If You Had The Opportunity To Own Any Pre-War Car, Which Would You Choose ?

[WalkerInTN]

Originally Posted by Jeff '79

I guess I'd go for one of the Bentley 4½ litre supercharged cars, AKA a Blower Bentley.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by WalkerInTN

I guess I'd go for one of the Bentley 4½ litre supercharged cars, AKA a Blower Bentley.

Ahhhh.... A vert !

[99 pewtercoupe]

I have always liked the look of the Delahay
1937 Roadster

[Vette40th]

Pre Iraq Gulf War, Ferrari F40
Pre Vietnam, Nothing
Pre Korea, Nothing
Pre WW2 Any Duesenberg
Pre WW1 Ford Model T
Pre Civil- Bad arse Horse

[78SA]

Originally Posted by Thomas

War of 1812.

When was that?

[ApexOversteer]

Originally Posted by WalkerInTN

I guess I'd go for one of the Bentley 4½ litre supercharged cars, AKA a Blower Bentley.

There's no blower on that Bentley...

[ApexOversteer]

I'm torn... there are so many ways one can go, so many iconic cars to choose from... Bugatti Type 35 Grand Prix car... Deusenberg J Roadster... Auburn Boat Tail Speedster... but in the end, for me there is only one choice... the ultimate collectible car, also my bet for the world's single most valuable car...



1907 Rolls Royce 40/50, chassis number 60551, UK registration AX201, bodied by Barker, used by the company as a demonstrator, and the very first car given the name The Silver Ghost. It appeared in the press, setting all manner of reliability records, and was toured all over Europe. It is said that this single car was the first car seen by more people than any other in history, by virtue of it being driven to remote locations during the exhaustive reliability testing it underwent.

It is not only the car that proved Rolls Royce as the builder of the world's finest cars, but it also changed the perception of what a car should be. Before the 40/50 cars were novelty and one accepted the problems and the inconveniences of ownership. Once people knew that a car could be so reliable as to go 7000 miles at a maintenance cost of less than three British pounds (in 1907, mind you), the industry was forced to change.

I have twice had opportunity to stand next to AX201, and for me it is like standing next to the USS Constitution in Boston, or the Spirit Of St. Louis, or being in the presence of a Mercury space capsule. It's a specific, important moment in history, that you can touch.

The very idea of being able to own it, let alone to drive it, is intoxicating.

[Kerrmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Thomas

None of them. They're all uglier than a bag of smashed GEODON buttholes.

I'm afraid you have us all confused with someone who actually gives a fuck what you think.

[Jeff '79]

Originally Posted by FasterTraffic

I assume it's a trick question since war was invented long before the automobile.

[ApexOversteer]

Originally Posted by 63C2splitter

40 Ford coupe.

(War was declared on Japan and Germany by the US in December 1941 - based on this, I considered the 40 model to be pre-war)

I'll go one further and say the American cars for model years '41 and '42 count as pre-war too... auto production didn't halt until early '42...

[WalkerInTN]

Originally Posted by ApexOversteer

There's no blower on that Bentley...

Talk to goggle images, that picture came up when I did a search.

[ApexOversteer]

Originally Posted by WalkerInTN

Talk to goggle images, that picture came up when I did a search.

Since Google failed, here you go...





Once upon a time they could fly...