Excerpts taken from world famous ‘Hemmings Auto Blog’
Mercedes-Benz W196R 00006/54. Photos courtesy Bonhams. Until Friday, July 12, the most expensive car ever sold at auction was a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa Prototype, sold by Gooding & Company at its 2011 Monterey auction for $16.4 million (at the time, about £10 million). That now seems like a relative Read more
Photos courtesy Ford Media. When he rose to the Ford Motor Company’s pinnacle, Philip Caldwell did it under some of the most trying circumstances imaginable. He began to surmount that last rung in 1977, when chairman Henry Ford II broke with his feisty president, Lee Iacocca, which resulted in Iacocca’s Read more
Vic Edelbrock Sr. Photo courtesy NHRA. It was 1938 when Victor Edelbrock Sr. made his first performance intake manifold, the so-called slingshot, for the 1932 Ford roadster he was racing at Muroc Dry Lakes. It became a resounding success among fellow Ford flathead racers and began the Edelbrock Company that Read more
“But I paid the seller for a 1962 Bel Air 409!” Photo by flickr user Son of Groucho. While the vast majority of used car sales are between legitimate sellers and buyers, car shoppers should never underestimate the lengths that scammers will go to to separate buyers from their money Read more
Over the last few weeks, we’ve heard quite a bit in the national media – again – about how kids just don’t care about cars. As somebody still in that oh-so-desired 18-to-35 demographic, I cringe just about every time any national media outlet decides to twirl up a story about Read more
Apparently George Pattison Pontiac was a sort of landmark in New Orleans, situated on the corner of Canal and Galvez streets (2120 Canal Street, to be specific) in a handsome two-story building. As we see in this 1963 photo we found on the Historic New Orleans Collection, Pattison Pontiac also Read more
In the 1970s and into the 1980s, custom vans were all the rage across the United States. Though colors and themes differed, all carried common elements such as porthole windows (tinted, so passers-by didn’t have to witness the debauchery going on within), outlandish murals (many with Frank Frazetta themes) and Read more
1966 Pontiac Tin Indian GTO with Arlen Vanke. Photo courtesy Merle Green, Jr. History wasn’t at the forefront of Merle Green’s mind when he purchased a 1966 Pontiac GTO in need of a full restoration in 1979. He bought it for $150, and after combing dealerships and swap meets in Read more
1967 Bizzarrini P538. Photos courtesy American Collectors Insurance. While the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum trots its cars out for a little exercise once a month or so, it takes something extra special for any of the cars on exhibit at the museum to leave the property for a showing. That Read more
Photo by Mark J. McCourt. William Stout wasn’t an automotive engineer. In fact, the man billed as the “father of modern aviation” had a series of aeronautical credits to his name, including the first commercially available monoplane with a cantilevered, internally braced wing (known as the “Bat Wing”). Stout was Read more