Tag: Memories of Monterey

Memories Of Monterey, Part Two

First…many thanks to all of those who read the blog yesterday, which had the highest number of daily views in the last month. Maybe you did miss my writing, after all.

Second…

CAN I ADD A CAR TO MY ULTIMATE GARAGE?!

 

 

“Smitten” is not a strong enough word to describe my reaction to this car, one with which I was not previously familiar. To many, it’s just another coupe. To me, it’s perfection. Do you really want to know the engine specs, to break a butterfly upon a wheel? OK…according to this site, the 3-liter/179 cubic inch V-12 produced 276 HP/203 LB-FT of torque.

The bottom photo is near the end of this car being on the block and it did not sell at a high bid of $425,000. I said to my wonderful wife that it would be fitting if we had won the Mega Millions the previous Tuesday, but didn’t know it because the ticket was at home so I couldn’t bid on this car. I would have “kicked” the Cadillac ATS out of the garage to make room for this, which would easily fit at just 163 inches in length.

I just stare at the many photos I took of this car and shake my head in amazement. Discovering a car like this is a key reason why I want to attend as many car events as possible.

Here is a picture of another car with which I was not previously familiar, a 1967 Austin-Healey GT coupe:

 

 

This is basically a “big” Healey with a different body, but what a body! The car hammered sold at $62,000 or $68,200 all in. Remembering my “roots” in defunct American car companies:

 

 

This is a beautiful 1955 Studebaker President, the immediate descendant of the Loewy coupes of 1953-54. The Hawk series introduced in 1956 was the next iteration of this design. This car hammered sold at $16,000, or $17,600 all in.

I have many more photos I could share, but I’ll save them for later (or not). If you are a car enthusiast, I highly recommend that you attend at least one auction in your life. You don’t have to register as a bidder, either, in case you’re worried about losing control and buying something you don’t want to buy. An auction is a car show where someone else parades the cars for you to see.

 

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Memories Of Monterey, Part One

Despite an awful day before departure–no details forthcoming, but hopefully everyone involved has learned valuable lessons they will never forget–our trip to Monterey was most enjoyable. For my wonderful wife, the highlight was probably meeting and having a picture taken with Ant Anstead, formerly of Wheeler Dealers and For The Love Of Cars. He was most gracious. (Robert Frank of CNBC, not so much.)

Even with all of the amazing cars, the highlight for me was a half-hour conversation we had with John Kraman of Mecum and NBCSN the day before the auction began. One thing John said was that General Motors is already backtracking on its pledge to be “all-electric” by 2035 by now including hybrids in that definition. Of course, a gas-electric hybrid is not all-electric even if it’s a plug-in hybrid.

John also said that Toyota is not getting into battery-powered cars, but is putting its efforts into hydrogen-powered cars. Oh, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the shout-out John gave to us during a “#MyStarCar” segment during Thursday’s broadcast. I had submitted my wonderful wife’s car for the segment awhile ago, but it was shown last Thursday and John even mentioned us by name.

I guess it’s time for some pictures:

 

 

This is a 1963 Maserati Sebring 3500 GTI. I have always loved the styling of these Maseratis. Not all of the interesting cars were in an auction:

 

 

This beautiful Jaguar E-Type was parked not far from our hotel room. The cars that were valet parked in front of the hotel entrance were quite impressive. I will show a picture of them later this week.

 

 

This is a Jaguar XJ-220 that was, obviously, offered at the RM Sotheby’s auction. We took an Uber (my first Uber ride, by the way) to the wharf/downtown area and walked around the day before the Mecum auction started.

 

 

Russo And Steele were just setting up their auction when we visited, but this 1950 Olds 88 convertible was impossible to resist. In the same idiom, this time from the Mecum staging area/show field:

 

 

This is a 1949 Buick Roadmaster convertible. Oh, I guess I still have a thing for 1955-56 Packards despite leaving the ’56 Caribbean convertible out of Ultimate Garage 3.0:

 

 

This is a 1955 Packard 400 that sold for $16,000 at the hammer or $17,600 all in, if I am not mistaken. Speaking of Ultimate Garage 3.0, if I had fully indulged myself and let 20-25 cars in, this car almost certainly would have been included:

 

 

I don’t think those wheels or roof treatment were available on the Continental Mark II, but they look good in my opinion. One last photo for today:

 

 

This is not an “ordinary” 1937 Cord; it is an armored car, supposedly ordered by the state of Louisiana. I wonder if the assassination of Huey “The Kingfish” Long in 1935 had anything to do with this car being built.

Glad to be back…

 

#MemoriesOfMonterey

#AntAnstead

#JohnKraman

#somanycarsjustonelife

#disaffectedmusings

If you like this blog please tell your friends and share the blog URL (https://disaffectedmusings.com). Thanks.