what is the rarest car you have come across

a friend of mine has a 1923 jordan playboy roadster. one of only three known to exist. he also has a 1908 buick.

another friend has a 1909 mcintyre, it's the only one i can find.

another friend has 2 1901 curved dash oldsmobiles among many others.

 

As the 'Rarerodder' I get enthusiastic over all cars that are alittle out of the ordinary-rodded or not. My collection of what I feel are rare cars include a 1931 Pontiac Cabriolet-(have only seen pictures of about five of these, non rodded), a 1942 Hudson Commodore Eight Club Coupe-(may be one of two known to survive), and a 1930 Pontiac Phaeton-(American built by Stewart Body Works-it's the only one I have ever heard of!). All of these cars are currently projects and planned for resto-rod modifications. My sources of establishing their rarity is through pictures and references from the Pontiac-Oakland Club International and the Hudson, Essex, Terraplane Club International, as well as just looking though every old car publication I can get my hands on and web surfing.

 

Check out the "what is this?" post by Chadillac here on the hamb.

 

Interesting side note. What is now Nissan bought the remnants of Graham-Paige many, many years ago, including their production facilities I believe. This was pre-WWII by many years. DAT became Datson and then eventually Datsun which also absorbed other old Japanese marques to collectively became Nissan Motors.

 

About ten years ago, I was visiting my daughter up in Massachusetts. My wife and I took a side trip up to Maine, and wandered some side roads on the way back to Boston. There was a car hood sticking out of the dirt on the left side of the road that took me back to the 1960s. I stopped, got out of our pickup, and walked back to it.

Anybody remember the AMT Piranha? It was a concept built by Gene Winfield back in 1967 for AMT. AMT used it as the basis for one of their models, and it was picked up (and modified by Gene) for "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" TV series. The body was also offered as part of a kit project. The talking point was that it wasn't fiberglass; it was some sort of ABS/Cycolac plastic.

There, half-buried in the New England roadside, was a dull orange Cycolac body that was once somebody's dream of touring New England in a car from U.N.C.L.E.

I seriously considered it for about a minute before climbing back in the truck and heading

 

When I was about 14 I went over to a friend's house and there was an Aston Martin in the garage - I am not sure what model but It looked like James Bond's car. My friend popped the hood and it had a small block chevy motor in it that looked like it grew there. No hack job at all -it looked totally factory. About two years later I am looking through hemmings and there is a full page ad for a car that looks identical to the one I saw. After reading the ad I find out the car I saw was one of five built AND only one came with a factory installed small block ( I am pretty sure it was a 327). I was blown away after reading the ad. Of course the car was gone the next time I went to my friend's house. I wish I could have driven it.....


Later- Reece

 

I suspect this "Tucker" is either a fiberglass one from IDA Automotive or one of the slapped together movie cars. It has a late model dash and steering to go with the other late model stuff.

 

There is an old guy i think in iowa, who goes to some car shows here that has an old Stanley Steamer, not sure on year, but i got to ride in it! Also basically all the cars I saw at Gilmore Car Museum. I've also seen a 1920 something Model T Electric. And then a bunch of rare big trucks and semis. I've seen more rare old tractors then cars though, we have over 80 Antique John Deeres, and 3 of them are experimentals, and about 20 of them are low productions.

 

At one time I worked for a guy that had a Climber. Made in Little Rock, Ar. and also had 10 shares of Climber motor stock on his office wall. Also had a 1911 Detroit Electric that has been since restored.

 

Rare? How about a 69 Acadian Beaumont (Canadian Pontiac-built Malibu) Sport Deluxe with a factory installed aluminum head 427? Used to be here in town, last known to be owned by a bunch of crazy orientals in Saskatoon. I finally saw a 1960 Pontiac 2 door wagon this past Spring. Can't be many of them left. My own offering is this: one of 1583 made, Canadian Pontiac.

 

Several years ago my brother-in-law bought a collection of cars that included a 1912 Opal-darracq. On a more modern note I am in the process of buying a 60 Buick wagon that is factory with water buffalo upholstery and bucket seats, supposedly one of 600.

 

Passin thru BFE Colorado and spotted a green 51 Frazer 4dr convertible. Had to stop and take a look of course. Camera batteries were toast so I didn't get any pics but damn they're cool. Like a full-sized Henry J.

 

We've got a 1926 Minerva sitting in the corner of our warehouse. It belongs to my boss. It'll be restored one day, despite my assertions that it would make a good rod! LOL!
My father was once offered a Bugatti roadster for $100 but turned it down because it would'nt seat the whole family! LOL! He bought a 1927 Chrysler sedan instead!

 

I have a 1930 Durant 614 only 1000 on the road today and this one is in the process of becoming a hot rod...

 

My 71 AMC Hornet SC/360 is one of 306 built with 360, 4-speed, posi rear, and Go-Pak.

My Car:

 

I bought some old cars off of a farm this summer. One was what was left of a 37 Buick Limited limo. I have the center divider/roll up window out in the yard.

 

My ex-landlord (and still good friend, Coy) showed me a pre-1940's Lagonda Saloon (similar in size and looks to a Duezy) that his dad purchased it as a running car over 40 years ago. It has sat in the back of his dad's barn ever since. He did some research on it and found that it was a one-off coach body and of course you know how that stuff goes. His dad is over 80 now and won't let anyone touch it even though it just keeps getting worse and worse. It's really a shame.

 

My insurance man has a Brush that he is restoring, was his Grandfathers. It is all wood from frame to body, saw pictures and hope to see the car in a week or so.

 

An old friend of mine had[until he died] a 1911 Metz roadster..
It was powered by a 4 cyl engine with a rubber covered drum on the "trans" tail that rubbed on a large"wheel" that sat under the trans horizontally...a shifter moverd this "wheel so that it went "over center" to provide a reverse.......
It only had a cowl and dash/seat with no body from seat back sorta like a buckboard.....

 

Old boss bought a barn find 1929 Stutz Bearcat. A little tune up and some new tires and it was on the road again. Bought it from a very old lady for $6000. Sold it a few months later, to a collector, for $20K+. Cool car and I got to ride in it once before he sold it.

 

I collect pictures of ultra rare or unusual. Here is a 1912 Pioneer I understand is the only survivor as well as this 1897 Leon Bollee. A 100 year old French hot rod. Wide white walls, arrest-me-red, blue dot lamp, lots of shiny metal.

 

1940 Lincoln continental

 

'29 English Ford Sedan. Right hand drive and all the jazz, but looked the same as the regular ones. I've also run into an '80's McClearen Mustang. It was soo rusty that I could have sworn I saw the same car sitting in my high school parken lot in 1993. '37Hudson Terraplane coupe rotting in a junkyard.

 

I worked for about 6 months part time for an Antique car hauler that had a small restoration 4 man restoration shop.On one of his return runs he brought home a Cord that was some limited body style.He found it in a local dump in the midwest someplace and it had been converted into a saw rig with the entire rear of the car cut away and the big circular saw mounted on the rear of the chassis.He got it for a case of beer for the guy running the dump.The Pontiac/Buick dealer I worked for had a number of other enterprises as well his father started out in the rag,paper and scrap iron recycling back in the 20s.I did work on occasions at his other buildings and he had a 53? Pontiac sedan delivery stored in one of the garages at the recycling building that his father used collecting recycling goods

 

Well guys',the rearest car I've ever owned was a "56 Chrysler 300B. I know chrysler leter cars are not all that rare, but I reasently discovered that the production figuers for standerd shift cars was only 8 and the one I had was 1 of 8. Any way it's all history now,it was purschased in'62 and sold in'63. It did leave some good memories though. ......Jack

 

Met Floyd Garrett thru his brother in law. So his entire collection in NE FlA. That was a pretty spectacular evening..Eating shrimp and listening to the stories abotu these cars...with the full visual. Fire Chief No 2, 62 Ford superlite weights..413 cross ram superlite, 57 supercharged fairlane with 65 miles on it..etc etc.

 

I have a friend of mine that has a 1932 Rockne, made by Studebaker.



Larry

 

I saw an Auburn Speedster getting worked on a couple weeks ago.

 

RAN ACROSS THIS RARE THING IN PASO THIS YEAR......

 

That Bugatti Atalante coupe I believe belongs to Ralph Lauren and was restored by Paul Russell Cars in Essex Massachusetts some years ago.

I have seen too many rare and unusual cars to list but some of them include:
1964 Mercedes-Benz 600 coupe.One of two built at the factory for Paramount Pictures in Hollywood in 1964.I found this out because I wound up ordering all the trim pieces for it(they had been lost at a plating shop in CA).Took nearly three YEARS for the factory to fabricate new ones.

A 1944 Dearborn Dual Drive truck.Made by Ford during WWII for use as a long distance hauling vehicle for heavy loads.Had TWO Ford flathead engines mounted side-by-side.One engine drove the rearmost axle(there were two),that had a shaft that came out and drove the front rear axle.The other engine had a transfer case that drove the front wheels of the truck.Saw it on a trailer that had obviously just come from a swap meet.Could never find any info on it although several sites had other similar models.

The guy I did a 1908 Buick for last week has a barnful of rare cars;most of which were built in Jackson Michigan(where he lives)including a 1954 Kaiser Darrin in factory mint green(only one i've ever seen that color),2 Jackson automobiles(made in 1910 to 1920);one a 1911 and the other a 1912.He also owns a 1906 Moline and a 1910 Velie.Pictures of the Velie are enclosed.Also a 1915 Overland(forerunner of Willys).