CCCA Ice Cream Social

[Barry Wolk]

My wife will be singing the NA at Glenmoor and I'll be close by. Look for the tallest guy in the crowd. We'll also have the '33 Continental there, too.

[jdome]

Matt, was the 39 LaSalle Dan Hanlin's metalic tan/green coupe?

[Matt Harwood]

Yes, it was. Kind of a light brown coupe. A nice little car. The Hanlon collection is one of the most impressive in the area, and he loves to drive his stuff. When I first met him, he handed me the keys to his 1930 Cadillac V16 and said, "Let's go!" All his hardware is top notch and ready to run at a moment's notice.

[jdome]

I used to own that 39 LaSalle coupe. I saved it from the fate of a hot rodder's tourch. When I bought the car the front clip was off. The headliner and some of the interior panels had been ripped out and the roof pillers were marked, ready to be chopped. I did a frame up restoration on the car. The car was originally "Cavern Green", which is a dark green, almost black. I didn't like it so I painted it that tan color which is an authentic 39 Cadillac/LaSalle color. I always liked that car. A little coupe with a peppy V8 and good brakes. I drove it around town a lot in the summers after I restored it.

One time when I had it out a guy by the name of Lang D'Atri stopped me to tell me that he had a car just like it only his was dark green. It was his first car that he got from his aunt when he was in high school in the 1940's. His aunt bought it new. He described a few dents he put in it and the more we talked we determined it was his car. I ended up selling the car back to the second owner. A few years latter Lang traded the LaSalle to Dan for a T-Bird. Dan happens to live in Lang's aunt's century home so the LaSalle is actually back in it's original garage now. Small world.

[CBoz]

...the Auburn is an anomoly because it was so inexpensive. The only reason it is in is because of the flamboyant design and they offered a 12-ylinder. The Zephyr crowd can't get in because their styling was not Auburn-like (my opinion).

The Zephyr actually has a couple things going against Classic status, but styling was not one of them. First, it was clearly positioned as a mid-priced car, as seen in the advertising and the fact that it was given a hyphenated name to distinguish itself from the senior K line. Also, if one looks at horsepower and price, the Auburn 8 was higher on both counts. For example, a '36 Auburn supercharged phaeton sold for $1725 and had (if I remember ) 160 hp. In contrast, the top-of-the-line '37 Zephyr town sedan had only 110 hp and sold for $1425.

The irony is that from a business perspective the Zephyr was more successful because it was built to cost, but what made it successful then is why it isn't now -- and never should be -- a certified Full Classic.