Car Lust

September 10 Weekly Open Thread--The Vehicles of 9/11

Tomorrow is the 11th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. And though there was nothing more terrible than the loss of lives that day, I ran across this image. In all, approximately 1,400 cars, trucks, fire apparatus, ambulances, and other vehicles became instant relics of pure hate; these are just some of them.

Car Lust was created to express our emotions about cars, trucks, and other vehicles. I think this picture is a very powerful statement for us to present to remember that day.

In April, 2012, I had the experience of going back to the World Trade Center after 32 years. We arrived at the Memorial at 6:30 PM; they closed at 8.

There was not enough time to even explore the plaza with the Reflecting Absence pools... when the entire site opens, I would expect half a day might not even be enough time to see the three stories of the Memorial museum.

One particular fire apparatus will forever be on display. Eleven firefighters were killed in this Ladder Company 3 truck as it was removing people from the North Tower. It will be a permanent reminder of the lost firefighters and many other people who never went home that day.

After 11 years, the scars are still with us. But the new 7 World Trade Center building is open; 4 World Trade Center has topped out; and 1 World Trade Center, formally called The Freedom Tower, is now the tallest building in New York. We are beginning to see the results of many years of careful planning and compromise.

We will never forget.

Please feel free to leave any thoughts here.

 --That Car Guy (Chuck)

Image Credit: The image is from RackCDN.com.

America's Car Museum: Car Lust Edition

Yesterday I popped in to see the newly-opened LeMay Car Museum -- technically the LeMay - America's Car Museum -- for a much-too-short hour and a half (I snuck out of a niece-in-law's high school graduation ceremony at the adjacent Tacoma Dome. . .don't tell!). I've never actually been to a car museum so it was an entirely new experience for me. The Museum just opened this month and it's really quite a wonder for these parts given that we have no domestic automotive industry to garner history from, at least directly. But we are home to Harold and Nancy LeMay who acquired a truly astounding collection of automobiles. From the above-linked web site:

Harold and Nancy LeMay amassed the largest privately owned collection of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks, other vehicles and related memorabilia in the world.

At its peak, the LeMay Collection numbered in excess of 3,000 vehicles and thousands of artifacts and was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest privately owned collection in the world; impressive if accomplished by a King, but jaw dropping, awesome when accomplished by a local businessman from Tacoma, Washington.

As with most high-end collectors, most of the cars are, well, high end collector cars: gleaming jewels of spotless chrome and deep, rich paint, shined to mirror-like perfection and lit to enhance their beauty. They're not all owned by the LeMays; there's a permanent collection and several 'galleries', if you will, of donated collections and sets of related cars on loan from individuals. Definitely worth a trip for the auto history enthusiast.

Sadly, no mint-condition Pacers I'm afraid.

Still, there were a few specimens that we've covered here and a couple that will no doubt be covered in the future. Here are a few snapshots for some of the more Lustable items.

Living Rooms on Wheels

Do you think the Cadillac Escalade or the Lincoln Navigator are oversized? Do you think something like a 1966 Imperial is a living room on wheels? Do you think a Hummer H2 or a mid-70s Eldosaurus is a brazen example of conspicuous consumption? Well, lemme school you--compared to the cars we're going to look at today, those are mere poseurs. Wannabees. Also-rans. Pikers.

You want opulent? You want oversized? You want a real living room on wheels--with living-room furniture? The Crawford Museum's got your fun-sized brazen examples of conspicuous consumption right here, pal. Three of 'em, in fact.

Crawford Auto-Aviation Museum

Alex and I visited the Crawford Museum in University Circle on Cleveland's east side (not far from the famed Cleveland Clinic) on a recent Saturday. The Museum is operated by the Western Reserve Historical Society.

My primary objective was to get some shots of the Museum's two Jordans to illustrate my last post, but as you'll see there's a lot more to the collection than that.

Studebaker National Museum

My youngest son Alex and I went on an extended father-son road trip this summer which included a stop at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, Indiana. The Museum presents the story of Studebaker, from its origins as the country's largest manufacturer of horse-drawn vehicles, through its transition to the "horseless carriage" business, all the way to its valiant last stand as an independent carmaker in the early 1960s. The collection covers that history thoroughly, with examples of Studebaker vehicles ranging from a Conestoga wagon to an Avanti II.

I would have enjoyed the Museum greatly if it had just been Alex and I, but we were extremely fortunate to be accompanied by my fellow Car Lust contributor Virgil M. Exner, Jr.  Mr. Exner and his famous father both worked for Studebaker at various times in their careers--and if one of them didn't have a hand in designing a particular car in the collection, Mr. Exner at least knew the people who did! Needless to say, having him with us made the experience even richer.

So let's start the tour.

Lane Motor Museum

Submitted by Shawn Bailey

I know you’ve been to them; those stodgy, cookie-cutter, unrealistic car museums are everywhere. You know the routine. Oh look, another Porsche 911 behind velvet rope! Don’t touch that ‘57 Chevy! Gaze longingly at the billion dollar Bugatti!

Enough of that; it’s time to take a walk on the museum wild side at the Lane Motor Museum, nestled into an industrial and stripmalled area of Nashville, Tenn.

With an unassuming title like that, you’d be tempted to drive on by, but you shouldn't. The Lane museum is unlike any other. In fact, I think it caters to every one of us Car Lust frequenters. It features the largest collection of unobtanium in the U.S. By that, I don’t mean cars you’d see on the auction block at Barrett-Jackson. This is the home of the misunderstood, the unusual, and the bizarre. If you savor all European automotive flavors, welcome to your new favorite destination.

The Bobby Darin Dream Car (1960 DiDia 150)

I spotted Bobby Darin's startling 1960 DiDia 150 at The Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri. It was just one of several surprises in the Earl C. Lindberg Automobile Center (no relation to Charles A. Lindbergh of the Spirit of St. Louis fame). We weren't sure what to expect, but we were greeted by a very nice couple that owned and were keeping watch over the place. They had every answer ready, and were rightfully proud of their compact but fascinating automotive collection.

I was startled when I saw the Darin car. It took me back to The Simpsons episode where Homer designed a car called ... The Homer. Stuck somewhere between a 1950s show car and the Batmobile, here sat something that Elvis and Liberace would have probably ran away from. Brash metallic red paint (originally 30 coats with real ground diamonds for sparkle), tail fins befitting a Boeing 747, and a glass cockpit that no air conditioning system could ever cool, the boldness of the design is totally unique.