1951 Studebaker Champiuon convertible.

I’ve never owned a Studebaker, but I’ve always envied members of the Studebaker Drivers Club Inc.

You’ll notice it’s called a “drivers” club and not an “owners” club like most other organizations that celebrate a vintage marque. That’s because Studebaker people know that the real fun of old cars is in the driving, not rolling them off trailers and onto the show field.

While I appreciate the fact that some classic restorations are just too valuable to be driven, I also believe its more fun to own an old car that’s regularly operated on the road than one that’s, in effect, a museum piece..

That’s why I’ve always admired the Studebaker Drivers Club – and the Horseless Carriage Club of America (for vintage vehicles up to 1915) too. Members believe their cars are best enjoyed on tour, not in a static display.

With that in mind, if you don’t own a Studebaker, maybe you can beg a ride on Saturday, Sept. 4, because the SDC has declared that to be International Drive Your Studebaker Day. And, if you do own a Stude, why not invite someone not as fortunate along for a ride? It may be a real eye-opener for your typical Chevy or Ford owner who’s not hip to how good Studebaker engines were or how their styling was far ahead of the curve.

Before it built its last car in Hamilton, Ont. in 1966, Studebaker was one of the oldest transportation companies in the world, having made horse-drawn vehicles, including the famous Conestoga wagons that opened the American West, since 1852.

But even though it was an established company by the time the horseless carriage era arrived in the U.S. in 1893, it took Studebaker a while to abandon wagons for automobiles.

Studebaker, founded in South Bend, Ind. by brothers Clem and Henry, made its first cars there in 1902. They were electrics, built in modest numbers until 1912. Although the company experimented with gasoline-powered cars, it elected to act as agents for other manufacturers such as Garford, E.M.F. and Flanders. But in 1913 Studebaker began full production of its own 4- and 6-cylinder autos, and two years later built 45,000 vehicles – good enough for sixth place in U.S. sales.

The company prospered throughout the 1920s and was one of the few independent marques to survive the Great Depression, although sales had slipped from 105,005 in 1922 to 46,207 by 1938. But the company’s fortunes turned for the better with the hiring of Raymond Loewy as chief stylist in 1939 and sales rebounded to 117,091 in 1940 thanks to his stylish and economical Champion.

After World War II Studebaker shocked the automotive world with Loewy’s modern new bullet-nosed Champion which helped it record sales of over 200,000 per year from 1949-51. By then the Champion’s styling was looking a little dated, so Loewy created the stunning 1953 redesign that gave the car a lower European look and resulted in one of the most admired cars of all time – the 1953 Starliner coupe. That, in turn, morphed into the gorgeous Hawk series of coupes built from 1956-64.

The 1950s were tough years for the remaining U.S. independents with the demise of nameplates such as Packard (which had merged with Studebaker in 1954), Hudson, Nash, Willys, Kaiser and Frazer.

Studebaker’s last great design was Loewy’s fibreglass-bodied Avanti of 1962, but it couldn’t save the company. By then Studebaker was relying on sales of its compact Lark series, but its future was doomed when the Big Three decided to get in on the small car game with the Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant and Chevrolet Corvair.

Studebaker production ceased in South Bend in 1964, but continued at its Canadian assembly plant in Hamilton for two more years.

Although the brand is gone, it’s not forgotten – especially by the 12,500 members of the Studebaker Drivers Club.

If you know one of them, see if he’ll take you out for a spin on Sept. 4.

 Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

Bill Wertheim details his 1966 Acadian Canso

at the ACCCC Concours d’Elegance in Port Hope.

    A 1966 Acadian Canso is not a car you encounter at every show … but one sporting New York license plates?
    So when I saw the Canso sitting on the show field at this year’s 47th Concours d’Elegance staged by the Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada, I just had to check it out. With or without Empire State plates, this is a rare bird.
    Acadians were built by General Motors in Oshawa and sold only through Pontiac dealers in Canada from 1962-71. But calling these cars Pontiacs is incorrect, since the Acadian was a separate make, using Chevrolet engines, bodies and platforms, but with Pontiac design cues such as the famous split grille.
    The first Acadians all were based on the Chevy II and offered in three trim levels – base, Invader and top-of-the-line Beaumont. Buyers could chooose from 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder or V8 engines, 3- and 4-speed manual transmissions or the Powerglide automatic.
    For 1964 and 1965 the Beaumont grew, becoming a retrimmed version of the intermediate Chevy Chevelle. The name Canso then was applied to the top compact Acadian model, equivalent to the Chevrolet Nova, and was available as a 2-door coupe, 2- or 4-door sedan and 4-door wagon.
    From 1966-69 the Chevelle-based Beaumont became its own separate make, while  the Acadian continued using the Chevy II/Nova body through mid-1971.
    The Canso I spotted at the Concours is part of a collection of vintage Canadian vehicles belonging to Bill Wertheim of Clarence Centre, N.Y. He also owns three Beaumont convertibles – a 1967 and two 1968s.
    Bill found the Canso on Vancouver Island, where it had been a C-gas racer at the now defunct Van Isle Dragway, competing for its original owner as “The Canadian Acadian.” Bill says he was told that while the car was “a terror or the streets,” it wasn’t all that quick on the dragstrip because it never had the right tires. When its racing days were over, the owner was paranoid the car would be stolen. So he proceeded to disassemble it and scatter the parts around the countryside.
    When he travelled to B.C. to see the ca, Bill discovered the body – or what was left of it – literally entombed in a windowless storage structure that had been built around it.
    “The fenders were here, the doors were there and the engine was hidden in a 1957 Chev,” he recalls.
    Bill had all the pieces unearthed and shipped back to New York and has been working on it for four or five years. “I’ve redone every nut and bolt,” he says, “making sure everything was correct.” There are just 43,291 miles showing on the odometer.
    The 1966 Sport Coupe is one of only 63 built that year with the L79 option package which includes bucket seats, a 4-on-the-floor manual transmission and a 327 cubic inch V8 making 350 hp. Only a handful are known to have survived. Bill has a copy of the original bill of sale showing it cost $3,839.45 when new.
    In the short time it’s been finished the car has won Junior and Senior firsts from the Antique Automobile Club of America and scored 400 out of 400 points at the recent Pontiac Nationals. At the ACCCC Concours it scored 98.4 (984 out of 1,000 points) and earned another first-place award.
     Bill comes by his love of oddball cars naturally, growing up in a house where his dad favoured the products made by the Kaiser-Frazer Corp. (1946-1955). Among the vehicles he remembers as a kid are 1951 and ’53 Kaiser sedans. His dad’s name was Henry J., so naturally he also had one of those ill-fated 1951-53 compacts named after Henry J. Kaiser.
    As for his Canso, Bill has photos of what it looked like as “The Canadian Acadian” and is tempted to return it to the way it looked in its racing days. I hope he doesn’t. The car is gorgeous the way it is and a completely authentic bit of Canadiana – even if it now lives in the United States.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

327 Chevy V8 produces 350 hp.

Canso has distinctive Acadian wheel covers.

1948 Chrysler Town & Country convertible owned by Blenus Wright.

    The enemy of most cars is rust, but owners of woodies had to fear dry rot as well as the dreaded tinworm.

    The solution was to produce cars like the Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country convertible of 1983-86 featured here last week, with faux wood trim to make it resemble the “real” T&Cs from 1946-48.

     But how much wood went into constructing those classic Chryslers from the 1940s?

    The answer is more than you’d expect, but not as much as you may have thought.

    Confusing? Well, here’s the deal.

    The B-pillars, doors, rear quarters and trunk lids of vintage T&Cs were made of white ash – about 500 lbs. worth. But by 1947 the darker mahogany inserts had been changed from plywood veneer to Di-Noc, a synthetic material developed by 3M. And that makes their restoration a little trickier than most. In fact, noted restorer Doug Greer, of Cobourg, Ont., says a 1948 Town & Country convertible recently completed in his shop is “the most labour-intensive car I’ve ever done.”

    Owner Blenus Wright bought the car in 2005 and Greer began a 42-month restoration in March, 2007. Wright drove it for the first time on Aug. 6 this year and the next day it made its debut at the Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada’s Concours d’Elegance in Port Hope, Ont., winning a first place with 98.4 points (out of 100) and the Peer Choice trophy as selected by fellow participants.

    Although Wright bought the car from a woody collector in Mineola , N.Y., it spent most of its life in North Carolina, which accounts for the fact that about 50% of the wood was still usable.

    New lumber was hand-picked by master craftsman Terry Barker of Cobourg from air-dried ash at a small lumber mill in Northern Ontario. Greer estimates that Barker spent at least 400 hours restoring and crafting new wood pieces, which must fit snugly together using finger joints. It then was given “between 15 and 20 coats of Spar urethane,” which Greer says is “much more user friendly than the original varnish.” Only the last three coats were sprayed, the others each were applied with a brush and then sanded.

    After blasting and straightening the steel skins for the doors, etc. Greer shipped them to Dennis Bickford’s Vintage Woodworks in Iola, Wis. There, thin sheets of Di-Noc film were vacuum epoxied to the steel and stained to resemble Honduras mahogany.

    “Dennis is the only one doing this kind of work and without his help we couldn’t have done this car,” says Greer.

    The owner wanted his car to be an authentic Chrysler colour called Sumac Red. Luckily for Greer, he found someone in Alberta with part of a dash from a 1948 T&C sedan that had been painted that colour at the factory. It was sent east and new Sumac Red paint mixed to match.

    The interior is “highlander plaid” from a new old stock roll found at a Chrysler dealership in the U.S. still in its original tube.

    Under that long hood is a 323.5 cubic inch Chrysler straight 8 producing 140 hp and attached to a 4-speed Fluid Drive semi-automatic transmission. This combination, plus the weight of the car, makes for very stately acceleration.

    Back in the day, these cars were virtually hand built. The woodwork was done by Pekin Wood Products of Helena, Arkansas and then shipped to Chrysler’s Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit where everything came together. When new, a 1948 Town & Country convertible cost $3,420 and was Chrysler’s most expensive model. Only about 200 survive out of 3,309 made that year.

    One of the few postwar cars recognized as a true classic by the Classic Car Club of America, a freshly restored 1946-48 T&C convertible now sells in the $225,000-$250,000 range.

 Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country convertible

 photographed at the Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada’s

 2009 Concours d’Elegance.

    The other day, while my 1947 Frazer Manhattan was being given the inspection my insurance company now demands every three years, I asked the appraiser if he thought 1983-86 Chrysler Town & Country convertibles ever would be collectable.
    “They are already,” was his reply.
    In one way I was pleased to hear that, because it means I’m not alone in liking these oddball cars.
But in another way I was disappointed because it means the prices are only going to go up.
    I never owned one of these cars, but did have a brand new 1979 Town & Country wagon for a while. I bought it because its fake wood trim looked less phoney than the vinyl that was slapped on other “woody” wagons of the era.
    Real wood was last used as decoration on the 1953 Buick station wagons and its use as an integral part of a car’s body structure was doomed when Plymouth came out with an all-steel wagon for 1950.
    But wood wasn’t limited to wagons and appeared on many special-bodied convertibles in the 1940s from automakers such as Nash, Ford, Mercury and, of course, on Chrysler’s famous 1947-49 Town & Country models.
    Those cars take tremendous effort to restore, simply because of all that wood, and regularly sell for well into six figures.
That makes the 1980s models look like real bargains because a good example should be obtainable for under $10,000.
    Town & Country trim was optional on 1983-86 LeBaron convertibles, often in conjunction with attractive Mark Cross leather interiors. The LeBarons was built on the 100.3-inch wheelbase platform of Chrysler’s ubiquitous K-car compact, which had saved the company from financial ruin in 1981.
    The car’s plastic woodgrain trim was meant to evoke memories of the 1947-49 models, and – call me crazy – but to my way of thinking it did just that. I find the “marine teak” vinyl siding and “ash”-coloured surround mouldings quite attractive.
    When introduced in 1982, the LeBaron became the first production American ragtop since 1976 when Cadillac had stopped building the Eldorado (billed back then – wrongly as it turned out – as the “last convertible”). The T&C package was optional the next year.
    Only 1,520 Town & Country convertibles were made in 1983, just 1,105 in 1984, 595 in 1985 and 501 in 1986. With a list price of $15,595 in ’83 the T&C was almost $5,000 more than the standard LeBaron convertible.
At first these front-wheel drive cars were powered only by a 95-hp, 2.6-litre “Silent Shaft” inline four made by Mitsubishi, which was mated to a 3-speed TorqueFlyte automatic transmission. A 146-hp, 2.2-litre turbocharged four built by Chrysler became optional in 1984.
    They were very well equipped for the day with power windows and locks, air conditioning and front bucket seats. They also had Chrysler’s Electronic Voice Alert, infamous for the warning that “a door is ajar.” An accessory continental kit added to their retro look, but according to some reports didn’t do anything to improve handling.
    The LeBaron Town & Country convertibles don’t appeal to everyone, which means prices never will go stratospheric, but they do have excellent parts availability (other than the plastic wood bits) and are a nice size that will fit in any garage. Plus, the power top folds down for open-air motoring and they were built in limited quantities.
    A T&C LeBaron station wagon was made from 1982-88, and the convertible’s “wood” trim was derived from this model. But the wagon isn’t nearly as collectable.
    The Town & Country name survives to this day on the top end Chrysler minivan – but without the fake wood trim.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

The 1911 Oldsmobile Limited (Bill Hutton photo).

    If you watch the Antiques Road Show you’ve seen the disappointment on the faces of people who thought their piece of old furniture was worth a small fortune only to discover its value was drastically reduced when grandpa decided to refinish it 50 years ago.
    Because of his handiwork – well meaning, of course – it no longer had that wonderful patina that only age can bring. The same belief is starting to gain momentum in the old car hobby as more and more people realize that while there are lots of restored vehicles, only a few still exist exactly the way the factory built them.
    And that’s especially true when the vehicle in question is 99 years old.
Two years ago I wrote about a 1911 Oldsmobile Limited 7-passenger touring car, one of only 159 made and one of just three known to exist. I had seen it at RM Auctions in Blenheim, Ont. where it was awaiting shipment to Pennsylvania for their big fall sale in Hershey.
    Even sitting on its shredded tires it was a beast, with 42-inch wheels and a wheelbase of 138 inches, powered by a massive 707-cubic inch straight six engine. I called it “The most awe-inspiring automobile I have ever seen.”
    Bill Hutton of Forest, Ont. read my story in the London Free Press and clipped it out. On July 2, Bill saw the car up close at the Antique Oldsmobile Club’s meet in Lansing, Mich., where it was being displayed. He sent me several photos of the Limited and, I’m glad to say, although it’s been cleaned up, it’s still in original condition.
    A car like this is too important to restore.
    And, thankfully, someone who feels that way – Jack Rich Sr. of Pottsville, Pa. – was the bidder who won the auction in Hershey, paying $1.65 million. He became just the fourth owner and the Limited became the centrepiece of his collection at the John W. Rich Automobile Museum in Frackville, Pa.
    According to the museum’s website (www.jwrautomuseum.com) Rich believed the car should never be restored, but because it is not a static piece of art should be brought back to a running, driving example. The engine, which was seized tight from being filled with water and mud in a 1936 flood, was removed and freed up over a period of many months. Only the most necessary internal components were replaced, enabling reuse of the major items, including the original cast iron pistons.
    A careful chassis and upholstery cleaning was performed. Pounds of river dirt and mud were removed and sifted through screens in order to separate and save the many loose items that had fallen off the car over the decades.
    Rich also had a new set of tires installed – although “new” is a relative term. The car’s third owner contemplated restoring the vehicle and in 1963 obtained a set of five replacement NOS Firestone tires – now priceless, because the moulds no longer exist – which were included in the auction sale. In July, 2009 the Limited was started up and driven for the first time in more than 90 years.
    Since then Rich has exhibited the car at a number of locations, including the Antique Automobile Club of America’s museum in Hershey. He also showed the car at Pennsylvania’s Radnor Hunt Concours in 2009, where it was judged best in class in the Unrestored category. The Limited also participated in the famed Pebble Beach Concours in California last year and won second place in the Pre-War Preservation class, losing to a 1936 Bugatti Type 57C Ventoux owned by Mark J. Smith of Melvin Village, N.H.
    All I can say is that Bugatti must be one helluva car!

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

Judges at last year’s ACCCC Concours d’Elegance evaluate the award-winning

1905 Stanley Model F owned by Peter Fawcett of Whitby, Ont.

    The origin of the term Concours d’Elegance goes back to France in the 17th century and literally means a competition of elegance. Back then, it referred to the French aristocracy parading their horse-drawn carriages through the parks of Paris.
    Now, of course, it refers to a competition of elegant automobiles.
The Americans, especially, have a love for Concours, with some of the world’s most prestigious events being held annually at the Pebble Beach golf course in California, Meadowbrook Hall in Michigan and on Amelia Island in Florida.
    For most Canadians, ever the poor country cousins, we can only look on in envy at all that automotive beauty and all the wealth that makes it possible. And then we Canadian lovers of vintage iron have to content ourselves with the local cruise night or show & shine.
    Well … not quite.
    While lacking the stature of Pebble Beach or Meadowbrook, there are two Concours in Canada. Each of them attracts a significant number of impressive vehicles, and that’s about all they have in common.
    The Concours d’Elegance Le Mirage, at an equestrian centre in Blainville, Que., north of Montreal, is now in its second year. Held the weekend of July 16-18, it is by invitation only and the cars are evaluated by a panel of judges that includes fashion designers, collectors and automotive journalists. The program includes a fundraising gala to raise money for research on Lou Gehrig’s disease at Le Mirage golf course in nearby Terrebonne.
    By contrast, Aug. 7 marks the 47th year for the Antique and Classic Car Club of Canada’s Concours d’Elegance which is open to everyone – not just ACCCC members – who want to have their unmodified vehicles assessed for everything from chrome to wiring, from paint to mechanical condition.
And unlike the Quebec Concours, which charges admission, the ACCC event is free to the public. It’s the car owners who have to pay a modest fee to have their vehicles scored by teams trained by chief judge Doug Greer of Cobourg, Ont., well known in the old car hobby for the quality of his restorations.
    Entries will range from the early days of the horseless carriage to vehicles as recent as 1990. There are 14 classifications including one for vintage motorcycles and two for trucks. In a change made to the judging process last year, cars no longer compete against one another. Any vehicle acquiring the necessary number of points will win a first, second, or third place award. As well, there are trophies for Best of Show (the car with the most points) and for Exhibitors’ Choice (voted on by participants). The winner of the John Legue Award, in honour of a past ACCCC president who died this year, is selected by the Concours committee.
    The ACCC’s Great Pine Ridge Region is hoping to give the Concours a permanent home in historic Port Hope, about an hour east of Toronto. For the second year in a row the event will be staged on the grassy playing fields of the town’s Agricultural Park.
    The date to pre-register is now past, but cars still can be entered the morning of the Aug. 7 event. The fee is $40 and vehicles will have to pass an ACCCC safety inspection and be equipped with a fire extinguisher.
    Gates open at 8 a.m. and judging begins promptly at 10. There is an awards dinner onsite at 6 p.m.
    It may not be Pebble Beach, but it’s a chance to see some of this country’s finest vintage vehicles.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

Intermeccanica’s Italia IMX show car of 1969. (Veloce Publishing)

    Some readers may have heard of Intermeccanica, builders of American-powered sports cars made in Italy in the 1960s and ’70s.
But many may not realize the company has distinct Canadian roots. Indeed, its founders – Frank and Paula Reisner – have to be counted among our great automotive entrepreneurs.
    Frank and Paula were refugees from war-torn Europe who came to Canada with their families – from Hungary and Czechoslovakia respectively – as teenagers in 1946. They met in Montreal and married after Frank earned a chemical engineering degree from the University of Michigan. In 1958, the newlyweds sailed for Europe on what was planned to be a three-month vacation.
    They ended up staying for 18 years.
    Frank and Paula were automobile enthusiasts and in 1959 started Intermeccanica in Turin, Italy, supplying performance parts for European cars by mail to American owners. The company flourished and soon Intermeccanica was building cars powered by big American V8s, but using steel bodies crafted with Italian style.
    Its history has been told for the first time in Intermeccanica – The Story of the Prancing Bull – a well illustrated and highly readable book from Veloce Publishing in the U.K. It was written by Vancouver journalist Andrew McCredie, as told by Paula Reisner. (Husband Frank died in 2001.)
    Intermeccanica’s first car was a Formula Junior racer in 1960. Their first sporty road car was the Apollo, designed and financed in California using a Buick engine.
    Ninety Apollo coupes and 11 convertibles were built between 1961 and 1965, when its U.S. backers ran into financial difficulty – a problem that was to plague Intermeccanica throughout its years in Italy.
Intermeccanica cars were always a hit at major auto shows, but that never translated into huge production volumes. The firm’s most successful production car was the Italia, built in both coupe and convertible form, and powered by a Ford V8, from 1966-71.
    The company then seemed poised for a breakthrough with a new car called the Indra, which was to be sold by General Motors’ Opel division in Germany. However, GM suddenly stopped supplying the Chevrolet V8s and other parts that were needed, which led to a lawsuit that ultimately reached the Supreme Court of the United States.
    By 1975 not only was their company faltering, but Italy was a political and economic mess. So the Reisners packed up their three children and headed for sunny California. It was a chance encounter at a used car lot in San Diego that set the course for Intermeccanica in the New World. When Frank stopped to look at a trio of Porsche 356 Speedsters, the car salesman said, “I could sell a hundred of these.” So Frank gave up designing his own cars to concentrate on reproducing one of his all-time favourites.
    After some failures and successes, in 1982 the Reisners moved again – this time back to Canada – and set up shop in Vancouver.
    Under the direction of the Reisners’ eldest son, Henry, Intermeccanica still builds high quality reproductions of the Porsche 356-A Speedster and Roadster RS, using fibreglass bodies mounted on steel frames of Frank’s own design and powered by Porsche engines. It also makes a replica of VW’s famous Type 62 Kubelwagen, originally built for the German army during World War II.
    Intermeccanica’s hood badge – a red prancing bull – has undergone a major change since the firm’s years in Italy, and now is superimposed on the B.C. provincial flag.
    Intermeccanica – The Story of the Prancing Bull is available in North America through Quayside Distribution services in Minneapolis at1-800-328-0590 or www.motorboooks.com. The price of the 192-page hardcover is $79.95.
    For information on the cars the company builds today, go to www.intermeccanica.com.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

RM founder and chairman Rob Myers at the July 1 press conference in Auburn, Indiana.

    July 1 isn’t usually a date that’s celebrated in the U.S., but this year it became Canada Day in the city of Auburn, Indiana.
    There weren’t any fireworks, just a bang-up announcement for the battered-by-recession old car hobby. Canada’s RM Auctions, of Blenheim, Ont., has purchased the 235-acre Auburn Auction Park from near-bankrupt Cruze Auctions.
    Ironically, Kruze once considered RM its major competitor.
The announcement was made by RM founder and chairman Rob Myers at a press conference in the Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg Museum.
For park owner Dean Cruze, it is “the end of an era, but a new launch for RM.”
    “I have known Rob for about 30 years,” Cruze said. “He is one of the most knowledgeable men in the car business and has one of the best – bar none – of any auction company in the world.”
    It’s no secret that Cruze Auctions had been in trouble for awhile. Its owner had the option of going bankrupt or selling to a number of interested parties, including eBay. In the end, he chose RM. However, the Canadians are assuming none of Cruze’s debt. This is an asset purchase only. RM is not buying Cruze Auctions, only its Auburn Auction Park.
    “My mess is still my mess,” Cruze said, “RM did not assume any of my liabilities.”
    Cruze has been given three years by the state of Indiana to pay off consignors whose vehicles had been sold but who received no money for them.
    “I could have gone bankrupt,” he said, “but I want to pay these people. There are 62 of them left. I carry the list with me and am paying them off one at a time.”
    Cruze will have no legal or financial interest in the new company.
Myers said that RM – with worldwide sales of more than $200 million last year – has made its reputation as a boutique company with specialized sales in Britain, Italy and across the U.S.
    “We have been turning down cars because we did not have the venue for them,” he said.
    Now they do.
    The purchase of the Auburn Auction Park will give RM a location where, at least twice a year, they will be able to sell a wide range of vehicles including muscle cars and customs – areas of the hobby in which RM has not been involved. Until now.
    “There is no doubt in our minds that this will become the largest (old car) auction in the world,” Myers said.
    And the new company, called Auctions America by RM, isn’t about to let the grass grow under its wheels. The first sale in the refurbished auction park will be on the Labour Day weekend in less than two months. The company hopes to offer between 1,000 and 1,500 cars.
    Ambitious? You betcha! But RM didn’t become the world’s largest auction house for quality automobiles by sitting on its hands since Myers started restoring cars in a single-car garage 34 years ago.
Holding a sale in Auburn this Labour Day also keeps alive a 40-year tradition of having an auction that coincides with the Auburn, Cord, Duesenberg Festival that weekend.
    “The very first collector car auction I attended was the one held on Labour Day weekend in Auburn back in 1974. The ACD Festival and auction weekend has been a tradition for me ever since,” Myers said.
RM Auctions partner Donnie Gould has been named president of the new company and said, “We want to bring the park back to its glory days and make Auburn the antique car capital of the world.
    “RM Auctions has so many customers active in the buying and selling of muscle cars, customs, street rods and just plain great old cars that we simply cannot service them all with our existing venues,” said Gould.  “We believe the Auburn location is ideal for this biggest segment of the market with its freeway access, huge parking lots, and motorcoach and swap meet facilities. We are all very excited to get started.”

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

1972 Lotus Elan +2 photographed in Colgone, Germany.

    An international group of journalists was milling about the cobblestone courtyard of Bensberg Castle in Cologne, Germany, shooting photos of the new 2011 Porsche Cayenne and Panamera V6 when something unexpected happened.
    A middle-aged German couple drove into the castle grounds, not to have a peek at the new Porsches but because they wanted a nice backdrop to photograph their new car – a 1972 Lotus Elan.
Such is the appeal of old autos that the journalists quickly forgot about the Porsches and happily began to line up shots of the Lotus, with the castle in the background.
    The car’s owners seemed a little nonplussed at first – it wasn’t exactly the reception they had expected – but quickly recovered their composure and began fielding questions in both German and excellent English.
    This was one of their first outings in their new acquisition, freshly imported from Great Britain. Their Lotus is a right-hand drive model and appears to be in excellent original condition. Except for the pop-up headlights its styling still looks fresh.
    The first fibreglass-bodied Elans were engineered by company founder Colin Chapman, and went on sale in 1962 as roadsters weighing just 680 kg. Initially you could order one built by the factory in Norfolk, England or as a do-it-yourself-kit car. The roadster soon was followed by a hardtop model (which the British call a fixed-head coupe) that also seated two.
    A coupe with longer wheelbase and 2+2 seating was introduced in 1967 and weighed 889 kg. About 5,200 were sold and it’s estimated that despite their rust-proof fibreglass bodies, less than a quarter of those cars still exist.
    The Elan +2 belonging to the couple at the castle is a 1972 model. It has a 4-speed manual transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, fully independent suspension and is powered by a 1,558-cc Ford engine with Cosworth twin-cam head. The inline four makes 118 hp and produces 108 lb.-ft. of torque. This gives the lightweight coupe a top speed of about 118 mph and the ability to sprint from 0-60 in 8.2 seconds – excellent performance for the day and still not bad by modern standards.
    Lotus enjoyed great sales success with the Elan, which led directly to the company’s success on the track. Team Lotus won the Formula One constructors’ championship seven times from 1963-78 and the Indianapolis 500 in 1965 with factory driver Jim Clark behind the wheel.
    Production of the Elan roadster ended in 1973 but the +2 carried on until 1975.
    Along with the Triumph Spitfire and Austin-Healey Sprite, the Elan was one of the templates used by Bob Hall and Mark Jordan at Mazda’s California design studio when they reinvented the roadster with the Miata (now the MX-5) in 1989.
    Lotus cars still are built in Hethel, Norfolk, on the site of a World War II Royal Air Force base. The company has changed hands several times since being sold to General Motors in 1986 and now is owned by Malaysian automaker Proton.
    Under GM ownership, a new M100 Elan was developed and sold from 1989-95. It featured a fibreglass body and front-wheel drive and was powered by a 1,588-cc inline four that originated with GM-owned Isuzu but was extensively modified by Lotus.
    Today the company has three aluminum-frame/composite-body sports cars available in Canada – the Elise (base MSRP $57,575), Exige ($80,500) and Evora ($85,880).

Write to Glen at glenwoodcock@canoemail.com

James Bond’s 1964 Aston Martin DB5.

    What’s the most famous car in the world?
    Now there’s a question to set off a hot debate.
    I think we can agree it would have to be a car millions of people have seen – so that would make it something viewed around the world on movie or TV screens.
    Well then, how about Herbie the Love Bug from the series of Disney flicks about the lovable VW starting in 1968? Or maybe the gull-wing DeLorean from Michael J. Fox’s Back to the Future trilogy from the 1980s? That’s probably the one that would get my vote, although Steve McQueen fans might opt for the green Mustang GT the actor drove in his 1968 movie, Bullitt.
    From TV there’s General Lee, the 1969 Dodge Charger featured on The Dukes of Hazzard. A good case can be made for the Batmobile, of both TV and movie fame, not to mention comic books.
    And from real life there’s the Lincoln limousine in which U.S. President John Kennedy was riding when he was assassinated in Dallas in 1962.
    However, RM Auctions says it’s none of those. The Canadian company, based in Blenheim, Ont., calls the silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5 driven by Sean Connery in the James Bond films Goldfinger and Thunderball “the world’s most famous car.” In association with Sotheby’s, it will be offered for the first time at RM’s annual Automobiles of London sale on Oct. 27, where it is expected to bring in excess of $5 million.
    The DB5 is chassis No. 1486/R and comes with all of “Q’s” gizmos (actually the work of Oscar winner John Stears of Eon Productions at Pinewood Studios): fake machine guns, bullet-proof shield, revolving licence plates, ejector seat, oil slick sprayer, tire-shredding spinners and smoke screen – all controlled from factory-installed switches hidden under the centre armrest.
    During filming of Goldfinger, chassis No. 1486/R was called the “Road Car” and is the one seen onscreen when Connery is at the wheel. It didn’t acquire all of the gadgets until the filming of Thunderball.
A second DB5, known as the Goldfinger “Effects Car,” because it had all the gadgets, was stolen from a private collection in Florida in 1997. It was never recovered and an insurance settlement in excess of $4 million reportedly was made.
    Aston Martin built two more modified DB5s for publicity tours before Thunderball’s 1966 theatrical release. One of those DB5s was on display at the Smoky Mountain Car Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tenn, for 35 years before it was sold at an RM in Arizona for $2,090,000 in January, 2006.
    That’s considerably more than the $12,000 paid by Philadelphia broadcaster Jerry Lee, owner of the “Road Car” for the past 41 years. It was only on loan to Eon Productions, and after the films were shot was returned to Aston Martin, which sold it to Lee in 1969.
    The car has a DOHC 4.0-litre engine coupled to a 5-speed manual transmission and produces 282 hp at 6,000 rpm. Befitting a “Road Car,” it has undergone a careful re-commissioning by RM’s restoration shop which returned it to running condition after years of static display in Lee’s home.
    Proceeds of the RM sale will go to the Jerry Lee Foundation, dedicated to solving social problems associated with poverty, with an emphasis on crime prevention. The foundation is responsible for the establishment of the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, for which Lee received a Swedish knighthood in 2008.
    And RM’s pre-auction estimate of $5 million may prove to be low. Bloomberg News has reported that if both Aston Martin and James Bond fans get in a bidding war it could fetch up to $10 million.

Write to Glen at glenwoodcok@canoemail.com