what is the rarest car you have come across

Nad's Walter Hagen '61 Caddy Conn. Factory custom 1 of 1

 

Saw a "Delahaye" at a concours de elegance show here in CO. Not sure what year it was but it was cool. The lady in the car said it was one of two of its kind still in existence. The other she said was in Europe somewhere. Actually stumbled upon the show on the way to Pikes Peak before I lived here. Was here for NCO academy when I was in the USAF. Was in the Sedan so I thought I'd take it up to Pikes Peak. Well here I come roaring up Hwy 24 passing all these fancy cars and people dressed to match. I didn't fit in at all but I did get to go to Pikes Peak for free since I was in line with them to get in. Met Chip Foose that day also. Have a picture of me and him by my Sedan.

 

I ran across a 31 or 32 Oakland roadster that was complete or only short a few mechanical parts in the early 60's.Iwas poking around in the McBride collection of cars and parts in Grantsville Utah. Dennis McBride and his yard has been mentioned on the HAMB several times. At that time the whople place just sat there unattended and abandoned. Dennis's father, I thinkit was ,owned it and lived in Salt Lake city , he sold Electrolux vacuums cleaners. About the only way to buy anything from him was to buy a vacuum first then try and deal on what you might want . I did that and then made a deal to get a 34 Chevy cabrolet from him for 25 dollars, minus the engine and running gear , which I did not want in the first place . THe Vacuum cost about 150 bucks and I had to put it on payments and was to pay for the car when the vacuum was paid off. Sadly, before I got that done , some rat bastards from California came thru with several flatbed trucks and stole a BUNCH of cars, several Willys coupes, old chevys, and many others, mine included!
Anyway at this time ,I was looking for a 27 ford roadster body, or some parts for my forty Ford coupe-- no luck on those but in a partialy collapsed shed was sitting this pristine Oakland roadster, complete with a flathead V8 motor , about like a Caddy V8 with the exhaust coming out of the top side of the motor. There was a really neat door on the right side of the body just behind the door , I think it was a door for a golf bag?
Being young and stupid ( nowadays I am just stupid) I looked it over and went on my way --not interested -- in those days you would not think of any thing but a Ford or Chevy as a hot rod and restored "old cars" were for OLD MEN .

When I went back a few years later the shed and Oakland were nowhere to be found.

 

Locomobile 1915

Apparently the car in the link was thought to be the only one left.
I saw the second one about 2 weeks ago.


http://blog.cokertire.com/general-post/locomobile-reunion/

 

Oakland was the parent make of Pontiac. Not coincidentally, Pontiac, Michigan is the county seat of Oakland County, Michigan.

GM's companion makes program was pretty neat, but badly timed as it coincided with the start of the Great Depression. In addition to Pontiac, it spawned Marquette (companion to Buick), Viking (companion to Oldsmobile), and LaSalle (companion to Cadillac). Oakland was the only make not to outlive its companion.

 

Not very Rare but Very Gay

 

Really?

I've always liked the Darrin... guess that makes me ghey

 

The Topper Movie car.

I had the pleasure of driving this back in the late 70's around the Big O in Ontario, Ca before the 500 race that day.

Our neighbours cousin was a manager of the "Cars ot the Stars" in Buena Park back then. He also brought along a '36 Packard drop top and the "Happy Days" family car.

A local car dealer named Cal Worthington was also there in a drop top Cad with his dog spot......a real Tiger!

Janet Guthrie was entered in the race as well.

That was quite a day!

 

Sorry, try this.

 

Some people just have no class!

The K-D was one cool ride! After all how many cars, custom or production, can you say had sliding doors?

 

Saw the round door rollsroyce when I was a kid about 62-63 in a trailer, owner charged I think 25 or 50 cents to view. More recently one of the stainless steel 36 ford 4-doors.

 

My mother inlaw has a 1961 moretti 750, its been in her garage since 1962 or 63. it has not moved since 62 or 63!

 

Up until Labor Day it was my 1963 Ford Consul Capri

 

Here's some pics.









And I got some great stories from one of the most famous guys you'll never meet. Rich Mason.....what a guy and what stories. Still can't believe I was fortunate enough to hang out with such a cool guy.

 

1915(?) Little, from a private collection. I was told it's one of five known to exist.
I put a windshield in a Jenson Interceptor convertible, 267 produced. Sweated bullets on that one, since the windshield was the only one found in the world.

 

1915(?) Little, from a private collection. I was told it's one of five known to exist.
I put a windshield in a Jenson Interceptor convertible, 267 produced. Sweated bullets on that one, since the windshield was the only one found in the world.

 

Fantastic thread.After the war my father did chaffure(?) work for several years.He drove a lot of the cars pictured here.That was WW1 I was referring to.
Packards,Caddys,Lordy,I don`t know know what all.Even had a picture of one of his clients and himself taken at the Redwood that the road went through in California.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I owned the 1970 Road Runner convertible. It had a 383, functional air grabber hood, sure grip rear end, 4 speed, bucket seats. No rust. Never been hit. 1 of 824 made. I had it in the Car Corral at Good Guys, Pleasanton parked next to this Super Bird. At the end of the day, the Super Bird owner said,"Let's trade cars but you to throw in $10,000." I didn't do it. I am kicking myself repeatedly for this blunder. See picture.

 

Right now I'm working on a pair of 1931 Chrysler Imperial 8's.
85 of the dual cowl phaetons manufactured, somewhere around a dozen known.
271 limousines w/divider

 

Just discovered that my postal letter carrier has inherited three different unrestored prototype vehicles made just before WW2. A Ford jeep, a Willy's jeep and a bantam jeep. They are so rare that they cannot find any parts for them.

 

Gary Cerveney's Hudson Italia was parked next to me at the Downtown Burbank Car Classic this past July...

 

S/N 3223, rebuilt the carbs, distributors, fuel pumps, and made the fuel lines, reflectors, and shifter among many other things. First 250 GTO made. Took first last year at Pebble. We restored the blue one next to it a few years back.

 

In my area there was a collector that had a collection that has been sold after his death . Of the collection I have seen a 1907 Stanley Steamer , 1929 Packard Phaeton , and the most interesting a 1903 Holley . That is the neatest little car another fellow in the area bought it and drives it to get his mail every so often . If I see it again I will get a picture . Rob

 

How about the 1968 Shelby EXP-500 "Green Hornet"?

In the early 90's I had a '66 Mustang. It was a 6 cyl so it had the 4 lug wheels. I wanted to update it with disc brakes, so after asking around I was told to call Martin Euler. I took the car to Martin (we both lived in the same town) and he put in a Granada rearend and disc brakes on the front. Even with all his talent he charged me a crazy low price. One night I paid a visit to him in his old downtown garage. When I walked in, there sat this beautiful dark green Mustang. I had no idea of what I was looking at.
Martin gave me the whole story. Martin had just fishied working on it and it was awaiting pickup at any moment. Martin let me set in the car and even takes some photos. Unfortunatly I don't know where they are since I've moved a few times since then.
Here's a pic of the car and a link to the story.
http://www.stangpit.com/info/special-editions/1968-shelby-exp-500-prototype-428-cj-conelec-efi/

 

When I was in my 20s I used to have the guy up the street from my in-laws help me with my Desoto. He had a run down shop on the side streets of Des Moines but he was a great mechanic and never charged me and always was glad to help me learn about my Desoto even though he specialized in Jaguar. In the shop was a buried drophead coupe but the real gem was at home.

He lived another block away from his shop in a very run down house with a rickety garage next to it that was difficult to get into. Inside was a 1955 Dual cockpit Abarth racer a 207a boano spider with a 1100cc Maserati OSCA motor. The car evidently had been in lots of races in the 50s and here it was hiding in one of the last places on earth you would expect to find it.

After the Mr Daniels passed away S and S specialties a Jaguar shop in Cumming Iowa bought pretty much everything from the estate and it was being restored the last I knew many years ago.

 

Are we talking owned or have seen. I just sold my '49 Caddy convert, somewhere around 3000 made. Actually made money on a car with that one.

 

a finished one in my garage........

 

I probably already posted on this thread and probably posted the same thing but there used to be a bugatti at the car show at the cow palace every year. Pretty rare car as I recall.

I helped restore a bently that belonged to Erol Flynn. It was basically a bently chassis/drivetrain and a coach built body. The body was built in france. I imagine that it was pretty rare.

So there are two that I came across.

 

Found an 66 R code 427 Cyclone about 15 years ago. A farmer had drug it into his barn by the bumper and it was V'd but good. Made an offer on the spot and before I could snag a trailer and truck to pick it up, he changed his mind.

 

In the spring of 1966, my sister graduated from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio. My folks and I drove up from Cincinnati to help her pack. Knowing my addiction to old cars, she asked if I'd like to see an old convertible she'd found in a green house on an abandoned estate owned by the Carr(?) family. She and her roommate had explored the house and grounds, and removed a bunch of old clothing and memorabilia that was being ruined by neglect. The car in the greenhouse was a Duesenberg boat tail roadster in bare aluminum, without the exposed exhaust pipes. I figured the car was worth maybe $20,000.00 (I'd read a book on these cars while in high school) and begged, literally begged my dad to try and buy it. Right, they'd just paid $23,000.00 for a nice house.
I saw the car displayed maybe ten years later a a show in Indianapolis, so I know it got saved. I took my sister from the airport to Yellow Springs this summer for an Antioch reunion, and we found the old estate again, totally overgrown and almost unrecognizable. Some of the heirs (so they claimed) live across the street in a little house and came out to speak with us. They had no idea that such a car had ever been in the family, or for that matter, what a Duesenberg was. Five years ago, my sister returned all the items she'd saved from the house to an elderly Carr relative.