1956 Corvette SR2

designed for Bill Mitchell, and 3 were made. The first was test and eval, the 2nd was for Bill personally and to get some racing trophys, and he had Smokey Yunick prep and maintain it. So many parts were made from lighter weight stuff, that they shaved 700 pounds off the factory model

info and images from http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z15199/Chevrolet-Corvette-SR2.aspx

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A '58 Ford Ranch Wagon is going to get fixed up, but look at how bad it is to start from

here is the junkyard find, and the website of it's recovery is http://ranchwagon.wordpress.com/2010/07/21/the-journey-begins-here/ and it's a step by step restoration

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Rare aluminum Ford 9n tractor parts were made, due to tooling delays with the steel parts

Early in 1939, as Ford and Ferguson rolled out the first 9N tractors, a tooling delay prevented Ford from having several of the stamped-steel components available for the assembly line. As a result, the first production run of about 700 9N tractors featured aluminum hoods, timing covers, steering columns, grilles and several other parts, which were then painted gray like the rest of the tractor before being sold. As these tractors continued their working life on the farm, many of the aluminum components became dented or mangled and by then, replacements were available from Ford parts suppliers. Replacement parts in steel, that is. 

Image and info from Hemmings Blog http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/07/27/mecums-gone-farmin-auction-features-aluminum-hood-ford-9n/

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Unusual option, a sleeper trunk.. I found a 68 Bonneville, and Dan at Hemmings came across a AMC Hornet

 above from a 2007 gallery I posted http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/07/68-ponitac-fastback-is-rare-one-with.html

and this Hornet is from Dan at Hemmings Blog, http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/07/26/from-the-hemmings-nation-flickr-pool-the-hornet-hutchback/comment-page-1/#comment-4936631 and it is showing a Group 15 option, the 1973 Hornet Hutch Mini Camper Kit

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a motorcycle with just one cylinder... excusable when it's a 600cc cylinder. The 1936 Bohmerland with sidecar (garish colors though)

Who finds this stuff? The guy who makes http://silodrome.com/bohmerland-motorcycle/ . He doesn't write much more than I do. 

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1945 -51 Bombardier B-12 snow bus.. used as as ambulances, school buses, mail delivery and bus/taxi operators.

this is from a great article (with more photos of the inside) about the development of the Bombardier and Ski Doo machines at http://ensign.ftlcomm.com/oldstuff/bombardierB12/

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1920 Mercer Raceabout ( Not many Mercers at car shows... glad to find one!)

 as unusual as the speedometer is, the shifter below with it's shift pattern on the bell... that is something I've never seen another like

 two spares... because when these 20's cars were on the roads, they had to share the roads with horses that were always dropping horse shoe nails

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Hitlers parade car, a 1939 Benz G4 Offner open touring wagen,

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The Duke if Bavaria is auctioning off a special Bugatti, one of 3 1912 created, owned, and raced by Ettore himself

There are only three of these cars left worldwide – one is ensconced at the French National Motor Museum as part of the former Schlumpf Collection, the other – nicknamed “Black Bess” – was recently sold into a major private collection by Bonhams at Retromobile 2009 for €2,427,500. The sale at the “Weekend de L’Excellence Automobile” represents a unique opportunity to acquire this outstanding automobile , which has attracted a pre-sale estimate of €1,800,000-2,400,000 


For more info http://www.sportscardigest.com/weekend-de-lexcellence-automobile-reims-auction-bonhams/

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US Army bike, a 1936 Hawthorne Cadet... with saddle bags, and 2 speeds

notice the big sprocket is formed with the H of the Hawthorne bike company

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1918 Smith motor wheel, model C buckboard

 there is no accelerator pedal, just a brake pedal. To go at different speeds you raised and lowered the motor wheel. It went at a constant speed, and if you didn't want to go that fast you raised it occasionally to get something between stop and full speed.

for all you might want to know, or see about the Smith, which ran from 1915 to 1919 and then was bought by Briggs and Stratton, see http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2010/01/briggs-and-stratton-flying-buckboard.html and for an engineering drawing http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/07/4-wheel-buckboard-with-smith-motor.html 

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one of 304, 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham

what they left off this call out card is extensive, but in a nutshell it was the most expensive car made that year:  $13,074... for the 1958 Cadillac Brougham. $2000 more than the Rolls Royce that year (Hot Rod Deluxe May 2008, Page 42)
From a feature on this car http://www.johndagostinokustomkars.com/images/58%20Cadillac%20Eldorado%20Brougham%20Kustom%206.jpg

I posted a good gallery of a 1957 Eldorado Brougham a couple years ago http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2008/05/most-expensive-car-made-in-1957.html 

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1957 Fiat Eden Rock (or Marina) built on a Multipla chassis by PininFarina because the Fiat founding family wanted a go-fer car for their French resort villa

The car was commissioned by the family that founded Fiat, the Agnelli family. They also had the largest holdings on the Italian stock exchange. They owned a remarkable French villa, one famous for once having been owned by kings, and entered the car in the 1957 Paris auto show... and I guess that is where the Cord and Doheny family saw it and bought it, because they had it at their vacation resort, Lake Arrowhead California by 1959. 

The special 600 was called the "Eden Roc" as the promontory overlooking Cap d'Antibes along the coastline of Cote d'Azur where the Villa Leopolda is, in the town of Villefranche-sur-Mer. The little Fiat was used to shuttle guests around the 20-acre villa and town.

 In the late '60s, this car was taken to the Lingotto in Turin and replaced the Fiat 1900 Cabriolet Boano used by Prof. Valletta to lead guests to visit the factory. http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/other-italian-cars/160958-funny-fiat.html

The French resort was Villa Leopolda, owned by King Leopold of Belgium, and King Albert after him. It was used in the Hitchcock movie "To Catch A aThief" that starred grace Kelly, later Princess of Monaco. 

Most recently, according to Wikipedia, it's owned by the Russian billionaire, and he bought it for the world record price of 370 Euro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Leopolda

 The Doheny family connection is interesting, as their former mansion, Graystone, is the site of the Beverly Hills concours I went a couple weeks ago. Doheny was an oil magnate, and married the daughter of the Cord Automobile company founder. Cord company holding included American Airways, Checker Cabs, Cord and Auburn automobile companies

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