(Wikipedia) “ZAP was an American company that specialized in electric vehicles of various types, such as cars, motorcycles, bicycles, scooters, watercraft, hovercraft, ATVs and commercial vehicles. Its name was an acronym for Zero Air Pollution. It was based in Santa Rosa, California, but it is no longer active.”
I spotted this beauty on the floor of MacWorld in 2008.
After 7 years and 173,000 miles, Barb treated herself to a new Lexus 450 RX Hybrid Plugin. Barb loves to road trip and is probably happiest when behind the wheel going somewhere fun.
This beauty is the latest acquisition by my friend Paul. I think he said this only has 20,000 miles on the odometer (or was it 2,000?) and is in mint –what’s better than “mint”– condition.
I was a junior in high school with these first appeared and we’d never seen anything like them. Best music… best cars… lucky me.
Spent half an hour looking at old Jeeps this morning. An annual gathering held at the Antique Car Museum in Fulton, MO. Most of these folks live and breathe old Jeeps this event is for them. I was just a gawker.
“The Willys Jeep Station Wagon, Jeep Utility Wagon and Jeep Panel Delivery are automobiles produced by Willys and Kaiser Jeep in the United States from 1946 to 1964, with production in Argentina and Brazil continuing until 1970 and 1977, respectively. They were the first mass-market all-steel station wagons designed and built as a passenger vehicle. With over 300,000 wagons and its variants built in the U.S., it was one of Willys’ most successful post-World War II models. For some time after the 1949 introduction of a four-wheel drive option, the 2WD was sold as “Station Wagon”, while the 4WD was marketed as “Utility Wagon”. The 4WD Willys Jeep Wagon is often considered the first production sport utility vehicle.” (Wikipedia)
One-minute walk-around of a vintage pickup. Waiting on official word and story (if any) from Paul. Here’s ChatGPT’s best guess:
The Ford F-100 pickup truck in your photo appears to be from the early 1960s, likely between 1961 and 1966. The distinctive styling, particularly the hood and grille design, matches the second-generation F-Series trucks produced during those years.
Mr. Wolf is no stranger to rare and beautiful automobiles but even he sounds a little impressed by one of his recent jobs.
1949 Ferrari 166 MM Barchetta. 1 of 10 short hood Barchettas, I believe it is roughly the 30th Ferrari built, though I could be off by a large margin – Ferrari information is notoriously cloudy. Serious race history, driven extensively by Biondetti.
The gravity of this thing is incredible, just having it around to appreciate in person, in private… I spent some time each day sitting next to it while having my espresso.
A bit of tinkering, rewiring a few things, fiddling with the exhaust and carburetors, and – the best part – designing and fabricating a battery hold down. The original went missing some time ago.
I asked him what he was doing to a car “now worth something like $10,000,000.”
It’s an odd, push-down-from-above battery hold down, and all of the parts are gone, and no reference photos exist. So I got to spend a couple days thinking, sketching, welding… What would a bunch of scrappy Italians have done in 1949?
Basically, a lot of time and effort to make something simple, unimpressive, and invisible once the battery cover goes on, and I’m thrilled!
He describes the owner as “a very cool old fellow, and a longtime Ferrari historian. Very knowledgeable, really knows his stuff. I once re-jetted the triple Weber carbs with him at 11pm outside a hotel in 45 degree weather, preparing to climb the Sierras the next morning.”
Spotted this beauty in the supermarket parking lot. I believe it is a Morgan +4.
Morgan Motor Company Limited is a British motor car manufacturer owned by Italian investment group Investindustrial. It was founded in 1910 by Henry Frederick Stanley Morgan. Morgan is based in Malvern Link, an area of Malvern, and employs approximately 220 people. Morgan produce 850 cars per year, all assembled by hand.[2] The waiting list for a car is approximately six months, but it has sometimes been as long as ten years.
The following is from the Autumn 2015 issue of Air Cooled News (An Official Publication of The Franklin Club)
In 1933, The Reo Automobile Company shipped 800 leftover 1933 Reo “Flying Clouds” to the Franklin Automobile Company. Franklin engines were installed and they were sold as 1933 Franklin “Olympics.”
In 1934 Reo still had unsold “Flying Clouds” so they decided to cut them off behind the front door and build pickup trucks. It is possible that at least one of these pickup trucks was shipped to Franklin where an air cooled 1934 Franklin engine was installed and it was sold as a 1934 Franklin “Speed Wagon.” If that did happen, the truck cold have looked exactly like this one.
In 2012, Wes Scott traded a Model A truck for the remains of a 1933 Franklin “Olympic.” This would provide the chassis for the Franklin “Speed Wagon.” In 2013 Wes’ son Donald found a 1934 Reo Speed Wagon in Shaniko, Oregon. This would provide the cab.
The bed for the “Speed Wagon” came from a Reo pickup in West Plains, Missouri. Richard Harry of Wisconsin provided an extra set of fenders so pickup rear fenders could be made from two sets of sedan fenders.
Another Franklin Club member, Ed Joy of Idaho provided a nice green hood that matched what was left of the original paint on the cab. The goal was to make all the pieces look like they came on the truck originally and to build a truck that could be used and enjoyed. At the Fall Midwest Region Meet in Clinton, MO the comments ranged from “When are you going to paint it?” to “Don’t touch it we like it.”
Wes is going with “Don’t touch it.”
Wes’ garage/shop/farm is just about 20 minutes from where I live and some car buddies drove me down and introduced me. Wes was kind enough to let me record a little video (5 min) of his amazing collection of Franklins and Model A Fords.
This brief video barely scratched the surface (you should forgive the expression) of Wes’s amazing collection. I hope to have another opportunity share some more.
