Book Update: Off to the Designer!
by Nancy DeWitt
Many thanks to the all the volunteers who helped us shuffle cars, open hoods and move ropes, signs and stanchions. Ronn Murray, a Fairbanks-based photographer and classic car fan, took the majority of photos for the book. He did a fabulous job and was even brave enough to get on the lift for some shots (that's our 1921 Daniels on the right and the 1911 Oakland on the left).
The
materials for our upcoming book are now on their way to Seattle! Since
we opened in 2009, many of our visitors have requested that we produce a
book featuring our cars. This ambitious project finally got rolling
last December with several sessions held to photograph cars, car parts,
vintage clothing and the museum's interior. At right is our manager,
Willy Vinton, and docent Michael Lecorchick lifting the hood off the
1914 Woods Mobilette.
Many thanks to the all the volunteers who helped us shuffle cars, open hoods and move ropes, signs and stanchions. Ronn Murray, a Fairbanks-based photographer and classic car fan, took the majority of photos for the book. He did a fabulous job and was even brave enough to get on the lift for some shots (that's our 1921 Daniels on the right and the 1911 Oakland on the left).
John Katz, our book's editor and an automotive historian, author and former editor for Automobile Quarterly,
traveled to Fairbanks during some of our harshest winter weather to
examine the cars, do some fact-checking and help me with additional
research. Thanks John! Your help and encouragement were very
appreciated. Sorry I made you work next to that Auburn boattail
speedster, though...
This
soft-cover book will feature 42 of our cars and a number of our vintage
fashions and historical photos. It's taken a lot of work to pull it all
together, so I was pretty happy to package up all the materials and
ship them off to Epicenter Press
this morning. Many thanks to everyone who helped with this project!
Hopefully we'll have the books in hand by July 1. Please let us know if
you'd like to be contacted when they arrive.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance
Sunshine,
old cars and green grass were a treat after a long Fairbanks winter. My
wife, Wilma, and I left Fairbanks on March 9 to head to Florida,
arriving on the 10th. We checked into the hotel, had dinner and got some
rest after 16 hours of airplanes and airports. The following morning we
scoped out the concours grounds and inspected our '32 Cadillac 452-B
Imperial limousine to make sure it was ready for the show. The car
looked great and only needed minor cleaning, thanks to Sean Brayton and
Red Star Auto's extra effort to get it ready.
Sunday morning found us with lots to do--remember now--we had to turn the clocks ahead one hour, and be on the field by 7 am. Upon arriving we found the car was covered with a very heavy layer of dew, requiring lots of drying and cleaning to make it ready. At 9 am the judges came and inspected the car, asked lots of questions (luckily never one I couldn't answer--pure luck!) and spent about 15 minutes with us. At right is a view from the Cadillac deck overlooking part of the field before it got crowded.
Toward
the end of the show our pager went off indicating we had to drive up to
the grandstand area to recieve an award. Now that's all well and good,
but
remember this is a gas-guzzling V16 carrying only two gallons of fuel. I
drove to the staging area and shut the car off (conserving gas) then
drove up to receive the award. We were presented with a nice trophy and
ribbon for the "Amelia Island Award for the Most Elegant Formal Sedan or Town Car."
Not only an honor, but also great recognition for the museum! After
that I wondered if we would have enough gas to get back to the show
field, let alone back to the truck area, but luck was with us and we had
no problems.