College Cars: 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C Speciale

This is College Cars, a recurring feature on the auto collection of the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Today we look at this 1938 Talbot-Lago T150-C Speciale, a best-in-class Pebble Beach Concours winner.

This is the only long-wheelbase T150 'Lago Speciale' believed to have been built out of 16 cars in this series bodied by Figoni & Falaschi. It has an interesting history - originally commissioned by a French banker, a later owner raced the car at the 1948 24 Hours of Spa. He won first in class. The car received a restoration many years later and in 2011 won First in Class and was nominated for Best in Show at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. This is a truly amazing car, and is valued accordingly. The Academy of Art University picked it up in 2010 for a mere $4,620,000.

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.

Classic Ads: 1961 Renault Dauphine

"Economy seems to be the fad right now," trumpets this ad for the plucky little French Renault Dauphine. Economy has been the 'fad' for a long time now, and I don't see it fading away anytime soon as talk of peak oil and climate change continues. And in the United States, a lot of manufacturers toss the magic 40 MPG number around when advertising their compacts. The Dauphine claimed to be able to do that back in the early 1960s - and had the Mobil Mileage Rally numbers to prove it.
This ad appeared in the January 20, 1961 issue of Life magazine.

WTF Wednesday: The Goddess of Sebastopol

To the French car fan, this is literally sacrilege. The Citroën DS21 has been called one of the most beautiful vehicles ever made, and was a marvel of engineering when it was first introduced. Now one is brush-painted magenta with rope lights and spends its days as part of an art installation in the town of Sebastopol, California. It's a monument to Paris, with a replica of the Eiffel Tower, a Vespa-styled scooter and a cup of coffee on top of the classic DS21. The whole mess - I mean sculpture - advertises the Aubergine Cafe and Vintage Emporium at 755 Petaluma Avenue.

Bad news for car fans if you're ever in Sebastopol - the Corvair collector at the Foster's Freeze down the road has sold off his cars. Also gone is the Pellini Chevrolet dealer whose owners were forced to sell their small but interesting collection of vintage cars when the dealership closed in 2008.

Junkyard Find: 1950s? Renault Dauphine

I spotted this severely stripped Frenchie in a wrecking yard in the process of being cleared out in early 2012. Not much is left of it, its color and stripes tell me that it was once a Gordini, but the few parts remaining looked to be usable.

The car was probably crushed shortly after this.

Street Spot: Citroen 2CV

Right at the tail end of 2012, I spotted this approximately 1975-80 Citroen 2CV (does not have the square headlamps of newer 2CVs) on a street near Eugene, Oregon. I have seen the car many times before, and photographed it in traffic in 2011, seen below, however only recently spotted it again in an area not known for interesting cars. 

This car is clearly loved and driven regularly, as the majority of 2CVs in the US are, and a 2CV in the US is a welcome sight.