June 19, 2006
Four
Years Ago Today (yikes!)
Stan
Hywet Show
Every Father's
Day, Stan Hywet Hall hosts what may be the best car show in northeast Ohio. Stan
Hywet (pronounced Heew-it) is a mansion built by the Firestone family in the
'30s and it is absolutely amazing. It and its surrounding grounds provide an
extraordinary backdrop for the annual AACA show which draws several hundred of
the area's best collector cars. I'm particularly fond of this show because it
brings out what I call the "heavy Classics" which I've
lamented not seeing any more. I met my father for breakfast, then we headed
down to the show together--a great day as far as I'm concerned. My father even
renewed an old friendship. Here's what we saw.
What could be more appropriate in front of a
'30s mansion than a 1932 Packard Town Car?
OK, let's just get the Packards out of the
way first.
My particular favorite is the butch-looking '34 V12 dual
cowl phaeton--who needs whitewalls?
And there's a rarity: a Darrin that's not red.
A pair of beautiful early '30s Buicks,
the red one a super-rare Model 95
7-passenger touring.
Lincolns were very well represented at
Stan Hywet this year.
One of the more notable Lincolns was a '31 dual cowl
phaeton with an aluminum body. Yes, that's polished
aluminum on the body side panels (see photo 3).
And lest you think it's not authentic, the car is 100%
original. Wow!
Auburn-Cord-Duesenberg was also well
represented.
The L-29 Cord convertible sedan was extraordinary.
The second photo shows the front-wheel drive hardware
on the Cord. Note the curved front axle and the 1/4
elliptic springs it is hanging from. The primitive CV joint
seems to have a rubber doughnut in the middle.
The Duesenberg on the right is what my father called
"garden variety" if a Duesenberg can be such a thing.
My father really liked the brutal look of
this Stutz sedan. I tried
unsuccessfully to photograph its unique windows which had horizontal
lines etched about every 2 inches. Even the windshield
had the strange lines, as well as the window rain guards.
I couldn't think of a reason why except perhaps it was
designed to break into strips instead of sharp triangles
on impact. The car was, after all, called the Stutz "Safety Sedan."
This Chevy staff car was interesting,
though I
think the paint and chrome are a little brighter
than what was used during the war. I found the
headlight shields very interesting--I wonder if they work?
I'm a sucker for the GM fastbacks, this
one a late-'40s Cadillac.
The Studebaker President coupe is a full Classic, I believe.
Dig the rear window vent!
Big!
Every part of this Ahrens-Fox/American LaFrance fire engine was massive.
It is owned by Tom Green, a friend of my father's from decades ago. They
haven't seen each other since I was 7 years old. Anyway, look at the
size of the pump on the front, driven by a shaft from the huge
6-cylinder engine. It has dual spark plugs, probably because each
cylinder is the size of a paint can! I bet it ticks over at about 400 RPM
with enough torque to run the pump, too.
As we were leaving, we noticed a large
crowd forming
near the exit and decided to have a look. This yellow
Ferrari 250 GTB SWB had people standing two deep
around it--I had to move quickly to get these photos.
A very pretty car and the V12's sound made the hair
on my neck stand up!
And to finish the day, a '34 Ford roadster.
The '34s are about as pretty as early Fords get.
I often entertain the idea of buying my father
another hobby car for his birthday or something, and
he indicated that this car would be ideal. I guess
I'll keep saving my pennies...
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Last modified on 12/22/2006
Thanks, Fidget!
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