So we know the Hungerford Rocket Car still exists, and just this week, we got a call alerting us to the fact that the AMC AMVan (a concept vehicle highlighted in Pat Foster’s article in the September 2009 issue of Hemmings Classic Car on AMC’s Concept 80 cars) still exists. Joe Bortz, he of concept car collecting fame, said he got the AM Van from Chrysler when the company was going through AMC’s inventory shortly after the buyout in 1987. He notes that it’s just a fiberglass styling buck, not a functioning vehicle – so the wheels don’t turn, nor do the doors open. And, as you can see, AMC decided not to go with the bubble window for the cargo hatch, opting instead for full glass.

After yesterday’s $5.3 million Ferrari, just to prove that I’m an equal-opportunity classified-ad skimmer, I went digging around the bargain section of classifieds on Hemmings.com. There’s at least a couple pages’ worth of sub-$1,000 listings, mostly for parts cars, but I found these two – a 1951 Packard 300 and a 1962 Chevrolet Corvair – at the $1,000 level, both being sold out of New Orleans. Your first thought upon hearing that city’s name is correct: They’re both flood cars, a shame in both cases because the Packard seems to have been fully restored and on the road prior to Katrina and the Corvair is a turbo Monza Spyder coupe. Project cars – if not parts cars – for sure, but it goes to show that not everything on Hemmings.com is a multi-million-dollar showpiece. See the rest of the pics at Hemmings

Back when I was just a wee cub reporter hacking away at a keyboard for a daily newspaper in northwestern Ohio, I spotted in downtown Port Clinton a chestnut-colored Cadillac station wagon. By the time I returned to the spot with my camera, it had vacated the scene, and I never saw it again.

Now Steve Donohue, who lives in my former stomping grounds (and who owns the Belvedereamino we recently beheld), comes along with some photos of a Cadillac shooting brake which he spotted on nearby South Bass Island in the village of Put-in-Bay, and which recalls those hazy days of my youth. I’m pretty sure this isn’t the same wagon, but that didn’t mean I was sure what exactly it was that Steve spotted. Continue reading at Hemmings

On first blush, you’d think some hillbilly down South found a GTO rusted up to its doorsills and decided to live out his Ricky Bobby fantasies by cutting out the wheelwells and stuffing wide tires underneath. But the seller of this 1966 GTO out of La Jolla, California, claims it has actual race history. Continue reading at Hemmings

Frequent commenter Gene Herman recently set his camera on stun so he could gather several examples of automotive wildlife he thought we’d enjoy. First up, his buddy Will’s 1952 Moto Guzzi Ercole. Continue reading at Hemmings

Another one from the Steve Williams collection out in Napa, California. It seems somebody decided they needed a bed cap for their 1963 Studebaker Champ, couldn’t find one in the aftermarket, and simply decided to make one themselves. I’d hazard a guess that the cap was built from a domestic 1960s van, but that window glass seems awfully big. From the seller’s description:

Has an odd custom camper on top, straight 6 we drove it to where it was parked for a couple of years so all is probably well with engine and drivetrain

A grand takes it. Your thoughts?

Years of training have honed my senses. Tracking these creatures for days on end has instructed me on their habits and habitats. I’ve learned to discern them and their camouflaged forms from their surroundings. I know when to shoot from safe distances and when to close in for the kill. Their trails are like roads to me, and their scent is in my nostrils. This one I captured in North Adams, Massachusetts. Note its unique coloration and its variation from the established species. These have been documented before, but this particular specimen requires further study. Continue reading at Hemmings

I would like to steer discussion of this 1957 Cadillac toward its professional car roots: Was it originally a flower car? Why alter the roof? Who did the conversion(s)? And I’d like to keep the discussion right there, because, quite frankly, those clowns on the organ freak me out. Continue reading at Hemmings

Not to turn this feature of the blog into the Hyman show, but this 1931 Chenard-Walcker they’re advertising on Hemmings.com is just too tasty to pass up. From Hyman’s description:

Almost forgotten in the history of the automobile Chenard and Walcker enjoys one accomplishment that will never be equaled let alone surpassed: it was the winning marque in the very first 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1923. In the mid-Twenties it was the fourth largest auto manufacturer in France. Later in the 20s Chenard and Walcker were represented at Le Mans by a series of aerodynamic open cars usually described as tanks because of their resemblance to the First World War battle wagons. Their enclosed wheels semi-envelope bodies and recessed headlights extracted maximum performance from their 1495cc overhead valve engines on the long straights of the Sarthe circuit and inspired a series of road cars with even more streamlined bodies in the following years.

Continue reading at Hemmings

So last week at Hershey, we got an earful on the issue of Chrysler Town and Country cars in the Classic Car Club of America. Whatever your position on the issue, there’s no denying that T&Cs are some of the most sought-after and prestigious postwar American cars, especially the convertible versions. So it’s not unusual to find one, beautifully restored with a few personal touches, on Hemmings.com. What is unusual is to find one on Hemmings.com, but physically located in Paris, France. We’re pointed to the seller’s website to find out how it found its way in the land of Simcas and Renaults. Continue reading at Hemmings

Though listed as a “1953 Unspecified” on Hemmings.com, I was able to turn up a little bit more about this fiberglass-bodied roadster built by brothers Wally and Harry Hansen of Inglewood, California. Commonly called the Hansen Cobra, they only built two such examples: this one, for sale out of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, for $75,000; and another in the Petersen Automotive Museum that Geoff Hacker spotted on a recent trip to Southern California. One of the two also appeared in the 1959 movie Roadracers, which featured the tagline “Screeching Hell on Wheels … is it Sport or Murder?!” Continue reading at Hemmings

One of these has been haunting Pebble Beach for a few years, complete with a pair of externally mounted spares sunk into the trunklid. Doesn’t seem this particular Silver Shadow has that external-spare option, but it does come with racing history, having been entered in the 1981 Paris-Dakar rally. And it’s now for sale on Hemmings.com for $230,000. Continue reading at Hemmings

Recession? This year’s Hershey was big. More vendors than the last few years; just as many spectators; 1,600 cars in the car show; and business was reportedly brisk for every major vendor. Oh, and the weather didn’t totally suck like it normally does. Look for our coverage in upcoming issues of Hemmings Motor News, Hemmings Classic Car and Hemmings Sports and Exotic Car, but for now, a sampling of what caught my eye in the swap meet. See the pics at Hemmings

Try as we might, none of us here can ever get enough of the Concorso Italiano. It’ s a tremendous cultural happening focused around cars from Italy, and surprisingly, elsewhere, surrounded by some of the prettiest terrain and foliage that central California can offer. Let’s revisit it with a run through the digital folder, led by this image of the Lancia award presentation. When was the last time you saw a Beta Montecarlo, the heir to the Fiat X 1/9, anywhere? Continue reading at Hemmings

William Flajole thought he knew exactly what people wanted to see in future cars in 1955. Then again, so did every other car nut with a pen in his hand, and Flajole’s track record (the Nash Metropolitan, among others) proved that, while his ability to think out of the box certainly remained strong, his prognostication abilities left much to be desired.

Then again, maybe he was thinking more long-term than short-term. Everybody says small cars are gonna be the next big thing, safety has been a big thing in new cars for years, and now Hyman, Ltd. has the Flajole Forerunner – the product of Flajole’s vision – for sale at $350,000. Continue reading at Hemmings