Hemmings Classic Car

Write to our Editor at mlitwin@hemmings.com and follow him on Instagram @matt.litwin.hemmings. “I was thinking about my first car and what happened to it,”—Julie Litwin AFTER A RECENT week of rain, my wife, Julie, and I were anxious to begin the annual task of refreshing the landscaping for what remained of the spring season—you’ll understand what I mean if you spend time in the upper regions of New England—and the summer to come. As always, it necessitated a trip to the local, family-run garden center for things like hanging annuals, some perennials, and nutrient-rich soil to rejuvenate the raised vegetable garden boxes. I admit it: I have a green thumb when my hands aren’t covered in old 10W-something motor oil. I thought we’d discuss what crops to plant while on…

ERASING THE HISTORY a car has earned can be a disservice to posterity. When new, a 1912 Hupmobile Model 20 like this one would have made a brisk-driving road car, much akin to the Ford Model T—though a Hupp runabout was $160 more than a 1912 Ford (equivalent to a $5,000 price difference today). But someone, after it was new (probably in the 1920s), cut down the body on this one and discarded the fenders and running boards to build an instant speedster of the simplest type. Co-owner Derek Moore is the Curator of Collections at the Lane Motor Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. His partner in the car is his dad, Kevin Moore, who runs Born Again Classics, a restoration shop in St. Charles, Michigan. Derek says that why this…

HOW MANY OF US WISH we had quit our job, packed our bags, and toured the lower 48 states when we were younger? That’s exactly what I did back in 1976. In 1975, I was 33 years old, single, and making good money working behind the parts counter at a Ford dealership in Los Angeles. Very early in the year I decided it would be a good idea to celebrate the upcoming 200th anniversary of our country’s independence by taking off and seeing the United States of America, and so I spent the next twelve months preparing for my big trip. Cars have always been a big part of my life. After being discharged from the Army in 1966, I purchased a new Austin-Healey that I could not afford. From…

I JUST RECEIVED MY APRIL 2023 issue of Classic Car and was confused for a moment. I did not recognize this slick, beautiful magazine with a killer cover. Wow! Your “Cosmetic Restoration” is a concours winner. The cover shot is perfection, and the photos and interior layout are outstanding. Your magazine has always had great articles and features, and I have never found fault with a thing. But, with your redo, you have achieved a new level. Being a retired graphic designer I am always critical of others’ work. But your new-age Classic Car magazine is amazing. Congratulations to you and your production staff for a job well done. By the way, I had just renewed my subscription—how’s that for good timing on my part? JOHN McLEOD Belmont, North Carolina…

Volkswagens, particularly the tricked-out variety, have been coexisting like curds and whey with car enthusiasts in Southern California, almost since the bombed-out Wolfsburg plant slowly came back to life. Volkswagens in California took all forms, from dead stock to surfboard-toting Sambas, to the first dune buggies, to end-chopped Baja specials with towering stinger exhausts, down through the decades. Other fans turned Volkswagens into diminutive Gassers for the drag strips. If you’re of a certain age, you may have even built the glue kit by Revell—which started out in Hollywood—that built up into an EMPI-equipped performance Beetle. More than 50 years later, EMPI is still very much in business. And people from around California, and especially the Los Angeles metro area, are still heart-throbbing with joy over air-cooled Volkswagens, especially the…

“A Hudson-Willys merger makes a lot more sense than one would first think. It never happened.” AS NEAR AS I CAN TELL, the principal managements of both Willys-Overland Corporation and the Hudson Motor Car Company never actively discussed merging the two independent automakers together. In the post-World War II era, Hudson was a traditional, conservative automobile builder located in Detroit, while Willys-Overland was primarily a commercial vehicle builder situated down in Toledo. There aren’t many miles from Detroit to Toledo, but in terms of products, they were a great distance apart from each other. Hudson built medium- and upper medium-priced cars while Willys built work vehicles and, beginning in 1953, a line of compact sedans and hardtops. Indeed, if I hadn’t had my brain cells stimulated by a design idea…