Skip to main content

Tampa Bay Automobile Museum - Part 7



PART 7 OF THE TAMPA BAY AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM



1933 DERBY









Derby was a motorcycle company in 1921 and gradually began making sports cars and race cars.  This is a beautiful sports car that isn't particularly wild in its design or anything, but, hey, they only made 11 of them.  I'm loving that hood ornament.     



====================================================


HOTCHKISS GREGOIRE





This French Hotchkiss Gregoire was found in Colorado parked under a tree.  It only had 7000 miles on it but after the tree fell the top had been caved in and the windshield destroyed.  However, the aluminum was still good enough to be straightened and welded.    This is a 1953 Hotchkiss Gregoire's and very few were exported to the US.  This museum has 2.  There were only 252 made.


===========================================================

TATRA T97






The Czechoslovakian little T97 was a continuation of a small, light car with a strong engine.  It was a great little car that began production 1938 but Hitler stopped its production when they took over the country because it was too close to the Volkswagen which was to begin its run the following year.  Only 500 were made and this nice little baby is very very rare today.



=================================================================

CITROEN SM MASERATI





This car was built by Citroen in the years of 1969 through 1975 but only 12,000 were actually produced.  It incorporated their hydro-pneumatic suspension, swivel headlights and a strange steering system.  I recall in my youth a relative, perhaps one of my cousins from St. Louis (Herb's brother's boys, Jim and John) might have driven up to Seaton with one of these.  I also remember taking a drive to Keithsburg in it, and he showed us the hydro-pneumatic suspension.   
It had a V-6 engine but was fast and could top out at 130 mph.  Again, I'm no gear head, but host John explained that they were able to get 2 firings from each hit of the piston, in essence making it a V-12.  


===========================================================

TATRA 603






This was basically a Communist official's limousine.  Big, heavy, comfortable and strong, it was perfect for the poor Eastern European roads.   Only high ranking officials had the pleasure of owning and driving this car.  20,000 were made between 1956 and 1973.  It is a rear engine car and the wide air scoops on the side provide the cooling air.

Catch the video below of the Tatra 603 in action.  A lot of action.



Comments

  1. jeffsutorJanuary 27, 2014 at 9:39 AM

    Your post got me thinking about hood ornaments. Cars don't have cool ones today. It's not the ornaments fault they still look elegant and beautiful. It's the cars. You don't put a diamond on a turd and make the turd elegant. You just make it look like Momma June, honey Boo Boo's Mom. I doubt we will live long enough to see cars built worthy of the hood ornaments of old.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Statuary In North Straub Park

The Vinoy is not the only park in town.  The place is fairly littered with them, and almost all, except Bum Paradise, are pretty nice.  This is North Straub and they have some old pieces in that seem to have suffered from time and perhaps human folly.     These and some 30 other statues were imported from Italy by local developer C. Perry Snell to help beautify the city.  Mr. Snell was in real estate and during the depression he went on a European shopping trip to collect items for the city.  He obtained these from Italy and installed them in this park even after the bottom fell in the markets.  He fulfilled his obligations at great personal loss to his own company and wealth.  Halso continued to pay his staff during those tough times.  He developed many areas in the city, Vinoy, Snell Isle, Crescent Lake and the beach area down around Fort DeSoto.  He lived from 1869 until 1949 and then buried in Kentucky.  I wo...
Post a Comment
Read more