A press release from RM Auctions awakened some good memories from days past. The release concerned an Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Berlinetta by Touring that’s heading to auction with a well-documented history. Italy’s notorious World War II dictator, Benito Mussolini once gifted this car to his lover, Claretta Petacci. The Alfa rolled off...
While classic car auction prices seem to be constantly on the rise, we also hear a lot of hobbyists complaining about the high cost of collecting old cars today and especially the high cost of a restoration. The same complaint was afflicting the hot rod niche not too long ago and then the...
The other day we heard Christmas carols being played in a Big Box store and when the words “Noel, Noel” rang out we thought of meeting Russ and Anita Noel just about a year ago. We were on our way back from a road trip to the National Funeral History Museum in Houston, Texas....
It was frustrating. A day earlier we had the brand new Triumph Spitfire gas tank all bolted on place, when we realized that there wasn’t enough room to install the “plumbing.” So, we had to remove the tank again, install the plumbing and then get the tank back into position. Easier said than...
It’s always fun to delve into the little variation that you find in collector cars. Years ago we enjoyed reading articles that got into the difference between, say, a 1937 and a 1938 Ford or maybe a 1950 and 1951 Mercury. It’s even more fun to explore the differences that could be found...
They say that necessity is the mother of invention and there’s no better place than the world of old car restoration to prove that’s true. Take, for example, the conversation I had today with a man who rebuilds British car transmissions. He told me how he makes shims for his projects out of...
Anyone who has visited Gunner’s Great Garage and met my son Jesse knows that he is a quiet young man. He is also my secret weapon for keeping abreast of changes in the old-car marketplace. You see, Jesse spends a lot of time reading old car magazines and checking out cars for sale...
There’s a lot to be said for building a hot rod on a ready-to-roll chassis designed to accept specific drive trains and to accommodate high-quality fiberglass bodies. You wind up with an engineered machine that fits together good, works well, eliminates drivability issues and goes together a lot faster than a scratch built...
Though old car fans think of soda blasting as something brand new, it was actually developed by Union Carbide to restore the Statue of Liberty in 1984-1986. Many of us remember Lee Iacocca of Mustang fame getting behind this patriotic project. Soda blasting is non-abrasive and doesn’t warp or damage any surface because...
Today my son Jesse and I went on a bus trip with 54 other car enthusiasts to see a fantastic hot rod collection in Madison, Wis. One of the riders was Dave Sarna — a hot rod builder — who brought along “The World’s Fastest Indian” video for us to watch on the bus....
