Saturday AACA car show . . .
Read MoreI believe the three cans seen in the photo above come from the Boyle Manufacturing Company, and make up a running board mounted "Emergency Set." Each can has a different purpose and is, therefore, painted a different color. The blue can, (left in the photo above), is for oil. The white can in the middle is for water. And the red can on the right and is for gasoline. This Emergency Set was a common accessory for a Model T at a time when those essentials weren't readily available for travelers. So you carried your own supplies with you mounted to the driver's side running board.
This 1978 Avanti II is an example of a "Second Generation" collector vehicle, which the AACA defines as a new factory built vehicle designed to resemble an older model. Normally, this car would fall into Class 35A: Designated Limited Production, Prototype, and Experimental Vehicles. But it's being displayed under the HPOF class.
The story of the Avanti can be somewhat confusing. The original Studebaker Avanti was produced for 1963 and 1964. Production of the Avanti II, (this car), began in 1965 after Studebaker went out of business. The car that was produced through 1986, (either an Avanti II or simply "Avanti" beginning in 1984), was still based on the original Studebaker chassis. But beginning in 1987, an "updated" Avanti became available that was built on top of a Chevrolet Monte Carlo chassis.
The 1978 Avanti II seen in the photos above is extremely rare, being one of 142 produced that year.Spokane, Washington resident Chris Thompson bought a 1915 Ford Model T Touring Car from the Spokane Auto Company on April 16, 1919. The price of the car was $400. According to the sales agreement seen in the photo above, Chris put $300 down, (which was a significant sum in those days), when he took delivery of the car. The balance was paid via four monthly payments of $25. The final payment was made on July 15, 1919.
I'm not sure what class this car is in. Everything I've seen to this point has been either HPOF or DPC cars which place emphasis on originality. But the display sign for this car includes the "Rotisserie Restoration" line at the bottom. Unless I'm misunderstanding something, I didn't think HPOF and DPC classes included restored cars.
This truck was displayed with its original Bill of Sale. It looks like Mr. James Fowlkes bought this truck new in May 1969 from Tamson Chevrolet in Danville, VA for $3,938. He traded his 1963 Chevrolet pickup, for which he was given $1,421, and paid the remaining balance of $2,517 when he took delivery.
An interesting side note: When I was searching online for Tamson Chevrolet, I came across a post from the Yenko.net archives that indicates Tamson was a dealer in the famous Yenko network, and was said to have sold several new Yenko cars. There is still a Chevrolet dealer at the listed address today, (Robert Woodall Chevrolet).Brothers John and Horace Dodge founded the Dodge Brothers Company machine shop in 1900 and made a name for themselves as an OEM supplier of components for Oldsmobile and Ford. By 1913, the brothers had established the Dodge Brothers Motor Company and introduced their first complete car in 1914. By 1916, Dodge Brothers became the number two manufacturer in the US. Their vehicles quickly gained a reputation for their durability, especially with the military where Dodge became its primary supplier of light duty trucks until WWII.
All was well until 1920 when both brothers died, (John in January and Horace in December). Development became stagnant and automobile sales dropped, (light duty truck sales, however, remained strong). In 1925, the company was sold to an investment group, and then to Chrysler in 1928.
Power for the Series 116 comes from a 212 CID inline 4-cylinder that makes 25 hp. The Series 116 is what the original Dodge Brothers Model 30 evolved into after the death of both brothers.1950 Willys-Overland Jeep wagon.
This forerunner to the modern SUV was displayed in the Driver Participation Class. Information displayed with the car shows how much emphasis has been placed on the "Driver" aspect. The current owners purchased this car in 1976 and embarked on a 2 1/2 year restoration. After restoring it again in 2000, this car hit the open road. According to the sign, this Jeep has seen 37 states. Since 2013, more than 18,000 miles have been added to the odometer.From the car's appearance, one would be tempted to call this color "Playboy Pink," (sometimes referred to as "Playmate Pink"). This is a well known but seldom seen Mustang color that gained some notoriety in 1964 when Playboy Magazine's Playmate of the Year was awarded a Pink Ford Mustang. However, while a Ford Mustang was only given to the winner in 1964 and 1969, pink paint was available for many first generation Mustang model years under several names and shades.
As near as I can determine, Playboy Pink was a special order color that was officially given that name, the code for which appears to be MX707908. Since it was a special order color, the exterior paint code on the door tag was left blank.
According to the Marti Report with the car, the space for the exterior paint code on the door tag is also blank, indicating a special order paint color. In this case, this car was painted with Ford # MX707939, where MX = Special Order, and 707939 indicates something in the "Red" color category, which includes shades of red, maroon, and pink. But this particular color was not officially given a name, and is shown on the report merely as "Pink."
The Marti Report indicates a total of 1,189 Mustangs were painted with, "this Paint Code." I'm not sure if this refers to the number of cars with a blank exterior paint code on the door tag, or the number of cars painted with Ford # MX707939. Either way, this is certainly an extremely rare color.