Mecum Kissimmee Auction

The 2010 Mecum Kissimmee Auction is going on as I write this. Having watched about an hour of yesterday's live auction feed and checking in regularly today, I have to say I'm pleased by two important facts: quality cars are getting good money, and there are lots of quality cars. The Hammack Collection, which comprises no fewer than 52 cars, crossed the block earlier today and drew outstanding prices for what has to be one of the highest quality collections I have had the pleasure to get to know and appreciate, even if from a distance.

Surprisingly, the two highest prices for Hammack Collection cars were garnered by a pair of fuel injected 1957 Pontiac Bonneville convertibles, both beautifully restored to better than new. This one, finished in Kenya Ivory and Fontaine Blue with a Blue leather interior, commanded $213,000:

A New Beginning

I started this blog as a place to share my experiences as a Corvette owner and a member of that great community, but we're going to change direction for 2010 and broaden the content to include more of my favorite cars and car people.

The first and biggest change will be to share more of my writing for Mecum Performance Auction, because there are so many more cars to enjoy and appreciate, too many other great machines to keep it narrowed down to one marque. Having said that, I'm a Corvette man and will continue to share that enthusiasm at every opportunity.

Thanks for dropping by, and let's get started with a fascinating machine that appeared at last year's Dana Mecum Spring Classic, the wild and wonderful Tobacco King Rocket Car:

In the years after WWII, before the advent of the Nader safety nannies and government watchdogs, adventurous entrepreneurs served up an endless parade of fun and dangerous products, one of the most outlandish of which was the Rocket Drag Axle built by the Turbonique Company of Orlando, Florida. Powered by an extremely efficient solid fuel known as Thermolene, the device connected mechanically to a car’s rear differential and, when ignited, delivered upwards of a thousand horsepower to the driveline, producing truly mind-numbing acceleration.

The Rocket Drag Axle’s potential was well demonstrated by the infamous ‘’Black Widow’’ Volkswagen Beetle. A basically stock Bug fitted with an early production unit, the Black Widow became a drag racing legend on September 19, 1966, at Tampa Dragway when it left Tommy Ivo’s four-engine Showboat dragster in its dust with a 9.36 elapsed time at an astonishing 168 mph.

Such wild exploits could not help but draw the attention of Zachary Taylor Reynolds of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco fame. Playboy, pilot, street racer and all-around enfant terrible, the mischievous Reynolds instantly grasped the Rocket Drag Axle’s entertainment potential and conceived of a car that, even beyond its boldly intimidating appearance, would strike fear into unsuspecting onlookers with a prodigious detonation of Rocket Axle power. Reynolds’ creation, a 1964 Ford Galaxie 500 he dubbed the “Tobacco King”, was as wild an example of a Rocket Drag Axle-equipped car as there ever was, and certainly fulfilled the young daredevil’s expectations.

As documented in the 1967 Turbonique product catalog, Reynolds replaced the Raven Black Galaxie’s original 390 V8 engine with a 425 horsepower 427 Ford big block fitted with a rare Latham axial flow supercharger and four Carter one-barrel sidedraft carburetors. That alone would have satisfied almost every hot-rodder ever born, but for young Zach it was just the entrée; the main course was the 850 horsepower Rocket Drag Axle fitted to the Galaxie’s differential. Although large and well-built to begin with, the car had to be modified to compensate for the colossal acceleration and speeds of which it was then capable. The frame and suspension were reinforced to handle the enormous torque delivered through the rear axle housing, a parachute installed to assist braking and ground clearance increased to accommodate the large turbine housing that shot a white-hot spear of flame out from under the rear bumper like a giant acetylene torch.

Forty years later the car still possesses stunning visual impact. From the front it looks every bit the mid-sixties A/FX Thunderbolt racer, with dropped suspension, dump tube headers and unpolished American Torque Thrust wheels. But the picture is only completed by approaching the thing from behind, where the black Simpson chutepack and twin large-diameter tailpipes draw the eyes down to that fearsome rocket exhaust pod.

Inside, the Galaxie’s stock instrument panel is augmented by a set of gauges to monitor engine RPM, supercharger boost and the somewhat-harnessed space-age bomb ticking out back. The Ham Radio installed beneath the dash speaks to Reynolds’ passion as a Ham operator (QSL card #W4TXL, now held by his surviving brother-in-law Bill).

This was as crazy as crazy got in 1967, and is no less so for the years that have passed. Zachary Reynolds put a total of only 3,611 miles on the car before his untimely death in a 1979 plane crash, after which it was placed in careful storage. It is accompanied by early registrations, the original owner’s manual made out to Zachary Taylor Reynolds, an illustrated Turbonique product catalog, Latham Supercharger literature and Zach’s personal notebook. Unrestored and in superb condition throughout, the “Tobacco King” is a delightfully shocking artifact that speaks to a period when daredevils and adventurers gave full sway to the forces that drove them.

1966 L72 427/450 HP 4-Speed Coupe

What an amazing car. This entirely original 1966 427 coupe has turned only 28,000 miles and has won both the Bloomington Gold Survivor and NCRS Top Flight Awards.

One of the rarest, most highly awarded, original and well-documented Corvettes in existence, this 1966 427/450 HP Sting Ray Coupe is a fascinating Survivor. It was built by the second shift of the St. Louis assembly plant at approximately 5PM on October 12, 1965 and then shipped to Pantier Chevrolet in Danville, Arkansas for delivery to its first owner, Danville resident Edward Page.

I think I would have liked Edward Page.

More at Mecum Auction.

LG Motorsports Laguna Seca Video

Great footage, especially if you play Forza on the X-Box:

Cascade Green '57

Dual 4-barrels, 3-speed manual. What I really like about this peach is its Beige interior, a great complement to the Cascade Green exterior and matching top. A very nice car.

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1968 L88

I really enjoyed driving this 1968 L88 Corvette. I was going to write "this wild 1968 L88 Corvette" but that would have been redundant; every L88 is wild.

Thanks to its telescopic steering column, I was able to position the wheel close enough to use it as leverage for depressing the clutch pedal, the primary consideration in driving this car.

Once the engine warms and you are on your lumping thumping way, you know in the blink of an eye that the L88 is a bottomless fount of unrelenting power. At speed, the clutch effort lightens considerably thanks to all the adrenalin suddenly coursing through your veins, an elegant bit of engineering.

There really is nothing like the L88 Corvette. It will slam you back in your seat as if hit from behind by a Kenworth and thrill you with its big-bore basso profundo roar.

It's America's very own vintage race car, a production beast that has beaten all comers.

So: Get in and hang on. You'll love it.

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The Mitchell Corvette

Here are a couple of the photos I took of the 1967 Sting Ray GM styling chief Bill Mitchell had specially built for his wife Marian. It has a 400hp 427 Tri Power and drives like a dream. My article on this car for the Mecum Bloomington Gold Auction is here.

Any Corvette enthusiast will tell you there is no better way to spend a sunny afternoon than cruising around town in a Sting Ray convertible with the top down. But when that town is Newport Beach, CA and the car is this stunning 1967 Ermine White Tri Power convertible, that sunny afternoon is exceptional indeed. And when its owner is along for the ride to tell the car’s story as we rumble around Lido Isle, one gets the full sense of its incredible significance in Corvette history.

More at Mecum Auction