Tag: illinois

Air-Cooled Appreciation: A shrine celebrating all things Corvair opens in Illinois – Richard Lentinello @Hemmings

Air-Cooled Appreciation: A shrine celebrating all things Corvair opens in Illinois – Richard Lentinello @Hemmings

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Smack dab in the middle of America’s heartland there’s now a Corvair Museum honoring the existence and history of Chevrolet’s air-cooled mechanical marvel. The unlikely location for a museum devoted to the Corvair is Decatur, Illinois, which is 40 miles east of Springfield, three hours from Chicago and Indianapolis, and nearly a seven-hour drive from Ypsilanti, Michigan, where it was previously located. But, thanks to the good graces of the Chevrolet Hall of Fame Museum there, a sizeable room has been set aside for the Corvair museum’s new home.

Read on here

 

A new Steve McQueen barn find surfaces: the ’79 Pontiac Trans Am from “The Hunter – Kurt Ernst @Hemmings

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Trans Am is Life

In 1979, Steve McQueen began filming what became his final motion picture, The Hunter, which tells the fictionalized story of real-life bounty hunter Ralph “Papa” Thorson. While the film’s chase sequences are nowhere near as memorable as those in Bullitt, two 1979 Trans Ams were used (wrecked, technically) in filming, with a total of six Pontiacs provided from the brand’s show fleet. One of these Trans Ams — possibly the last surviving example from the film — was recently liberated from an Illinois barn, and new owner Calvin Riggs, owner of Carlyle Motors in Katy, Texas, is seeking additional information on the car from former cast and crew members.

Read Kurt’s article here

Unluckiest Dealer in the World? – Tornado smacks Illinois collector car dealership rebuilt after 2017 fire – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars Journal.com

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Country Classics in Staunton Illinois is a classic car dealer  that I visited a few years ago and found it to be very friendly dealer that sells affordable classics.

My visit here

However over the last few years they have not the best of luck suffering a major fire and recently becoming the victim of a tornado strike.

Hopefully their luck will deservedly change in 2019 and beyond.

Read the article on the tornado strike here

You can read articles on the 2017 fire here and here

The first Ford Mustang owner kept the car. It’s now worth $350,000 – Phoebe Wall Howard @USAToday

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DETROIT – Tom and Gail Wise disagreed about whether a broken-down car should be stored in a family garage for 27 years or sold for junk. He insisted they keep it because, he promised, one day he would find the time to fix the vehicle himself.

Gail Wise, 76, of Park Ridge, Illinois is the first buyer of a 1964 Ford Mustang. She and the car are at Ford world headquarters in Dearborn celebrating the building of 10,000,000 Mustangs on Wed., Aug 8, 2018.
Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press
Read the rest of this remarkable Mustang story here
The Wise family, Tom and Gail with their four kids, shot a Christmas card picture in July 1979 with the Ford Mustang. Shortly after, Tom pushed the car into the garage for 27 years.
Gail Wise

Staunton’s Country Classic Cars Owner Reflects on Fire Damage

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Country Classic Cars owner Russ Noel reflects on the damage to his 20-year-old family business after Tuesday night’s fire destroyed about 150 cars worth millions of dollars. Investigators have not yet identified the cause of the fire. Video by Morgan Timms here

You can see how upset he is, but he’s determined to rebuild the business!

The original article is here

Saugatuck and Lake Michigan (originally published in 2008)

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Civilised Drive Through!

Uncommon Grounds Indeed.

A Souvenir 🙂

Oval Beach

The Keetwatin Martime Museum
The Suite

Main Street
The River

Deer in the Garden

Whilst we were on the last trip we took a trip up to Saugatuck, a lovely area on Lake Michigan.

We stayed at a very nice place called Bella Vita Spa and Suites, which is just off the pretty main street.

There are lovely beaches and the river is very pretty, particularly Oval Beach.

We found a brilliant little coffee shop called Uncommon Grounds, excellent coffee(roasted on site) really nice food, books and free wi-fi. What more would you need!!

There is another small town nearby called Douglas where we had an excellent dinner at The Everyday People Cafe