Way back in 1910, when the Darracq automobile company of France, decided to sell their Italian factory to the Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili (ALFA), few probably thought the company would be producing a car the likes of the 1938-’39 Alfa-Romeo 8C 2900 Berlinetta. An example of one that not only survived, but won Best of Show at both the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in California, as well as the Kirkland Concours d’Elegance a few weeks later in Washington State.

This 1956 Alfa-Romeo 1900 SS touring coupe, owned by Charles Morse, on display at the Kirkland Concours, epitomizes the beauty of an Italian hardtop. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)
 
Jon Shirley, a former executive with Microsoft, who has made a specialty of collecting and restoring significant Italian cars, owns the car that won at both concours. The story of the 8C 2900 Berlinetta, such as the touring car Shirley owns, explains why Italian cars continue to fascinate us.

The 8C 2900 Berlinetta was introduced in late 1937. It was primarily a special order model that enticed 30 customers directly to the factory, during the following two years. They came as the result of the car’s custom bodywork, which was displayed in the very first concours organized before World War II.

It came with two wheelbases available, a long wheelbase of 118.1 inches and a shorter wheelbase of 110.2 inches; however, as is the nature with specially built cars, it has been found the wheelbases vary even from those numbers, on surviving, individual cars.

The track was 53.1 inches, front and rear, on all models. The shorter chassis was the most popular and most all of the surviving 8C 2900 Berlinetta coupes that made their way to the States, are of this model.

A welded, light gauge box-section frame kept the chassis weight to about 1,600 pounds on the short wheelbase model. It was 1,700 pounds on the longer wheelbase cars.

The construction of the engine was as unique as the swooping curves of its body. It consisted of two blocks of four cylinders, with central gear drive to a supercharger and twin overhead cams. Light alloy was used for the cylinder blocks, crankcase and valve covers, with steel liners in the bores; however, the cylinder head was not detachable. Maintenance was then, as now, not something that was factored into Italian cars by their engineers.

The 8C 2900 Berlinetta’s engine – 2905 cc – had a compression ratio of just 5.75:1. Bronze valve inserts were used instead of direct seating into the cylinder head. There were two superchargers, each with its own Weber carburetor, serving a block of four cylinders. The output given for the engine was 180 horsepower at 5,400 rpm, with an engine speed of 5,700 rpm within reach without danger of blowing the engine.

Backing up that engine was a multiple dry-plate clutch and four-speed gearbox using straight-toothed gears; they were located, along with the final drive, in an alloy case at the rear of the car. Swing axles, located by radius arms, telescopic shock absorbers and a transverse leaf spring, helped put power to the road.

The wire wheels were 19-inches in diameter and had knock-offs to make changing them out easier. Discs did not accomplish braking, back then; however, those big wheels allowed for 17 inch, 2.5-inch wide, hydraulic drum brakes. Pirelli Corsa tires were standard fare.

The design was so solid, that even after WWII, people who raced them won races. One won the 1947 Mille Miglia. The late Phil Hill, the only native born American to win a F1 championship, campaigned a convertible version; back when there was racing through the woods around Pebble Beach.

Of the thirty-three 2900Bs built by Alfa-Romeo, at least 22 are believed to exist, showing the degree to which collectors appreciate the car.

With a wheelbase of about 110 inches, Jon Shirley’s concours-winning Alfa-Romeo 8C 2900B coupe is one stylish ride. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)

Shirley’s Alfa-Romeo wasn’t the only unique Italian car at the Kirkland Concours. A 1953 Fiat V8 Ghia Supersonic, owned by David and Ginny Sydorick looked so futuristic, it was hard to believe it was designed over 50 years ago.

The 1953 Fiat Ghia Supersonic was one far-out looking design. Setting next to a Ferrari at the Kirkland Concours, it more than holds its own. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)

Fiat’s then in-house designer, Dante Giacosa, knew that a two-liter V8 engine demanded a more sturdy construction than Fiat had been using. His solution was to design the frame from welded sheet metal and have the coachwork paneling welded to that structure.

As things were done in Italy, back then, chassis fabrication was farmed out to specialist maker Siata and Fabio Luigi Rapi was hired to actually design the bodywork; he gave it a special look with two large headlights in the grille and two smaller lights in the fenders. The second series body had four headlights in the fenders to comply with GT regulations in Europe.

The V8 engine in the Supersonic was designed from two cylinder blocks, mounted on a common crankcase. To keep the engine low in height, and thus allow for aerodynamic bodylines, the angel between the cylinder banks was set at 70 degrees. A centrally mounted camshaft operated the valves by pushrods. Two Weber carburetors, meant 105 horsepower; and with triple Webers, output was 115 horsepower.

The contractor and design house of Ghia built twelve Supersonic bodies; 8 of them on an V8 chassis, three on a Jaguar chassis and one on an Aston Martin chassis.

The car owned by the Sydoricks is the only one made with a functional hood scoop.

With Italian cars such as these, still around, it is no wonder Alfa-Romeo plans to call its upcoming, limited edition – 84 planned – 444 horsepower V8 coupe, the 8C Competizione, in memory of a heritage that is priceless.

Ed Shadle has a dream. It is to use a F-104 Starfighter jet fighter plane, sans wings and retrofitted with a powerful turbine engine and hand-crafted aluminum wheels instead of rubber tires, to set a new world land speed record.

Shadle has set speed records at the Bonnevile Salt Flats in the street roadster. Back in 1993, he took a roadster based on a 1927 Ford model “T” body, powered by a 258 cubic-inch Chevrolet V8, to 159.43 mph.

But admittedly, a jet plane on wheels is an entirely different story.

“The key is understanding the handling characteristics,” said Shadle. “Right at trans-sonic is where it gets a little weird. But I should be able to break the sound barrier.”

Ed Shadle stands with the North American Eagle, a retrofitted jet plane he hopes to take back the LSR with for America. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)

Shadle and his friend Keith Zanghi, who has helped him with earlier speed efforts, decided back in the late Nineties, that a way to break the land-speed record barrier on land would be to use a vehicle that had already been designed for high speeds. That led them to purchase a used F-104 from a scrapyard in Maine for $25,000.

The former jet fighter was in rough shape when they brought it home to an airplane hangar that Shadle had at the Shady Acres Airport in Spanaway, Washington. It had been stripped of everything but its fuselage and was covered with graffiti and punctured with holes; however, when stripping the paint, they found a number underneath the plane’s tail that seemed to indicate a historic connection: 763.

Upon writing to the Air Force Historical Research Agency, requesting to know something about his F-104’s providence, he was told it had served mostly as a research airplane at Edwards Air Force Base. In reading the plane’s maintenance records, Shadle discovered that Chuck Yeager, the first man to break the sound barrier, had once flown the very plane Shadle now owned.

Consider that a good sign.

The J79 engine in Shadle’s F-104 LSR vehicle has been modified by S&S Turbines in Fort St. John, British Columbia. The turbine blades have been coated with molybdenum in order to reduce wind resistance. Additionally, the fuel nozzles have been resized to increase performance. The output is now approximately 52,000 horsepower.

So how does all that power get translated to the ground? Through a special set of hand-crafted aluminum wheels, similar to those used by Noble and Green when they broke the World Land Speed Record in 1997 at Black Rock, Nevada.

The set of five wheels – two in the middle, two in the back and one in the front – cost $94,000 and were built by Eagle Machine in Abbotsford, British Columbia.

Of course, at some point, Shadle has to stop his car. To do that, LEV-X, a manufacturer based in Port Angeles, Washington, produced a set of magnetic brakes. They are the only brakes of their kind in the world. They are actuated using a hydraulic setup that activates a cylinder, that then pushes a magnet to within an eighth of an inch of an aluminum rotor; that causes deceleration without rubbing metal-to-metal.

Reportedly, it will stop the North American Eagle from 200 miles-per-hour in about a mile.

Shadle has taken the North American Eagle to 350 mile-per-hour on the dry lake bed of El Mirage, California. To break the land speed record, he’ll probably need to go to the Black Rock Desert, instead of Bonneville, since the turf is more predictable.

He’ll also need money. Every time the North American Eagle makes a run, it costs about $20,000 in kerosene and worn parts alone. Shadle estimates that it will take another $500,000 more, than the $150,000 already spent by himself and Shadle, to break the land speed record in 2009.

Can Shadle, Zanghi and their team find the sponsorship money to do what needs to be done? Moreover, can they hit that sweet spot in time and bring the Land Speed Record back to America? Don’t count them out.

It strains credulity but just when you might think that collector cars would tank about as badly as refinanced housing, they seem to have become a commodity right there with gold as something you can look at for security. That may be hyperbole. Time will tell.

But consider this. The weekend when the U.S. House of Representatives went into overtime to discuss how much money the country might need to avoid the engine of the economy seizing up, an auction held in Portland, Oregon saw people bidding as if it was business as usual.

A 1970 Dodge Challenger, equipped with a R-coded, 425 horsepower, 426 cubic-inch Hemi-head V8 sold for $125,000 (plus 8 percent buyer’s fee). Now this wasn’t just a cobbled together “clone” or “tribute car” or “replica.” It was, in fact, a matching numbers piece of automobile from the days when Chrysler Corporation was still a fully functioning member of what was called “the Big Three.” For those who doubted the car’s authenticity, there was the fact that Chrysler muscle car expert Galen Govier reportedly looked this car over and verified the fender tag decoding as accurate. Documentation of that, and other items, went with the car. Add in a N96 “shaker” hood, a 727 automatic transmission and a Dana 60 Posi-trac rear-end and you have a car that is just the kind of rolling museum piece, collectors want.

How about this one? A 1950 Buick Roadmaster Estate station wagon, with wooden side inserts, commonly called “a woody wagon,” sold for $65,000 (again, plus an 8 percent buyer’s fee).

The seller of the Buick was beside himself, having made about $25,000 on the transaction. The buyer, whom the seller claimed was “buying up all the cars here,” was not available for comment; so his motivation remains unknown. But with multiple auctions coming up in January, down in Arizona, possibly he was going to take the car there, hoping to sell to someone whose Euros meant that they could keep bidding active until the sale hit $100,000 or more. Assuming the mess the country is in continues into the following year, he could hold onto it longer, with the goal of cashing it in, when the time is right.

But the action wasn’t all involving cars just to be used as investment vehicles. For reasons we all know – troublesome electrical systems, prone to rust – the vintage British cars proved that some of the best buys in a ratty economy aren’t all on Wall Street.

Just $4,000 purchased this 1979 Austin Mini panel wagon in Portland, Oregon. That’s about $25,000 less than a new Clubman and with probably as much investment potential – maybe more. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)

A 1979 Austin Mini panel truck sold for a bid of just $4,000. As the seller admitted, and one could readily see under the klieg lights of the auction docket, there was some rust along the lower rocker panels. But if you went back to Britain, where such cars are now found on used car lots, the price in U.S. dollars is the same; and then, you’d have to pay to ship the car back to the states – about doubling the price. So it makes that rust look less important. Besides, that’s what a TIEG welder is for.

Then there was the very pretty 1966 Jaguar S-Type sedan, powered by a 3.4 liter, double-overhead camshaft 6 cylinder engine. Painted a stunning Silver Blue with a dark blue and wood interior, it had formerly belonged to the Chief of Police for Sherwood, Oregon. He’d had someone strip the body down to bare metal and repaint the car.

The engine of this Jaguar has also had its upper end redone; and fitted with new cylinder head, valves, timing chain and water pump. With all that work and its dependable former owner, it brought just $9,100. Of course, it was bought by a collector car dealer so someone will have another shot at this car, with several thousand dollars tacked on to it.

Then there was the 1977 MGB, with 17,000 miles on the odometer. Those miles were believed to be original, meaning not 117,000 with a rollover but just 17,000.

The looks of the car made that appear to be the case. The owner, an optimistic guy, had a reserve set at $9,500; however after bidding stalled at $6,000, auctioneer Mitch Silver persuaded him to drop his reserve and accept whatever last bid was hammered down. The little MG ended up selling for $6,100.

Total gross sales hit over $600,000 and about 120 vehicles were offered. That included one 2006 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic that didn’t sell (best bid was$21,000) and two trailers, one of which that did – a very cool 1950 Apache tent trailer for $2,000). So while far from a scientific demonstration, it does seem to indicate that the panic on Wall Street is not occurring at the collector car auctions across America – not yet, in any event.

As description reader Ed Bishop said at this auction, in the midst of working with Mitch Silver to sell a 1957 Corvette, equipped with a 283 cubic-inch V8 backed up a four speed manual transmission, “While everything else is going down in value, the cars are not going down in value. The cars are going up in value.”

Then, in fulfillment of his words, moments later the Corvette sold for $41,500.

For more information on Silver Auctions, look at www.silverauctions.com Their auctions are broadcast live through their web site.

A DOHC 16 valve in-line four-cylinder engine displacing just 255 cubic inches, yet fully capable of producing 500 horsepower, normally aspirated, powers the “Zink Pink” Champ car of John and Barbara Nelson. Thing is, the car was built for racing way back in 1955. Honda wasn’t the first to exploit the full potential of four bangers. Offenhauser, who made the engine in the Nelson’s car, was doing that long before the S2000 ever made it to America.

Equipped with “Pent-roof” combustion chambers, so as to allow two valves on either side of the pistons, John Nelson says, “It’s a simple engine, but overbuilt in many ways. Dean Bonner, who used to run cars for Atlas Van Lines, told me it was capable of 1,000 horsepower, running a mix of about 20 percent nitro. That crankshaft in the bottom end was built that strong.”

The venerable Ford flathead (middle) shows up in some Golden Wheels racecars. (Photo courtesy of Fredericksen Classics)

Offenhauser also built the transmission, with three speeds forward. It looks somewhat like the transmission you’d find in a 1930s Ford model A.

“Champ cars started out using model A transmissions, since Ford had such good steel,” explained Nelson. The rear end is a Halibrand “quick change” transmission; so called because there is a removable center section, useful for swapping out different gears, for different track conditions.

And what about that color, so-called “Zink Pink”? Well, it is, in fact, the same color you’d have found on a 1955 Ford Victoria.

“The story is that, when A.J. Watson, who built this car for owner John Zink, he wanted to pick a color that would stand out,” explained Nelson. “He looked out the shop door and saw a 1955 Ford Victory and that was it. It’s now painted the same ‘Dusty Rose and Shawnee White’ it was then. Bill Seidelman, who did the paint for me, got the original color formulation from Ford.”

The Nelsons’ car is just one of many in Golden Wheels, a fraternity designed to keep alive and running the midget ¾ race cars that the likes of A.J. Foyt cut their teeth in. The drivers range in age from 45 to the early 80s. About half of them are ex-professional racers with championships in their background.

Nelson, whose age we didn’t ask, said, “My dad raced with Barney Oldfield.

I used to race on the streets. Then, I became president of a hot rod club, The Kings. My dad and I built a midget racecar that’s still in the club.

“The car I have now, had (actually) been converted into a midget racecar; it was 88 inches, when I got it. A section had been taken out of the frame. We – Bill Seidelman and myself – put a piece back in and now it’s back to 96 inches.”

The cockpit of most racecars in Golden Wheels are sans roll cages. (Photo courtesy of Fredrickson Classics)

The club consists of midgets, sprint cars, roadsters and one Champ car, that of the Nelsons. All of these machines are open wheel, oval track racing cars. Most have been restored to the era in which they were built, so they do not have roll cages.

Four-cylinder Offenhauser engines, Ford flatheads (valves not in the cylinder head), Chevrolet and Chrysler Hemi V8s, along with a variety of in-line six and four cylinder engines, can be found. There’s even a four-cylinder engine from a Chevrolet Vega in one car.

The racecar with the most unusual engine is Hal Schlegel’s 1946 Solar Engineering built midget with a Hal engine. There’s no connection between Schlegel’s first name and his car’s engine, other than mere coincidence.

“They’re rarer than hen’s teeth,” said Schlegel of the engine in his car.

The double-overhead camshaft Hal has two series 60 (Ford) connecting rod set-ups, welded together on each cylinder. The Hal four-cylinder engine had five main bearings versus an Offenhauser three.

The Hal engine was the brainchild of Harry Hosterman, who cast his own block after putting his own DOHC cylinder head on a four-cylinder model A block.

Schlegel’s car engine displaces more than the standard Ford block, but he isn’t sure exactly how much more. It is a “full Hal” with Hal block and cylinder heads and the pistons are “right up against the valves,” he explained.

Hosterman made some 220 cubic inch engines – the exact displacement of most Offenhauser midget engines – to compete with Offy on the track. Those 220 cubic inch engines were known as “Big Hals.”

Golden Wheels came into being in 1976, when the midget racer Pike Green, was told by another driver at a funeral, “We need to find another way to meet, other than this; according to John Nelson. That led to the formation of Golden Wheels, based in Washington State; but with members from throughout the northwest.

They visit tracks in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia, Vancouver. This year, there’s a race planned down in Arizona.

Golden Wheels has as it goals, not only keeping oval track racecars running for exhibition races, as well as static displays, but also to help needy families or retired racecar drivers, who had fallen on hard times.

“We now help Sunshine Acres down in Phoenix and local food banks,” explained Nelson. Phoenix was where Pike Green ended up, before he passed away himself, a few years ago.

Golden Wheels has had about 10 exhibition races scheduled for this year, so far. There were also static displays, usually held in conjunction with car shows.

The cost of gasoline and diesel fuel has impacted many of those in Golden Wheels ability to get their racecars onto the tracks. It led to the cancellation of one exhibition race in April, as they were not able to field as many cars as they wanted.

Now with the price of diesel and gasoline settling down a bit, things look better. There’s three more exhibition races, tentatively scheduled: the South Sound Speedway in Tenino, Washington on September 11-13; the Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Oregon on October 3 and 4th; and finally, down at the Havasu 95 Speedway in Lake Havasu, Arizona on October 29-November first.

Consider this group proof that indeed, everything old is new again – sometime.

Golden Wheels web site is www.goldenwheelsfraternity.com – Terry Parkhurst

Way back in 1970, now defunct American Motors lopped 18 inches off a car they sold called the Hornet, fitted the end result with a rear end that included a hatch-back lifting rear window and door and called the result the Gremlin. It was their way of rushing to the fore and beating the then Big Three with a domestic produced compact. It sold well initially and soldiered on for 9 years, before succumbing to a lack of product upgrades and changing market.

That bit of automotive history recalls the more recent entry of Volvo into competition with the likes of the Volkswagen GTI and the Dodge Caliber with a much more modern hatchback, its C30. If you take the Volvo S40 sedan, lop off about 8.5 inches from the rear and put a hatchback at the rear, you’d have the basic idea behind the S30. But when you see it in person, it’s much more eloquent than that.

Probably the most accurate historic precedent is Volvo’s own venerable 1800ES, produced circa 1972-‘73. At the time, it was considered a mini-station wagon; but in truth, it was a hatchback, with an all glass rear hatch with a handle to open it, stuck right on the glass. Elegant it was but it sold poorly then, although now it is amongst the most collectible of Volvos, with the high value of a 1972 or ’73 1800ES set at $18,100, according to the NADA Classic, Collectible and Special Interest Appraisal Guide and Directory.

The C30 has an almost identical all glass hatch lid at the back. It not only looks timeless, but you can lift or lower it with the touch of just two fingers.

The interior of the C30 has a center console that is reminiscent of modern Swedish furniture design. There a space behind the expanse of brushed aluminum that sweeps down, houses the sound system and HVAC controls, and finally goes up and over the transmission tunnel. Certainly, Charles Eames could not have done better.

What differentiates the interior’s modernity from the pack of confusing HVAC controls that seem standard on most Japanese and German cars these days, is the simplicity of that old standard, the control knob. Fan speed and temperature, along with sound sytem volume and tuning, are four major knobs, with a grid of small buttons occupying the space in between.

The rear deck has “T5” emblazoned upon it. It stands for the turbocharged DOHC (double-overhead camshafts, belt driven) 2.4-liter five-cylinder engine whiuch powers the C30; producing 227 horsepower and 236lb.-ft. of torque. Five-cylinder engines can sometimes be rough at idle and sounding peculiar at speed, the result of the uneven cylinder count, hard to counterbalance with even the best crankshaft; however, the engine in the C30 T-5 seemed generally smooth on the uptake and at idle. For that, Volvo deserves kudos.

There’s a window, but no framing, at the back hatch of the C30. (Photo by Terry Parkhurst)

The Borg-Warner KO4 turbocharger is a light pressure unit, producing just 0.53 atmosphere at full boost. The result is that you feel it coming on in a very linear and full way, in the lower gears; in fact, wheel spin is pretty easily induced, coming off the line. However, things seem to peter out when you row the gearbox into the higher gears, at legal speeds.

The C30 is available only as a front-wheel drive car; and in that sense, it is the perfect counterpoint to the VW GTI. (The GTI’s silbing, the R32, is all-wheel-drive.) It’s hauling 3,201 pounds versus 3,155 pounds of the GTI.

The C30 will ratchet up from a standing start to 60 miles-per-hour in about 6 seconds – Volvo says 6.2 seconds, to be exact. That’s not bad but certainly tuners would want more. In fact, the tuner market is exactly the one Volvo would like to explore with this car; however, only Volvo aftermarket parts supplier IPD has explored that with the C30 (see www.ipdusa.com)

The close-ratio, six-speed manual transmission has a decidely mechanistic feel to it. This after, all is a Volvo and they still seem to be built in a more sturdy manner than most cars. But the clutch has lmited travel and feels overmechanized. If you are not used to a manual transmission, you might feel a bit challenged; if that’s the case for $1,250 you can get a five-speed automatic transmission instead.

The suspension consists of independent struts, located by control arms, coupled with coil springs and an anti-roll bars, up front; followed by independent suspension in the rear, consisting of one trailing link and two lateral links, per side, coupled with coil springs and an anti-roll bars.

The damping on the shocks is set up for a bit better straightahead cruising, than the GTI. Driving over expansion joints is less jarring, and yet, handling is still pretty good. The Volvo feels more substantial and bigger than it is (103. 9 inches, wheelbase; 70.2 inches wide; and 57 inches of height).

Volvo has struggled in North America of late, since the cars are built in a country using a currency that is much stronger than our dollar; but the cars are sold and paid for, using that dollar. In fact, Volvo announced, a few weeks back, that it plans to close as much as 30 percent of its dealerships. Long time dealerships, such as one in Baltimore, Maryland, have already been shuttered.

The C30 we drove listed at $25,700; but that included options such as: metallic paint at $475; front fog lights at $295; sport gear shift knob at $100; sport steering wheel at $150; cruise control at $185; and a set of body modifications costing $300. You might want to consider buying a C30 sans all the add-ons – do you really need cruise control on a sport hatch? – and adding your own body modifications kit, as time and money allow.

The C30 coupe is hoped to achieve sales of just 8,000 cars, which comes out to one of every 10 Volvos sold. Of course, if you’re a collector, the fewer sold the better, eh? – Terry Parkhurst

Hot August Nights (HAN) just held its 22nd celebration of automobiles and rock-and-roll music – a complete week of cruises up-and-down Virginia Street, a swap meet at the old cattle stall on the out-skirts of town, a car show across from the Atlantis Casino and a collector car auction, across the street from the casino.

Sometimes, little cars bring big money. This 1958 BMW Isetta sold for a bid of $36,000 at the auction conducted by Silver Auctions, at Hot August Nights. (Photo courtesy of Goldenberg Enterprises)

Since the audience for this major money maker for the self-advertised “biggest little city in the world,” Reno, is aging Baby Boomers, the musical acts last week included one of those groups perhaps best left in the Sixties, Herman’s Hermits, and what’s left of the Beach Boys (Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and some studio musicians; it seems.)

But for those of us caught sweating both the heat of summer and the price of gas, around the country, the real news was what occurred within the Reno-Sparks Convention Center. It was there that Silver Auctions, headed by Mitch Silver based in Spokane, Washington, staged a four-day collector car auction of about 900 cars, trucks and even a few motorcycles; it has become the benchmark auction for street rod and muscle car values.

Certainly, there are those who might debate that, given the fame garnered Barrett-Jackson on SPEED. However, those in the know understand that Barrett-Jackson is really an anomaly fuelled by foreign money for the most part. Silver’s auctions pulls the real car guys (and gals), living across the U.S. of A, who grew up with street rods, maybe made their money in construction and want to add to their rolling stock, or get back into the vintage car or street rod hobby.

Moreover, this isn’t an auction such as those being held during the Monterey Historic Weekend, on the Monterey peninsula in California. There isn’t a small fleet of business jets coming in, bearing people trading in Euros. The folks at Hot August Nights probably either drove here in a piece of vintage American iron, or piloted an RV to the RV park on the outskirts of Reno; or failing all that, flew in on Southwest Airlines (the auctioneers’ airline of choice).

Within the market for street rods, there’s a range of prices here. The 1932 Chevrolet five-window coupe which sold for $51,000 (plus an 8 percent buyer’s fee) on Friday night represents the higher end; but then, this wasn’t just a randomly thrown together car.

Ron Attebury of Attebury Street Rods in Morgan Hill, CA. Custom paint and upholstery built the Chevrolet. Real steel counts a lot in the street rod world and this car had a lot of that. The main body was original metal, albeit with a top lowered two inches. The frame was original steel; however, the fenders were fiberglass with stainless steel fasteners. The hood was aluminum, fitted with removable side panels. Back in the rear, the taillights were both recessed and molded into the body. The fenders were “bobbed and tubbed,” street rod-speak for shortened and rolled into the underbody.

The engine was the ubiquitous (in street rod circles) 350 cubic-inch Chevrolet V8, a recent variant of ZZ4 code, set up to run with an aftermarket fuel injection system; backing it up was an “350” General Motors automatic transmission.

The front end consisted of a Mustang II front end – probably the only part of that car that survives for the most part – and an independent rear suspension, consisting of a Corvette third member with inboard disc brakes. Coil-over shock absorbers were fitted at all four corners. And while with muscle cars, documentation helps, in the street rod world awards garnered shows the work involved is worth bidding on. In this case, the car had garnered a second place win at the 2000 Grand National Roadster Show in the Full Fender category.

While this was a little less than you might have seen similar cars in years past at HAN, it was much more than a kit car T-bucket street rod, sporting an in-line four cylinder engine of indeterminate manufacture yielded. The T-bucket rolled onto the docket on Saturday evening and sold for just $8,100, plus buyer’s fee.

But this auction also gets a fair amount of distinctly non-American iron. David Goldenberg, a collector car dealer from West Linn, Oregon brought a 1958 BMW Isetta and a 1963 Triumph TR4 to this auction. Two years ago, he sold a very similar car, a 1957 BMW Isetta, at Hot August Nights, for a commanding price of $38,500 (plus a buyer’s fee, which was 6 percent, at that time).

This year, Goldenberg sold the Isetta he brought to a man from Florida, who’d actually been bidding on the car Isetta, brought to Reno, two years ago.

Goldenberg, who like the sellers most involved in the bidding process, stays close to his cars and lets the auctioneer know how he feels about the bids being offered; as well as whether or not he wants to drop his reserve (a set price which the auctioneer must meet to ensure a sale), on cars where he has established a reserve.

“He would have (likely) paid more, but we didn’t know how far he’d to push him.”

The Triumph TR4 roadster was a two-owner car, painted red with a black interior; and most importantly, it had just 86,000 (actual) miles of use, since new. Documentation established that the car was bought new in Van Nuys, California; and somehow, it made its way up to its second owner in Oregon, a few years later.

The Triumph brought $20,750 (plus 8 percent buyer’s fee) and Goldenberg said he felt it could have brought more. Consider this: the average value for a 1964 Triumph TR4 roadster, according to the current edition of the NADA (National Auto Dealers Association) Classic, Collectible and Special Interest Appraisal Guide is $14,150; and the high value is $25,700. So he might have a point.

But the bids that took cars home seemed a bit lower than in years past at this auction – good news for those wanting to get in a vintage muscle car or street rod, not such for those selling.

Friday afternoon – the same time and day, Goldenberg offered his cars – saw a 1969 Plymouth GTX two door hardtop, in condition two (combination of good original pieces and some restorative work) sell for $32,000. That was followed, two cars later, by a 1956 Chevrolet series 210 sedan, with just 17,000 original miles, and sporting modifications such as a later vintage 350 cubic inch, code ZZ4, V8, selling for a $30,000 bid. Around the same time, a 1961 Chevrolet Impala two-door “bubble-top” (thin rear pillar hardtop) fitted with a legendary 409 cubic-inch V8 engine and retrofitted with dual, four-barrel carburetors, backed by a four-speed manual transmission, bid to $31,500; but didn’t sell at that.

As if to prove that this auction had something for everyone, lot #508 about an hour before the auction shut down on Friday, was a 1942 Jeep CJ5, in average condition, which sold for a bid of $6,000.

Saturday saw some of the old Hot August Nights heavy bidding on Tri-Five Chevrolets with a 1957 Chevrolet Nomad station wagon being bid to $42,000; but with no sale made.

The market may be going towards a new generation of collector cars, if you consider the fact that a 1972 Buick Riviera “boat-tail” two door, offered just 30 cars later than that Nomad sold for a bid of $15,500.

But, since it always takes more than one auction to establish a trend, while this might be the time to invest in a vintage Isetta you might want to wait on purchasing a boat-tail Riviera. – Terry Parkhurst

Complete results will be posted at www.silverauctions.com, later in the week of August 17-23.

Do you remember when the fleet of cars lapping Daytona or Talladega looked vaguely akin to the cars you’d see on the street? Well then, the Historic Stock Car Racing (HSCRS) series is for you. It was founded in 1994 and its purpose as an organization is the restoration, preservation and continued competition of former NASCAR stock cars.

You’re not going to find that rolling doorstop, the Car of Tomorrow here. Instead, you’re going to find a rainbow collection of multi-hued variants of the best the General, Ford and Chrysler had to offer before stock cars began to loose their soul. Think pre-millennium machines.

NASCAR these days are really more about the drivers, than the cars.

“We’re driver dependent,” admitted Steve Peterson, technical director for the NASCAR Nextel Cup series, a few years back to the New York Times. “They’re the heroes. We’re not talking about a Peugeot engine versus a Renault engine. In NASCAR, it’s about Jeff Gordon versus Tony Stewart.”

But in HSCRS, it’s all about the racecars themselves and the series’ members believed in the continuing competition of those racecars. These are owners and drivers who believe that historic thoroughbreds belong on a racetrack and not in a museum. Call it living history.

There are just two categories for all cars: Vintage for cars aged 1948 through 1980; Historic for cars aged 1981 through 1994. Cars are not accepted for competition without a documented racing history. One cannot make a “new old race car,” if you will, and expect to be a part of HSCRS.

The HSCRS is big on giving back to the community; as a result, it focuses on fundraising activities for children’s charities.

HSCRS brought what was literally a colorful selection of vintage NASCAR racecars to Pacific Raceways, just outside of Kent, Washington on the July fourth weekend, as part of the Northwest Historics. The Historics are a vintage automobile race, for all sorts of cars, staged to benefit Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. It generally features vintage sports cars, sports sedan, open wheel racecars (such as Formula Vee or Formula Ford) and even some vintage CanAm cars.

Nine cars came to Pacific Raceways: a 1968 Ford Torino (blue/gold) driven by Jimmy Castle; a 1980 Oldsmobile 442 silver/black) driven by John Davis; a 1987 Chevrolet driven by Gary Sousa; a 1991 Chevrolet Lumina (yellow) driven by Vic Edelbrock Jr.; a 1992 Ford Thunderbird (green/white) driven by John Scherer; a 1993 Chevrolet Lumina (rainbow) driven by Steve Schoellhorn; a 1993 Chevrolet (NACAR) driven by Dan Verstuyft; a 1994 Ford Thunderbird (blue) driven by Garland Self; and a 1995 Ford Thunderbird (blue) driven by George Fraser.

Ernie Irvan originally drove the 1991 Chevrolet Lumina, in NASCAR competition, driven by Vic Edelbrock Jr. this year.

Pacific Raceways is 2.25 miles long, with 9 turns and a straightaway that measures about a quarter mile. The straightaway dumps right into the first turn, which is a tight twist and turn-around into turn three and then down a hill at about a 35-degree angle and into two more turns. The result was the big NASCAR cars couldn’t ever achieve the speeds you’d see at Talladega or Daytona. It was reminiscent of the days when stock cars raced at the great, now defunct, track down in Riverside, California.

Steve Schoellhorn in his 1993 Chevrolet Lumina got around the course with a best time of 1:36.351 minutes, in a 7 lap race on Saturday, to take the checked flag for first. Dan Verstuyft did the best time around the track, with a lap time of 1:35.124 minutes and achieved the best overall speed with just 85.152 miles-per-hour. Of course, on the straightaway, the cars could hit 130 to 140 mph, before they’d have to get on the brakes, in a big way, to make it through the turns.

Sunday’s race started with a ground pounding, full throttle pounce by Garland Self in the 1994 Ford Thunderbird. His first lap around the track was done in a scant 1:34 minutes (timed by reporter’s watch). But by the second go-‘round, Steve Schoellhorn had taken the lead and John Davis’ 1980 Oldsmobile 442 had to coast into the pits, apparently with engine problems.

On the third lap Self passed Schellhorn going out onto the straightaway. By the fifth lap, going onto the straightaway, John Scherer had managed to position his 1992 Ford Thunderbird into the lead, with Schoellhorn hot on his tail, followed by Garland and then George Fraser in a 1995 Ford Thunderbird; and on the final lap, Garland Self was in the lead with his ’94 Thunderbird, followed closely by John Scherer in his ’92 Thunderbird.

The following weekend, HSCRS brought its show to the Portland Historics races. There are two more races, later this year, where they will appear: the SCCA Historic at Infineon Raceway on September 19-21, and the Thunderhill Shelby Club Event on October 18 and 19. Further information can be gleaned at the series website: www.hscrs.com – Terry Parkhurst

In June, Silver Collector Car Auctions held an auction in the parking garage of the Bellevue (Washington) Hilton Hotel.  This auction was notable in that the two “MoPar” (Chrysler) cars which sold, and brought the most response from the crowd, were two fat-fendered relics from the immediate post-WWII period.

Collector car dealer David Goldenberg, brought a very fine 1949 Dodge Wayfarer two door sedan, up from West Linn, Oregon that sold for $9,800 to another collector car dealer. The latter is considering taking it to Hot August Nights, in Reno NV next month, where Mitch Silver conducts a four day and three evening auction extravaganza.

The other car of note was like a book-end to the Wayfarer. It was a 1949 Plymouth two door sedan, an estate car of just 113,000 miles since new, originally from Arizona.  It was brought to this auction by attorney and collector car aficionado, Graham Fitch.

Resplendent in paint that looked fresh, it sold for $13,000.

At this same auction, a 1969 Dodge Charger, powered by a 383 cubic-inch V8 and sporting just 56,663 original miles, bid to $30,500 against a reserve of $35,450; so it remained in the hands of the man who brought it. However, a 1972 Plymouth Satellite, retrofitted with a 383 cubic inch engine (originally MSRP sticker showed it came with a 318), sold for $9,000.

While this is far from a scientific study, it might suggest that muscle cars, which for years took all the air out of the room whenever they crossed the block at auction, might finally be subplanted by some other interesting examples of Chrysler history. At least, we could hope so. - Terry Parkhurst

There are two ways to look at the Maserati Gran Turismo: the best car Maserati has ever made and an extreme bit of bad timing. Both are perhaps correct.

Of course, with the Gran Turismo, you are buying more than a car itself; you’re buying a legacy. Its heritage stretches back 60 years ago, when the Modena manufacturer launched 58 models of the A6 Gran Turismo styled by Pininfarina. Ten years later, it was the turn of the first standard GranTurismo, the 3500 GT, a car which marked a turning point for the company as it shifted its attention from racing cars to road going production, turning out 1983 models of the 3500 GT in seven years.

Then, the Maserati Biturbo of the Eighties, which had a propensity for self-immolation, sullied the Maserati legacy. Additionally, its styling was reminiscent of a highly evolved Honda. Happily, those days are a distant memory.

The engine compartment houses the same 4.2-liter V8 engine (405 horsepower at 7100 rpm), capable of a top speed of over 175 mph, you’d find in the middle of a Ferrari F430. The cylinder head features chain-driven, double-overhead camshafts. And with acceleration of 0-62 in 5.2 seconds, an exciting drive and thrilling performance are guaranteed.

It is mated up to a ZF six-speed automatic that seems positively telepathic about the driver’s intentions, most especially using the paddle shifts, available for shifting on the steering wheel column. There is also the option of shifting via a center console; or if you simply want to worry about where you’re pointing this car, you can of course simply put it is “Drive” and go.

That wonderful engine is why the second way of looking at this car is perhaps accurate: mileage is just 13 mpg in the city and 19 mpg on the open road. Of course, if you can afford to pay $118,525 for a car, maybe mileage doesn’t matter. Admittedly, this car would likely be a third, fourth or even fifth car in the right household.

The dash and the instrument panel are well laid out and user friendly. Like the salesman who gave a brief walk-around when we picked up this car from the service department of Ferrari/Maserati of Seattle said, “Italian cars tend to be pretty straight-forward on controls.”

The interior is not only slathered with all manner of well-tanned and colored leather, it is big: 51 cubic feet up front and 32 cubic feet in the rear. The back seat reminded one rear-seat passenger of mid-Sixties Thunderbirds, the ones that had a rear seat that looked like a sofa. That’s not a bad thing.

On the road, the only drawback seemed to be the steering, which is heavy on center. Perhaps much of that comes from the fact that this car weighs in at 4,374 pounds, which equates to 10.8 pounds per horsepower generated. However, there’s enough boost in the variable power assist that goes along with the rack-and-pinion, so it’s not much of a problem, even at the higher reaches of speed.

Which brings us to speed. Considering that we were responsible for providing $1 million of liability insurance for two-and-a-half days with this car, the fastest we got it was 80 mph. (Take note of someone else’s post here about how Porsche drivers can avoid prison to understand why.) Not only did it show that the sound of the engine at speed, with windows down, provides a better tune than anything on the radio, it also showed the grip on this car, and its ability to track, indicates that its nickname should be “Tenacious-M.”

For the record, the suspension, which allows such performance, consists of unequal control arms up front, coupled with coil springs and an anti-roll bar. In the rear, you’d also find coil springs and an anti-roll bar; however, the unequal length control arms are this time coupled with a toe-in control link. That latter item gives the Maserati an unnerving ability to recover from a power-on oversteer situation.

The exterior of this car looks good in side view and from the rear. The front end, with the large chrome trident that is the long-time symbol of Maserati – found also on the sides of the roof – rest inside a front air intake that seems better suited to a vintage vacuum cleaner. But given the air needs of the engine, form probably follows function here.

What of the future for this car? Well, consider this. The success of the Maserati GranTurismo is now well established. The high-performance sports car from the House of Trident continues to amaze and captivate the international market. Its world début in Geneva nine months ago has been followed by launches in each of the 59 countries in the Maserati network. The launch program was completed at the end of the year with the introduction of right-hand drive. The end of 2007 found the GranTurismo parked in the garages of no fewer than 1326 customers, with orders totaling 2333.

“The sign of a first rate intelligence,” F Scott Fitzgerald once said, “Is the ability to hold two conflicting thoughts, at the same time.”

Maybe the same things apply to cars, and if so, consider the Maserati GT the ultimate paradox, as well as one grand performer. – Terry Parkhurst

A Blue Maserati Gran Turismo

Folks looking for answers to the question “how does one stay green and have fun with their car” found several answers at the 16^th annual Greenwood district car show in Seattle, Washington on the last Saturday in June. It was a record turnout for the show with vehicles stretching for a mile, on either side of Greenwood Avenue North.

Harold Shew hovered over his slightly modified 1963 Plymouth Valiant station wagon like a proud papa. It was, after all, the car “I used in work for 6 years and put 400,000 plus miles on (it).”

However, to look at Shew’s car, you’d never have known it. While the exterior and interior looked fine, the $6,000 investment he’d made was in the engine compartment. The 170 cubic-inch Slant 6 engine had a Clifford intake manifold with a two barrel carburetor and chromed air cleaner setting atop it.

Shew claimed mileage up to 30 miles-per-gallon and said his next improvement would be a wood mount for the water pump; as a way to reduce heat.

But a block south was the area where the Seattle Electric Vehicle Association (SEVA) held forth, with cars that were guaranteed not to burn one iota of gasoline.

John Wayland brought his 1972 Datsun 1200 electric-powered drag racecar the “White Zombie” up from Portland, Oregon. It showed that electric cars don’t have to be boring. The white Datsun, retrofitted to run with two electric forklift motors, sandwiched together under the hood, can hit 60 miles-per-hour from a standing start in just 2.9 seconds. In the quarter mile, it has achieved an elapsed time of 11.46 seconds and a trap speed of 114.08 miles-per-hour.

Further down the mile, Golden Wheels racing fraternity showed that double-overhead camshaft technology is nothing new. Several ¾ “midget” racecars, designed to be smaller versions of the venerable Indy roadsters of the 1930s through early ‘60s, sat. They sported vintage double-overhead camshaft cylinder heads on in-line four cylinder engines of Offenhauser, Ford and obscure independent designs.

In the midst of it, was the John Zink Special, a vintage Champ racecar, painted a dazzling shade of “Zink Pink,” more commonly known as the “Dusty Rose” found on the 1955 Ford Crown Victoria.

Just across the street from Golden Wheels, setting on a trailer, was the Top Fuel (AA/FD) Slingshot dragster campaigned in the Sixties by Jim Crooke. It featured a full restoration by Jim Green Performance Center with upholstery by Tony Nancy (who did the original upholstery), Paint by SO-CAL Speed Shop and artwork and lettering by Tom Kelly and Dennis Ricklifs.

Most people stopped and then slowly investigated the engine, which is a rarely seen 1967 Ford single-overhead camshaft 427 cubic-inch V8, with an aluminum block. Additional, enhancements included: a Vancharger supercharger, Enderle fuel injector, Crane crankshafts, Mickey Thompson magnesium intake manifold and an Schiefer clutch and magneto.

Jim Crooke stills drives the vintage dragster in exhibition races.

So car junkies take heart. The demise of the private automobile in the mainstream media is, as Mark Twain once said about the report of his own demise (while he was still above ground), “Greatly exaggerated.” - Terry Parkhurst