Today is a Car Day

It’s been a very wet, dreary few days. I feel cooped up. I’ve been reading and thinking about cars. After browsing through the genius of Giancarlo Giugiaro in the latest Octane magazine, I couldn’t help myself. I had to pic a few photos of some wonderful cars to ramble on about.

Roger Penske is the winningest car owner in Indy car racing. Choosing the driving genius of Mark Donohue, whom I thought was one of the quickest and most talented drivers of his era, Penske campaigned this car only in specific races of the ’68 season. Using either a carbureted or fuel injected Chevy stock block, the ran successfully at Riverside and Milwaukee. In 1969, Penske and Donohue would make their Indianapolis 500 debut in a Lola Ford, where Donohue would capture rookie of the year with a 7th place finish.

I stumbled across this beautifully immaculate DBS in British Racing Green during Car Week in downtown Monterey. While the wheels are a very tasteful custom in the spirit of the originals, and the front discs are Wilwood, none of it detracts from the wonderful shape of this William Towns design. Towns admitted to being smitten by the Ford Mustang, and while hints of that are clear, it’s still a wonderfully original effort. The 320hp Tadek Marek 5.3L V8 made this the fastest production car in the world at close to 160 mph. Only 402 were built.

Just a block west of the Aston I found this lovely Thunderbird, one of my favorite cars of the day. With a 292 cid, 198hp V8 it was a true U.S. sports car of the day, rivaling the Corvette. Long, flowing lines, wire wheels and wheel skirts are all hints of European influence.

Okay, no it’s not the whole car. The Meyer’s Manx was Bruce Meyer’s fun California-inspired take on creative fiberglass spread across a VW Beetle chassis. Wildly successful, they were originally sold as conversion kits. Meyers sold about 6,000 of them when copy cats flooded the market and Meyer’s wasn’t able to successfully defend his patent in court. Overall, it’s estimated about 250,000 Manx-like dune buggies roam the sands worldwide. Meyers re-created the Manx in 2000 with a new company, eventually selling out in 2020.

I love, love the profile and the looong hood of this car. It is soo coool. It looks fast just sitting there. It may surprise you, but this car was built in England with a V12, hence the double six, engine. They were available with a variety of displacements, the Double Six 50 being the largest at 7.1L with 150hp and a top speed of 81 mph. Now this is cruising in style!

Are you into boats and cars? Why not cruise around in the style of both – car on the front, boat in the back. This class winner at Pebble Beach is a strikingly beautiful car, gloriously finished with a flawless gloss clear coat over the cherry boat tail. Powered by a 7.4L straight six developing 50hp, the body was built by Schapiro and Schebera in Berlin.

I love this owner couple, David and Patricia Peeler, as much as their car. Built in Buffalo, NY, by the E.R. Thomas Motor Company, the KC 6-70 boasted a 856 cid engine for a then whopping 90hp. In 1908 a Thomas Flyer won the New York to Paris ‘Great Race’. It was one of the last chain-drive, brass-era cars. This car is the only Tourabout model still existent. David performed much of the restoration himself after purchasing it in 2019. You can tell there’s some enthusiasm and fun displaying here at Pebble Beach.

Engines and engine bays that look like jewelry. Hard to believe that’s a nasty, oil and gas consuming internal combustion engine that pushes a 114 year old car around. Amazing.

Just imagine the stories these old boys are telling each other. When they finally get to sit down, the running board is the only seat they can find. I may miss my guess, but I’ll bet those tales are getting a little taller. After all, we are hanging out at the world’s most prestigious car show. No doubt a great experience. They look tired and happy. Can’t imagine anything better than that. Can you?

I’m wrapping up this day spent mostly indoors with this trip down memory lane. Reliving experiences with pictures. Who doesn’t like to do that? Enjoy a few pictures yourself. Hopefully they bring back fond memories and a desire to repeat them. This made my day better. I hope you can do the same.