Hello there, fellow car show nerds! Recently I was contacted by the good folks who run Car Show Safari with the opportunity to contribute. Before this, I had never heard of the site, but after checking it out I am very excited to be working with them. For those of us who have been severely bitten by the car show bug, it can be a serious pain to feed the addiction. This is especially true for us who live in the colder climates, where the season flies by in a blur of much-needed sunshine and chrome. Luckily, there is now a place for us to find shows anywhere we happen to be, and great articles to get us through to the next show!
A little about me:
I grew up in New York’s Capital Region, went to school up on the Canadian border at Clarkson University, and recently moved out to Chicago. For the last 7 years or so, I’ve been photographing around 15-20 car shows a season. After a couple years of this, I realized I was sitting on a massive horde of pictures and not really doing much with them. I started a blog (fromcruise-instoconcours.tumblr.com/), covering mostly local shows at first, and eventually branching out to bigger shows all over the Northeast. This is how I found Car Show Safari. I’ll be sharing content through both pages often.
As far as my interests in the wide world of cars, it’s safe to say they’re pretty broad. I’ll check out pretty much any car-related event I can make it to, from the smallest local cruise-ins to the big international auto shows and concours events. Expect to see a wide variety of vehicles from me, including classics, customs, concepts, and rare exotics. Here’s just a small sample of some of my personal favorite cars I’ve seen over the years:
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1) 1967 Ford GT40 Mk.IV, chassis #J5
It does feel a bit weird to include something from this year’s North American International Auto Show that isn’t a premiere or new concept car, but the history on this beast is just overwhelmingly awesome. It is the only car to win Le Mans with an all-American team, and was built in the height of the Ford-Ferrari rivalry. In 1967, Dan Gurney and A.J Foyt drove this car to victory in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race, still arguably the most famous and prestigious race on the planet.
Unique features of this car include the raised bubble on the roof and lowered seat, designed to accommodate the height of Dan Gurney. The “Gurney bubble” was later installed on the other three GT40 Mk. IV’s. If you want to get an up close and personal look at this all-American icon, check out the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.
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2) Pagani Huayra
I’m sure this comparison has been made plenty of times before, but there is just something so da Vinci-esque about a Pagani. Outlandish styling and loads of tech give this car an amazing presence. It’s only the second model to be built by the company, out of just 100. This particular example is a one of one special edition dubbed “The King” by the owner.
Power is sourced from a twin-turbo Mercedes V-12, with loads of active aerodynamic trickery built in. As is the new normal in supercars, carbon fiber is a chief material in the body, chassis, and pretty much anywhere else it can be placed. Interestingly, Horacio Pagani was an employee at fellow Italian supercar builder Lamborghini for a considerable time, and left the company over a disagreement on the use of carbon fiber.
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3) 1947 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa
…or pretty much else out of Jim Glickenhaus‘s amazing collection. Seriously, look it up if you haven’t yet, it’s incredible. This was the very first model Enzo sold with his name on the badge, and it is still driven on public roads today. The current condition of the car is thanks to an extensive, multi-year restoration, and the car retains an original engine, drivetrain, and body. Power comes from a tiny 2-liter V-12, topped with a trio of Weber carbs. Like many early Ferraris, this model has racing heritage as well, having won the 1947 Turin Grand Prix. I saw this car at the 2013 Greenwich Concours, where it won Best in Show.
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4) BMW M1 Artcar, painted by Andy Warhol
Possibly the most valuable car I’ve ever seen, this is an early example of BMW’s Art Car program. A bone-stock M1 is a rare sight in and of itself. This one was not only painted by one of the 20th century’s most influential artists, it also has plenty of endurance racing under its belt.
The chassis of the M1 was designed with considerable input from Lamborghini, as BMW had no experience with mid-engine supercars at that point. In fact, it remains the only mid-engine BMW model to hit the streets to this day. Additionally, Ital Design provided the styling, making this car an interesting hybrid of German and Italian aumotive philosophies. It famously took Warhol just 24 minutes to apply the paint to this particular car, which went on to take 2nd place in class at the 1979 24 Hours of Le Mans race. According to museum personnel, the car is insured these days by BMW to the tune of $150 million.
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5) Most of the Hemi E-body convertibles
I attended the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals recently in the Chicago area. Organizers managed to wrangle up 27 of the 42 Hemi-powered Challenger and Cuda convertibles built over a two year period. A reunion of that magnitude has never happened before, and each of these cars is now worth well over a million dollars.
Most of these cars have their own nicknames, and a history as colorful as the cars themselves. A big part of the reason for the rarity of Hemi E-bodies was the price of the engine option. At $900, this was a serious luxury for buyers. Of course, the performance that came with a 426 Hemi is absolutely legendary, as it was arguably the best-performing motor of the muscle car wars. The enactment of strict emissions regulations put a quick end to cars like this after the 1971 model year.
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6) This twin-engined rat rod
Seriously, I love rat rods. They’re a great combination of rust, gasoline fumes, and crazy amounts of power. The general idea is, find a variety of various vintage body parts, usually from mismatched years and makes/models, bolt and weld them together, and slap in an older V-8. Mechanical bits should be running, but not necessarily have that nice restored sheen about them.
But don’t let the looks fool you; a lot of engineering and work goes in to making all these components work together. I can’t even imagine the maintenance needed to keep a pair of mated, vintage V-8’s running smoothly into a single drivetrain. In a sea of candy-colored muscle cars and customs, this is a great way to stand out.
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7) Spyker C8
A unique and beautiful design and Audi power. Bonus points for the owner of this particular car being nice enough to let me sit in it and giving me a walkthrough of every little detail. Spyker Cars takes their heritage from an early manufacturer of aircraft, and this is obvious throughout the details. Propellers are scattered around the design, including the wheels and on the Spyker emblem itself, along with numerous scoops and intakes.
The interior of the car features exposed shifter linkages and a plethora of switches and gauges, giving it a very aircraft-like feel. For such a small company, Spyker has very ambitiously attempted some big-time ventures, including an entry in Formula 1 and the purchasing of Saab. The future of Spyker is up in the air at the moment, but I really hope they can pull it together and keep building amazing cars like this.
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8) Bugatti Type 57C
The quintessential nameplate in pre-war racing, and one of the most revered brands out there. This is the supercharged C variant of the 57, fitted with an Atalante-style body. Certain variants of this car are now valued at over $40 million, making it pretty unlikely you’ll actually see one being driven. Power comes from a dual overhead cam 3.3-liter inline-8 mated to a 4-speed tranny. Contrary to a lot of Bugatti predecessors, the focus was shifted from racing to touring with this model. This particular example is beautifully restored to better-than-new condition. The interior of the car is a real work of art, with gorgeously finished woodwork splashed across the dashboard and dotted with gauges. Truly a work of engineering art.
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9) 1938 Graham Sharknose Model 97
An art-deco styled, supercharged sedan? What’s not to like? Graham began by converting Model T’s into pickup trucks, and they quickly transitioned into designing and building their own vehicles. A number of significant styling trends of the 1930’s were in fact originated by Graham, including lowered suspension, smoother aerodynamics, and heavy use of art-deco shaping. Although the company stopped manufacturing cars in 1940, they live on in the real estate industry thanks to some wise re-investment after car sales tanked.
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10) Maserati MC12
This is why it pays off to go check out your friendly neighborhood exotic car dealer from time to time. I ran into this Ferrari Enzo-based beast at Ferrari of New England. There is little that separates this car from a track-day special, and indeed the MC12 saw quite a bit of success in racing. Just 50 of these were built for street use, all with that white and blue finish seen on this example. As you may have guessed from all the aero-focused aspects of the body styling, a massive amount of downforce is generated at speed. Additionally, note the removed targa top, handy for when you’d like to feel the 100-mph breeze. I was struck by the sheer size of this car, which is actually wider than a Hummer. Maserati has a rich racing heritage, and this was certainly a worthy addition to that history.
So there you have it! I’m looking forward to bringing interesting content to this page as often as I can. If you want boatloads of pictures, be sure to check out my blog at fromcruise-instoconcours.tumblr.com. And of course, keep an eye on Car Show Safari for great articles, pictures, and all the car show coverage you could ask for. Here’s to a great 2016 show season to come! 
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Photo credit to Chris Barner