coachbuilt Packards at the Dana Point Concours de Elegance

 in the middle of the gauge above, on the left it says "Park" and on the right "City" ... and in the below photo on the far right the gauge has "Drive" and "Pass"

I've never noticed anything like that before. Also unusual is the radio, it's the middle gauge. I don't recall ever seeing a radio that fits into the look of the other gauges so well.

Barn finds, a year in review of what's been pulled out, put up for sale, or auctioned off

 That is a barn, sometimes they are easy to distinguish, and sometimes, they look like a lot of wood in a vague pile that might have space under it

 Inside you mghight find a pile of stuff... like the above 1961 Renault Carvelle, or even better the below 1956 Jaguar xk 140.

 Or sometimes you might just see that pile has a tail light under it. Right in the above photo to the bottom left

 or the above pile with a hood and a bit of windshield

 turns out to be a 1969 GTO

 Look in the back, a lot of people are not happy about every poor out of money dreamer asking if they want that car hauled away, and so they pushed it around to the back of the garage

 or threw a tarp over it. Above, a 68 Mustang, below, a Boss 302 Mustang

So.. that is about all you need to know about barnfinds, now, here are the ones that were up for sale last year

1927 Erskine (offshoot of Studebaker) model 50 sedan

32 Ford

1932 Packard

1937 Lagonda

1939 Hupmobile Senior

1947 Allard K1

1947 Pontiac woody (these woodys are worth upward of 50 thou in this condition)

A Tucker

1949 Delahaye 135

1953 Corvette (only 251 were made, they sucked, but they are worth a lot to a collector)

1954 Glasspar G2

 1957 Mercedes Gullwing 300SL

 1957 Morgan Plus 4

 cool 1959 Taylor electric cart

 1959 Morris Mini

 B/FX dragster that raced in 1966... damn, want that engine

 1968 Charger

 Even a High Country Special Mustang


now here are the Corvettes

58

 59

 63 split window

 64 Stingray

and this was found after 20 years of sitting in a shipping container in Waipahu Hawaii

So keep your eyes on http://www.barnfinds.com for the ones that come out of hiding in the future... you never can tell what rare or previously unheard of custom will be found

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.