Art in the Junkyard

Art photography by Chris Garza, in various Oregon junkyards. The hearse was not junked, but was driven there by the owner of the Graveyard Carz TV show.

Parking Lot Photo Shoot: 1932 Ford V8 Roadster and 1937 Ford V8 Coupe

College Cars: 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Berlinetta Aerodinamica

This is College Cars, another look into the automobile collection of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Today we're looking at a 1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 SS Berlinetta Aerodinamica.

This magnificent machine was developed to race at Le Mans. Well, it appears that this exact one wasn't, but it's a rebody to match the one or two original Aerodinamica coupes built on the 6C 2500 chassis - the latter of which was rare enough in the first place at only 33 examples built. All were created for the purpose of racing, and the original Aerodynamica(s) appear to have been vanished after 1940. This is one of a precious few cars of this type left, and it is really one of a kind. The only other vehicle like it that I know of is an almost identical grey 1942 car that participated in the 2013 California Mille road rally. My few photos do not really do this beast justice.
This rare Alfa was purchased by AAU at the 2010 Gooding & Company Amelia Island auction for $748,000.

Lost Vegas: The Imperial Palace Duesenberg Room

In 1998 I visited Las Vegas with my family. I was ten years old and the Imperial Palace Auto Collections was the coolest thing in town for a car-obsessed kid. It advertised itself as the world's largest privately owned collection, some eight hundred vehicles housed in two Imperial Palace hotel facilities in Las Vegas and Biloxi, Mississippi. The cars belonged to collector Ralph Engelstad, a very interesting individual who owned both resorts -- and until 1998 was a co-owner of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Engelstad passed away in 2002 after declaring plans to retire, which included selling off his properties, businesses and car collection. The Biloxi arm of the auto collection was sold in 1999.
As museums go, the presentation of the Auto Collections wasn't the most elegant. The collection is housed on the fifth floor of the resort hotel's parking garage and the space hasn't been updated in a long time. The centerpiece of the collection in that era was the Duesenberg Room, a space dedicated solely to a row of ten million-dollar 1920s and 1930s Duesenbergs. I was blown away.

In 2007 I visited Las Vegas again with Colin and checked out the Imperial Palace Auto Collections again. The space was full of amazing cars, but everything was now for sale. All the cars I remembered were gone. The Duesenberg Room was still there, with the outline of the former sign still visible beside the doorway. But the Duesenbergs were all gone. A lot of the magic had been extinguished.
As of 2013, the Imperial Palace itself is gone. The Asian-themed resort was heavily renovated and rebranded as The Quad Resort & Casino. The Auto Collections remain, apparently untouched in all its industrial carpet and fluorescent-lit glory. I regret that I didn't think to take more photos in the Duesenberg Room with my parents' old Olympus film camera when I had the chance back in 1998.

Wednesday WTF: 1960 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible

Please Save Me: 1940 Pontiac Hearse Basketcase Project

This rare prewar professional car project (in as-purchased condition in pics, now disassembled and stored inside), needs a lot of tender loving care, but with the rarity of prewar, non-Cadillac/Packard funeral coaches and the availability of stock '40 Pontiac trim, wheels, bumpers, engine and transmission as cast-offs from rodders or through junkyards, it is definitely worth restoring. Its elegant lines and curves are even more compelling. The coach has no engine, transmission, front bumper and possibly other missing bits, but it would be a great project.

Find it here in Veneta, Oregon with "make offer" as price, and here are some great professional car forums for the prospective buyer-restorer of this beautiful machine.

Parking Lot Photo Shoot: 1955 Ford Thunderbird

College Cars: 1937 Delage D8-120 Drop Head Coupe

This is College Cars, a recurring feature about the Academy of Art University car collection. Today we look at this 1937 Delage D8-120.

This Delage is one of only 12 D8-120 Drop Head Coupes built by Henri Chapron. It's powered by a 115-horsepower overhead valve straight-8 engine turning the wheels through a Cotal 4-speed pre-selective transmission. This car was purchased by the Academy of Art University at the Gooding & Co. auction in Arizona in 2010 for the princely sum of $605,000.