A great way to shake the winter blahs

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Car enthusiasts know it’s spring in Florida when Amelia is blooming with chrome and the quivering palms echo with the warble of high-horsepower exhausts. There’s no better tonic for shaking off winter’s rust than spending a few days luxuriating in bright sun, green grass, palm trees and exotic classic cars at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

The concours, founded by Bill Warner, has become one of the top classic-car events in the world, and for one day about 300 historically significant vehicles from all over the world pose on the Ritz-Carlton golf course like four-wheeled fashion models. About $2 million has been donated to local charities in 18 years.

This year was a special celebration of Harry Miller racecars and the 50th Anniversary of the Porsche 911 and Ford GT40. This was also the 50^th year of Lamborghini, and several were on hand.

Amelia Island is just northeast of Jacksonville and is one of a chain of barrier Sea Islands that was named after Princess Amelia, daughter of George II of Great Britain. For the last 18 years it has been home to the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance in March.

What’s so fetching about Amelia Island is the relaxed atmosphere and the eye candy. Beautiful cars, beautiful people and lovely scenery are everywhere you look. Want to take a test drive in the newest Porsche or Jaguar? Step outside the Ritz and there they are, waiting for test drives. Other manufacturers, such as Mercedes-Benz and McLaren, were on hand, as well.

Stroll through the hotel and you’re just as likely to pass a famous race driver as you are a family on vacation. You’ll bump elbows with legendary automotive personalities and even the occasion movie star, but what you’ll notice most are dozens and dozens of breathtaking automobiles outside the hotel. Auction houses Gooding and Company and RM conduct daylong collector-car auctions on days preceding the Sunday concours, and through their hands pass millions upon millions of dollars of exotic sheet metal. Gooding sold $28.1 million dollars worth of cars on Friday and RM sold just more than $26 million.

Throughout the event you will find books, literature, the Automotive Fine Arts Society gallery, clothing and automobile signs, brochures and posters.

The highlight of the weekend, however, is to be on the wet grass before dawn on Sunday as cars begin their entry onto the show field. They shimmer in the morning light as they roll down the cart path and onto the grass. The raspy exhaust of an old racecar bounces off the surrounding trees while big Duesenbergs and Rolls-Royces glide by in near silence. Some cars placed the night before take on an unearthly look when covered with dew or clear plastic sheeting.

Once every car and motorcycle is in place, more than 20,000 spectators stream in and the fairway is elbow-to-elbow for several hours. There are blazers and straw hats, sundresses and high heels but most visitors are dressed casually. Sometimes the collective energy of the crowd felt almost like a carnival, but that would be a very rich carnival since many vehicles were worth millions of dollars.

POMONA, Calif. — Ten buildings at the Pomona Fairplex house what has become the granddaddy of the hot-rod, custom-car shows: The Grand National Roadster Show, now in its 64^th year. Held on Jan. 25-27 this year, GNRS has become a ritual gathering of the faithful. Once known as the Oakland Roadster Show, it is the longest running indoor car show in the world, and this is the 10th consecutive year it has been in Pomona.

More than 500 vehicles compete for awards. The show culminates with the anointing of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster, a title that might as well be the Oscar of hot rodding.

Judging from the prominence of gray hair (and a few motorized scooter chairs) at this year’s event, hot rods and custom cars seem to appeal to a mostly older crowd. That’s pretty natural since the majority of these cars date back to the 1950s and 1960s, but it makes me wonder about the long-term viability of the hobby because I don’t see a lot of young people building hot rods or custom cars.

The roots of hot rodding reach back to the time just after World War II when young, mostly male enthusiasts, many just home from the war, modified their cars to make them faster or unique. They raced at drag strips, the dry lakes in California or the Bonneville Salt Flats. Speed, any way you could get it, was the goal.

For those who valued style over performance, customizers chopped the tops of ’50 Mercurys, Fords and Chevys. Hood ornaments removed, door handles were “shaved” and various grilles and taillights were grafted on. Wild paint jobs, often with flames or scallops, were the order of the day.

Metalworking geniuses, such as George and Sam Barris, used lead to smooth their work. In many ways, they were the American equivalent of European coachbuilders except they modified existing cars rather than building bodies from scratch. Today, the torch is carried by builders such as Roy Brizio, Steve Moal, Troy Trepanier and Dave Simard, to name but a few.

The roadster show is a throwback to those glorious days. The “suede palace” building houses traditional customs and hot rods, many painted in flat black primer. Originally, cars were left in primer because their owners couldn’t afford paint, but now, primer has become a fashion statement.

This year’s America’s Most Beautiful Roadster was a 1927 Ford track roadster owned by John Mumford of Portola Valley, Calif. Mumford’s car, built by Brizio, captured the essence of hot rodding’s early days. All of the parts are original and period-correct. The Ford V-8 60 engine has a very rare set of Ardun heads (only eight were made). Kirkman disc brakes and a Halibrand quick-change rear differential are icing on the cake.

Brizio’s workmanship is the picture of perfection, and the old-school look of Mumford’s car fits perfectly with the spirit of the event.

On a warm Saturday morning in mid November, John L. Baeke and Rick Hulett squirted some starting fluid into the downdraft carburetor atop a centrifugal supercharger and cranked an antique eight-cylinder racing engine to life.

With spits and sputters, this polished creation of W. W. “Cockeyed” Brown stumbled awake after decades of slumber. Billows of oil smoke spewed from the exhaust pipe and the racket was enough to rouse the ghosts of the 1922 Kansas City Speedway board track.

William Wayne Brown, who lived from 1886 to 1958, was a Kansas City automotive designer/machinist whose shop was at 127 Southwest Boulevard in a building that is now occupied by Missouri Bank. Baeke does not know the source of Brown’s nickname, Cockeyed, but he said it was a term of endearment that symbolized his many adventures.

Baeke, a retired physician from Overland Park, loves racers from the late 1920s and early 1930s. He discovered this engine in the Wisconsin garage of a fellow car collector several years ago. “It caught my eye because it was a straight-eight,” he said, “and then I said, ‘Oh my gosh, it has a supercharger hanging on it.’ Then I got closer and saw that it had Kansas City embossed on it in four places.” He was able to buy it after his friend developed cancer.

Baeke said Brown drafted, machined and built everything himself, from the block to the finned aluminum oil pan, cams, solid crank, tubular rods, pistons, valves, water pump and supercharger.

After being cleaned up, the engine was placed on a stand, complete with radiator and gas tank, so that it could be started. The polished aluminum sparkles like jewelry.

Hulett, of Merriam, helped Baeke decode the engine’s firing order and prepared it to run.

Brown was a friend with famous engine designers Harry Miller and Fred and Augie Duesenberg. He was well known in local racing circles. He won the inaugural High Banks race at Belleville, Kan., and was a fixture in midget racing at Kansas City’s now defunct Olympic Stadium. He competed in the Santa Monica, Calif., road races, the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb and raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1919. He was on the starting line in September of 1922 for the first event held at the Kansas City Speedway.

The Kansas City Speedway, situated roughly at 95^th and Troost, was a 1.25-mile oval track made out of 1 million board feet of 2x4s set on end and bolted together to create a 45-degree banking in the turns. It could seat 50,000 spectators. Tommy Milton won the 300-mile race at an average speed of 107 miles per hour. The track deteriorated quickly and lasted less than two years.

In addition to the winner Milton and “Cockeyed” Brown, the starting lineup for that first race included several nationally known drivers, such as Pete DePaolo, who also drove one of Brown’s cars, along with Leon Duray and “Smilin’ Ralph” Mulford.  Roscoe Sarles was killed in an accident.

Baeke thinks his engine was built around 1925, and it was bolted into a racecar of Brown’s design. The two were separated around 1947. Baeke recently found the racecar in California and hopes someday to reunite it with the engine.

Baeke said it has been difficult researching Brown, his cars and his engine. If anyone has knowledge of W.W. Brown, contact Baeke at JBaeke@ParkPlaceUSA.net.

HUNGTINGTON BEACH, Ca. — Every Saturday morning for the last 27 years, at a tiny donut shop in a strip mall on the corner of Magnolia and Adams streets, hot rodders have met to grab a donut, drink coffee and show off their cars. What began with four friends has blossomed into as many as 75 cars on display on any Saturday.

Luminaries of the hot-rod hobby — people such as Chip Foose, Art Chrisman and Little John Butera — have dropped in over the years.

I showed up with a high-school friend and his brother on a drizzly morning on Jan. 26, and much to our dismay the parking lot was almost empty. Street rods and rain don’t play well together.

A dozen or so guys, mostly with gray hair, gathered under the shop’s overhang, warming their hands with paper cups of coffee. The rumble of a V-8 exhaust caught everyone’s attention and in drove Larry Urey with his homemade track roadster.  Like bees to honey, folks quickly gathered around Urey’s car. Despite being a little wet he was enjoying the moment. His rapid-fire conversation was constantly punctuated by an infectious laugh. Here was a guy who was in love with life and his car. His philosophy: “Live life while you still have your health.”

“I’m 70 years old,” he quipped as he stepped out of the car, “and this is an amazing car. It always puts a smile on my face. I’ve never had so much fun in my life.” Strangers constantly stop him and ask for rides, he said. With that, he offered a DVD about the car. He has given out hundreds.

Urey, from nearby Costa Mesa, has built three of these track roadsters from scratch. He sketched the frame for his first one on the floor of his garage. “I built the body and frame for $1,000,” he said, beaming.  The rounded tail section is made from welding together two rear fenders from a 1950 Chevy pickup.

Urey’s car is stylistically similar to Indy racers from the early 1930s, including the red and white paint job with the Ford V-8 symbol down the side. It weighs about 2,300 pounds. The grille shell looks like it was made from a ’32 Ford. The engine is a 302-cubic-inch Ford with 300 horsepower and the transmission is a five-speed.

“I built hot rods all my life,” Urey said, “but nothing attracts attention like this car.” He has driven it all over the country, from California’s El Mirage dry lake to Pennsylvania. He once drove 974 miles to Oregon in 18 hours. He’s even had a couple of minor crashes.

“This car seems to attract females,” he said with a mischievous grin. “You got to have scruples to drive this car.”

“This car gets you the most immediate friends you’ve ever had in your life,” he said. “I’m blessed.”

Paul Geivett builds amazing scale model cars from scratch

Paul Geivett got a D in shop class at William Chrisman High School because, instead of the project his teacher assigned, he built a gas-powered model of the Boyle Special Maserati that won the Indianapolis 500 in 1939.

The model is amazing in its detail, but Geivett still was marked down. He smiles broadly as he tells that story, and 71 years later that model sits on a shelf in his spare bedroom.

Geivett, of Mission, Kan., will be 88 three days after Christmas. He has always worked with his hands, first as an apprentice in a machine shop while in high school, and later at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant after a stint in the Navy. Most of his career was spent at Union Machine & Tool Works.

Geivett didn’t just build cars, he raced them, too. He drove a midget at Kansas City’s now closed Olympic Stadium and several other regional tracks when he was a young man. Model making, however, has always been his first love.

Not content with his high school model of the Boyle Special, Geivett built another that has even more detail. The fiberglass body is made from a wooden mold, and it is powered by a model airplane engine that sits under the hood. The interior has tiny gauges with realistic numerals.

The front axle has torsion bars and the rear axle has elliptical leaf springs attached to the steel frame. He made the wire wheels by hand. This model is so realistic you can almost hear the echoes of the Indy crowd.

At one time, Geivett owned a 1932 Nash, and he worked on its restoration for five years before selling to someone from France. Geivett also spent five years building a one-fifth-scale model of the Nash from scratch. His Nash model is amazing in its detail. The doors have roll-up windows, the hood opens to reveal a perfectly detailed engine and the radiator shell was hand formed out of brass before it was chrome plated. The tires originally were ashtrays, and he made the wheels himself.

The Nash model is nearly three feet long and weighs about 50 pounds. For years, whenever there was a severe storm warning, Geivett and his wife would carry the model to the basement for safekeeping, but they aren’t able to do that any longer.

It’s obvious that model making is still in Geivett’s blood. His spare bedroom is lined with model cars, and a model airplane with a seven-foot wingspan hangs from the ceiling of his garage. He also built two one-fourth-scale NASCAR racers. Even though Geivett has spent much of his life creating miniature versions of real vehicles, his accomplishments are large in stature.

Intensive research reveals that this was the ’69 prototype made for George Hurst

When Marc Jungerman bought a 1969 Hurst/Olds Cutlass a little over a year ago, little did he know that this car would lead him on a journey that has been the automotive equivalent of an archeological dig. What he found, after uncovering several layers of ownership, is a car that is truly unique.

 The Hurst/Olds was a limited-production Cutlass modified by Hurst Performance Research, an aftermarket company known primarily for it high-performance transmission shifters. The 1969 had a slightly hotter 455-cubic-inch V-8 with 380 horsepower, special hood and trunk spoilers and white paint with gold stripes. About 913 were built in 1969.

Jungerman, of Independence, bought this Olds because he has always been a fan of the Hurst/Olds and he figured it would be a good investment. The first thing that made him curious was this car’s VIN number that indicated it was built in January. All of the factory-produced Hurst/Olds cars had a VIN number indicating that they were built in March or later. The car’s Protect-O-Plate warranty card listed Hurst Performance Research as the car’s first owner, so that also piqued his interest.

Gary Cox, of Janesville, Wis., was one of the car’s earliest owners. He bought the car late in 1972 when he worked for Swede Clark’s Courtesy Oldsmobile in Janesville. Cox said the car had white pearl paint, gold wheels, Hurst shock absorbers, Hooker headers and line locks for drag racing. Line locks apply the front brakes independent of the rear and are used on the starting line of a dragstrip. Cox had an 8mm movie of his wedding showed the car’s pearl paint, and that was an important part of unlocking the car’s provenance. Cox took the car to Oregon when he moved, and sold it there.

Jungerman tried a title search but ran into several dead ends, so he hired an attorney to search Oregon’s Department of Motor Vehicle records. That unlocked the car’s title history, and Jungerman began trying to locate former owners. Dozens of phone calls finally led him to many of the people who had been in contact with the car, and each one filled in some details about the car’s history. Many questions remained, however.

Jungerman’s research led him to Jack (Doc) Watson. Watson confirmed that the car was a Hurst exhibition model used to promote Hurst products, and it was raced on drag strips. He said that Chuck Miller, a well-known Detroit custom car guy, painted the car.

Jungerman tracked down Miller, and he confirmed what Jungerman suspected: This car was the prototype 1969 Hurst/Olds, and it was built for George Hurst, company founder. Talk about striking gold.

Miller described how the car went through various permutations as a prototype. At one time it had an unusual rear spoiler with tusk-like extensions mounted to the rear fenders and a gold stripe painted on the rear glass. Jungerman looked inside the trunk of his car and found evidence of holes in the rear fenders that had been welded shut. Close examination of the rear window revealed scrapings of gold paint around the edge where the paint had been removed.

Jungerman decided to put the car back in its original livery since it was the first 1969 prototype. He paid Gary Cox, one of the early owners and a body man, to come to Independence to repaint the car in its original pearl finish. Cox lived there for six weeks, and his paintwork is flawless.

The interior is unrestored and in quite good shape. The headrests have gold stripes that are another clue to the car’s prototype status. The 455-cubic-inch engine is like the one that would have been in the car when new.

Jungerman’s work has paid off and he now owns a documented piece of automotive history.

Here’s a video I made of Dana Forrester’s 1965 Sting Ray.

This marvelous video from Mercedes-Benz makes me wish I had gone this year.

Photographs by Tom Strongman

SANTA MONICA, Calif. — The 2013 Fusion is sure to change the way you feel about Ford and its family sedan. Restyled from top to bottom, this new Fusion with its spicy coupe profile and an Aston-Martinesque grille is a pleasing combination of smart styling, excellent road manners, good value, and most of all, excellent fuel economy. Read More→