seca during the Historics is chock-full of interesting cars. This Lotus 7, according to my brother, boasts a Cosworth 115E Non-crossflow (original style) Ford four-cylinder. The carburetor stacks poking out of the hood on the same side as the exhaust is the clue.

Sunday -  The Big Show and the Big Consignments.

The Big Show – The Fairway at Pebble Beach

By Sunday morning I had walked seventeen and a half miles on the various venues, according to Google Pedometer. The closest you can park at Pebble Beach (and that only if you have a Club d’Elegance or media pass) is more than a half mile from the entrance to the fairway where the cars are displayed.

The fairway itself is about a half mile circuit. So with all the wandering around, revisiting exhibits, a trip to the press tent and my secret washroom with the real flush toilets, the whole trip netted me more than twenty-one miles on foot. I was glad I’d been doing four miles a day at home in preparation.

DESSERT FIRST

Since it’s already Friday and anyone who is interested has had several chances to learn the answer to the big question – “What Car Won Best in Show at Pebble Beach this year?” there’s no point in dragging it out. It was a 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Cabriolet.

Here’s the joke. That’s not the car, above. My mistake. I didn’t guess which would win, and it’s not among the 1,400 images I took over six days. This is it below, with appreciation to the event people for allowing me to use this image of the winning 1928 Mercedes-Benz 680S Saoutchik Torpedo owned by Paul & Judy Andrews. I don’t know about you but I like mine better, so there!

This is the winner of the Duesenberg class at the Concours, and a finalist for Best in Show. It’s a 1931 Model J Derham Tourster. A color rendering of a 1933 version of this car, done in casein (what we used before acrylic) from a black and white photo in Road & Track, got me my first job in architecture.

The recent trend in concours is the preservation class. The saying these days is that a car is only original once, and a car that has been preserved with all its original pieces – and charm – intact should be kept that way and never restored. One gentleman was showing a Stutz he’d found that had languished two weeks on EBay Motors without a bid. Other than a stash of nuts some enterprising rat had stored in the exhaust manifold, requiring removal and replacement of a rusted section of exhaust, it ran just fine once its fluids had been freshened.  (The brake fluid had turned to molasses.)

This preservation-class 1927 Phantom I Brewster Kenilworth Rolls-Royce was built in New York for Director John Ford, who gave it to John Wayne. The interior (below) shows the warm patina of age, with the rich walnut’s varnish checking and leather armrests and broadcloth seats worn but otherwise undamaged. Somehow I can’t imagine the Duke in it.

One of the special classes at this year’s Concours was American Sport Customs. These were cars built to order by American hot rodders and custom builders. This one was built in 1950 by Amil Diedt to a design by Rodney Evans Bacon, for popular African-American actor/comedian Eddie Anderson, known to fans of the Jack Benny Program as “Rochester.” It has a Cadillac V8, and Mr. Anderson is said to have raced it until 1960.

BMW displayed a 193 horsepower HP4  at their  pavilion on the way to the Concours. With bikes like that available, it’s difficult for bikers today to imagine the impact of the Munch Mammoth on motorcyclists like me back in 1966, who rode cross country on Honda’s most powerful motorcycle, the 28.5 hp CB-77 Super Hawk. Debuting in 1966 with an air-cooled NSU car engine with 1,100 cc and 55 horsepower, it was truly a mammoth bike.

The entire drive train and fuel system of this 1922 Megola Touring motorcycle is carried by the steering post. That’s the fuel tank mounted on the left side of the fork, and the five-cylinder radial engine is part of the front wheel, rotating with it. I am witness to the fact that the damned thing runs (see the smoke?), though I never saw anyone actually ride it.

In winning the FIA World Manufacturer’s Championship, Carroll Shelby and his team had exactly five Roadsters and six Competition Coupes, known as Daytonas. This FIA Roadster, brought by Steve Volk of Boulder, Colorado, won the Cobra Class.

How do you sum up a day like Concours Sunday at Pebble Beach? You can’t. I took 300 pictures, and didn’t get one of the Best in Show winner. But let’s just say that if you like cars, aren’t afraid to do a little walking, and can brave crowds, it’s worth a place on your bucket list.

Auction Action – Saturday Night

I have yet to acquire the skill of being in two places at once, so if I wanted to get the full impact of the event, one auction was my limit. Since I had managed to secure parking where the shuttle buses from the remote parking discharge their passengers, the choice of which auction to attend was practically made for me. In my humble opinion the Gooding & Co. production is simply the best, so I was set.

This year’s bidding started off cool, with several early consignments selling for well under their pre-auction estimates, like Lot 6, a preservation class Stutz DV-32 Convertible sedan with an estimated value of $225,000 – $300,000 that brought a hammer price of only $140,000.

Matters were soon righted though as after Lot 8, a Chrysler Town and Country Convertible with a high estimate of $200,000 came in at only $95K, Lot 9, a stylish 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Derby Speedster with a starting estimate of half a million came in at $625,000.

In the late twenties, Bentley was virtually unbeatable at Le Mans, winning multiple races and capturing first through fourth in 1929. This 1928 Bentley 4-1/4 Bobtail is a real Le Mans competitor, having placed 3nd in that race. Such racing history is hugely important to collectors, and when the hammer finally fell, the final bid was $5.5 million, right at the low end of where Gooding’s estimate put it.

From a 94 year-old successful racer to a rebody of a failed race car whose only purpose was to prove the worth of its designer. Giorgetto Giugiaro had made a name doing work for Bertone with works like the Alfa GTV and the sensuous Canguro, and now was ready to open his own design house. Taking the obsolete Bizzarrini P538 racing car and clothing it in a radical “One-Box” shape, he created a car with instant impact, and went on to found Ital Design. Bids reached $850,000 but unfortunately the car did not sell.

If you watch the show Chasing Classic Cars you’ll recognize this as the 1939 Ford Wagon that host Wayne Carini restored with his father. It sold for a respectable $110,000.

As I often note, it’s the people you meet at these events that make them really memorable. I did not have Ephraim, my usual support and foil, this year, so I sat at a table in the back of the cavernous Gooding Tent and was soon sharing it with some memorable new friends.

One was a Dr. Marty Plone, a Veterinarian from Livermore, who brought lots of attractive females (and one apparently dumb blond – no stereotypes here) to our table with his gorgeous and impeccably behaved long-haired dachshund, “Hansie.”

Another was Vaughn Vartarian from Northridge, who was there to sell his stately 1907 Panhard et Levassor Town Car. It came in at $240,000, just under the house low estimate of a quarter million.

Also at our table was a New Jersey guy, John Shibles, whose business card features a 1935 Auburn 851SC Phaeton, nicknamed “My Latte,” whether because of its color or the caffeine-like stimulation it gives him when driving it, he did not say. He’s in developing, and is using his experience to turn the inside of a new garage into a 1930′s street scene, with shops and a showroom.

More a Hershey’s Special Dark than Latté, this 1936 Auburn 852 Boattail Speedster nevertheless piqued the interest of our table companion, though in the end he did not bid. The winning bid was $550,000, comfortable within the pre-auction prediction.

The most fun of the night for the crowd came with the least pretentious car, when Jay Leno appeared to hawk his Prima Edizione Fiat 500, the first of the new model in private hands. Jay offered all proceeds of the sale to go to the Fisher House Foundation, the veterans’ group that provides free room and board in real houses for loved ones of service members in hospitals. Anything over Blue Book is tax deductible.

A 1960 Ferrari 250GT LWB California Spider Competizione (above), recognizable to anyone who has seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and the 1953 Ferrari 340 MM Spider with competition history, below, were bid at $10.5 and $4.3 Million, respectively. Both were from the same private collection.

Before the Bugatti Veyron set a new standard at 254 mph, the fastest car you could buy was the McLaren F1. In 2010 in this very tent, one sold for $3.25 million. This Veyron’s sparkle has been ever-so-slightly dimmed by its Super Sports bretheren, whose engine boasts 199 horsepower on top of this “normal” Veyron’s 1001. Thus when the hammer finally came down, it only drew a bid of $1.075 million, despite its low mileage of only 1,700. Of course, where are you going to put miles on a 254 mph car?

Auction Action – Sunday Night

As expected with so many people already parked and pumped by the day’s events on the fairway just down the hill, the Gooding & Co. tent was mobbed Sunday night. I’d secured my favorite table though, and was soon joined by Marty, the Vet with the long-haired Dachshund Hansie. John was back as well, looking forward to a couple of late consginments in which he had some interest.

Some of the excitement was certainly a result of the marquee consignments, one of which, the Von Krieger Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadster and its history were the subject of an entire separate hard-bound supplement to Gooding & Co.’s already 1-5/8″-thick double volume catalogue.

Before it appeared though, several of the usual less spectacular cars (a lowly MGA 1600 led off the evening, selling well within the expected range at $34,000) and the original painting for one of this year’s Pebble Beach posters got things rolling in anticipation of the first big item.

I made a deliberate effort to avoid overdoing the “pretty red car” syndrome this year, but with so many Ferraris, what’s a guy to do? This 1955 Ferrari 857 Sport, with Scaglietti coachwork, was raced successfully by none other than this year’s honoree, Carroll Shelby, not to mention Olivier Gendebien, Richie Ginther, Masten Gregory and other luminaries of the era. So what if it’s not a V12? Anyway, the people with the money knew what it was and bid the car up to a hammer fall at$5.7 million.

Before we got to the Von Krieger Mercedes, the next anticipated consignment, the original Ford GT40 prototype sold for less than the low predicted amount, although still a respectable $4.5 million, and a Lamborghini Miura P400 SV brought a final bid of $1.25 million, just over the low estimate.

The 1935 Duesenberg JN Convertible Coupe ordered special by Clark Gable was subject of considerable hype, with some speculating that it could bring as  much as eight figures. But put it next to the Mercedes and it looks, well, foreshortened. Maybe that’s why it failed to meet reserve at $6.4 million.

I think the pictures tell the story better than I ever could, and why it set a record for a Mercedes-Benz at auction. The final bid of $10,700,000 did not match pre-auction buzz that had it going for as much as $16,000,000.

As the evening rolled on, a 1932 Bugatti Type 55 Cabriolet sold for $4.5 million, and the prototype of Saturday’s Ferrari 250GT California Spyder got an opening bid of six million dollars and never budged from there, selling for exactly that.

My attention was distracted though.  The two cars ion which my new friend John was interested were coming up. I followed him up front where the bid monitors could see him better, and he began bidding on a Cadillac V16.

John Shibbles started bidding on this 1934 Cadillac V16 Convertible Sedan (image taken from the background of a shot of the Von Krieger 540K), but dropped out at $490,000. The next bid, at half a million, got it.

I had never been close to a real bidding exchange before, and was disappointed that he had been unsuccessful, but there was still a 1929 Duesenberg Model J, another Convertible Sedan, coming up. He’d said earlier that it needed restoration, so I thought he wasn’t interested.

Thinking he was finished bidding, I sat next to him and started to ask about it, but he shushed me, putting his hand on mine, and I ralized he was preparing to bid. Bidding started somewhere around $350,000, and started climbing in ten thousand dollar increments. It got to $470,000 and seemed to stall. He signaled a half bid – $5,000 and we waited as he pressed his hand on mine.

“Four hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the first time,” Auctioneer Charley Ross intoned.

“Four hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the second time,” called Charley.

“Four hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars for the third and last time. Are we all done?” The hammer came down. “Your car, sir,” he announced, and John grinned broadly. As we went back up the aisle I asked him why he’d decided to bid on it, and he said he’d been chasing a Duesenberg for a while, and he can see to it that this one gets a restoration the way he wants it.

I did not get a photo of the 1929 Duesenberg Model J Convertible Sedan that John bid on, but Gooding has some good shots and I don’t think they’ll mind my using one.

It was an intense six days! I have been fascinated by Duesenbergs since I was a teenager, and no wonder. While the Von Krieger Mercedes 540 K, with 180 horsepower from its supercharged straight eight, was considered the supercar of its day, seven years earlier Duesenbergs were already putting out 265 from their 32-valve straight eight, without a supercharger. Five years later they upped the ante with a supercharger, to produce a phenomenal-for-its-day 320 horsepower, and the Mormon Meteor Duesenberg of Ab Jenkins set world speed records.

So as my week in Monterey wound down, I got as close to bidding on one of my dream cars as I’m likely to ever get. I’m keeping in touch with John to get updates on the restoration process, but right now I am satisfied. What a great end to a great week!

CARMA is a publication of The OM Dude Press,
a service of Options in Mobility
Author, Editor, Publisher, Reporter, Historian, Archivist:
Dick Stewart.
All photographs are by the Author unless otherwise indicated.

The Cabrillo Highway – Worst Kept Secret

US Highway 1

The westernmost highway in the federal system in the lower 48 states is variously known as the Pacific Coast Highway (or PCH), US Highway 1, and the Cabrillo Highway. Incorporating dramatic coastline and the beautiful redwoods of Big Sur, it is well known to be among the most scenic drives in the United States.

While there are beautiful sections in Malibu, Santa Barbara and the North Coast, the portion between San Simeon, home of the famous Hearst Castle, and the tony neighborhoods of Carmel has the attraction of being the most scenic way to get between the Los Angeles and San Francisco metroplexes.

For those who enjoy motoring as a recreational activity, that attractiveness is both a blessing and a curse. It provides the scenic backdrop for an exhilarating drive, but also can add an element of frustration, as rubber-necking tourists in rented motorhomes and Corollas clog up the road just as the curves begin to get interesting.

The Cabrillo Highway, somewhere North of Ragged Point. Scenic (see below) and entertaining for the enthusiast driver.

Once a year for the last ten years I have driven that stretch on my way to Monterey’s annual orgy of automotive lust, held on the third weekend in August. I’ll blog separately about the events of that weekend, but to get there by the most entertaining route, I have had to adopt a rather extreme schedule.

It’s those tourists.

The greatest pleasure of driving (or riding – it’s also a biker’s favorite) the road is that section between the resort at Ragged Point and the photographer’s backdrop at Bixby Bridge. It’s the curves. Setting the car up properly, selecting the most efficient line, downshifting, brushing the brakes, feeling the G-forces build, and accelerating out and upshifting is what enthusiastic drivers live for.

You can’t do that if there’s a motorhome in front of you tootling along at 25 mph.

That is my motivation for arising at the uncivilized hour of 3:00 am. If I do that, I can usually be out the door by 4:00 am, which gets me to Ragged Point before 9:00 am, ahead of most of the sluggards. I’ve done it faster – once. In 2009 I had a red Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale ahead, braving the mobility revenuers and setting a “European” pace.

Just north of Santa Maria in 2009, this Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale overtook me. As long as I had him in front of me I needn’t worry about attracting the  attention of traffic enforcement, and we explored speeds I’d best not reveal here. At Ragged Point, above, I thanked him for collecting the speeding ticket just past San Simeon that saved me a likely citation.

This year I was not so lucky. The blue Lamborghini Murcielago with vanity plate 16 of 50 (For Trekkers, that’s a Borg designation.) that I met, got off at Pismo Beach, so we never got to share the good parts.

CHP on PCH

This year I spotted a Highway Patrol car about half way through the fun part. That slowed me up a little, but not as much as the out-of-state vacationers. He pulled off at a vista point allowing me to resume my usual pace.

With the events at Monterey, there are always a few cars worthy of a look on that road, and soon I saw a pair of black Ferraris, followed by a 300SL Mercedes, a Cobra, some Aston Martins, Jaguars and Porsches, and a smattering of other interesting cars. It was too early and too far south for the Tour d’Elegance, so I surmised it was a rally of some sort.

At a boutique/café just south of Big Sur I pulled over to take pictures. I was rewarded by a couple of DeTomaso Pantera drivers pulling up to have a snack at the café.

John Buckman and Friend would have eventually caught me whether I’d stopped or not. They pulled their DeTomaso Panteras up to the café as I was shooting the cars going south.

The occasional Ferrari, like the 330 GTC just entering the picture, upper left, hardly warrants a glance when the streets are swarming with them. A thirties-era Hispaño-Suiza headed in the wrong direction – away from Pebble Beach – is another matter.

An Alfa Romeo Coupe with Zagato coachwork from the sixties leads a Jaguar XK-150 around the curve by Big Sur Coast Gallery & Café.

As I waited for the next participants in what looked like a rally, the CHP Ford Expedition I’d seen earlier pulled in at the Gallery/Café.

The officer in the CHP Patrol SUV proceeded to pull out a Canon camera with a lens about three feet long, and walked into the store.

Figuring I had a kindred spirit here, I followed him to the upper deck and introduced myself. Officer Ben Grasmuck turned out to be as warm and affable as you’d want, and knowledgable about the cars, the events (He works a 4:30 am to 6:00 pm shift on Event Day.), and everything that goes on along that highway.

CHP Officer Ben Grasmuck and his canon-size Canon stalking exotic prey from the upper deck of at the big Sur Coast Gallery & Café.

He speculated that the cars we saw were on their way to lunch in Lucia, where there is a small resort and restaurant. The obvious question that we who enjoy the road want to know is whether the Highway Patrol hassles these people when they are driving enthusiastically, to which he replied that most of the time the road is self-regulating. It’s those motor homes and tourists.

He added that they usually are not about to put their expensive cars at risk driving foolishly. His experience was that they drive well but not dangerously.

The event that really brings out the crowd is the Tour d’Elegance on Thursday, when those who exhibit their cars on Sunday at the Concours get to drive them to Big Sur and on the roads around the Peninsula. Merchants along the route expess annoyance at the disruption of patronage on Thursday, he says, but they make up for it with the custom the events attract on the other days.

I asked for his view of lane enforcement. I’d seen a Porsche Turbo passing over the double yellow in several places one year. With the speed differential and the short exposure time in the left lane, the situation seemed no less safe to me than driving around a rock in the road.

He wasn’t about to endorse the idea, but said that he was sympathetic, especially with motorcyclists, whose exposure time in the left lane is even less. He said he often just issues warnings to them.

I’d seen this motorcyclist at Ragged Point, and he showed up again at the gallery/café on his way home to Oakland. That looks like a vintage Triumph, but it’s a 2000 model – probably a lot more reliable than my 1967 T-100R. He might have been surprised at Ben’s attitude toward lane discipline on the Cabrillo, especially toward motorcyclists. I got his name but lost it. (I’m learning, but not enough apparently. I texted myself with the Pantera driver’s name but not the biker’s)

Hints from the CHP

Ben had a couple of interesting observations. Some could be useful.

Cell phone reception is spotty at best on that part of the road. Ben’s advice is to look for contractors’ trucks at overlooks and turnouts. They very quickly get to know where they can make and receive calls.

I had noticed a heavy presence of Mustang Convertibles at Ragged Point. “Rentals,” he said. Apparently the rental car companies long ago learned about the car events, and out-of-state visitors always want something sporty. Mustang convertibles are the limit of their understanding of “sporty,” and they stock up.

Ben said to look for license plates without frames, and no “My Kid Is Student of the Month” or “I’d Rather Be Surfing” stickers on the bumpers (but little bar code stickers on the windshield). It makes sense. No dealer will sell or lease you a car without putting his license plate frame on your car. Another hint is a recent license plate. All rental are essentally new cars, and in California at least, new cars carry license plate numbers starting with the number 6 and a letter no lower in the alphabet than “T.” I started looking, and by golly he was right.

Improvements and Inconveniences

Putting a road along sheer cliffs and steep slopes constantly pounded by surf is an engineering challenge. The weather and geology are always reasserting their mastery. That means that construction delays are frequent. I took the opportunity to have a pleasant conversation with a flagger on my way home. But to avoid retracing your route, you need to keep an eye open for the signs that warn of closures.

The big job now is at Limekiln, where the DOT is building a massive (the often-misused adjective applies in this case) project to mitigate against frequent rockslides and washouts. They are bridging the part that washes out and building European-style rock shelters – basically artificial tunnels – to protect against slides.

Bobby Burns’ saying about the best laid plans was proven true in April when the next big slide happened just south of the project, causing me to have to backtrack and detour on my way north to work with a five-time repeat client. The improvements at Limekiln are scheduled to be complete next year. Stay tuned.

Note: To view images in more detail, click on the image. If the cursor is a “plus” sign in a circle, clicking again will enlarge the image further.

CARMA is a publication of The OM Dude Press
a service of Options in Mobility
Author, Editor, Publisher, Reporter, Historian, Archivist:
Dick Stewart.
All photographs are by the Author unless otherwise indicated.

2011 Concorso Italiano – Getting Personal

MY PL8

Personalized Plates at the Concorso Italiano

It’s so common now that states have entire staffs checking to make sure someone’s personalized plate doesn’t have a clandestine message that might be illegal or (gasp!) offend someone. Fortunately mine is pretty inocuous, so I didn’t get hassled. Anyway, in California the ask you right up front what it means, so unless you have a really good explanation why you want OH5HIT, you won’t get it.

Options in Mobility is my DBA, and I conduct my business in keeping with my metaphysical training, with meditation as an integral part of the process, so OMMMMMM!

Plates on Alfa Romeos, Ferraris, Fiats and Lamborghinis tend to be a little more tricky. Check out the clever twists that can be incorporated into seven or eight letters and numbers. Can you figure out what they mean?

If you are at an event that features Alfa Romeos (or nearly any Italian make) you must know that “spider” is an italian convertible.

Of course it helps to know that spiders are Arachnids.

Movie buffs will recognize one Alfa - the Duetto (It’s a two-seater. Get it?). Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) ran out of gas in one in The Graduate.

Automobile nomenclature is full of initials for arcane expressions. GTV is Gran Turisimo Veloce (pronounced “Vel Oh Chay”), meaning Grand Touring – Fast.

You could probably guess that an Alfisto is a fan of Alfa Romeos.

The littlest Fiat was known in Italy as the Little Mouse, or “Topolino,”so when the new 500 came out, the moniker was a natural.

Fiats imported to the US in the 50s and 60s did not have a stellar reputation for durability and reliability, thus the joke that the name meant “Fix It Again Tony!”

Many of the great personalized plate ideas were thought of long before you had them, but there are few enough Lamborghini Diablos in Montana that this guy had a good shot at being the first.

Yes, Ferrari’s sigil is the Prancing Horse, and I know everything is voice-operated these days, but do you really think it will answer to GIDHY UP?

 After that last one this should be no challenge. A Dark Prancing Horse.

The body his Ferrari 355 spider was designed by Pininfarina. 

Yes, Lamborghinis are fast, but this may be a bit optimistic for anything short of an Aventador or Sesto Elemento.

It takes a little imagination, and you have to visualize the accompanying gestures, but I think you will have no trouble translating this one.

Okay. Those were easy. Now maybe you can post a comment and let me know what you think this one means. I look forward to hearing from you.

Scooping the Cobra Show at Pomona

Saturday at Pomona: Speed Merchants of Venice

The NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Museum in Pomona will host a 50th Anniversary gathering of Shelby (or AC, if you insist on the Brit nomenclature) Cobras, Saturday April 21, 2012. It owes the “Venice” reference to the fact that the original Shelby shops were in Venice, California.

In my blog http://carmacarcounselor.wordpress.com/2012/01/17/cobra-anniversary-i-luck-favors-the-prepared/ I showed a slew of Cobras in various stages of preparation for the year’s events, and many of them will be on hand.

Shelby Cobra registration number CSX2003, the third Cobra built, in preparation for the 50th Anniversary celebrations for the marque. This car was used by the Shelby School of High Performance Driving, which explains the “T” rather than a racing number. The Press Release says it will be at Pomona for the reunion. I trust the restoration will be finished.

If you believe the press release, you will have a chance to see some pretty historic Cobras at the event. They say there will be the first production Cobra, CSX2001, and two of the rare “King Cobras.”

One car I can personally confirm will be there is CSX2006, made famous by Tom Cotter in his 2007 Road & Track article, “The Watermelon Man and the Cobra.” This car was bought new by jazz great Herbie Hancock in 1963 when he was feeling flush from the royalty check he’d just gotten for the song “Watermelon man.” It’s the oldest production Cobra still in the original owner’s hands.

I had seen the car in 2003. I was checking out a shop in preparation for buying my first BMW, and there was a Shelby GT-350 there that belongs to one of the owners. I have some second-hand GT-350 stories by way of my brother, and that got us talking about Shelbys. It happened that the annual Shelby Club Christmas Party was the following Saturday, and they generously invited me to attend.

During that event, they showed me a dusty white Cobra hidden out of sight in the back of a shed. I knew it was an old car from the odd hood badge, which did not feature the familiar snake image, but I had no clue about its significance at the time.

A Christmas Party Invitation led me to be given access to a very old Cobra hidden in a corner of a shed. That was in December of 2003. I knew nothing else about it at the time.

Early Cobras had a different badge from the familiar snake-themed design of later cars (Inset)

It was not until seven years later that I thought about that 2007 R&T piece and made the connection. I’d have written about it then, but the people at the shop requested that I not reveal the location. I understood, knowing that could lead to a crowd of the curious, self-styled experts, and speculators, innundating the shop and making life miserable for them. They asked that I not publish pictures, either.

I will be revealing nothing now though, since the car will be displayed to the public, far away where nothing will connect it to its normal place of residence.

CSX2006 nine years later. All spruced up for the show, and looking none the worse for its enforced solitude.

Tom Cotter’s article mentioned Herbie was initially afraid to drive the car, it was so fast. But after his roommate Jazz Trumpeter Donald Byrd’s fender bender in it, Herbie’s anxiety abated, and from then on he drove it extensively. That accident now shows up as some cracking in the paint over the right front wheel arch.

The reunion show is included in the Museum entrance fee of $8.00 for adults. Information at http://museum.nhra.com/index.asp

Anyone who’s intrested in the glory days of sports-racing cars owes it to him/herself to attend. Weather is forecast to be glorious.

Special Delivery

It’s a Really Big Country!

The Road Trip Itch

Just under four hours will get you to Detroit from Los Angeles on Delta non-stop. If you need to drive a car you found in Meadville, Pennsylvania, from Detroit to Gig Harbor, Washington, it’s whole different story. It took us three days and some heavy driving.

I am no stranger to such road trips. I once did 7,300 miles in a VW starting in Fairbanks Alaska and stopping in places like Columbus, Ohio, and Pensacola, Florida, before finally landing in Southern California. But I was young and dumb then, and I’ve learned my lesson now – mostly.

Chilkat Pass, 1970. About 500 miles into a Road Trip that would eventually eat up 7,300 solo (not counting hitchhikers)  road miles – all in a 1968 Volkswagen with Automatic Stick Shift.

You never really lose the itch once the Road Bug has bitten you. Even marriage and kids doesn’t quiet it. We once did about 5,500 miles in just two weeks to take the kids to a Wallace family reunion in Central New York State, killing our overloaded car. That’s fodder for another blog, though.

This story is about a car of course – a 2008 Mercedes-Benz E350 Station Wagon. That’s the one with Mercedes’ version of All-Wheel Drive, “4Matic.” For the literary-minded, that last bit is what’s called “foreshadowing.”

My brother found the car, a replacement for his similar 2001 model with 170,000 miles on it, in a nationwide AutoTrader search. It was in Meadville, Pennsylvania, and while the economics of the choice may be questionable, cross-country auto transport was rejected in favor of driving the car home. Since my brother’s airline pilot career had wrecked his back, a solo trip was out of the question, but what are brothers for?

He buddy-passed me onto that Delta non-stop and met me at Detroit Metro on Wednesday night. Then, after closing a nearby Italian restaurant (we forgot about the 3-hour time difference), we sacked out in the Fairfield Marriot.

The Henry Ford Museum

Thursday we picked up a rental car and drove to the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn. Wow! What a place! Worthy of several blogs by itself!

Acres of exhibits range from the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile to the prototype Richard Buckminster Fuller Dymaxion Home. In between are enough displays showing home life, agriculture, industry, transportation and social justice through the history of the United States to keep you occupied for days.

It took a huge steam plant to produce a whopping 150 horsepower in the mid nineteenth century. All that power had to be transmitted to machinery with shafts and belts. Still, it was an improvement on water-driven machinery. I attribute the Gothic style to an expression of industrial-age exuberance.

Powering machinery with electricity offered huge advantages in plant layout flexibility and production efficiency. This is a steam-powered electrical generating plant installed in 1912 at Ford’s Highland Park plant, one of several. Compare its 6,000 horsepower to the steam plant of a half century earlier.

Transportation Progress

The visitor with even a casual interest in trains, planes, and automobiles can find something to inspire awe, delight, and somber reflection here.

The Pinnacle of Steam Train Power

Brother Duncan provides scale for the huge Chesapeake & Ohio Allegheny 2-6-6-6 Locomotive 1601 that hauled coal trains in the mountains of West Virginia. Although the Union Pacific Big Boy 4-8-8-4 locomotives had more drive wheels and climbed steeper grades (1.14% in the Wasatch Range), the larger fire box of the Alleghenies allowed them to produce more power, capable of hauling as much as  7,600 tons up the 0.57% grade east from White Sulfer Springs to Allegheny.

Firsts and Favorites

Ford Motor Company has a rich history of exciting automobiles, from the commercial success of the Model T and Mustang to racing victories in multiple formulas. As you’d expect, most of these are represented at the Museum’s Driving America theme exhibits, along with other significant cars of all kinds.

The Summers Brothers’ Goldenrod, a thirty foot long hot rod streamliner powered by four fuel injected Chrysler Hemi engines (note the four exhausts, duplicated on the other side), went 409.277 on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in 1965, and held the Land Speed Record for 27 years. 

 A four cylinder engine based on a design by Harry Miller, mounted in front and driving the rear wheels, had powered most of the Indianapolis 500 cars since the ’30s, when Colin Chapman showed up in 1963 with his Lotuses, with Ford V8s mounted behind the driver. It took two years, but in 1965 Jim Clark drove this car to a win, ending the roadster era (and the superstition against green cars) for good.

Legend has it that Henry Ford II wanted to buy Ferrari, but was rebuffed by Il Commendatore Enzo Ferrari in a way that left him determined to beat Ferrari at his own game. The result was the Ford Mark IV, designed for but one purpose – to win the 24 hour race at Le Mans, France. They did it four times. AJ Foyt and Dan Gurney drove this car in its only race, winning in 1967 and covering about 500 miles farther in 24 hours than we went in our three day Odyssey. Then it went straight into the Museum. It remains the only win at Le Mans by American drivers on an American team driving American cars.

Somber Reminder

1961 Lincoln Parade Car SS-100-X. This is the Presidential Limousine in which President John F. Kennedy was riding in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. After the events of that day, it was rebuilt as it is shown here, with armored enclosure for the passengers.

There’s Something in the Air

Ever since the Wright Brother first powered flight in 1903, Henry Ford had been fascinated by flight. He even tried to create an airplane with the mass appeal of his Model T. That one never really worked, but the Trimotor did. While aluminum aircraft construction was not unknown, the Trimotor was unusual for having some aluminum control surfaces. The Douglas DC-series aircraft made it obsolete.

The Henry Ford has not one but two replicas of the Wright Flyer. This one depicts the First flight in 1903. The one that duplicated that flight on its 100th anniversary, hangs in the Lobby of the IMAX theater.

Only 199 Ford Trimotors were made, but it prepared the way for acceptance of passenger air travel.

The Douglas DC-3 inaugurated the era of practical commercial passenger flight. Over 14,000 were built, and they were used for just about every conceivable mission. When this one was hung in the museum (yes, the whole airplane) it had flown more air miles (more than 12 million) than any other aircraft. It taxied over 100,000 miles!

Down to Business

Museum browsing is great for passing the time, and I enjoyed the Henry Ford as a diversion while I waited for Duncan to get back from Erie with the Mercedes, but if we were to get me back home to meet a scheduled appointment the following Wednesday, we needed to hit the road.

We did, leaving at about 05:30 the next day. Breakfast near Battle Creek (no Kellogg’s cereal at McDonald’s) and then Lunch in Princeton, Illinois, deep into the Midwest plains. We’d done about 350 miles in six hours and crossed into the next time zone.

Skies in Michigan were exactly what I remembered as a kid in Grand Rapids and Battle Creek – leaden and depressing. What I did not recognize were the bare fields. I am guessing there will be little serious flooding of the Missouri and Mississipi in the spring, because we saw only a few flakes fall and practically no snow on the ground.

Crossing that Mississippi headed into Iowa, I snapped a cell phone pic and sent it home, only to confuse my wife by not saying “river.” Skies ahead were clearing and we were feeling pretty good as our average speed climbed on roads with 75 mph speed limits.

Murphy’s Law?

Sunny skies, a smooth road, a luxurious car and NPR on the radio – what’s not to like? Beware! Hubris can smack you upside the head at the most unexpected times.

One hundred thirty miles west of Princeton, Duncan was cruising at a calculated margin over the speed limit just west of Iowa City when there was a sudden rush of noise. Looking back I saw the broad vista of the great plains unobstructed by our car’s tailgate. It had opened, seemingly of its own accord.

Duncan gently and judiciously pulled far off the roadway onto the shoulder and we surveyed the situation. Nothing had flown out. The heavy bags were back there and the lighter stuff was in the back seat where we could reach it. But the powered tailgate would not close on its own, and would not latch when closed manually.

There was not much to do but proceed cautiously and see if we could get it attended to. It was about a quarter to one so if there was a Mercedes dealer nearby, we should be able to find it and get help.

Ah, technology! When I packed I had forgotten the car had a GPS Navigator, so I had brought our Garmin portable GPS unit. I input “Mercedes-Benz” and it quickly found the dealer in Des Moines, with a phone number. They said they had a station wagon expert who they assured us could quickly find and correct the problem.

We were pretty sure it was our unfamilarity with the car that was the problem, and an hour and a half later we were proved right, sort of. The tailgate expert looked at it and mumbled something about relays and switches, and reached up, grabbing the hatch handle. There was a “thunk” and two buttons on the lower edge of the hatch lit up. He punched one, and the hatch smoothly excuted a graceful arc, settling into place and securely latching itself.

Whether it was dirt or a bit of ice (temperatures were holding steady in the low twenties) or whatever, the latch handle had been stuck in the open position. All were immensely relieved, and in typical luxury dealer fashion, they responded to our query about a car wash by offering to wash the car for us. All this without a mention of a charge.

The whole incident might have taken only a few minutes but for a distraction sitting on the showroom floor. It was another E350 wagon – a brand new 2011 in white with luscious leather inetrior the color of Lindt Extra Dark chocolate. It had a deeply discounted price on the windshield, and Duncan was sorely tempted. He was on his phone to his credit union and insurance company, trying to see if a deal could be thrown together on short notice.

About half way through our first day’s drive, we had an unscheduled stop. Cudos to Mercedes-Benz of Des Moines, Iowa, for extraordinary service. They found the stuck handle that caused the hatch to fly open just west of Iowa City, and gave us a free wash. This is the white 2011 version of our car that had Duncan seduced – almost. The photo can’t convey the depth and richness of the special order ”Chestnut” leather.

It did not work out, and we hit the road once more, having burned precious daylight.

Nebraska is a Loooonnnggg State.

We crossed the Missouri, passing Omaha around dinner time, and I was remembering the last time I was there. We’d had the strange idea that being in that particular town, we ought to be able to find a terrific steak. We did not then, and we did not this time. Maybe they ship them all out of state. Maybe you just have to be a native to know where to look, but Garmin was no help and I ended up with an overcooked imposter at a hotel restaurant.

I suppose if one were looking for tourist attractions there would have been something here and there to break up the trip, but when you are just trying to get somewhere by a certain time, Nebraska is just long. With the road mostly following the North Platte River, it’s understandable that it would be nearly flat driving, which it was for the 360 miles to Colorado. The upside is that the road was good and we could make good time.

Snow in Colorado in February – What a Surprise!

Almost the minute we crossed the State Line into Colorado, it began to snow. It was just light flurries, blowing across the road at first, and we thought we’d be able to make the Denver Suburbs before calling it a day. Not quite. The snow got thicker, and we started to see snowplows going the other way. Still, the accumulation on the road was minimal, and our all-wheel drive gave us confidence – up to the point when we could no longer find the centerline in the road.

About 11:00, Garmin found a Ramada Inn at Sterling, Colorado. We’d driven about 1,125 miles that day, on the road maybe 17 hours. Beds never felt so good!

Side Trips and Snack Stops

With his youngest son attending the Air Force Academy, there was no way Duncan was going to pass this way without a visit. That’s why we took Interstate 74 south from Nebraska instead of staying on I-80 to Idaho. Duncan was an F-4 jockey in the Vietnam era, so Martin will wear the gold badge granted descendants of officers who flew in combat.

We were well and truly into the Rockies these days, with temperatures as low as 3 degrees. We drove straight north back to Nebraska, turning west on I-80 into Idaho following the route of the fabled Lincoln Highway. It was good to leave the plains and see some real mountains, at least what we could see of them under the lowered skies.

Route 66 gets all the press, but the Lincoln Highway was first to cross the continent. We pulled off at its summit in Wyoming and took a couple of pictures. Most of the passes over the Rockies are higher than this one, currently at 8,640, so even though its’s farther north, we figured it would be open. It was. There’s an information center there and a 35 foot high pillar of rock with a huge bust of Lincoln on the top.

Duncan and his E350 4Matic. Its all-wheel drive was useful for a few hours at the end of our first day’s drive. We were too wimpy to slog through the snow to get a better picture of the Lincoln Highway Monument in the background, with its huge bust of Lincoln.

The stop in Colorado Springs cost us daylight and 200 miles compared to the first day’s drive. Wyoming is even longer than Nebraska, mostly on a high plateau, but there is some variation in the terrain to break the monotony. Not that you’d see much at night, when we drove most of it.

It’s strange to drive a hundred miles and see no more than an occasional twinkle from a remote ranch building in the middle of a snowy nothingness, and come upon a brilliant glow on the low clouds, signaling the huge Sinclair refinery by Rawlins, about half way between Cheyenne and Rock Springs. Used to four dollar plus premium gas in California, we were gratified to find that the local source provided the same stuff at $3.199 a gallon. When we stopped I was tempted to buy a cowboy hat that fit perfectly, just so I could say I’d got it “Somewhere West of Laramie.” If you’re into advertising history, you’ll get what I mean.

We passed by the eastern side of the northeast arm of the Great Salt Lake, and stayed the night in Burley, Idaho - a railroad junction along the snake river about half way beween Twin Falls and Boise.

I was the one with the opportunity to pick them up, while Duncan was off getting the car, so there’s no one else to blame for the dearth of snacks the first day. All we had were some pretzels and a small bottle of V8. We remedied that in Laramie at a Walmart, where we bought a cheap foam cooler, milk, bottled drinks, juice, bread, peanut butter (and a knife to spread it with), fruit and a tray of finger food veggies. From that point we seldom stopped at restaurants, except for breakfast.

The rest of the trip continued trouble-free, with the addition of absolutely gorgeous weather for driving through Eastern Oregon and Washington. It started snowing as we got near the Snoqualmie pass, but it was above freezing by then so we motored on and made it to Gig Harbor in time for a dinner of Cuban style pork roast ala Sylvia.

Gig Harbor Washington, northeast of Tacoma. That’s Dunc’s boat, Good Thunder, under a tan cover on the left side of the dock.

Duncan and Sylvia (and his daughter Regan while she attends school nearby) live on Good Thunder, a 62-foot wooden twin-diesel-powered boat. She’s a beamy 17 feet wide, so accommodations are snug but comfortable - compared to Sea Legs, the 32-foot old Chris-Craft on which we spent summers as kids on Lake Macatawa, near Holland, Michigan.

Good Thunder. It has all the mod cons – three cabins, two (very compact)  baths; two generators; galley with stove, oven, full-height fridge, dishwasher, microwave, and compactor; laundry; and sewage treatment plant. We watched Downton Abbey on their flat-screen TV.

The Fun Stuff

To bookend the trip there was more car stuff. Duncan is a Ford man (So was Dad.) with a special soft spot for sixties’ Mustangs, Shelby GT350s and Cobras. His most recently completed project was a very special ’66 Mustang.

This looks pretty much like a stock 1966 Mustang 6-cylinder Convertible. (Note there are no V8 badges on its cheeks) The sharp-eyed will note the front end is lowered and perhaps appreciate the Minilite-style alloy wheels.

I’m pretty sure that’s not a stock steering wheel. The extra gauges are a common accessory of the day, though. The automatic transmission has a shift kit for instant response.

It left the factory with a lowly 101 hp six-cylinder engine, and while the replacement says it’s the 289 cubic inch K-Code Hipo V8 of the day, inside it’s anything but. It has 355 cubic inches, and a custom grind cam running a roller valve train. It sounds great and goes like gang busters.

Postscript

After the stop in Des Moines, Duncan could never get that white E350 out of his mind. All across country he was on the phone with the dealer, his insurance agent, and his credit union. On the way to the airport he got a text from the dealer with a bottom line within what he’d been working toward. The last text he got said “come and get it.” Stay tuned.