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About Me
My work has appeared in a number of major publications either as writer, photographer, or source. I enjoy talking about all things automotive. Recent Posts
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CarSpace Hudson's BlogAll around the car world there are stories and these are just a few of them. A new blog is posted every Monday. Sometimes more often. Apr 24, 2009 - Car Show Season is Here Again!My year has two seasons: car show season and the rest of the year. Car show season begins the Wednesday before Easter for the New York Auto Show and the end of the season is when I leave the Fall Hershey event in October. After that, it’s a dreary winter of anticipating another car show. I’m a car show addict. While many people get excited when they see a ’57 Chevrolet, a ’63 Corvette, or a ’55 Thunderbird, these sightings are as bland as spotting a pothole on a Pennsylvania highway; been there, done that. Sighting a rare car is my opiate. Finding a factory-backed Chrysler Cordoba convertible or a 4-speed manual Bricklin or a gray-market Toyota Chaser excites me far more than any of those beautiful but common “classic” cars that others enjoy. While the New York Auto Show is good for seeing the latest new cars and concepts, it’s not until the Spring Carlisle event that the car show season kicks into high gear. Walking around the nearly 90 acres of cars and parts at the Carlisle Fairgrounds is great exercise, great fun running into old friends, and quite enjoyable when you find that 1-of-few treasure buried in the car corral between two run-of-the-mill examples of Detroit iron. My camera is always at the ready. Since digital photography is so much less expensive than my old 35mm Konica was, I can take hundreds of pictures at any show. Whether it’s a pink Auburn hot rod or a rare Ford Durango, my camera can save the images of front and rear, top and bottom, inside and out. And then I get to share them with you, my car loving brethren (and sistern?).
If you’re in Carlisle on the Saturday of the show, let me know. If you see someone spending just a little too long photographing a car you’ve probably never seen before, that’s me. Just say hi!
Dec 31, 2007 - New Year's ResolutionsEach New Year's Day, we resolve to change things in the coming 12 months. With an additional day in the coming year, I'm breaking with tradition and sharing some of my automotive-related resolutions for 2008. I resolve to: Attend more car shows. In 2007, too many other things came up and prevented me from attending the car shows that I had planned to see. In addition to my usual rounds, I hope to find a new car show or cruise night here and there. If anyone has any good ones in Southeastern Pennsylvania (let's say from Chambersburg to the Poconos), drop me a line. Compete in more autocrosses. After I get the struts changed on the Suzuki, I hope to best last year's count of ONE autocross. And, with a better suspension, I hope to best my initial outing by beating more than one other driver (I finished 8th out of 10, but one did not complete a single lap). Work on my vehicles. With the fleet now numbering THREE vehicles not on the road (four if you count the Suzuki awaiting strut replacement surgery), I hope to get one of them running this year. The MG sits there pining to take to the open road. The Moto Guzzi moped sits in the corner like a neglected toy. And the newest edition, the Ford Ranger, is ready for the modifications I plan to give it. Lots of work and only 366 days to do it. Write more. I have one article due to my publisher in February but I want to finish two or three more by the time next New Year's Eve approaches. I hope to have a regular non-automotive writing gig this year as well. And I would love to get started on any of the longer-form writing projects (a couple of books, a few screenplays, etc) I've discussed over the years...perhaps this will be the year for it! Volunteer at the local car musuem. I've talked about it for years. But I need to just open up time in my schedule and accomplish this task. They need the assistance and I'd like to offer my time, but there never seems to be enough time in the day...week....month. Start and finish my documentary. Another one of those projects that has been on the back-burner for far too long. Sources for projects like this are not getting any younger. And neither am I. If you've got resolutions like this, let me know. Please let me know that I'm not alone in this sort of procrastination. We'll work on it together and encourage each other to get each task behind us...so we can find new tasks for 2009 and beyond! Happy New Year to all!
Oct 22, 2007 - Going to a Car Show...I'm not a fan of commercial car magazines. Any magazine that covers new vehicles and has advertising has a conflict of interest, and it's not getting any better. Some of my favorite magazines have become average at best and lame in worst case scenarios. One of the few magazines for which I still have a subscription in AutoWeek. In the October 15 issue, Steve Thompson wrote an editorial called "10 Ways to Enjoy a Car Show." For the most part, the list is very good collection of basic rules. But I'd like to elaborate on a few. Number 3 on the list, Mr Thompson says that a spectator should "never be afraid to ask questions." I do not claim to know everything about cars and I will be the first to admit that I learn something new at every car show I attend. But I also run into a few people at nearly every car show for who I feel I need to become tour guide. Years back, I was at a show where the man in front of me turned to his buddy and asked "why does that car have a BMW logo on it?" The car in question was a BMW Isetta, not a car that he was thinking BMW would have ever produced. I had to bite my tongue not to narrate for him. At last week's Hershey meet, I found a representative of the media telling his cohort that a particular car was a "1934 Cadillac V16," when the grille CLEARLY read "V8." The same gentleman spotted a car that he thought had an "18-cylinder engine" but he misread the label that claimed the car had a "17-liter" engine. Number 6 on the list, Mr Thompson encouraged parents help kids to understand what's going on. While he used as an example "letting a kid sit behind the wheel of your '57 Chevy" to give him an experience he'll "never forget." I'm all for that and have been a big proponent of it since I was six and sitting behind the wheel of a Ford Model T. I would take this a step further and combine it with number 3. As I was admiring a row of cars at a recent show, a father was ogling a Cord. His teenage kid thought the car was "ugly," and my heart nearly stopped! How could you call a Cord sedan anything but beautiful? To his credit, the father did try to explain how cutting-edge this car was in 1937, but the kid wasn't really buying it. Again, I bit my tongue. Number 10 on the list hits quite close to home. Mr Thompson said "wear comfortable shoes." Three days after Fall Hershey, I could still feel the day in my legs. Walking across the show field for over seven hours, without one chair, your legs tend to get tired...good shoes or not. Better shoes, however, would minimize the pain and shorten the recovery time. I'm sure that all real car lovers can add to Mr Thompson's list. It is, however, a good start. And everyone reading this should go out and create your own list...and improve it...and continue to improve it....just go to a car show. Be a teacher when you can, be a student when you should. Take your spouse or buddy....and by all means pass on your love of cars and trucks and motorcycles to the next generation!
Oct 14, 2007 - A Tale of Two Car ShowsEvery October, there are two major car shows in south central Pennsylvania. Fall Carlisle arrives during the first weekend in October while the AACA Fall Meet, otherwise known as Fall Hershey, arrives the next weekend. If you haven't been to either of these events and you call yourself an automotive enthusiast, you should really look into putting them on your calendar. Carlisle Productions hosts eleven events every year on the 82-acre Carlisle Fairgrounds property. The Fall show covers almost all of that area with vendors selling their wares and cars for purchase in the car corral. It's like Heaven for car enthusiasts, especially those with a preference toward American vehicles since World War II. The Antique Automobile Club of America puts on their fall event in front of Hersheypark in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Many of the vendors who were at Carlisle appear at this show just a few days later, but you probably didn't have enough time to get through all of Carlisle anyway. And don't think you'll get though Hershey either since there are 15 acres of show cars alone and another 134 acres of flea market area. But you need to try. During Fall Carlisle (one of three Carlisle events each year that I try to attend) last week, I had to work. For the first time in more than 15 years, my employer had a stand at the show. I volunteered to work the show. It put a damper on the amount of time I could walk around the show, but I got to see another side of Carlisle. I met dozens of people that I would have otherwise just passed by. People from all over the place stopping by to get things that would be nearly impossible to find in their home town but things that are necessary to get their project to the next level. Carlisle and Hershey are great places to shop for all things automotive. I usually buy books or parts for my car, but the main reason to attend these shows is to see what cars have shown up. Walking the car corral at Carlisle is my personal highlight of the trip. Most of the vehicles are common post-War cars and trucks with a guarantee of a number of Mustangs and Camaros and Corvettes. But all of that walking pays off for me when I find the pink 1927 Auburn hot rod or the ex-military 6wd Land Rover or rare 1981 Ford (yes, blue oval Ford) Durango. It's like finding the Maltese Falcon or a new species of insect...something you've never seen before and few of your automotive buddies have either. A few days go by and Hershey rolls around. While it looks the same on paper, the two shows are very different. They both have flea market vendors and many Carlisle vendors do pack up on Sunday just to unpack a few miles away on Tuesday at Hershey. The both have car corrals with acres of cars and trucks. But Carlisle is a catch-all event and Hershey is tied to the fall meet of the AACA. Because of this affiliation, there are acres of the most beautiful cars you've ever seen. Rows of cars and trucks from every era from the horseless carriages to cars of the early 1980s. Go to a typical car show and you'll be lucky to see a Studebaker Avanti...I spotted no fewer than four yesterday. Like '57 Chevrolets? There was an entire row of them...every body style...many colors...all in great condition...it was like going to a Chevrolet dealership in the fall of 1956. There were even rows of commercial vehicles like milk trucks and fire engines. We even spotted a Delorean made into a half-hearted tribute to "Back to the Future." And the people you meet? They love to talk about cars. One gentleman showed us his Mercedes-Benz sedan delivery (the only one I've ever seen) which was parked two rows from his 1955 Porsche Continental (can't tell the last time I saw one). We found a manual-transmissioned Bricklin (only built in 1974) and TWO pre-WWI Renaults in as good of condition as you could expect from 100 year old cars. There was surely something for everyone from muscle cars and sports cars to luxury cars and plain-Jane sedans. When (I'm assuming you're serious about you car fanaticism) you go to these shows, bring your walking shoes. Carlisle can be done in a (long) day, but it's best to take two. Hershey could possibly be done in two days and that's the minimum since flea market vendors start packing up on Saturday and the actual car show is ONLY on Saturday. If you're social and like to meet other car people, add another day or so. The biggest problem for me about these shows is what they represent. Carlisle and Hershey mark the end of my annual car show season. Cruise nights are typically over and flea markets are basically closed until spring. Each year, however, the snow melts and car shows open once again. And if you live your life well, you'll need the rest after Hershey. I know I do because my legs have STILL not recovered. But it's a good kind of pain and worth the sacrifice to visit two of the best shows on the planet. If I didn't meet you there this year, let's plan on it for next year...shall we?
Aug 26, 2007 - Oddballs and OrphansWalk down the rows of cars at any large car show and you’ll see the same cars. Not usually the actual same cars, but typically the standard models and model years show up at every car show. Go to a hot rod show and you’ll see Model T Fords and 1930s-era Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, and Willys coupes. Go to the usual old car show and the usual old cars show up including ’55-57 Chevrolets and ’65-66 Mustangs and early Camaros and Corvettes of all vintages. And even “late-model” cruise nights have the same groups of Fox-bodied Mustangs and third-and fourth-generation Camaros and Firebirds as well as the occasional hopped-up Honda Civic or Acura Integra or Mazda RX7. It’s oh-so-predictable. When I go to a car show, I always look for the oddballs. I’ll notice the crowds gathered around better-than-new classic Chevrolets or Fords where the discussion is about “a buddy of mine had one” or “my dad drove one of these.” Reminiscing like that is great and I’m glad they enjoy that. It doesn’t help that I had a car before any of my buddies did when I was younger. It also doesn’t help that none of my buddies (or my father for that matter) were “car people.” And when my buddies did get their first cars, they were 1967 Ford F-Series pickups or 1978 Chevrolet Monzas or 1979 Chrysler Cordobas…nothing to write home about. Even my first car was not noteworthy. Over the years, my taste in cars has become more honed. I still like almost anything on four wheels…and sometimes that criterion is not locked in. But to arouse my attention, you need to dangle something different and odd in front of my face. A few weeks ago, I was walking to my car after a day of car judging when I noticed two guys ogling a car. It was a very nice late model Aston Martin but they were overlooking the Sunbeam Imp sitting right next to it. I asked the guys standing there, “sure it’s a $150,000 Aston Martin, but does it hold a candle to a classic Sunbeam?” They laughed. Sure, the Aston Martin is very rare, but when was the last time you even saw a picture of a Sunbeam car? If you go through my photographs, you'll see some oddballs and orphans. The stranger the better is my opinion. And a really good car show, in my view, is one where there are models and brands of cars that I have never seen in person. Most concours events will have beautiful and rare cars of the Classic era. Duesenbergs and Bugattis and Hispano-Suizas and the like. The engineering on these vehicles can only be rivaled by the spectacular coachwork build atop their large frames. They definitely catch the attention of all attendees, and I am among the people impressed by the craftsmanship that went into them. But I'm looking for real oddballs. Ever see an El Morocco? There were 27 built in 1956 and 10 built in 1957. I had read about these in books, but it was a concours event that I attended a number of years ago where I first saw one in person. To most people, it just looks like a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, but Chevrolet fanatics will note that the grille has less trim and the tail fins are from a Cadillac. And it's not badged as a Chevrolet...it is an El Morocco. A friend of mine and I had a discussion about rare vehicles we've seen. He stated that he had worked on or seen at shows a high percentage of the total production of MGA fixed head coupes. His percentage was around 1% of the 1,000 built, which is impressive. My reply was that I had personally seen six of the about 40 Vectors ever built. That's the kind of thing a fan of oddballs looks for...rarity. During a tour of a restoration shop, I spotted an old chassis. The large car had a milled block straight-eight engine and obviously dated to the 1920s or early 1930s. Since it had no body, I guessed that it was a sports car of the era. My tour guide filled me in on this rarity. He said it was a Pedroso. I pride myself on knowing many different (and rare) brand names, but this one had me stumped. He continued that Pedrosos were built to race (at LeMans, if memory serves corrrectly). And there were TWO built. One of the two sank with a ship crossing the Atlantic and this was the sole survivor. A few years later, I was part of a tour of the storage room at the Petersen Museum when our tour guide unveiled a car that had everyone (mostly seasoned historians) mystified. The tour guide told us that this was a Pedroso, and it turned out that it was the same car I had seen years before but now with its body attached. As recently as today, my friend and I were surfing ebay in the "others" category for these types of oddities. He sent me a listing for a Muntz Jet and then wondered how rare it was. According to my research, the numbers are disputed by it seems that fewer than 200 were built and fewer than 50 have been located. And all of this just makes he and I want the car more. I've snapped pictures of AMC Spirits and Kaiser Darrins found at car shows, primarily because they stand out as orphans, which makes them stand out among the Ford Thunderbirds and Chevrolet Corvettes that seem to populate most car shows. But when I find a Checker Superba or Zimmer Golden Spirit or a Walter truck, I have found a memorable car show. Come to a car show with me...let's find some of these treasures!
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