Category Archives: Uncategorized
The CCCA CARavan Visits the Blackhawk Museum
One of the more inspired events of this touring season was the Classic Car Club of America’s Rediscover American CARavan. Starting in New York and ending in San Francisco, it was an unique opportunity to see the country from behind the wheel of a great classic car. Running from May 4th through the 26th, the convoy travelled through thirteen states, nine cities and many small towns along the way.
Our feature photo and thumbnails (above), courtesy Steve Natale. Thumbnails (below), courtesy Ron Kimball via the Blackhawk Museum.
This event commemorated the 60th Anniversary of the first CCCA CARavan and followed many of the remaining sections of the Lincoln Highway. Our friend Steve Natale caught up with them at the Blackhawk Museum in Danville, California and shared some of his beautiful images with The Old Motor. You can read more about the CCCA tour here.
The Blackhawk Museum houses one of the pre-eminent car collections in the world. Opening in September of 1988 in a purpose built 70,000 square foot building, the interior is aesthetically decorated and lit to best display their high quality automobiles. In addition to the cars, educational lectures are scheduled each month and rotating exhibitions are presented in each of two large galleries. A research library and the museum’s shop and bookstore are also available to visitors. More fine photos of the cars in the Blackhawk collection can be found here. Earlier contributions to The Old Motor by Steve Natale can be found here.
Selling Steel with Style, Part IV
Some grilles and grins today, both pre-war and post, in more of those factory press release photos that we so enjoy. It looks like that’s a heavily retouched 1941 Nash Ambassador above, but frankly we can’t tell it apart from the lesser models by outward appearance alone. Apparently, Vera West was a Hollywood costume designer. We assume she was responsible for the form fitting gown on the unidentified model posing with the car.
Below, (L to R) , we have two more “orphan” makes, the Nash and the Frazer and one example of a brand that has survived, the Lincoln, in photos from December, 1945, July, 1946 and April, 1947 respectively. It’s easy to forget today just how different and modern the slab sided 1947 Kaisers and Frazers looked to car buyers when compared to the “Big Three’s” post-war offerings, which were mostly face lifted versions of 1941 models.
The Chicago Avenue Garage Bathed in Light
A very shiny 1937 Buick noses out the door in this undated photo after apparently getting “the works” at the Chicago Avenue Garage. We at The Old Motor find this image very attractive and quite representative of the time. The headlights, neon signage and ornate “Red Crown” lamps all contribute to it’s appeal. We invite our readers to tell us anything that you can about the garage or where it was located.
* Update * Thanks to our readers David Zornig and Russ, It appear that the garage may have been at 831 Chicago Ave. in Evanston, Ill.
Posted in Auto photos 1921 - 1942, Garages and Dealerships, Gasoline stations, Uncategorized
Tagged 1937 Buick, Buick, Chicago, Chicago Avenue, Garages, Red Crown, Simonize
