Well today is my last “Carnut Corner” column in the Sun and Province for the 2014 season. I still have some more events listed for this year on my www.carnut.ca website…The Kruise for Kids and the British London to Brighton commemorative run just to name a couple,
I will be at the show tomorrow at 8 Rinks in Burnaby…I hope to see you all there.
Cam Hutchins
Here is my year end blurb and images…
The year 2014 was full of travel and car events for this Carnut. I got to go to lot’s of local shows and although I did not get to any interior shows this year I did go a couple of car museums in Italy and to Carmel California for “Car Week”
Traditionally the first outdoor show of the year is the DW Poppy High School show and it was rained out for only the second time in my memory…and rain dampened the always Stellar KMS Tools pre-Father’s day show but still it was a large show with lot’s of great cars. I got to create artwork for a few of the bigger car show’s posters and T-shirts and I always like seeing fellow carnuts wearing a t-shirt with my art on it.
We went to Italy for a Family vacation and I had mistakenly thought the Ferrari Factory was way up in Northern Italy and when I found out it was only a 2 hour drive my son Alex and I were off the next day. We got to Maranello for the tour of the Factory and Racetrack and the unbelievable Museum…and then drove to Modena for the Enzo Ferrari Museum which is sort of the Italian National Car museum and it was featuring 100 years of Maserati.
On the way we got sidetracked following little brown signs to the Museo Autombili Stanguellini. Stanguellini has been making cars faster for over 104 years and one of the Stanguellinins competes very well at Seattle raceway and I even saw one race at Westwood years ago.
The Enzo Ferrari Museum features a few of Ferrari’s racing boats form long ago and the house he grew up in and his Father’s attached workshop. Filled with a rotating display of amazing cars it is across the courtyard from the main museum with it’s present display of what Maserati has been up to for the last century.
Every 20 minutes or so a series of films are projected all over the free flowing walls and ceilings showing some historic footage of car racing and older cars. One car in particular grabbed my attention and it was a 1958 Maserati built for “Eldorado”an Italian Ice Cream manufacturer so thay could compete for the second edition of the Race of Two Worlds, which was also known as the 500 Miglia di Monza or Monzanapolis.
Maserati had stopped building racecars in favour of building road cars at the end of 1957 but the overwhelmingly lucrative offer from Eldorado had them take many features of the 250F Grand Prix car and make a one off 1958 Racecar for Eldorado to compete on the Oval at Monza. Driven by Stirling Moss and painted the way Indy cars were at the time…white with sponsors logos, it finished 7th after a hard crash at 260 Km/h
Back home I went out to the Langley Loafers Old time drags and saw the first catstrophic blow up on the new track surface. Paul Flett had his transmission come to pieces in a spectacular way and the weather was hot, but I was not complaining as it was cooler than Rome had been.
Next I got to go to Carmel for Car Week and I drove down in my Xterra and camped at Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway. I slept in the back of the Xterra on an air mattress…a perfect way to go when you get up at 6a.m and go car race to car show to car auction all day until 10p.m.
I got to see so many amazing cars with such incredible history. I like seeing cars I have never heard of before and the Austin Healey Sprite Factory coupe that had been raced by Stirling Moss was a real treat. Also sitting in the paddocks was another John Wyer Porsche 917 that I had never seen before as well as one of the Group 44 Triumphs from the late 70’s that I used to read about in Road and Track Magazine.
I went to the Auction at Quail lodge and missed the $38 million Ferrari GTO sell due to traffic and I went to the Mecum auction and the Gooding auction as well the Canadian Company “RM” that holds an amazing auction in downtown Monterey.
Getting up before the roosters to get to the Pebble Beach Concours may not seem like the ideal vacation but it was truly awesome to see 20 Ferrari Testa Rossa’s all at once. I also saw a couple of Tatra’s owned by Canadians on display as well meet many of the owners of some killer cars.
Back Home I was delighted that the weather held out for the rest of the cool events I got to see and the Crescent beach Concours’ promoters told me 2 weeks before the event the 2 week forecast showed rain all day. The forecast stuck to it’s guns all the way up to the night before the event when it said possibility of showers and finally it was correct and the show went off rain free for most of it.
To end off the year I went to the Pioneers of Motorsports Induction ceremony where they announce the latest members. Alyn Edwards was the MC and did a fantastic job. I was delighted to see that almost all of the inductees this year were buddies of mine. The grouping of cars in the parking lot was the who’s who of the auto hobby.
So 2014 was a great year to be a Carnut. I got to go on many car related activities and many of them were put on by one of the many car clubs found throughout the province. Joining a car club is paramount in furthering the enjoyment of fellow carnuts and fostering the Auto hobby in the younger set.
I remember reading how when the auto was replacing horses back 100 years ago, someone suggested that Horses would never disappear, only be used for more recreational purposes. I wonder if that fate will also happen for our beloved internal combustion Automobiles. I suspect the new trend in custom cars will somehow incorporate the newer smaller high powered fuel efficient engines and maybe more than a few electric powered HotRods.
So whether you fill or charge em…the future of the hobby is in your hands….and the hands of children!