18th Annual McPherson College CARS Club Show May 6th, 2017

With the 19th Annual McPherson College C.A.R.S. Club Show coming up next weekend, it seems timely to run the coverage of last year's show. This is a must-see event for any true car fans.

Few local car shows hold a candle to the annual C.A.R.S. (College Automotive Restoration Students) Club Car and Motorcycle show at McPherson College. McPherson College, a small liberal arts school in McPherson, Kansas, is the only college in the United States which offers an accredited, four-year degree program in both auto and motorcycle restoration. Because of this dedicated curriculum, the school and the C.A.R.S. Club show attract a following from die-hard enthusiasts and automotive luminaries. Many alums have gone on to become players in the car world, but return each May for the show, its attendant events, and a chance to see old friends.

Friday evening featured an evening with Bill Warner, founder of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. Mr. Warner’s presentation, Racing Around the Rules, was a prelude to the following day’s presentation and autograph session of Cuba’s Car Culture. Mr. Warner contributed the photography to the book, which was written by Tom Cotter. Mr. Cotter is also known for writing 'The Cobra in the Barn', and hosting Hagerty's YouTube series "The Barn Find Hunter".

Friday evening also saw a gathering of student and enthusiast cars at the Cruise-In. Two full blocks of Main Street were blocked off for this informal and casual car show. No admission, no fees, no prizes, just show up and show off. It was a great preview of what was to be an impressive Saturday.

Things started early on campus Saturday morning. Breakfast was at 7:00 sharp, followed by registration at 8:00 am, with entrants being segregated to different parts of the 27-acre campus lawn depending upon year and classification. Over 320 cars, motorcycles and tractors, were on display. Close to 100 student cars were mixed in with around forty or so alumni vehicles. Numerous other entries peppered the lawn. Included in the show were a 1937 Mercedes Benz 540K Cabriolet which had been restored by students working for the car’s owner, a 1957 Mercedes SLS Racer Tribute (none of the originals are known to exist) built by the Mercedes Benz Classic Center (overseen by McPherson Restoration Program alum Nate Lander), and the first Chevrolet Camaro prototype.

Misters Cotter and Warner had their presentation and book signing. There was a pin striping demonstration, a trim demonstration with the new trim professor (and department head) Mike Dudley, followed by a sheet metal demonstration. After lunch, there was a performance by the All-Student Jazz Band (five of whom are Resto students), followed by the Model T build. Restoration students drive a Model T onto a dais, disassemble the car down to its larger components, then reassemble the car, and drive away, in about seven minutes. This was followed by the awards ceremony.

Matt Geist, a senior in the Restoration Program and C.A.R.S. Club president, said, “This year’s show is one of the largest we have ever had, and has some of the best entries. The SLS Tribute is the most accurate representation of the racer there is today. Only two were ever built and sent to the U.S. The Mercedes 540k is a reflection of the type of work our students can do. However, my personal favorite entry is the unrestored V-16 Cadillac.”

After the show, many attended Associate Professor Luke Chennell’s famous post-show barbecue. This gathering is not to be missed, as it is a congregation of alumni, instructors, supporters, and true car fiends, eating, drinking, and discussing all things automotive. The seemingly effortless nature of the gathering is a testament to how hard Chennell works to pull off this event. Guests stay until well after dark enjoying excellent smoked ribs, brisket, brats, and dogs, imbibing ice cold beverages, and exploring every kind of car conversation.

Garrick Green, Associate Professor of Technology and interim department head, had observations on the show weekend. “I’ve seen a lot of car shows done by the students, and this one was the best. The thing that really stood out to me is this; I’ve asked numerous people what they thought about the show, and several of the prominent guests we had on campus described this as a ‘magical’ weekend. These are people who go to Pebble Beach and many of the big concours, and they said this was a ‘magical’ weekend…and not exclusively for the car show, but for everything that is going on, for the restoration facilities, and with the students.”

Auto Restoration Vice President Amanda Gutierrez is passionate about the program, and sees its excellence reflected in the show. “The more of our alums who are out in the industry, making connections and making names for themselves, the more the reputation of the college has changed. We’ve been able to recruit differently; students who are coming here are aligned with our mission-to be the best. When you talk to faculty members in the art classes or the business classes, they love our students because they understand process, they understand how to think critically, logically.”

The Argument for Classic Cars Or, How Frustration Taught Me To Run From Exotics

I have a confession to make: I am a car guy. I am not your average “I had a cool car before I got married and had kids” car guy. I am not a mid-life-crisis car guy. I am not even the ‘I have a project I have been working on for the last decade-and-a-half’ car guy. I am a lifelong car guy. My first memories are of my father’s 1972 Corvette convertible, and they are among the most lucid. I have been a car guy from the jump, learning as much as I could about automobiles of all types. I shunned sports and other activities in preference of building go-karts and dirt bikes, all in order to get that sensation of speed and excitement. I started reading car magazines and books at 11, years before I could legally drive. I got a vintage Corvette when I graduated high school. True to form as a confessed car guy, I have always wanted an exotic car…Until now.

Exotic cars hold a promise for every kid with a little gasoline in his blood. That low-to-the-ground, fat-tired, often wedge-shaped madness, that rumbling exhaust that speaks of extra-legal speed, the rarity that assures nobody else on your block will have one. So strong is this allure, it stays with many of us well into adulthood. In fact, what was cool when you were in high school, often sees a spike in price when you are in your early to mid-forties. This is because all those kids who had the cool posters on their bedroom walls growing up, have found a way to make a living that will let them finally own a Countach, Testarossa, 911, 308, Diablo, or Pantera. All those poster cars have had their prices driven into the stratosphere. If you doubt me, go see what has happened to the prices of all of the aforementioned cars in the last five years. Every one of them has at least doubled in price, except the Countach; those have tripled and quadrupled.

Exotic cars have done what they are supposed to do; they have remained out of reach for all of those save the highest of income earners. Had you bought while the economy was still low, you could have had yourself the investment of a lifetime. But even with that, you have to maintain these thoroughbreds, and therein lies the rub.

Exotic cars are typically not daily drivers. Sure, there are exceptions. I once dated a girl whose father drove a Ferrari 308 GTS to work every day the weather permitted. He was a dentist, so his job didn’t demand any particular type of car. However, most people who have gotten to that point in life also have kids to cart around, or their job places demands on their transportation, or other obligations don’t allow for such things. If they do have a car like that, it sits most of the time. The worst thing for any piece of machinery is to sit. The seals and gaskets dry out, and they begin to leak. Tires dry rot. Gremlins take up residence, as well as rodents. Batteries go dead. In regular cars, these problems aren’t cheap. In exotics, they are devastatingly expensive.

Why so much more expensive in exotics? In a word, performance. Whether it is exotic because of speed capability, braking and handling prowess, or even supreme luxury, that exotic car has been built to a standard beyond that of your minivan or SUV. They have engines that produce well north of 100bhp/liter. They are often constructed of rare components like carbon fiber. They have parts that rival some race cars. All of that superior technology, that rocket-like acceleration, or that bank-vault quiet comes at a price.

Sometimes, it isn’t the purchase price of the car that kills, it’s what the car was designed to be. I had a 1999 Mercedes S600. It was one of 14 imported to the US that year. It was the final year of the W140 platform, so it was actually a holdover from the 1998 model year. New, the car stickered for over $140,000. It was simply amazing. The development that went into the W140s prior to launch was over $1 billion. Those were 1992 dollars, a staggering amount. By the time I got my S-Class, it was worth around $20k. (A word to the wise: luxury cars depreciate faster than houses after the housing bubble burst.) My S600 had a 6.0 liter V-12 that cranked out 389 peak horsepower, the best factory stereo I’ve ever heard, an unparalleled ride quality, was beyond quiet, and was unquestionably the finest car I’ve ever had….when everything was working. When things did break, as they inevitably do, it required the maintenance and parts expense of a $140,000 car: thousand dollar radio antennas, $200 oil changes, a $220 replacement key and fob, headlight assemblies that were $2,500 per side, and so on. I have heard replacement transmissions are $7,000. Thank God I never had to find out. It was a stunning car. There is nothing better for long road trips. There is nothing less forgiving when it comes time to fix it.

The S600 was not my first European car, nor will it be my last. However, in addition to being a car guy, I have a business degree. I say that only to point out I understand return on investment. You can have a good car, even a spectacular car, that won’t rob you of your retirement or force your children to go to community college. Classic cars can be just as rewarding without making you feel as though you are being robbed blind every time you drive one. Often, Classic cars are simpler, with fewer exotic parts. Many times, the parts were sourced from parts bins, having been common to other, more mundane, models. Corvettes, Camaros, Chevelles, Novas, and El Caminos all shared a number of parts with other everyday Chevys. GTOs, 442s, Mustangs, ‘Cudas, Chargers, Gran Torinos, and Cougars have parts that can be found in any local parts store. Moreover, they are simple enough to work on that most people with a little mechanical aptitude can take care of all but the larger jobs themselves. Try that when you want to change the belts on your Ferrari 355.

Classic cars will often garner you as much respect, if not more, than that shiny new Porsche or Lamborghini. Many people see an exotic, and think the owner is a wealthy show-off. But try gassing up your classic without someone wanting to have a conversation about it. There is a fondness, a nostalgia that goes along with seeing a really well preserved or restored classic. There is also a pride in knowing you have saved a piece of history rather than buying the latest hunk of overpriced alloy.

If you can have an exotic, and you want one, more power to you. But, don’t be too quick to discount the pleasure, and probably the savings, of owning a beautiful Classic car.

By the way, I’m lying…..I still want an exotic car, too.

The 1959 Corvette Scaglietti: The Never-Was Shelby That Could Have Changed It All

There is a story the implications of which would have had a profound effect on the automotive world as we know it. It begins with one of the icons of motorsport, and the creator of one of the single most recognizable sports cars of all time, Carroll Shelby.

Carroll Hall Shelby was born in January of 1923 to working-class couple Warren and Eloise Shelby of Leesburg, Texas. Carroll was a sickly child, spending most of his early years in bed. By the time he was seven years old, Shelby had been diagnosed with a leaky heart valve. His health improved as he grew, and by the time Carroll was in high school, it seemed as if he had “outgrown” his health problems.

Shelby graduated from high school in 1940. He was headed to college in Georgia to study aeronautical engineering, but instead enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Shelby began training at what is now Lackland Air Force Base to become a test pilot and flight instructor. This career would help Shelby hone the skills needed to be one of the world’s finest racing drivers.

In 1952, Carroll Shelby began his professional racing career. In a weekend racing series in Norman, Oklahoma, Shelby had a class win racing an MG-TC against other, similar cars. Later that day, Shelby took the MG out to win against much faster Jaguar XK120s. The die was cast, and Shelby was hooked. He continued to race and win in a number of different cars until capturing the respect and admiration of Aston Martin racing manager John Wyer. Shelby subsequently raced for Wyer through the 1954 season, and raced for Aston through 1960.

Shelby was known to be one of the toughest racers around. He had not outgrown his heart condition, and often raced with nitroglycerin pills under his tongue. He rolled an Austin Healey four times during the Carrera Pan Americana Mexico in November of 1954, shattering both elbows. In March of 1955, with his elbows not yet healed, he had a custom cast made that would allow him to tape his hand to the steering wheel. This allowed him to co-drive with Phil Hill, racing a three-liter Monza Ferrari at Sebring.

Shelby disliked Enzo Ferrari. While racing for the Ferrari racing team, Scuderia Ferrari, Shelby got to see first-hand how poorly Enzo treated his drivers. Ferrari’s first concern was always winning, and seldom about the drivers’ well-being. Ferrari would encourage competition between his own drivers, ‘threatening’ to fire the loser. In 1958, at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, several drivers lost their lives. Among them was Ferrari team driver and good friend of Shelby, Luigi Musso. Shelby held Ferrari personally responsible, and made it his mission in life to beat Ferrari anywhere he could.

Shelby had long wanted to take on Ferrari and the other European manufacturers with a limited production American car. He thought he could utilize an American frame, suspension, and drivetrain, coupled with an Italian-styled body. At the time, the only American sports car was the Chevrolet Corvette, so this was Shelby’s natural choice. He had raced Corvettes in the past, and was impressed with the performance of the Chevrolet. Shelby, and fellow racers Jim Hall and Gary Laughlin purchased three 1959 Corvettes, and sent them to Italy. They commissioned design house Scaglietti to build streamlined coupe bodies for the Chevys. They wanted to use the power of the small block V-8, with the economy of the Corvette construction and the light weight of the Italian aluminum bodies to complete with much more expensive European offerings. Specifically, they wanted to hunt Enzo Ferrari on his own turf.

After production was completed on the three Corvette Italias (as they were known at that time), Shelby, Hall, and Laughlin presented the cars to Harley Earl, former vice president of GM, and Ed Cole, then head of GM’s Car and Truck division. Earl and Cole loved the idea; GM brass did not. They did not want a low-production, high-performance, specialty version of the Corvette poaching from the rest of the Corvette production. Moreover, Chevrolet was part of an informal agreement between the Big Three American auto manufacturers against supporting sports car racing. This was born out of the 1955 Le Mans disaster which killed driver Pierre LeVegh, 83 spectators, and injured 120 more.

GM brass wasn’t the only hurdle for the trio from Texas. The Italian design house Scaglietti had a big customer, and it wasn’t the Texans. Ferrari was Scaglietti’s biggest customer, and Enzo was livid when he found out the design house had re-bodied three Corvettes in an effort to make Le Mans competitors.

So, Shelby didn’t have any Corvette frames, drivetrains, or suspensions. He didn’t have his slippery Italian coachwork or interiors. But what Shelby did have was a desire to beat, and even embarrass, Enzo Ferrari. Shelby had heard that English automaker AC Ltd had lost its engine supplier, Bristol Aeroplane. Carroll wrote AC, and convinced them to send him a roller, a chassis and body without drivetrain. He explained to AC that he had engines from Ford, and wanted to use the AC platform as the basis for a new sports car. Shelby also contacted Ford, asking for a couple of their new, small displacement 221 ci V-8s. He explained that he had some rolling chassis from AC, and wanted to use the Ford drivetrain as the basis for a new sports car. Some have described this as, “If we had some ham, we could have ham and eggs…..If we had some eggs."

Any car fanatic worth their salt knows what happened next. Shelby and Company developed the Shelby Cobra. Beginning in 1962, development began, first with a crude chassis which handled poorly, backed by a small displacement Ford V-8. Then came suspension and chassis improvements, bigger engines, better transmissions, stiffened frames, and so on. Aerodynamic limitations kept the open Cobra roadster from being competitive at tracks with high top speeds, especially Le Mans, with its lengthy Mulsanne Straight. Pete Brock, then in his early-20s, took a wrecked Cobra roadster and used it as the basis for the Shelby Daytona Coupe. The Coupe ( named the Daytona for the race it was being prepared to run) was designed and built in a scant 90 days. On long straightaways, where the roadster used to give up 30mph top speed to the Ferrari 250 GTO, the Daytona Coupes bested the Prancing Horse by nearly 10mph.

While all of this was taking place, Henry Ford II had entered into negotiations with Enzo Ferrari to purchase Ferrari’s company. In 1963, Ford learned through a third party Enzo Ferrari was interested in selling the company (Ferrari) to Ford. During these negotiations, Ferrari became upset with not being allowed to keep full control of the company’s open-wheel racing efforts. At the last minute, Enzo backed out of the deal. Ford had spent millions auditing Ferrari assets, legal involvements, and business. Henry Ford II was infuriated. He vowed to beat Ferrari on the racetrack, especially at Le Mans, where Ferrari had previously reigned supreme. Thus began the Ford GT40 program.

The GT40 began racing in the 1964 season….And it bombed. It would lead races, only to be sidelined by mechanical failures of one kind or another. Suspension failures, brake failures, engine cooling failures, transmission failures, the GT40 saw them all. After being overseen by John Wyer for the majority of the 1964 racing calendar, the program was turned over the Carroll Shelby. The idea was to give the program to the man who had developed a successful race car essentially from scratch. So, as Shelby was racing his Cobras and Daytonas, he was also spearheading the GT40 program. Shelby was given the best shot ever at trouncing Ferrari, while winning glory for himself, his compatriots, company, and drivers.

Shelby’s team of developers, mechanics, racers, and builders tweaked the GT40. They improved upon the design, making the car more robust, more competitive. They put the best drivers behind the wheel. The 1965 season was one of both victory and disappointment. The program continued to evolve and improve. By the 1966 racing season, they were ready to take on the world. And they went hunting.

The GT40s finished 1-2-3 at the first 24 Hours of Daytona. The same result came at the 12 Hours of Sebring. The team had a 1-2-3 finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The GT40s continued winning and winning, racking up Le Mans wins in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. Enzo Ferrari was publicly humiliated on what was widely thought to be his venue.

While all of this was happening, Carroll Shelby had formed a fantastic relationship with Ford. Shelby Mustangs were the Jeckyll and Hyde of the automotive world, having been transformed from what was commonly thought of as a ‘secretary’s car’ into a fire-breathing performance coupe for street or strip. The Shelby name had become synonymous with performance. The Mustang had been Lee Iococca’s pet project, but Shelby had made it into the hairy-chested beast that captured the imaginations of men and boys alike. So tight was the bond between Shelby and Iococca, that when Lee left Ford for Chrysler, he was able to convince Shelby to bring his performance name and magic to the Pentastar.

The 1980s are often referred to as the Malaise Era for American automotive performance. All of the Muscle Cars of the 1960s and 1970s were either dead or were mere shadows of their former selves. Gone was the Hemi Cuda, the Superbird, and the GTO. The Trans Am was just a sticker package, featuring the notorious Screaming Chicken on the hood. The Corvette for 1981 had only 190hp, down from a peak of 435hp just twelve short years before. Mustangs were built on the same platform as the Ford Fairmont. It was a sad time to be a car enthusiast.

Saddest of all was the lineup at Chrysler. The K-Car platform was the staple for most of the Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge passenger car line-up. Bland, cheap, and cranked out by the thousands, it helped keep the Pentastar afloat, but there was certainly no soul. What was needed was some excitement, some guts, a kick in the pants. And who should provide that, but Mr. Kick-In-The Pants, Carroll Shelby. With Shelby’s direction and performance expertise, the new Chrysler Shelby Performance Center in Whittier, CA, produced the 1983 ½ Dodge Shelby Charger. It sold particularly well, especially for a model with a half-year introduction. The next several years would see the Dodge Shelby Daytona, the Dodge Omni GLH (Goes Like Hell) and GLHS, The Dodge Shelby Daytona Z, the Dodge Rampage, The Dodge Shelby Lancer, and even the Dodge Shelby Dakota and Dakota Convertible. These performance models, combined with Chrysler’s creation of the minivan, purchase of AMC/Jeep, and Iacocca’s leadership, saved Chrysler from doom.

With Bob Lutz as Chrysler’s Executive Vice President, Carroll Shelby helped develop a high-performance concept car loosely based on the Shelby Cobra. The V-10 drivetrain was developed with help from Lamborghini, which was owned by Chrysler at the time. The car came to market in 1992, after a prototype was driven at the 1991 Indianapolis 500 by none other than Carroll Shelby. Production of the Viper, and its 400hp V-10 helped kick off the horsepower wars with Chevrolet. Chevy had introduced the Corvette ZR-1 as a 1990 production model, featuring a DOHC 32-valve, aluminum block and head 5.7-liter V-8 made by Mercruiser Marine, and a suspension developed by Lotus. At the time of the Viper’s introduction, the ZR-1 was rated at 375hp. Chevrolet had loudly proclaimed the super ‘Vette “King of the Hill”. For the 1993 model year, the year after the Viper bowed, the Corvette was tweaked to yield 405hp, and the game was afoot.

Much of this may have been old news to the hardcore auto fan. Some of it may have been new information. But all of it was necessary to ask this question: What if the Chevy brass had said yes? What if the Corvette Scaglietti had gotten a green light, and a limited production of high performance Corvettes had begun to roll off an assembly line? What if there had been a Corvette Cobra? Could Ferrari have stood up to the industrial might of GM, forcing Scaglietti to make Ferrari bodies only? Doubtful. What would have happened to those fabulous cars from Maranello? If GM had said yes, there would have been no Shelby Cobra, no Cobra Daytona Coupes (one of the most expensive American cars ever, coincidentally, along with the ’63 Corvette Grand Sports). There would have been no GT40. Ferrari may have never been beaten in the 1960s at Le Mans. There would have been no Shelby Mustangs (in the 1960s, 1970s, or in recent years). There would be a tremendous gap in the collector car world. The horsepower wars of the 1960s may not have played out the same way. If Shelby had not gone to Ford, he probably wouldn’t have had the relationship with Iacocca, and there would have been none of the CSPC Chryslers of the 1980s and 1990s. Without the Chrysler relationship, there would have been no Viper RT/10 or Viper GTS. A simple change of heart at GM in 1959 could have had massive, titanic implications for the automotive world as we know it, and there’s a good chance none of us would recognize things as they are today.