It was an ordinary day. Walking throughout the hundreds of cars and trucks at the Neffsville Car Show in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Many were here last year when I also visited the show, but there are plenty of new ones to draw my attention. I made an extra effort to find a few cars or trucks that I would call my favorites this year and take plenty of photos and learn about the history of the car or truck before I posted on my blog about them. Well, as I stood next to the 1967 Thunderbird "Apollo" owner Gene, a judge of the show stopped by to tell him to have his car along the judges row by 3:30 pm for the trophy presentations. Wow, I congratulated him as I left and continued my search. The three cars I chose today all were in that group at 3:30. Yesterday I also showed you a few cars that had won trophies, but the three cars that I will feature today are my choices to share with you today. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
#1 - 1967 Thunderbird "Apollo" - Winner of Best Interior in the show. In 1966, Abercrombie & Fitch ordered 5 special 1967 Ford Thunderbirds with a retail cost of $15,000; one to be displayed in each of their upscale stores. The cars were built in sequence with all Thunderbird options. They were then sent to Detroit Steel Tubing Co. for the "Apollo" conversions. Currently there are only three Apollos remaining. An interesting fact about the cars is that they were all to carry the optional 428 cu. in. motor, but somehow one of them ended up with a 390 cu. in. engine. That car happens to be the one in front of me which is owned by Gene Martini! This "Apollo" is thus a "one of a kind." Some of the options that you may see in my photos are: electric sunroof, Philco TV, dial operated radio telephone, reclining passenger seat with power headrest and footrest, special blue leather seats, foldaway desks in front seat backs, rover automatic ice detector (my favorite), quartz-iodine driving light, special blue vinyl roof, special blue chromed wheel covers, unique gold Thunderbird script - Landau bars - grille ornament, special chrome door jams and engine components and engraved Apollo nameplate.
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| The hood of the car is raised to see the 390 cubic inch engine. On the grill is the Thunderbird logo which is gold anodized, a feature special to the Apollo cars. My favorite feature on the car is the rover automatic ice detector which can be seen as one of the small lights below the grill. It senses temperature and moisture and alerts the driver to icy conditions. |
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| Here you can see the 390 cu. in. logo on the air filter cover. |
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| This photo shows the desk that is on the rear of the front seat and the TV between the two front seats. |
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| Another gold anodized feature of the car on the roof. |
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| Gene told me he wanted a license place with 1967 embossed on it instead of a sticker. He managed to get that with the "Dealer" plate seen here. |
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| More gold anodizing on the side of the car. |
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| Featured here is the phone and the gold anodizing on the horn rim and door pull. |
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| The reclining seat and foot rest can be seen here as well as the chrome coverings on the door jams. |
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| Between the rear seats are these reading lights. |
#2 - 1935 Packard Eight "1200" 5 passenger Touring Sedan with 3 position ride control and chassis lubrication. The owner is Steve Stokes and it was picked by the judges as the "Best Survivor." Loved the car as soon as I came upon it and the dapper owner was having a good time showing the car to interested viewers. The car's original price was $2,385.00 and showed modernized styling to previous models. Styling included skirted pontoon fenders, streamlined headlights, taillights and swept back "aerodynamic bodywork". Mechanical features rarely seen in today's cars included adjustable shock absorbers, thermostatically controlled radiator louvers, automatic chassis lubrication and gull gauges including a crankcase oil level gauge. Of course most people today wouldn't know what the gauges meant anyway. The "1200" Series was built on a 127 inch wheelbase. The car was sold new on September 9, 1935 and kept by the original owner until the 1950s. The car is equipped with optional bumper guards, trunk rack, trippe lights, hot water heater, radio and wheel discs. The interior is upholstered in the "Original" English Wool Broadcloth. There were 4,781 of these cars produced with only 21 known survivors remaining. Check out the photos below:
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| Original license plate shows the year of the automobile. |
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| Mr. Stoles poses with his beautiful car. |
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| The engine compartment can be reached as shown above. |
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| The rear seat shows the comfort of cars from the past. |
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| Front seat with steering wheel and gauges. |
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| Wheel covers are fantastic. Just love them. |
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| The straight 8 cylinder engine can be seen inside the engine compartment. |
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| Steve can be seen accepting his trophy. |
#3 - The final of my choices ended up winning "Best Of Show" in the 16th Annual Neffsville Car Show. The car belonged to Jim Ayers and was a 1946 P15 Plymouth "Woodie". And boy was it neat. My only problem is that I never had the chance to meet Jim during the show. His car had a lot of foot traffic around it and I was able to leaf through his photo album showing the total reconstruction of the car. Found in an old junk yard and restored to the point of winning "Best of Show" is a remarkable accomlishment. My guess is he may have won the same prize in other shows with the remarkable car that I was viewing. So, since I don't have a bunch of literature to share with you, I will let my photographs tell the story of the "Woodie". Enjoy!!
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| From a distance I could tell this car was going to be remarkable. Car #613 ended up winning the top prize. Original tires for this car were Goodyear 6.70X15AA Super cushion. The engine was a 117 cubic inch L-head six. Engine color was silver. Options available in 1946 were an electric clock, Model 803 Philco 7 push-button or Motorola 5 push-button radio. Turn signals were also an option. There were three heater options as well as three paint color options which were Mailbu Brown, Edmonton Beige and the Rio Maroon as displayed on Jim's Plymouth. |
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| The scrapbook shows the condition of the car when it was found. |
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| A few more photographs of the car when first found. |
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| One more photo showing the Plymouth. |
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| Head on view of the '46 Woodie. |
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| The distinctive grill is pure Plymouth. |
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| This model was known as the Special DeLuxe. The car weighed 3,341 pounds and had a production total of 3,443. Original factory price was $2,372. |
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| Jim used White Ash to totally restore the wood sections of the car. The car was classified as a station wagon and came with three bench seats with leather-like upholstery and carried eight passengers. |
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| Interior of the door shows wood on both outside and inside. |
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| Interior of the wagon shows the bench seat, dash and horn rim. |
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| There is also a turn-signal unit on the steering column which was an option rather than a necessary item in 1949. |
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| The two rear seats were removable. Door roof pillars, upper tailgate and side panels were all constructed of wood. Unlike earlier models, the '49 had an all steel roof and all steel lower tailgate that housed the spare tire in a "continental" style enclosure. |
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| Another set of really neat hubcaps and wide whitewalls set the wheels off. When I bought my first car, a 1953 Henry J, made by Kaiser-Fraiser, one of the first things I purchased for it were "Moon" hubcaps much like the ones displayer here. |
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| This photo shows the rear of the car. A unique drop-down bumper was required to allow the tailgate to drop down. Bumpers and taillights were unique to this model. |
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