Auctions America will be hosting their first dedicated memorabilia auction January 24-25 at the Auburn Auction Park, and is offering FREE bidder registration to all current AACA members. 800 lots, including 400 from the Wally Arnold Collection, will be offered without reserve during the sale, and bidding options include online and in-person. View all the lots online at auctionsamerica.com, and register to bid by calling 877-906-2437.  This FREE bidder registration saves you $50 and you must have your dues paid for 2014.

The deadline for the Southeastern Winter Meet has been extended to February 3, 2014!  Be sure to register today to join the Treasure Coast Vintage Car Club for the first meet of 2014 in beautiful Port St. Lucie, Florida.  Click here for the Winter Meet brochure.  Click here to print a registration form online.

In December, the Hershey Region sent pre-registration forms to all 2013 Car Corral and Flea Market participants.  The pre-registration deadline for the 2014 Hershey Fall Meet flea market and car corral spaces is February 14.  Additional spaces will not be sold during pre-registration.  Please complete and sign your pre-registration form and send with payment to Hershey Region AACA, P.O. Box 305, Hershey, PA  17033. If you have questions, please call (717) 566-7720 Monday and Wednesday from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. only, or email fallmeet@hersheyaaca.org.

In an effort to continue to promote the AACA and to add value to our members, we are proud to announce the new AACA Automotive Museum Partnership Pilot Program! We have selected 5 high-volume museums to participate in this pilot program and will be featuring a Museum of the Month here in Speedster for your information and enjoyment.  Additionally, members will receive reduced admission at the museums participating in the program.  Museums currently enrolled in the program include:  Crawford Automobile Aviation Collection, Wisconsin Automotive Museum,

America on Wheels, Canton Classic Car Museum, and The Auto Collections.

Enjoy Charlotte, North Carolina this Spring while attending the Southeastern Spring Meet.  This meet is being held during the Hornets Nest Region's Charlotte AutoFair, and free tickets will be given to every AACA Member registering a vehicle and every AACA Judge.  You won't want to miss this great meet featuring thousands of beautiful and rare automobiles for sale and on display.  For more information, click here. 

The Saga of a '35 Dodge Brothers Fire Truck

A regional Society for the Preservation and Appreciation of Motorized Fire Apparatus in America ( SPAAMFAA ) organization of fire buffs in Pennsylvania, known as the "Pennsylvania Pump Primers" ( PPP ), sponsors and runs a large national muster each July of antique fire engines along the upper and lower banks of the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg, PA.  Many interesting events and competitions connected to these antique fire engines are held, some of which are timed and judged.  Being a PPP member, I am one of the timers and judges.

During the 1985 PPP muster, I was walking the venue to see the static display of antiques located on the upper riverbank, never realizing that my life was about to change.  Suddenly there in front of me was a rather worn 1935 "Dodge Brothers" fire truck being offered for sale.  Instantly I knew this 50-year-old apparatus was to be mine.  Two weeks later, it was.  Details and explanations follow.

Fire-buffing - In 1985, at that point in my now 47 years as an active member and firefighter of the Linglestown ( Dauphin County, PA ) Fire Co. # 1, I had never once for any moment thought of purchasing and operating my own fire truck.  Many of my fire-fighting colleagues had done this, but my only "fire buff" interests were fire shoulder patch and foreign miniature fire toy collecting.

Why a '35 Dodge?  Since childhood, I have had an unexplained interest and fascination in Dodge vehicles.  Together with that interest, my firefighting activities with the Linglestown Fire Co. developed a strong identification with the station's Dauphin County numerical identifier -  "Station 35."  ...and there it was -  a "1935 Dodge" fire truck, looking at me and saying, "Bill, you will never have this opportunity again."

Ownership - From its beginning, my fire truck's '35 Dodge Brothers chassis was purchased by the Mountville ( Lancaster County, PA ) Fire Co., and the body was constructed by the Columbia Body Works.  Mountville then sold the fire truck to the Highville Fire Co. ( Lancaster County, PA ), which then sold it to the Lancaster County Forest Fire Crew, which sold it to one of their members (Christopher Erickson ), who sold it to me for $ 2,300 on July 22, 1985.  The final restoration of this vehicle was completed in the spring of 2009 by Jim Atkinson of Rheems, PA.  A total of approximately $21,951.15 has been used in this project. 

The name and logo - Horace and John Dodge ( the "Dodge Brothers" ) began building cars by themselves in Michigan on July 14, 1914, after many years of producing almost every part of Henry Ford's vehicles.  Production of trucks began in 1918, and these trucks were used extensively in World War I.  Following the death of both brothers, the Dodge Brothers line of vehicles was eventually purchased by Walter Chrysler, in 1928.  The last use of the "Dodge Brothers" name on a vehicle was in 1938.  The Dodge Brothers logo, which is sometimes understood incorrectly to be the six-pointed Jewish Star of David, is in reality two interconnected Greek delta letters, representing the two Dodge brothers -  John and Horace.

A home for the fire truck - Upon purchasing this fire truck in 1985, I decided to have constructed a "fire station" garage at the rear of my home on the Square in Linglestown.  The chosen name for my fire station, which is complete with an operating station siren and Gamewell alarm box, is "The Town of St. Thomas Fire Co. # 1" -  the original and still only official name of the village.  The town's founder -  Thomas Lingle, created his settlement in 1765, and gave it the full "St. Thomas" name, after his name-sake -  St. Thomas, the disciple.  Following Lingle's death in 1811, townspeople began calling the town "Lingle's town," and the name took on common usage, but it was never officially changed.  Hence -  the origin of the name of my fire station.

Apparatus features - The 6-volt open cab fire truck is powered by the famous, long-used Dodge flat-head 6 gasoline engine.  It has a Darley 50 GPM PTO pump, a 120 gal. water tank, a booster reel hose line, and carries a complement of 11/2" and 21/2" hose.  Mounted on the left and right running boards are various types of fire extinguishers, a crash bar, two hand-held search lights, nozzles, a container with tire chains, and a complete Chem-Ox breathing unit.  Attached on the sides are a pike pole, a roof and a 2-section extension ladder, three pony-size suction hoses with a strainer, and four sets of turn-out coats, boots, and helmets.  Warning equipment includes a large bell, a hand-cranked and a mechanical siren which has a red warning light, and a red warning light mounted on each front fender.  By the driver's side seat there is a large floodlight located above the bell, and on the rear are two spotlights.  There is one large utility box located behind the seat, a small box on the left running board, and a rear storage drawer located under the hose bed.  Front and rear turn signals, and two sets of seat belts were installed for safety reasons. 

Excalibur

 By: Matthew Hocker

In the realm of technology and design, change is not only inevitable; it is often welcomed with open arms.  Even in a fast-paced society, people often desire to reconnect with elements of their youth.  Countless examples of niche markets have been created to quench this thirst for nostalgia.  One such example in the automotive world was industrial designer Brooks Stevens' (1911 - 1995) regal Excalibur.  Unveiled in 1964, it was a modern car with a vintage look.

Stevens' love of automobiles was rooted in his youth.  He contracted polio at the age of seven and was bedridden for two years.  To combat boredom, he often drew pictures of cars.  In 1929, Stevens attended Cornell to study architecture but discovered he still had a preference for motor vehicles.  Some professors noted Stevens focused more energy on doodling cars in his architectural drawings than the buildings themselves. 

In 1934, Stevens won a logo redesign contest sponsored by Milwaukee-based Cutler-Hammer, a manufacturer of electrical equipment.  This victory helped jumpstart his design career, and Stevens went on to dip his hand in a wide variety of industries, working on everything from toys and Cushman scooters to household appliances and furniture.  He also went on to work with several big-name auto manufacturers, including Willys-Overland, Volkswagen, Alfa Romeo, and Studebaker.

Between 1952 and 1953, Stevens designed and built three examples of an experimental sports car known as the Excalibur J, all of which utilized a modified Henry J chassis.  The vehicle was a good-faith effort to convince Kaiser-Frazer a modern sports car with a classic edge was worth manufacturing.  As fate would have it, Kaiser-Frazer rejected Stevens' design in favor of the ill-fated Kaiser Darrin.

Then Studebaker sought a head-turner for the 1964 New York Automobile Show.  They turned to Stevens, and his response was the Studebaker SS.  He modeled it after the Mercedes SSK, his favorite car.  Stevens' offering sported a sleek aluminum body, was built on a Studebaker Daytona chassis, and was powered by a Paxton supercharged Model R-2 V8 engine.

While Studebaker lost interest in the SS prematurely, Stevens elected to still show the car in New York.  Enthusiastic reactions from visitors to the show convinced Stevens there was enough demand for such a car.  Soon after, he decided to have a go at marketing the car in limited production on his own, rebranding it the Excalibur SS.

Toward the end of 1964, production began on the 1965 model year cars.  The Excalibur now featured a powerful 300 HP Corvette engine as standard equipment, and buyers had a choice between 4-speed manual and Powerglide automatic transmissions.  To accommodate larger scale production, the decision was made to craft the bodies out of fiberglass.  However, hood panels remained aluminum thanks to the presence of the louvers. 

Stevens had been collecting antique cars since the 1930s, and he designed the car for similar-minded individuals desiring a high-end vintage look without having to funnel money into restoration.  Early on, Stevens labeled the car as the perfect choice "...for the youth of the nation beginning at age 54."  Fellow antique auto enthusiasts took notice, with articles on the Excalibur appearing in Antique Automobile and Automobile Quarterly during the summer of 1964.  The following year, it made an appearance at the Sports Car in Review show held at The Henry Ford; the designated theme for that year was the "Revival of the Classics." 

In advertising, he claimed the Excalibur cost anywhere from $20,000 to $30,000 less than it would to restore a genuine Mercedes SSK.  Despite these claims, the car was still prohibitively expensive for the average consumer.  The 1965 Excalibur was priced at $7250, more than four times the cost of the cheapest Ford Fairlane available at the time.  Consequently, Excalibur buyers tended to be among the more affluent, including the Hollywood elite.  Among the list of celebrity customers were Sydney Chaplin (son of Charlie Chaplin), Tony Curtis and Phyllis Diller.

The initial response was positive with the company having sold one hundred Excalibur cars by February 1966.  Reaction from the press was generally enthusiastic, with journalists praising the car for being simultaneously practical and beautiful.  In 1966, Motor Trend labeled it as "...more than a toy," and a Car & Driver Road Test revealed it was "...just as easy and natural [to drive] as any other car."

Additional models were periodically added to the lineup, and production continued until 1986.  High production costs coupled with reduced sales (exacerbated by the 1980s recession), drove the company into bankruptcy by October 1985.  Operations ceased in May of 1986 but resumed in 1987 following a $2.3 million buyout by Henry A. Warner, President of Acquisition Co. Inc.

Even under new ownership, the business continued to flounder.  By the fall of 1990, the company once again spiraled into bankruptcy with a debt of $3.98 million.  To top it off, in 1991 a Milwaukee judge convicted the company on state charges of theft by fraud and the fraudulent alteration of a motor vehicle ID number.  The penalty was a hefty fine of $40,000.

Like the legendary sword it was named after, Excalibur refused to completely fade from public memory.  Since the early 1990s, the company has changed hands three times, offered a reproduction AC Cobra, and only ceased manufacturing cars in 1997.  However, Excalibur Motor Corp. has continued to live on and currently offers restoration services and parts for Excalibur owners. 

All told, less than 3,500 Excalibur cars had been made since the company's founding.  Small numbers aside, the vehicles played a significant role in popularizing replicars.  Like the Mercedes SSK which preceded it, Excalibur cars will remain legends in their own right.

Discover More:  Interested in learning more about Excalibur?  The library has a wealth of information on these cars, including sales literature, press releases, and period articles in our trade publications.  To find out more, pay us a visit or drop us a line.  We'd love to hear from you!       

New Items in the AACA Library's eBay Store!

Looking for the perfect gift for your favorite motor head?  The Library's eBay store offers a wide variety to choose from, with everything from automobilia and photographs to books and sales literature.  

Sunday, January 19th at 8:30 PM and end on Sunday, January 26th at 8:30 PM EST.

To view our available selection, be sure to click the links below!

Items Available for Auction (Starts 1/19/2014): 

   * Books & Periodicals:

        - Internal Combustion Engines by Carpenter & Diederichs (1910)

        - What Every Owner Should Know About His Automobile (1914)

        - 1950 Indianapolis 500 Program

        - The Automobile Book by Duryea & Homans (1916)

        - The Bugatti Book by Barry Eaglesfield (1960)

        - 1930s MoToR Magazines

        - And more!

   * Sales Literature:

        - 1930s Packard

        - 1949 Cadillac

        - 1930s - 1950s Buick

        - 1959 Lincoln Continental Mark IV Portfolio

        - And more!

   * Owner's manuals:

        - 1955 Packard Clipper

        - 1950 Chevrolet

        - 1941 Plymouth

        - And more!

Items Available for General Sale:  

  * Automobilia

        - Dash plaques

  * Reproduction Factory Photos

        - More than 2,000 different vehicles! 

  * Books:

        - Pre-War 

        - Racing 

        - Biographies & In-Depth Histories 

        - Car & Truck Reference Books 

        - And much more!

  * Sales Literature

For more information, contact our Library Assistant,

Matthew Hocker, mhocker@aacalibrary.org or 717-534-2082.