Topic: 2009 Greenfield Village Motor Muster

[Otto Puzzell]

This past weekend, I  spent the day at the annual "Motor Muster" gathering at nearby Greenfield Village, in Dearborn, Michigan. A day that was blindingly sunny at some times, and ever-so-slightly sprinkling at others. This show featured a variety of US and European vehicles form the 1930's though the 1970's. In the fall, the same venue plays host to brass-era through 1920's vehicles. I hope to attend and get some pics at that show, too. Meantime, here is the first batch of 20 pictures. from this weekend's show. Due to the changing weather conditions, the qulaity of these shots varies a bit. I'll edit and upload more later this week.

'61 Studebaker Lark


'61 Studebaker Lark


'61 Pontiac Catalina


Ford Falcon Drag Racer


Ford Falcon Drag Racer - with Superman's own engine!


Ford Falcon Drag Racer - also equipped with Hurst's own shifter


Ford-based Special


Ford-based Special - in the wheelhouse


Ford-based Special - comin' at ya!


What's this?


Ah - a '59 Ford P-series truck


'61 Corvair Pickup


'72 Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer


Very tidy El Camino SS - I'm getting thirsty...


Hey! It's Rudolph's beer van - just in time


Mack "Bulldog" Heavy Tow vehicle.


A nicely-done Volkswagen "23 Window" Type 2


I see dead people's cars! Cadillac "flower car" conversion


Pretty cat - '66, if I recall correctly


Another  one! Nice fixed-head coupe in red.

Watch this space - more to come - including an up-close look at a restored GM "Parade of Progress" Futureliner.

[Allemano]

Nice that VW "Samba" bus with old German "douane" plate. And Feldschlößchen is a great tasting liquid.

[Ultra]

Let me know when the show is in the fall and I will try to be there.  Great pics.

[Otto Puzzell]

Let me know when the show is in the fall and I will try to be there.  Great pics.

Cool - will do!

September 12-13, says the web site.

[Ray B.]

Great pics maybe, but great captions for sure.

[Otto Puzzell]

Part II

Here's a closer look at the red Jag.


For that International feel, here are two - a Pickup (left) and a Traveler


Two things that are getting on in years - a Chesapeake and Ohio boxcar provides a backdrop for a '66 Olds Toronado Deluxe


Another exhibit from the wild kingdom - the 1964 AMC Rambler Marlin


I wonder what kind of insurance he has?


Fit for a king! 1962 Imperial - America's most carefully built car.


Restored or well preserved? I suspect the former, but the owner wasn't around to ask.


The dashboard has more styled bits and angles than most complete cars do today.


Moving forward, a first-year Avanti! Looks good from a distance, but this one was in mid-rebuild, missing some major interior bits.


There was a vartiable Marlin infestation. I counted at least three of these poor selling, largely unappreciated cars.


Can you identify that engine? It belongs to one of the other cars in today's group of 20 pictures.


Red-on-red Corvair Monza. I like it!


A handful of Studebaker GT Hawks were on display. This one seems to be the most unmolested.


Lots of Lincoln 4-door drop-tops to be seen. Strangely, not a '61 (my favorite) in the bunch. This is a '62, frozen in mid-drop.


An attractive blower MG drives by the stairs leading to the locomotive maintenance roundhouse. We'll see more of both in a later installment.


Fiat 500, making a Type 1 Volkswagen look big.


A Square Bird (1960 Ford Thunderbird) and the day's most frequent sighting: shutterbugs.By this time in the morning, it was getting pretty crowded, and clean shots would become harder to get.


Near the Carousel, a very original '69 AMC AMX, sittings among a passel of other muscle cars.


...like this Dodge Charger 500 with a massive Magnum 440 (cid) V8. Nascar rules dictated 500 examples of a car to be built for homoligation purposes. Chrysler records indicate only 392 were actually sold for street use, the rest sold to race shops (oval and drag). These cars were spanked by the Ford and Mercury cars on the Nascar circuit. With the Charger Daytona on the way, the tables would soon turn.


1968 Ford Mustang "California Special". One of seven prototype GT/CS cars built for Ford dealer "unveiling" party (with handmade "California Special" script by ACSCO, who made many of the add on scoops and other bits).

That's it for today. Still to come, the AMC Budd 400, The Futureliner, and much more.

[Otto Puzzell]

Part III

1962 Rambler (Budd) XR-400. A hint of "flame surfacing" on that front fender?


The currator who was tending to this car (part of the Henry Ford Museum Collection) explained that the long front end of this car was built by splicing two production Rambler unibody front ends together.


Two Fords, separated by 40 years, and about 4 feet.


A brace of Fabulous Hudson Hornets bookended one of the most popular attractions on display...


Yep - it's a GM "Parade of Progress" Futurliner, restored by the National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States. A sister vehicle the much-publicized example sold at auction a couple of years ago, this 1953 example of forward thinking was out in public, where it could be touched, studied and admired. Kudos to the exhibitor, who had a small donation jar in the cab, but didn't require a penny to climb in and look around. (Of course, I put some money in - I can imagine the fuel bill to drive the thing here was considerable)


In the open display bay on the right side of the vehicle, a collection of original '50's era car show materials shared space with photos and a video screen that chronicled the vehicles' history. Contrary to what I though I knew of the vehicle, they were never used to transport display cars. Each was set up as a stage / display area to showcase GM engineering and styling projects of the day, GM Craftsman Guild winners, etc.


Don't worry - that bungee, there to hold the cab door open, is not a permanent part of this fascinating truck


As you can see, there are two doors on the front. The right side is used to access the cab. The other door is actually an access panel to much of the trucks electricals.


Here's a peek - it's even got a framstat


After GM discontinued the Parade of Progress tours, this Futurliner, #10 of 12 built, was purchased by Detroit's Goebel Brewing Company, who used the truck as a mobile display that was set up to showcase their brewing process. While it didn't leave Detroit very often, it did make one long trip to the French Quarter of New Orleans, where Goebel's was a big seller. This panel gives access to the vehicles onboard generator.


A future that was never to be.... OK - enough moping - let's climb inside!


Expecting to find a workaday truck cab, I was surprised to find a nicely-turned-out green-tinted leather passenger area behind the drivers seat. Nice big chrome ashtray is visible here - below it resides a Frigidaire air conditioning unit.


The commanding view from the centrally-located driver's seat. Overhead, there's is a ventilation hatch that approximates a sunroof in function.


As the car mags say: "the floor-mounted shifter falls readily to hand".  I could have spent all day in here shooting more pics of the fascinating details, but there was a line of people waiting their turn to come aboard.

That's it for today's pics. There's lots more to come. Beautiful pre-war sedans and coups, post-war sportscars, and some non-automotive machines, too.

[Bezor]

Nice that VW "Samba" bus with old German "douane" plate. And Feldschlößchen is a great tasting liquid.

Took the post off my fingers.

I haven't looked too hard, but I love to be able to get this beer stateside... Feldschlößchen: never forgotten.

[Otto Puzzell]

Part IV

A Honda Mini Trail - looks like a blast!


A clutch of Cushman's


A period-correct '42 Harley Davidson


Nice gas tank graphics on a smaller, less-ornate Cushman


It's a Whizzer - a true star. Now for some 4-wheeled pre-war goodies.


A yummy, streamlined Ford...


...and a Lycoming V8 powered Cord


Diminutive 1938 American Bantam...


...and a slightly older cousin - this American Austin was sold new in 1933


The owner of this Stout Scarab brings it to this show year after year. It's racked up quite a few best-in-class trophies.


Another nice Cord from the last year of production.


And now for some post-war gems. I really liked the presentation of this 1948 Allard K1. Note the goggle on the folded windscreen. And the tan and cream color combo was quite attractive. It's parked across the street from a old cottage that was disassembled, shipped to the US, and reassembled in the village. This Limestone farm dwelling was brought from Chedworth, Gloucestershire in the Cotswold Hills of southwestern England. Built approximately 1620, the construction of this house coincided with the first waves of English immigration in the colonies of the New World.


Crosley' abounded at the show. As tiny as this car is...


... You have to reach waaaaaay in to reach the micro-motor


This picture doesn't do justice to the color of the Chevrolet Woody. This one is a 1948 example, I believe.


This Studebaker had it made in the shade.


Here's the MG we saw earlier.


Engine room.


There's more than one way to build a drop-top.


Another very neat MG. The building behind it is the Chapman House, an 1860 Greek Revival house from Dearborn, Michigan. It belonged to Henry Ford’s favorite school teacher, John Chapman, who lived in the house during the 1870’s. Chapman; who was a farmhand, also taught in the Scotch Settlement School and later, the Miller School. Chapman was a large man who used his size to intimidate the disobedient students in his classroom. Henry Ford liked Chapman so much, that he transferred from the Scotch Settlement School to the Miller School so that Chapman could remain his teacher.

That's it for today. More to come...

[Ultra]

IMHO, you should put this in the Bugatti slot on the front page when next you update.

 

[Ultra]

That's it for today. More to come...

[Otto Puzzell]

OK, OK.....

[Otto Puzzell]

Part V

A Crosley Farm-O-Road with some misleading graphics. Crosley engines weren't hemis......were they?


A well-restored stand-or-sit Divco delivery truck. Don't worry, that milk won't go bad. The bottles are filled with tiny Styrofoam pellets.


The room of "crossover", but with more miles of style. This was the front half of a car/camper combo.
Strangely, PETA was not on hand to protest the unethical treatment of Mo's.


Out back, all the comforts of home.
All the supplies, tables, etc., fit into this beautifully-restored teardrop trailer, and the sedan's cavernous trunk.


In the vicinity of the limestone cottage mentioned above, a number of WWII and Korean-war vintage Jeeps were on display, with a wide array of period military kit.


Another example of the vehicle about which Enzo Ferrari opined "The Jeep is the only real American sports car."


In addition to automobiles, the Village features a pair of restored early locomotives that regularly shuttle visitors in a three mile loop around the periphery of the complex. Here we see the Edison, a 4-4-0. The other locomotive that usually sees heavy use at the village, the "Torch Lake" was not in operation the day of our visit.


There she goes, clanging and chuffing to the next stop. Two stops down the line is a recent addition to the Village, a roundhouse that is in daily use restoring and maintaining locomotives and rolling stock.


The reconstructed DT&M Roundhouse is a replica of a 1884 railroad maintenance building built in DT&M Roundhouse  Marshall, Michigan, by the Michigan & Ohio Railroad. The original maintenance building serviced locomotives that ran between Allegan and Dundee, Michigan.Though the building changed hands many times and was operated by the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee (DT&M) Railroad for just a few years around 1900, the citizens of Marshall Michigan still call it the DT&M Roundhouse. The building remained in operation as a roundhouse until around 1930. In 1992, Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village acquired the few remaining pieces of the original DT&M Roundhouse. Site plans, original photographs, historical research and the acquired pieces were used in 2000 as a guide when reconstructing the 13,500 square foot roundhouse. In this shot, we see the massive drivers of the  Michigan Central #254 (Alco 1905) Atlantic (4-4-2), which was purchased by the village back in 1930.


Stout!


...yet elegant.


Beneath the belly of this beast, a look at the well-greased connecting rods. 


A look inside the front hatch of the firebox/boiler


The roundhouse is a busy place. An early diesel 'switcher' engine, used at a Naval Ammunition depot to break down and assemble consists of rolling stock, undergoes some minor work, next door to another steam locomotive with a long way to go before it chugs to life again.


As our day comes to an end, we stop and say hello to a purer form of horsepower. The horses here earn their keep, too, pulling wagons of tourists through the village, and also plowing the fields where tobacco, potatoes and other crops are grown. If you ever happen to visit Detroit, the Village, along with the adjacent Henry Ford Museum (chock-full of trains, planes, automobiles and other milestones of the industrial revolution), is a must see for any connoisseur of history and/or machines.

[knightfan26917]

WOW!  Very nice!

Thanks for sharing the pics.



Cort | 35swm | "Mr Monte Carlo"."Mr Road Trip" | pig valve.pacemaker ...RT 66 = Sept 5-16, '09
WRMNshowcase.legos.HO.models.MCs.RTs.CHD = http://www.chevyasylum.com/cort
"I'll always be around" ... Willie Nelson ... 'Highwayman'

[Otto Puzzell]

My pleasure. I hope to get some more pics to share from my travels this week.

[Otto Puzzell]

My pleasure. I hope to get some more pics to share from my travels this week.

Which led me here....  http://www.autopuzzles.com/forum/index.php?topic=9106.0

[Arthur Dent]

Fantastic show. Thanks for sharing.

[Otto Puzzell]

I had planned to go again this year. After an all-night rain, I fear many of the exhibitors will have left for home, and the ground will be a waterlogged mud bath.