When Malcolm Barber, CEO of Bonhams, first caught sight of what was to be his 1903 Peerless Model F (16HP, Twin Cylinder, Rear Entrance Tonneau) just over twenty years ago, he thought he had found something unusual. He found the car in a Hawaiian collection, and discovered it had previously been part of the Denver Colorado Transport Museum collection, but as to who had originally owned the car and the story of its past remained a mystery.

Nearly twenty years later Malcolm received a call out of the blue from the Silver Times newspaper in Lake City, Colorado in collaboration with the Horseless Carriage Club of America who told him that his 1903 Peerless had been the Hinsdale County’s first motorcar and invited him to attend a summer tour organised by the Club. The aim being to reunite the Peerless with the family who bought it originally.

The car was shipped from London to New Jersey by container, couriered from New Jersey to Denver and then driven by Malcolm from Gunnison (west of Denver) to Lake City, a mining town 9,000ft high in the Rockies. So, 108 years after its first drive, the car still made it up the steep, precarious roads to the town. Waiting for the car to arrive was the 102yr old granddaughter of the original owner, the mining engineer at the Lucky Strike mine, who had not seen the car since 1952, when the family sold it. She said she always remembered the car and was astonished to see it again.

As the Peerless was a local celebrity at the time, numerous postcards taken in 1903 were sold in the local shop. Thomas Beam bought the Peerless for a pricey $2,300. They were considered one the three ‘P’s of American manufacturing: the Peerless, Packard and Pierce Arrow, the US’s best early motorcar manufacturers.

Still going strong, the Peerless, now back in the UK, will be making its 20th run from London to Brighton on November 7th. Malcolm comments: “When you have had a lifelong love affairs with cars, to own one of the great originals like this is an enormous privilege. You realise you are driving automotive history and that the car is never going to be yours, you are merely its keeper for a time. Taking it back to the scenes in which it first saw the road in the breathtaking settings of Colorado, that has to be one of the highlights of my life.”

Racing was an entirely different world back in the 60′s. This 8mm film, complete with its clacketing projector reel soundtrack, really has a neat feel to it. Just a bunch of people hanging out by the bay in NorCal, watching a stream of SCCA Production A/B/C warriors battle and bump it out on the streets of Candlestick Park in 1965. The 1.9 mile temporary road course was used from 1963 until 1965, using the parking lots and roads surrounding the relatively new San Francisco Giants stadium. Frantic flagmen, haybales for safety (kinda), and lots of excitement! Keep your eye out for the #7 Cobra driven by legendary Phil Hill, and the chequered flag taken by Don Wester in his yellow Porsche 904(?).  [Video link via The Chicane]

“]The track layout as it was in the 1960′s.

By Nigel Matthews

Wooden shipping crates and automobiles date back to at least 1908.

Henry Ford was a firm believer in wasting nothing. He specified the type of wood and the dimensions of wood for use in the crates in which his suppliers shipped parts to his factories.

When the crates were empty, they were dismantled and wood was used in various areas of the Model T car he was manufacturing. Ford also produced charcoal from the waste wood under the brand name Kingsford — still a leading brand used today in the U.S. and Canada.

Ford Factory c.1914

Wooden crates and the shipping of automobiles from the U.K. led to Billy and Reggie Rootes venturing into the car-manufacturing business. They began taking control of struggling British car manufacturers and built a huge empire producing vehicles under the names Hillman, Humber, Singer, Sunbeam, Talbot, Commer and Karrier.

In 1920, the Rootes brothers were the largest distributors of cars and trucks in Britain. Their U.K .distribution methods were so successful that they moved into worldwide distribution.

By 1927, 6,000 wooden crates were leaving their distribution centre located in Chiswick. The majority of British car manufacturers were using Rootes to export their products, living up to their advertising slogan “cars packed, shipped and delivered to all parts of the world.”

The practice of shipping cars in wooden crates continued until the mid-1960s.

In 1973, Japan’s K Line shipping company built the European Highway, the first roll on, roll off, (RORO) purpose-built car carrier capable of carrying 4,200 automobiles. Today’s car carriers are capable of carrying 8,000 vehicles.

K Line "Thames Highway" Car Carrier

If you look closely at the top image of the Morris Minor packaged and ready for shipping to Vancouver’s Fred Deeley Motors, you will notice that the wheels and tires were removed and placed inside the car to reduce the crate height.

Above the Morris in the picture, you can see the MG sports cars were low enough to leave on the wheels and tires.

Photo: Rob North via Canadian Motor Sport History Group

The Canadian Motor Sport History Group on Yahoo is a treasure trove of Canadian racing knowledge and nostalgia, and The Garage Blog recently posted a collection of Rob North’s contact sheet scans from the 1965 Grand Prix at Mosport, in Ontario. Names like Hobbs, Hall, and McLaren all pop up in these photos, and it is fascinating to compare the scenery and layout compared to today. Just the growth of trees in 40 years drastically changes the sight lines and look of the place!  Check out the full gallery, and more great history and stories at The Garage Blog.

Photo: Rob North via Canadian Motor Sport History Group

Bill Molle in his Panhard Special (66) - www.tamsoldracecarsite.net

In his later years, Molle prepared an article “…for Joe Puckett, who began making a small news letter called small times, but he died and the project ended. I tried to get the message across that we were there too.”

Bill sent this unpublished article to “apprentice” motorsport historian, Frank Sheffield, and urged him to put it online. With Frank’s permission, we are reprinting Bill’s article – an honest, humorous, and emotional look back at when sports car racing all began. From turning down a Le Mans drive, to testing harnesses on cadavers, this is a great read. (Note: We have made some minor punctuation and grammar edits for ease of reading, but otherwise it remains as he wrote it.)

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I think it is about time that I say something about “us”. We started this thing about racing about in sports cars in the early 50′s. Some of us went on to gain fame in the big bore machines, such as Shelby, Miles, Motschenbacher, Patrick and many others like these. But there was a much, much larger group of us who, for the lack of money, professional, prior commitments, dedication, made up the bulk of the program. The majority of the crowd in attendance who drive their MG’s, TR’s, Porsches to work every day really came to these events to see how their car did against others like it, and of course there was the Walter Mitty syndrome. Certainly it was exciting to see the big bore monsters run too, but that was icing on the cake.

Bill Molle (far right, cut off) at Riverside in 1969 (Formula Photographic Archives)

Now there was the sweat, work, all night before the race, buying spare parts, making spare parts – even when the kids needed shoes – and doing your own work because you could not hire mechanics and pit crew. You did it with volunteer help who also loved the race, but driving was not their bag, fixing was. It made up a dedicated team of friends who are probably still friends after all these years. Some of us got killed or injured due to lack of skill, mechanical failure and a dozen other reasons, but we still came, for nothing more than a trophy and the occasional fan that wanted your autograph. The mechanics didn’t even get the trophy.

Helping hands at Riverside 1969 (Formula Photographic Archives)

We remember many of the innovative ideas and mechanical gizmos that some of the backyard mechanics made to get more out of the engines. Balchowski, Jerry Fairchild for another. Don Miller with his one-a-week Crosleys, Vaseck Polack cutting the top off of the 356 to make the first roadster. We had ideas and idea of ideas. I had an idea to have shoulder harnesses in the cars, like fighter planes. Chick was president of the Cal Club and he and I built the first shoulder harness and tested them on cadavers in the Dental School morgue. They worked, and Chick mandated the harnesses in the Cal Club. The first Saturday after this rule, Lee Brown tested it for real in a Bug Eye at Riverside. It worked.

We remember the angst of getting the crew together in the early a.m. to get to the race and get through inspection, get the pit passes, con Sylvia into giving you 6 instead of 4 passes. How come they raised the entry fee from 15 dollars to 20? The hard labor of getting the car and tools off the trailer into the pits, and then taking the tow car out of the pits about 600 feet away, where you had to go to get what you forgot. We won’t forget that. We hated it at the time and now we loved every minute of it. We grieved when one of us was killed or injured, we rejoiced when we could win.

Bill Molle's 1952 Fairchild Panhard H-Modified Racecar (www.finecars.cc)

There were lots of us – Monise, Ribbs, Edmiston, Parkinson – who could hold their own against any driver, given the opportunity. I remember listening to the factory rep of Duetsch-Bonnet talking at me for 6 straight hours, pleading me to allow them to use my fuel injection system, offering me the Le Mans ride in their car, but I had enough money to say no. Mostly because the Frenchman all the time he was talking to me was about 2 inches away from my face and he was spitteling on me all the while. I not only got wet, but pissed.

Yes, we had creativity, perseverance, and courage to try. We paid our dues and then some.

Balchowski's 1959 Ole Yeller III (www.conceptcarz.com)

It has come time for us who drove our cars, some home built, some factory cars, and some the production cars that we drove to work the next day if running – to be recognized for the hero drivers we were. Balchoski built Ole Yeller and beat the best of them, Miller built 1500-dollar Crosleys and beat the best France had to offer. I found it much harder to drive to the limit a small bore car with narrow tires than a large horsepower machine that you could help steer with the engine.

It is time for guys that made fame and, once in a rare while, fortune out of the racing to recognize that without us you could not have done it. Now that I am an old geezer, I give this from the heart.

- Bill “Doc” Molle