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Breaking news, Christie's explains the withdrawal of the $10,000,000 1939 Auto Union from their Retromobile auction read more | digg story

HCC21 driveReport 1931 Chevrolet Independence Series AE Sport Coupe Cast Iron Wonder Chevrolet’s stylish Depression-era five window coupe By David Traver Adolphus Photography by Don Spiro It may not look like it, but this is the birth of the modern automobile. Its styling doesn’t presage the modern age, and there’s nothing revolutionary about the engineering (although elements of its engine design extended into the 1950s). But this line of Chevrolets includes a mixture of ideas and that changed the way people looked at best selling low-priced cars. The design was from the famed Harley J. Earl, who joined General Motors in 1927, even as a seminal new engine was being engineered. It bowed in 1929 on the eve of catastrophe, and proved almost prophetic in its combination of thrift and appeal. It created a mold different from that of the preceding people’s cars from Chevrolet, Ford and others. In it can be found the seeds of a revolution, which elevated...

HCC18 Drivable Dream by DTA Photos by Don Spiro One Of a Million “It’s just a neat old car” to the owner of this 1950 Packard Super Eight For most people, buying a 1950 Packard is a memorable experience, even if it is an ageing, unrestored car. But when Scott Cawly acquired his Super Eight it was just like any other day. So much so, in fact, that at first he can’t remember exactly when he bought it. “Four years ago? Five?” he muses. The rare 23 rd series Standard two-door Club Sedan was still in the hands of its original owners, in Camp Verde, Arizona, about 115 miles north of Cawly’s compound in Chandler. He says that the faded Turquoise Blue was a special spring color that year, and has endured more than half a century of scourging Southwestern sunlight surprisingly well, oxidizing gently and showing only traces of rust. It has resisted the omnipresent desert’s attempts to burnish the front fenders with dust- and sand-laden w...

HCC #19 1931 Durant 614 De Luxe Sedan Never anything like it By David Traver Adolphus Photography by Roy D. Query General Motors’ old building in downtown Detroit has a series of stylized capital “Ds” cast into a decorative exterior frieze. They’re not there for the city or its dilettante founder; they’re there for the man who built GM and lost it twice, William Crapo Durant. A young Robert Redford could easily have played him on screen. He had the same cocky twinkle, the same confidence and swagger that made Redford a natural for the Sundance Kid, Jay Gatsby and Bob Woodward. Such a film could have been one for the ages, because Billy Durant’s story is a classic American rise and fall. Durant was instrumental in the rise of the American automobile. He had already built a fortune in the carriage industry when he met David D. Buick in 1903, accepting management of the rudderless Buick Company the next year. Having survived one of the man...

HCC15 dR 1953 Imperial The Imperial, by Chrysler, Custom Imperial. Long live the king. Words & photography by David Traver Adolphus The long story of Chrysler’s sometime-brand Imperial is as long and complicated as that of any king and empire. From its meteoric rise to the very pinnacle of American automotive supremacy in 1926, through highs and lows culminating in the ignominious exile of 1994, Imperial’s saga traces the middle of the century of the car as no other. Over the years, the Imperial badge has had a changing relationship to the Chrysler name. It was introduced as a Chrysler trim level, and quickly became a distinct line comprised of the finest automobiles, more than capable of competing with marques such as Packard, Duesenberg and Cadillac. After the Second World War, it was generally referred to as “Imperial, by Chrysler,” up until 1955 when it became a separate product line. By 1971, it had once again returned to its roots as a Chrys...

HCC14 Drivable Dream 1913 Stevens-Duryea C-6 It takes a well-made car to stay original through 92 years in New England Words and photography by David Traver Adolphus We couldn’t originally go see Rod Rice’s 1913 Stevens-Duryea when we wanted to, because he was driving it some 30 miles (each way) through hilly mountain roads for a friend’s 85 th birthday. His friend wanted the Model C-Six right-hand-drive Touring Car there, because he remembered playing on it when it was stored in a barn during the Depression. Rod was driving around in a 1922 Studebaker when he heard from a friend that a junkyard in Barre had a couple of Stevens-Duryeas hanging around. “I’d just driven the [Studebaker] back from Boise, Idaho—that car had about 125,000 miles when I bought it. I drove it up to Walla-Walla Washington, then back to Boise, then I drove it out here. “A fellow mentioned that there was a Stevens-Duryea up the street. When I went to invest...

HCC #15 DriveReport Ruler of the Road The 1953 Custom Imperial, by Chrysler. Long live the king. Words & photography by David Traver Adolphus Before World War II, “formality” and “luxury” were inseparable. It was taken as law that an expensive car would have a long hood, cycle fenders and classic proportions, and woe betide the manufacturer who tried anything else, as Chrysler's own disastrous Airflow showed. But after the initial post-war demand for cars been sated, American car manufacturers responded with a bewildering array of new body styles, first in a trickle, then by 1950 in a huge avalanche. Major yearly changes to a model were normal, and cars could be developed for niches that hadn’t existed earlier. It became possible to build a true luxury sedan that resembled a modern car yet retained styling and amenities fit, literally, for kings. That car would be, as it had been for 25 years, the Imperial. The long story of the c...