0 Our Pope-Toledo Wins!

 by Willy Vinton
© Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

A few weeks ago my lovely wife and I headed south for the U.S. Bank Kirkland Concours d'Elegance in Washington state. We arrived in Seattle to a very wet and rainy Thursday evening, and while driving out to Monroe we encountered one of the hardest rains I have seen in many years. The water was nearly a half-inch deep on 405, and the wipers on the rental car could hardly keep up. We were also treated to a very bright and noisy show with lightning that lit up the entire area. Definitely not the kind of weather for taking out a 107-year-old automobile!

We spent Friday and Saturday at Murray Motor Car getting our 1906 Pope-Toledo Type XII touring car cleaned up and ready for the show. This included oiling the clutch and taking the big car for a test drive to make sure everything was working properly following its trip to the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August. Once everything checked out, we loaded the car for its trip to the LeMay Museum for Sunday's show.

The day started out a little on the cool side, but the fog burned off and turned into a great day for a show--not too hot, but still plenty warm. The Pope-Toledo certainly generated a lot of interest among the show visitors. There were some other beautiful cars in the Antiques Class, including a 1914 Lozier and 1910 Buick. Tough competition!

It was very exciting when we learned we had won the First in Class award for Pre-War Antiques. This speaks highly of the fine work done by Al and Paul Murray (pictured with me at left, along with Paul's son) and their crew. They are now getting the car ready to ship north to Fairbanks later this month.

As you can see, the Pope-Toledo has some very curvy lines. This style of body is known as "Roi-des-Belges," which translates as "King of the Belgians." It was the mistress of King Leopold II of Belgium who suggested he have a car designed with seats that resembled her richly upholstered armchairs. The bulging, tulip-shaped seats and graceful, inswept waist of the Roi-des-Belges body caused a sensation when it was unveiled on a Panhard et Levassor in 1902.

The Roi-des-Belges body, also known as a tulip phaeton, remained popular for several years. It was used on several American cars and was carried by two of the first automobiles in Fairbanks--a 1906 Pope-Toledo identical to ours, and a 1908 White Model K steam car. You need to come see it in person to realize how elegant it is.

I want to send out a big thank you to my wonderful wife, Wilma, for accompanying me to these events, dressing the part, and spending the entire day visiting with folks. It always helps to have a pretty lady with the car, but this year we were blessed to have two of them! Many thanks to Marlene for also joining us, dressed in her pretty finery. 


Coming to Fairbanks to see the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and other area attractions? Support the museum by staying at one of the Fountainhead Hotels. All guests receive half-price admission to the museum!

Detail: Our Pope-Toledo Wins!

0 Pope at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours

 by Willy Vinton
© Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum

Last week we headed south for the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in "not always sunny" Monterey, California.

Tim Cerny, the museum owner, finally got to see our 1906 Pope Toledo Type XII when we rolled the car out of the trailer (above right). As you can see from the pictures, it is a stunning car, with nary a flat panel on it.  Our friend Marlene refers to it as the Jane Mansfield car, "big headlights and lots of curves!" We had to fight the brass-tarnishing mist to get the car ready for showing, but we had her ready on time. Many thanks to Al and Paul Murray, of Murray Motor Car, for their hard work getting the Pope-Toledo ready for the Concours.

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A real work of art lies under the Pope-Toledo's hood. The blend of polished steel, aluminum, brass, and copper are a sight that you really need to see in person, as the pictures just do not do it justice.

 

The right side of the engine is even more fun to look at than the left side. The engine has atmospheric intake valves that make a unique buzz sound when it runs, and you will be amazed at how slowly this engine will run. The advertised range of 200 to 1200 rpm would push the car from 5 mph to 60 mph without shifting out of high gear, a true "mile-a-minute" car as the company advertised.

The cowl on the Type XII Pope-Toledo is quite striking, with its brass rail following the curvature of the dash. A very unique oiling drip gauge mounted on the right side of the dash is a must-see (you will have to come see it in person when it arrives).  The car was restored in 1956-57 and retains the same paint and upholstery that was done then. It still looks like new!






At right is the Pope-Toledo on the 18th green of the Pebble Beach Golf Course. Approximately ten-thousand people crowded the field to view the Concours and most stopped by to admire the Pope. It always helps to have a pretty lady dressed in period attire alongside the car...




We were very pleased when we learned that the Pope-Toledo won Third in Class (A1-Antiques) and the Ansel Adams special award. Next up is the Kirkland Concourse d'Elegance at the LeMay Museum on September 8, then North to Alaska!

Coming to Fairbanks to see the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum and other area attractions? Support the museum by staying at one of the Fountainhead Hotels. All guests receive half-price admission to the museum!

Detail: Pope at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours

0 Kirkland Concours d'Elegance

by Willy Vinton

Wow, what a weekend we had in Tacoma, Washington at the Kirkland Concours d'Elegance! For Alaskans, the weather on Friday and Saturday was really too warm for comfort, with temperatures over 80 with not a cloud in the sky. We had to wonder if we were truly were in Washington state. Sunday (the day of the show) brought the type of weather we relate to the Seattle area, with overcast skies and a hint of rain in the air.

A big thanks to Barb Cerny, our historic fashion curator, for being such a good sport and dressing the part. She helped the 1918 Biddle Model H Town Car win the Best Presentation award. The Biddle is a stunning car that will be a great addition to the museum when it arrives here.  (Speaking of "additions" Tim... hint hint...)

Here is the trophy we received for "Barb and the Biddle." Maybe we can make a song about that? It was a thrill to win this award, and it was well deserved if I do say so myself. The folks at the Kirkland Concours were all great and very friendly, making it a good show to be a part of.  Thank you to our class host, Jim Tate, for taking care of us and making sure we were where we needed to be at all times.

Once again our 1919 McFarlan Touring took top honors in the Antiques Class. If you've been following our blog or Facebook page,  you know the McFarlan also won Best in Class at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance last month. This is a stunning car, and it always attracts a crowd of admirers. Both the Biddle and McFarlan have such a presence that you cannot walk past them without stopping to admire the beauty of their designs and the quality of the restorations.

This is the First in Class trophy that we received for the McFarlan, which we will put on display when the car arrives in Fairbanks.

Many thanks to Murray Motor Car for helping us get the cars ready and transporting them to Tacoma. Here's wishing Bats MotorSports a safe trip up the Alaska Highway to bring these two jewels to us. Let's hope we can take them out for a drive around town before the snow flies.

Top photo courtesy of Kent Ramsey

Detail: Kirkland Concours d'Elegance

0 Biddle Restoration - On to Pebble Beach!

by Nancy DeWitt


Five years ago we purchased a very rare 1918 Biddle Series H Town Car from Charles "Chuck" Riker. Mr. Riker, who was instrumental in designing circuitry for General Electric, was friends with legendary automobile collector Henry Austin Clark, Jr. It was Clark who discovered this Biddle in 1952 in a two-car garage at the Southampton estate of Henry Huddleston Rogers, Jr., son of a Standard Oil executive and railroad magnate. Rogers had given the car to his gardener, who intended to turn it into a truck. Apparently a broken cylinder thwarted that plan and the car sat deteriorating after the garage's roof was blown off during a devastating hurricane in 1938.


Clark had Bill Hoffman perform a restoration on the Biddle, taking it from this:

To this:

Clark displayed the Biddle in his Long Island Automotive Museum before selling it to Riker in 1979. By the time we purchased the car it was in need of a full restoration, so we sent it to Allan Schmidt's Horseless Carriage Restoration in Escondido, CA (more on that here). The Biddle is now ready to ship north, but first we will be showing it and our 1919 McFarlan at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance (CA) on August 19 and the Kirkland Concours d'Elegance at the new LeMay Museum in Tacoma, WA on September 9. Please stop by and visit us if you are at either event!

Aimed at luxury car buyers "who cared not for the larger, more imposing varieties dominating the market," the fashionable Biddle featured a blend of elegant and sporty lines, along with exquisite interiors. It was one of the Biddle's first customer prospects, Miss Miriam Hubbard Webster, who suggested the vee'd, Mercedes-like radiator and several other design elements. Is she perhaps America's first female automobile stylist?

Our Biddle is powered by a 4-cylinder Buda engine (#1061-A) rated at 24 hp. Later models carried a 70 hp, 4-cylinder walking-beam Duesenberg or Rochester-Duesenberg engine. 

Of the slightly more than 1700  Biddle automobiles produced between 1915 and 1922, only four are known to survive. Ours is the only Town Car left, and we are looking forward to seeing it arrive in Fairbanks by mid-October.

*Update* Photos of the restored Biddle are here and a video of it is posted here.

Detail: Biddle Restoration - On to Pebble Beach!

0 Kirkland Concours d'Elegance

by Derik Price

It was a great pleasure to attend the Kirkland concourse this previous Sunday.  Willy, his wife Wilma, Charlie and I attended with the 1932 Cadillac V-16 Limo and the 1910 Whiting Roadster.  The weather was simply gorgeous and not a cloud in the sky.  Although the temperature did get up to near 90 F both days, we soaked it up ahead of our inevitable Fairbanks winter.

Willy, Charlie and Wilma performed no less than 'reality show' level of vehicle preparation  to meet the entry deadline and deliver the vehicles Saturday night.   I missed out on all the fun, so I was told.  Actually,  I was having my own 'fun' saturday afternoon as my rental car suffered a serious malfunction just minutes onto the freeway out of Sea-Tac.  For no apparent reason the front right wheel nearly locked up and a two lane dance ensued before I could safely reach the shoulder.  Never a dull moment...

But onto the show.  First off, I'll note with much lament that neither Fountainhead vehicle received an award this year.  The 1930's vehicles in attendance were all terrific.  First and second place went to a Packard and Lincoln, both restored by Murray Motor Car.  It was a big day for them and they deserved it.  I stood by our Cadillac for the most part and received no end of accolades and comments about the vehicle, its cavernous back seat, and its mighty V-16 engine.  But in the end, it just wasn't the Cadillac's day. 

The little Whiting was simply spot on.  It was beautiful and near perfect in every respect.  It's deep, deep red color, white tires and brass just popped under the summer blue sky and tree lined backdrop.   Honors for its class went to a huge Simplex that was truly a grand vehicle in every sense of the word.  But the perfect little Whiting, well, just wasn't grand enough I guess.   At least we'll get to enjoy it everyday once it arrives in Fairbanks in a few weeks. I can already picture it on the floor, shining like a little jewel.

On a side note.  One of the racing class awards went to a 1957 Aston Martin that i thought was deserving in every respect.  I consider it a privilege just to be next to the beast when it was fired up to drive around the winners circle.  The true measure of any real racing car I would sum up as this - when the engine is fired up in a public setting - animals flee, children start crying and men spontaneously erupt into cheers.  It achieved all three in mere seconds.

So we all had a good time and after the show and dinner Sunday night our little group of Alaskans were treated to one of the rarest sights of all - a warm AND dark night.  

Detail: Kirkland Concours d'Elegance