The oldest car collection in the US... the Larz Anderson museum in Brookline Mass

The collection has the following
1899 Winton
1900 Rochet-Schneider
1901 Winton Bullet
1903 Gardner-Serpollet
1905 Electromobile
1906 CGV
1907 FIAT
Powerful and bold, the Andersons’ 1907 Fiat was the supercar of its time.  Even the motto of the automobile, No Hill Can Stop Me, reflected its strength, for many automobiles at this time had difficulty going up hills.  This 11-liter, 6-cylinder Fiat boasted a strength of 65 horsepower; only 86 were manufactured.  Bought by the Andersons while they were on vacation in Europe, the car was then shipped to New York to be re-bodied by the Hol-Tan Company.
1908 Bailey Electric
1910 Panhard et Levasor
1912 Renault
1915 Packard Twin Six
1924 Renault Torpedo
1925 Luxor Taxi
1926 Lincoln
and small sidenote, the museum collection (in a 1888 carriage house) was voted as one of the Top 10 Boston Museums for a wedding

This year, the Pebble Beach Concours has invited the Larz Anderson museum to bring the 1907 Fiat, and it needs a couple of tires. http://larzanderson.org/1907fiat/

You'll understand that car museums in Massachusetts are off the beaten path of tourists, and door donations might be a bit down lately... but the car is IMPRESSIVE! It has been a feature of the collection that has been open to the public for viewing.... get this, since 1927. The Museum was founded in 1949, and might be the oldest car museum in America that is still open.

 It just needs a couple of dollars to get tires.

The 1907 Fiat was last was operated in 1919, and the workshop of  "The Old Motor" David is getting it ready to be shipped to Pebble Beach, read about that at http://theoldmotor.com/?p=50392 .

David is one of the few who are expert at brass era and classics, and is buying one tire, handling all the work of fixing the rims, handling the lubrication (etc etc etc) but is not set to sponsor more than the one tire as they are about $500 apiece.

Follow this link directly to the Larz Anderson website were you can donateby credit card or mail. If you donate by mail enclose a note that it is for the 1907 Fiat. The cost for the transportation out and back has already been taken care of by a donation and The Old Motor has also donated all of its time and facilities to help them out.  Please remember that any amount you can help with will count and add up.

The rear tires were close to impossible to get off the without harming the rims. We could have cut them off, but chose instead to save them as they are part of the history of the car. Both rear tires being 8-ply truck tires, have a side walls that are over 1/2″ thick and being 80-90 years old are dried out and very inflexible. It was a long and very hard job to get them off intact, without bending or harming the rims, but with some patience it was eventually accomplished. Very soon it will be on all four new tires and tubes and we will show you more of this fine cars features in photos.

In the mean time, please contribute to the Larz Anderson Auto Museum if you can, as they count totally on donations to carry on their educational mission. In the future The Old Motor is going to continue to support them and we are working with them to help start a Preservation Fund, which can be used for the other needs of the core Anderson Collection of Automobiles in the future.

I'd love to be there when they fire up the motor for the first time in 93 years.

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rare, unique, or one of a kind...? An unmarried beautiful young woman fashion designer with an impressive inherited car collection, in So Cal

Setorii Pond, was raised by her grandparents, Robert Pond (Navy pilot turned business man) and Jo (Italian benefactor of beautiful genetics) and grew up with the cars. “ My Grandparents and I collected the cars together as a family; each car has a fun, heartfelt and unique story all its own. Some of my favorite cars are the Ferrari 250 TR, Austin Martin AR1, Tucker, and Jaguar XJ13."

Some of the more interesting (at face value, not kowing the stories behind them) cars in the collection, a 1938 Bugatti T57C, a 1931 Auburn boattail speedster, a Muntz Jet, a Fiat Jolly, a Delorean, a 1961 Ferrari 250 Testarossa, a couple Ferrari Daytonas, a 1967 GT40, the 1926 Rickenbacker Super Sport boat tail, a 1943 Studebaker Weasel (WW2 military transport) , a Tucker and a Vector W8

http://thepondcollection.com/ for the photos and listings of the cars

I had misssed in my looking through Driven.UrbanDaddy.com that they had posted about Setorri's book twice  http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2012/03/15/the-art-of-setorii/ and http://driven.urbandaddy.com/2012/02/28/the-collector-2/

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A private museum in Canada gets a bit of publicity for it's exquisite automobiles

 The Al Johnson collection in Aldergrove, North of Washington State, in the Vancouver region

 A 1930 Cord Cabriolet with Woodlight headlights (I love those)

A rare Diana, of 1927, was the first car to start his collection

Story and photos from http://www.vancouversun.com/cars/Barn+houses+vintage+vehicles+from+unheralded+makers/6276202/story.html via the amazing and diverse Vintage Racing League newsletter http://multibriefs.com/briefs/vrl/index.php

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You can learn a lot from car guys, even ones that collect Lancias, in Pennsylvania... cool story from Car and Driver via the Vintage Racing League

I had no idea so many parts were the same in Ferraris and Lancias of the 60's

Mike Kristick: "The Lancia people tell me not to sell any tool kits to Ferrari guys. They’re the same pieces as Ferrari tool kits, but they keep telling me that the Ferrari guys will pay three times as much. The fuel pump for a Lancia Flaminia is the same as a Ferrari’s; the Fulvia ignition is the same as a Ferrari’s. The Ferrari parts guys buy up all of the Lancia parts and jack up the prices to the Ferrari guys."

What began as a search for parts for the Fulvia has become, three decades later, what may be the largest inventory of salvaged and new-old-stock (NOS) Lancia parts on the continent.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/ancient-grease-lancia-life-support-feature?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+caranddriver%2Fblog+%28Car+and+Driver%29

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Nick Mason, car collector, famous drummer of Pink Floyd, is going racing again, New Zealand's International Vintage Car Rally

The 67-year-old British rock star and car collector will be at the Manfeild circuit on January 21.

He will drive a rare 1934 Alfa Romeo GT and a Gulf-GT40 Ford in two races that form part of the New Zealand International Vintage Car Rally, which begins in Whanganui on January 17.

Nick Mason has five Le Mans' 24-Hour races under his belt and a genuine GT40 amongst his large personal collection of classic racing cars. I've just overhauled and updated my post about Nick's collection : http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/02/photo-gallery-of-nick-masons-race-car.html

The rally was expected to generate $12 million and attract in excess of 30,000 people - one of the biggest events Whanganui has ever hosted.

Mason is an original member of Pink Floyd, and the only member to feature on every one of their albums

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/6231028/Pink-Floyd-drummer-racing-at-Feilding

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the King of Sweden has a car collection, 1966 GT 350 Shelby Mustang, GTO, AC Cobra, and so on

thanks to Licolncadillac for letting us know! For a short post see http://grandprix63.blogspot.com/2009/05/raggarkung-for-sverige-i-bilen.html

Like many members of the Royal Family, the King has a keen interest in automobiles. He owns several Porsche 911s, a vintage Volvo PV444 a Ferrari 456M GT, a Shelby AC Cobra, 1966 Shelby GT350, and BMW M3 CSL, one of only 1,500.

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The Impossible Collection Of Cars, a book that sells for between $400 and $700, from Pulitzer award winner Dan Neil with 100 cars featured

The world's most beautifully designed automobiles, but most often only a handful of collectors ever see them or own them, now, The Impossible Collection of Cars showcases the 100 most exceptional cars of the twentieth century.

 Each luxury automobile—from the 1909 Blitzen Benz to a 1997 Porsche 993 Turbo S—was chosen for its revolutionary design, magnificent lines, and head-turning capabilities. The book also features cars owned by celebrities like Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, Pablo Picasso, Elvis Presley, and several of Ralph Laurens collection like these Ferraris:

his $25 million-plus 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, and below his 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Spyder.

Listed on the Awesomer.com for $410, http://theawesomer.com/the-impossible-collection-of-cars/128992/

 Try Amazon and buy them for $ 405 http://www.amazon.com/Impossible-Collection-Cars-Dan-Neil/dp/1614280150/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1324706422&sr=1-1

A lot of the cars in the book are being posted on http://driven.urbandaddy.com/

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The private car collection of Lee Roy Hartung was auctioned off

1936 Lincoln Zephyr custom sedan has an unusual dual nose and shows 19,600 miles on the odometer.
Credit: Tudor Van Hampton for The New York Times
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/31/piece-by-piece-the-hartung-collection-is-dismantled/

The eclectic Lee Roy Hartung Collection of automobiles, motorcycles and memorabilia was gathered over the past 50 years by the Chicago collector.

Mr. Hartung dealt in scrap metal, sold used cars and maintained a hauling business that aided his hobby. After a garage fire destroyed an antique bicycle collection, Mr. Hartung in 1972 built a 10,000-square-foot barn on his four-acre property and spent the next several decades stuffing it with treasures

Mr. Hartung operated the space as a museum by appointment only. In it, he stored about 80 cars, 40 motorcycles, 100 bicycles and thousands of pieces of automobilia. He had what experts called one of the most complete collections of license plates in the United States

A 1912 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Belt Drive, believed to be among the best 1912 examples in the world, brought $115,000.
original bicycles were highlighted by a like-new 1934 Iver Johnson, an Elgin Bluebird and a Schwinn Aerocycle, which individually sold for $5,175 each.

Lee Hartung Collection Auctions America by RM – Top 10 Auction Results

1. 1911 Flying Merkel Twin Belt Drive – $201,250
2. 1950 Veritas BMW – $195,500

 The 1949 Veritas was built by BMW and bodied by Spohn, the German coachworks company. It was believed to have been sent back to Spohn in the ’50s to receive tail fins and other retrofits to echo General Motors’ 1951 LeSabre concept car.
 3. 1950 Edwards R-26 Roadster – $143,750
4. 1912 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Belt Drive – $115,000
5. 1911 Pope Model H – $83,375
6. 1909 Sears – $66,125
7. 1938 Indian Four-Cylinder Rigid Frame – $64,400
8. 1926 Henderson Deluxe Fire Department Motorcycle – $63,250
9. 1915 Harley-Davidson Single-Cylinder Two-Speed – $57,500
10. 1904 Fabrique-Nationale Four-Cylinder Shaft Drive – $55,200
http://www.sportscardigest.com/lee-hartung-auctions-america-by-rm-auction-results/

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If you love Duesenburgs, and are in Southern California, you might want to run over to the Lyon Air Museum, as 10 of the 378 known are on a short time display

images are just 2 of a full gallery you can look at over at Bill's blog: http://wildbillphoto.blogspot.com/2011/07/rare-deusenbergs-at-lyons-air-museum.html 

If you can get over to the museum, the exhibit of ten Duesenburgs from now til July 24th
One is the 1st Model J, 1929 dual cowl body by LeBaron , another is a 1929 Murphy bodied dual cowl, a 1930 Murphy Model J speedster, a 1931 model J Weymann bodied speedster, a 1931 model SJ Murphy bodied conv coupe,  and the 1935 SJ Gurney Nutting Speedster that was built for an Indian Maharaja, who wasn't keen on risking losing everything due to Japan invading so many neighboring countries, so he instead took delivery at his Santa Ana mansion. It was thought lost until 1959

the museum website http://www.lyonairmuseum.org/news/duesenberg-exhibit and it is located in 19300 Ike Jones Rd, Santa Ana

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Barney Pollard car collection, many were stacked on end..

excepted story from this thread http://forums.aaca.org/f169/barney-pollards-collection-271191-2.html about the Pollard collection:
I was going to school at GMI in Flint in 1955 and had met Mr. Pollard on the 1953 Glidden Tour. I called him and made an appointment to see his cars one Saturday, my room mate and I went down, I believe Pontiac, and he showed us through his collection. It was unbelievable. There were several buildings, one had only brass lamps in it. The cars that were stacked on end we couldn't see much, they were so tight you couldn't walk between them, but in a couple of buildings the cars were parked fender to fender and bumper to bumper. I was looking for a Peerless and he told us where it was and we had to slide down fenders and walk running boards to get back to it. He had several hundred cars and he knew where they were. He even showed us a garage that had a stack of brand new high wheel bikes, in the original crates, stacked to the ceiling. While we were walking back to his office I asked what was under the canvas covers, two American Underslunges, sitting out side. And inside his shop area were several Stutz, Mercer, etc.

Barney Pollard was my grandfather and the collection of around 1200 cars was my playground as a kid. Know most of the cars,as I personally titled 700 of them. As to the fire we lost around 110 cars in that fire which was started by a spark from a locomotive which started a grass fire and then the building went. Lost some pretty rare cars in the fire, such as the only two Olivers ever built

My grandfather did work hard at keeping the government from destroying all of the cars. My grandfather started collecting in 1938 and kept them parked about his property where he parked his trucks. In flying recon missions around Detroit the government saw what my grandfather had as a treasure trove for materials.

The government insisted he give up the cars for the war effort. My grandfather went to Washington in an attempt to make a deal with them. He bought tons of scrap (both steel and aluminum) that they had not discovered and the deal he made was to strip all of the tires and give them all of the scrap he had found and to give up one car a week that he had to deliver to the Ford Rouge plant.

My grandfather and Henry Ford were not the best of friends (due to a couple of incidents but one story as he related to the Ford writer David Lewis) as my grandfather laid miles of roadbed for the railroad tracks at the rouge and Ford sent his associate Bennett to intimidate my grandfather into taking less.

The problem is that my grandfather was the toughest man I have ever met and in some pretty colorful language I can only assume, he told Bennett to take a hike. Long story short my grandfather had many Fords in his collection and so he took over only Fords, one a week for a few weeks and then he stopped. Ford never turned him in as he figured my grandfather would only continue to bring Fords.

Then my grandfather decided he had better hide the cars from any more prying eyes so he sunk telephone poles into the ground and put 90 lb railroad rail from post to post and hung the cars from the rail with wire rope. Then he built walls around the buildings and so when you went in the buildings there were hundreds of cars hanging from their front bumpers. Crude but it saved a bunch of cars.

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Did you know that Dick Clark had a tourist attraction?

Lots of classic cars from the year 1957, the cars on display represented every major American manufacturer from 1957, including Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac, DeSoto, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker and Packard.

There was an entirely recreated drive-in movie, fire station, barbershop, gas station, Cadillac dealership and more.

it shut down and sold off the cars http://mecum.com/auctions/consignment_list.cfm?AUCTION_ID=HE1009 and memorabilia

Images snagged from the still running virtual tour (love this technology where you direct the camera and can spin 360 degrees, plus zoom in, or up) take a look, it's fun. Bottom of the page at http://www.dickclarksbranson.com/coolcars.cfm

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Unusual, rare, and restored cars from the 1920's and 30's at the Nethercutt musuem

I hope you've been looking at my blog long enough to recognize these headlights as my favorite, they are the Woodlight type http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/search/label/woodlight%20headlights , and only came on two cars I know of, the DuPont occasionally, and this 1930 Ruxton in its factory paint, stripes of reds. Three other cars have had woodlights, a Stutz, Cord, and an Auburn but I suspect they were added by the owners. Most unusual for factory paint, but it was the midst of the great depression, and this was a luxury car that needed potential buyers attention. ( just like the glam rockers of the 70's and 80's and the big hair and makeup )

The above is movie star Fatty Arbuckle's 1923 McFarlan model 154 knickerbocker cabriolet

The above yellow is a 1934 Packard

Above and below, 1932 Mayback DS 8 / convertible cabriolet

the above is a 1925 Locomobile 48/ Victoria sedan

the above is a Toledo tiller steered, ever notice that a kids little red wagon has a handle that flips up or down, and is a very small example of a horse drawn wagon? Transpose that thought to the tiller steered early horse-less carriages and the way they had tiller steering that resembles a flipped up wagon tongue

On the left is the blue with a hood that looks like the Renault of the same era, but the Franklin was American and this example is a 1912 model G

This green with white baloon treadless tires is a 1906 Franklin, and particularly striking is the barrel shaped hood. The round hood was replaced by the slope hood like the 1912 Franklin above this

Beautiful brass accentuation pieces adorning this green and black Franklin

1910 Pierce Arrow 7 passenger touring

1912 White model GF

and the Lalique crystal hood ornament collection.

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