Here is one for those of you that know your vintage cars. How much is a Gull Wing Mercedes worth? This one is kept in the Lyon Air Museum in California. It seems to be in great condition and I assume it is worth quite a bit but I have no idea how much. It was tucked in amongst lots of valuable aircraft so is not the most expensive thing on display. Since the planes are generally airworthy, I would guess this is a runner too.
America’s Car Museum in Tacoma is a tribute to automobiles of all sorts. While the internal combustion engine is dominant throughout the museum, they do have a section that is focused on electric vehicles. This includes the sort of car you might expect to see and some that are a touch more exotic. The research/competition cars are strange looking things. Aerodynamics dominate in vehicles that are clearly aimed at maximizing efficiency while not worrying about things like handling or utility. Having a whole roof section of solar panels is impressive.
Not all of the vehicles are that extreme though. Others are the sort of thing you are used to seeing on the road. Some of the original electric road cars (including those from the Victorian era) are there and also some concept demonstration vehicles that are likely to lead to something in production before too long. These already look just like any other car on the road today.
When a museum has a wide variety of vehicles to look at, it seems a bit cheesy to spend too much time looking at the modern supercars. It feels a bit like being a kid with a picture of a Countach on the wall. However, supercars are pretty cool and worthy of a look. On the main floor of America’s Car Museum, there were a few pretty great looking cars.
Ferrari were well represented with some lovely looking modern motors as well as a Testarossa. That car took me back to the 80s. An Aston Martin was also there along with a Lamborghini Aventador which was pretty special. Porsche was also well covered. A 918 first caught my eye but I was quickly drawn away by a Carrera GT. This was only the second example I had seen. (The first was actually driving along Wacker Drive in Chicago, something that would make me very nervous in a car that expensive!)
Since I didn’t grow up in the US, a lot of the older cars in museums are not ones that I knew about as a kid. However, a Lotus Esprit is one right out of my childhood. I fell in love with this car as a result of The Spy Who Loved Me when Bond’s Esprit morphed into a submarine. From then on, I dreamed of owning this car. The America’s Car Museum has an example of the pre-turbo Esprit in its collection and, while it certainly is dated by the styling, I still think it is a great looking car. Just don’t pay attention to the switches and knobs pinched from the parts bins of the major car manufacturers of the time!
The onset of shorter days and less reliable weather (or at least weather that can be relied on to be crummy) means day trips to indoor places. Nancy thought a trip to Tacoma to look at the LeMay collection in America’s Car Museum would be a good plan and she wasn’t wrong. I have seen this museum many times as I drive south on I-5 but hadn’t given much thought to it before. A couple of days before Nancy suggested it, a friend of mine back in California told me he would be going there in the spring so obviously everyone else was thinking about it but me.
The museum is a cool looking structure. An asymmetric curved roof based one a wooden interior frame, it sits on a hillside next to the Tacoma Dome overlooking the harbor. The museum is on multiple levels so, while the building doesn’t look to extensive, it provides a lot of space for the large collection of vehicles. I shall be showing a few specific examples of cars from the collection in upcoming posts but, for the time being, you can get an idea of the overall museum.
After Hobbo had finished his talk and was setting up for autographs, I took a quick wander around the main floor of the museum. Some exhibits were gone to make space for the presentation but there were still plenty of cars on show. Things have been rearranged since my previous visit which I wrote about here. I knew that time was tight for me and I would need to go but I did get a few shots of some of the cars before calling time and heading home.
I have had a few visits to Cars and Coffee over the last few months. Plenty of cool vehicles to check out and justify getting up early on a Sunday morning. This time I figure I will just share a bunch of pictures of what has been there. Of course, these are but a small fraction of the total number of cars appearing but they caught my eye.
The dinner at Eagle Field was held in the large hangar. Not only does this accommodate planes but it also seems to be the home to a lot of cars. Jaguars of a variety of vintages were kept there in various states of repair. Out the back were even more cars. These were not usually looking too healthy but there were some things I have not seen before. Whether it was an old Renault or and Armstrong Siddeley, they were there gathering valley dust and withering slowly under the harsh sunlight that this area has a lot of!
A Rolls Royce is some people’s idea of the pinnacle of motoring. I have ridden in a couple and, while they were comfortable, they never really floated my boat. Cars and Coffee had two examples that I was looking at and the comparison was amusing to me. One was a brand new car that a dealer had brought along to show off. It was fitted with all of the latest toys and certainly would help relieve you of a chunk of your bank balance. However, the current Rolls styling is not to my taste and they look rather inelegant.
At the opposite end of the spectrum was a far older model that has been customized. Apparently, this had been a labor of love for a guy but he had sadly passed away. Not had been finished off by his family but they had then sold it on. It is a strange vehicle for sure. The classic Rolls shape is clearly identifiable but the cut down bodywork and the lowered suspension are a big deviation from the norm. I have no idea how much it cost to modify and I’m sure the value was to the guy rather than anyone else but it is a great example of creativity and commitment. I hope he was happy with it.
My recollection of Volvos as a youth was of boxes on wheels. They never struck me as impressive cars and the interiors seemed to match the exteriors in their boxiness. I even have a less than favorable memory of driving a 740 through France overnight to try and make a morning ferry (which we did). It was not always thus. The P1800 was quite a smart looking car and a TV star in the original version of The Saint.
This example showed up at Cars and Coffee. It was in excellent condition. Whether it has been kept well or restored beautifully (or even a bit of both) I don’t know but it looked great. It wasn’t the only example around either. However, it did stand out as the one to see. I have no idea what they are like to drive but that wasn’t the point at an event like this.
