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Paint? Who needs paint? Few cars look better in bare aluminum than the Lotus 11, particularly this 1956 Lotus 11 Series 1 Le Mans for sale on Hemmings.com, a car originally built for privateer racers who were serious about winning. Though we don’t know its competition history, we can see – thanks to the lack of paint – that it’s been treated to a thorough restoration and appears almost as fresh and new as when Lotus originally sold it. From the seller’s description:

The engine is a Coventry climax 1098 with twin SU carburetors.The engine is freshly rebuilt with all new parts, i.e., forged pistons, Carrillo rods, new crankshaft and all fully balanced. It is one of the earliest Lotus 11,s since it has the Lotus 10 L-shaped differential. I purchased the car in 1978 in London from a dealer who had just imported the car to the U.K. from the U.S. We have restored the car over the past many years, with the finishing touches in the last two years. The car was re-bodied by Williams and Pritchard in 1982.

Mitch Medford’s Zombie Mustang. Photo courtesy of Mitch Medford, Bloodshed Motors.

A battery-powered Mustang, a pair of movie cars, some hot rods and a few muscle cars rounded out the year’s top stories in the Hemmings Daily, with a fire-ravaged Beetle and the last Tucker built from original parts thrown in for good measure. It was an eclectic 12 months, news-wise, with perhaps less of an emphasis on cars sold at auction than in years past and no headline-grabbing sinkholes to repeatedly rack up page views. Grab a cup of coffee (or tea, or hot chocolate – we don’t judge) and take a read through the year that was.

Photo by Thomas A. DeMauro.

#10 – The rarest GTO you may never have wanted. It’s a lesser-known fact that 1968 Pontiac GTOs were available with an Endura bumper delete option, giving them a chrome front end very similar to the mainstream Le Mans. Pink Mist was a special-order color option for the GTO during the 1968 model year as well, though (as one would guess) it didn’t prove to be a popular one. Would a car originally finished in Pink Mist, ordered without the Endura bumper, be more desirable because of its rarity, or less desirable because of its unusual appearance? Tom DeMauro tackled this question in an April story that spurred plenty of reader discussion.

Photo courtesy Mark Melvin.

#9 – Playmate of the Year AMX returns to its original pink. In 1968, Playboy Playmate of the Year Angela Dorian (real name, Victoria Vetri) received a pink AMC AMX as part of her prize package, but the car didn’t remain in this hue for long. Looking to divert attention instead of attract it, Victoria quickly had the AMX finished in a more subdued brown, followed by gray and then black. In 2010, Victoria sold the car, which current owner Mark Melvin found on a used car lot. Mark, a fan of both AMC and Angela Dorian, immediately understood the significance of the car, kicking off a restoration that would return the AMX to its as-delivered state.

Photo courtesy Prototyp Museum.

#8 – After devastating fire, restoration begins on one of world’s oldest Beetles. Built before Volkswagen’s first factory began production, a VW39 carrying chassis tag 1-00003 somehow survived the Second World War, but nearly didn’t survive the January 2011 fire that consumed an industrial park in Hamburg, Germany, where the car was kept as part of the Raffay family’s collection. Now little more than a rusted shell, 1-00003 was acquired by the Prototyp Museum in Hamburg in early 2015, and a full restoration (using a period-correct prewar demonstrator engine) is in the works.

Photo by Steve Tremulis.

#7 – The last Tucker assembled from original parts to make its public debut. The Tucker factory may have shut its doors 65-plus years ago, but interest in Tucker automobiles is again trending upward. Just 37 cars were built before the factory closed, with another 13 completed in-period from leftover parts. Another example was crafted decades later from remaining spares, but in 2015 the 52nd Tucker, the last to be assembled from remaining original parts (excluding rear doors, roof and floor, which required custom fabrication), made its public debut at the Concours d’Elegance of America.

Photo courtesy Pirelli.

#6 – Chip Foose-designed 1965 Chevy Impala takes 2015 Ridler Award. On the outside, it looks like a shortened wheelbase 1965 Impala, lowered (but not slammed) and riding on contemporary oversize chrome wheels. Look closer, and The Imposter appears to be the offspring of a liaison between said Impala and a 2009 Corvette, which is exactly what builder Chip Foose had in mind. In his words, “What if, in 1965, GM’s Corvette studio decided to build a muscle car?” Designed as a daily driver for owner Elma Voth, the car captured the 2015 Ridler award by having the “best worst area,” in Foose’s words, and it certainly generated discussion here.

1958 Chevrolet Impala Photo courtesy Profiles in History.

#5 – Better than Darryl Starbird’s Superfleck Moonbird – 1958 Impala from American Graffiti could sell for $1 million. Auction houses that specialize in the sale of collector cars tend to have a fairly good feel for a car’s value before it hits the stage. On the other hand, auction firms that specialize in Hollywood memorabilia have a more difficult time estimating accurate values for screen-used vehicles, as demonstrated by the 1958 Impala seen in American Graffiti and offered last summer by Profiles in History. Since filming wrapped, the car has seen three replacement drivetrains and 25-plus years of storage, though no real cosmetic restoration to speak of. The published pre-auction estimate put the car’s value between $800,000 and $1,000,000, though bidding failed to reach this plateau and the car was not sold.

Photo courtesy Profiles in History.

#4 – So where are all the remaining Back to the Future De Loreans? Had it not been for the Back to the Future movie franchise, the De Lorean DMC12 may well have faded into the sunset, just another lost car of the 1980s. Instead, the De Lorean graced the bedroom walls of an entirely new generation, one that’s now got the disposable income to purchase remanufactured DMC12s built from new old stock parts. Write a story about the fate of the seven examples (four of which remain) used in the filming of the three BTTF movies, and it’s guaranteed to draw eyes on page.

Photo courtesy VanDerBrink Auctions.

#3 – A lifetime’s collection of hot rods and parts heads to auction in Florida. Bob Koepke was a lifelong hot-rodder, and his job with NASA on Florida’s Space Coast afforded him the income and the space to build an impressive collection of cars and parts. As the years went by, however, Bob grew more reclusive, keeping the exact size of his stash a closely guarded secret until his death. Son David was left with the task of reclaiming cars and parts from the tropical overgrowth, and the selection offered by VanDerBrink Auctions offered everything from Deuce Coupes through a Ferrari 308.

Photo by Myles Kornblatt.

#2 – There’s only one original Mad Max Interceptor and it’s not in Australia. The cult classic 1979 Australian film Mad Max, and its 1981 sequel, The Road Warrior, may have featured Mel Gibson, but the real star of the show was a blacked-out 1973 Ford Falcon GT, modified as a blower-equipped Pursuit Special to bring law and order to the post-apocalyptic wastelands. With hype building about the 2015 Mad Max release, Fury Road, contributor Myles Kornblatt brought us the story of the sole surviving Pursuit Special used in the first two films, now housed at the Miami Auto Museum at the Dezer Collection.

Photo courtesy Mitch Medford, Bloodshed Motors.

#1 – Electric Mustang records 1.94-second 0-60 time, builder sets 200 MPH goal. While electric cars and Hemmings Motor News generally aren’t things that appear in the same sentence, news of a vintage Mustang retrofitted with an electric drivetrain and running low 10s in the quarter-mile does catch our eye. Zombie Mustang builder Mitch Medford likes the idea of blending old with new, and since the article first appeared, further modifications have dropped the Mustang’s time below the 10-second mark. Some readers praised Mitch for raising the battery-powered bar, while others refused to accept that a real Mustang could be powered by anything other than internal combustion.

Thanks to each and every one who paid us a virtual visit in 2015, and please keep coming back for more in 2016. If you don’t already subscribe to the Hemmings Daily (now published six days per week), you can sign up for free delivery to your email inbox here.

Photos by the author and Derek Klein.

Every morning the crews light a votive candle to the Old Car Holy Trinity: Spark, Fuel and Compression. These are the three spirits we need to appease in order to continue to move this fragile expedition forward. It is a tenuous relationship, but so far the gods have smiled upon us.

The Mustang being the slight exception. The car has become a “two-footer” in city traffic. It repeatedly kills at stoplights and requires one foot on the brake while the other feathers the throttle. On the open road, when engaging the secondaries on the Holley, it wants to run forever. It’s the primary circuit on the carburetor that seems to be ill suited to low speed city driving. This is no surprise; the car is originally a “C” code 289 and certainly the heads and cam have not been matched to meet the aftermarket Edelbrock intake and larger carb. But as previously mentioned it has not dampened our enthusiasm for the car but only requires extra attention when driving.

Our ride-along ACM Technician Specialist Dale Wickell insists there is a fourth spirit to satisfy: traction. But truth be told, despite snowy roads from the start, road adhesion has been a non-factor. That’s mainly due to the fitting of modern radial winter weather tires from the Michelin family. The Chrysler has been fitted with 235/75R15 B.F. Goodrich Winter Slaloms, The Nomad with 215/70R15 Michelin Ice-X, and the Mustang with 195/70R14 Uniroyal Tiger Paw Ice & Snow. All have exhibited excellent road handling in wet and dry, with minimal road noise.

Also interesting are the MPG numbers we have been putting up. Throughout the trip we have been exclusively burning the good stuff…91 octane Shell V-Power. It’s ethanol free so no worries about adverse reactions to rubber fuel system components. Averaged out, the Mustang posted 21.5 mpg, the Nomad scored 15.3 mpg, and the Chrysler was at 13.0 mpg over our 1,150 miles thus traveled.

Today we woke up in beautiful Salt Lake City. Snow flurries greet the crews but it’s bright and sunny; a perfect Chamber of Commerce weather forecast. It’s a welcome relief from the overcast weather we’ve been having, and we hope to enjoy as much of it as we can before continuing east through Colorado and beyond.

Conditions permitting, we try to run the cars at about 60 MPH. That is in stark contrast to the rest of the world driving at 80 MPH plus. What has become somewhat disconcerting is not the attention the cars are getting, but rather the lack of it. Painted bright red and wearing sponsor livery, the cars look like they have escaped from a 1960’s era newsreel of the Monte Carlo Rally, yet there is a noted lack of rubberneckers. No, it seems that most of our fellow road warriors are either unaware or indifferent to our moving car show, wrapped up and insulated in their transport pods, screaming down the road, all manner of distraction available to them in their electronic induced daze, seemingly removed from the world.

I, on the other hand, have reached total awareness. I am connected to the moment. The Chrysler demands it of me, for it requires constant engagement. A breeze blows; the car reacts, and in turn awaits my reaction. It dares you to reach for that cell phone. It will put you into the shoulder of the road. Or worse.

But the traction is good, the compression strong, the fuel is potent, and the spark is hot as we make good time to the Colorado border and our nightly stop in Grand Junction, looking forward to our Rocky Mountain crossing tomorrow morning.

Wishing everyone a safe and Happy New Year’s Eve from the The Drive Home crew.

Photo by Matthew Ragan.

With another year in the record books, it’s time once again to dust off the crystal ball with an oil-stained shop rag and peer into the future to divine five predictions for the coming year. Like any good medium, I can’t give you specifics, like which year, make and model will deliver the highest return on investment, but I can give you seat-of-the-pants guesses on what 2016 may have in store for us.

First, though, let’s take a look back at my predictions for 2015.

Prices for air-cooled Porsches (with the possible exception of the 914) will rise significantly over the next 12 months. It’s safe to say I called this one, as prices for these cars reached lofty levels in 2015. Whether it was a 356, a 911 or a 912, buyers seemed willing to pay whatever prices necessary to add these cars to their collection.

Japanese cars will continue to gain respect, and interest, at auction. Scroll through the results of almost any major collector-car auction in 2015, and you you’re bound to see an ample selection of Japanese sports cars. While the Toyota 2000GT, the Mazda Cosmo and the Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser really haven’t climbed in value, they’ve become an almost expected part of any international sale.

The automotive industry will continue to be plagued by recalls. Check.

Look for postwar cars to capture more wins on the concours d’elegance circuit. Not at Pebble Beach, where Best of Show went to a 1924 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A (in my defense, a 1953 Abarth 1100 Sport Ghia Coupe was in the running, though). Not at Amelia Island, either, where both top awards went to prewar cars. Even our own concours d’elegance awarded best in show to a prewar Chrysler, so I completely missed the mark on this one.

Don’t expect a big growth or a big decline in the auction market. Looks like this one was a miss as well, with many auction companies posting already reporting growth over 2014. Not all companies have released results, but it’s safe to assume that the majority of auction firms sold more in 2015 than in 2014.

Photos by the author.

On my way to Hilton Head last month to attend the concours there I made a side trip up to Charleston to photograph this fabulous Plymouth. It’s a 1950 Suburban, a once fairly popular model that sadly isn’t around anymore, at least not in this outstanding condition. While we won’t know all the details about its production specifics until we start our research on this model for its upcoming profile in Hemmings Classic Car magazine, we do know that 34,457 were produced for the 1950 model year.

Weighing in at just 3,116 pounds, this handsomely styled two-door wagon was powered by Plymouth’s one and only engine that year, the ever-rugged straight-six flathead. Displacing 217.8 cubic inches, with its 7.0:1 compression ratio and single-barrel Carter carburetor, it developed 97 horsepower at just 3,600 RPM.

While power was never the Suburban’s forte, its primary feature was its versatility. As clearly outlined in the Suburban’s brochure, Plymouth called it “The cars with one hundred and one uses.” They went on to say: “No other “utility car” offers you such an outstanding combination of utility, beauty, comfort, and low cost. The Plymouth Suburbans are not compromises, or makeshift in design. They represent a completely new concept in transportation. . . an altogether new and different kind of car. . . engineered and specially designed to meet a long-standing need for active, all-around transportation. The long list of enthusiastic users is topped by the American Family – followed by sportsmen, resort owners, architects, engineers, farmers, ranchers, estate owners, vacationers, salesmen, and many others, including people who operate stores, shops or services – people who want a car that can work all day, then take the family out in style the same evening. Yes, there are 101 uses – and more. Maybe you’re thinking about some new ones right now!”

This particular Suburban is owned by Robert Duncan, who bought the old Plymouth back in 1987, then committed several years of hard work to restore it back to the way it rolled off the assembly line, with the correct blackwall tires and all. “It’s fun and comfortable to drive,” Robert told us, “just as long as you don’t go over 55 miles per hour.”

Apparently the Avenue Bar, as seen in this University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee photo that The Old Motor recently posted, still exists, but as the hotel bar for a national chain currently on the same corner of North Sixth Street and West Wisconsin Avenue. There’s plenty to see in the parking lot beside the Avenue Bar, though, so tell us what cars you can identify here.

One of American Motors’s tributes to the legendary and durable straight-six that went on to power just about every AMC-built vehicle until the company’s end, this 1964 Rambler Classic Typhoon has survived the years well, remaining on the road and in pretty solid shape. That body damage on the front right corner from hitting a pole doesn’t even look too serious. From the seller’s description:

This car is currently my daily driver. It drives and runs great. It is a three speed manual on the column with overdrive. It has power steering, manual breaks and electric wipers. The one barrel carb was just rebuilt and it has a new fuel pump. All the lights work and so does the clock. It is all original except for the new cloth and vinyl interior and headliner. The paint is original and has some some surface rust. No other rust issues. The previous owner hit a pole with the right side front fender which also bent the front bumper. I have three of the original hub caps. I also have receipts for over $11,000 worth of repairs that the previous owner had done. These receipts do not include the new interior. These do include rebuilt transmission, front end and new brakes? This is really a wonderful car but I have three other classics so it needs to go.

1970 Yenko Deuce. Photos by John Hollansworth, Jr., courtesy Mecum Auctions.

Most people mark 1972 as the death of the (first) muscle car era, but if insurance companies had their way, it would have ended years earlier. By 1970, those shopping for Yenko-tuned Chevrolets were already finding it difficult to get insurance, prompting performance guru Don Yenko to revamp his product offerings. Instead of shoehorning more big-block V-8s into Chevy Novas, Yenko rationalized that the new, high-performance LT-1 V-8 would deliver solid performance yet fly below the radar of insurance companies. The 1970 Yenko Deuce was born, and on January 22, 2016, one of 21 four-speed examples in Fathom Blue will cross the auction block in Kissimmee, Florida.

Don Yenko was a man who knew how to work the GM system. Chevy’s solid lifter LT-1 small block, which produced 360 horsepower in the Camaro Z/28 and 370 hp in the Corvette, wasn’t listed as an option for the Nova, which came instead with the Turbo-Fire V-8, producing 250-300 hp. Turning to the Central Office Production Order system, typically used for fleet sales, Yenko ordered up a batch of base model Chevy Novas equipped with the 360 horsepower LT-1 V-8, mated to either a Muncie M21 four-speed manual transmission with Hurst shifter or a TH400 automatic.

The 1970 Yenko Deuce Novas were also built with the COPO 9373 Sports Car Conversion package, which included a modified F41 suspension with front and rear anti-roll bars and stiffer shocks; a 12-bolt Positraction rear with 4.10:1 gearing; heavy-duty cooling; five-leaf rear springs; and E70-14 tires. As base models, the cars came with rubber floor mats, bench seats and steel wheels with poverty hubcaps, though Yenko would swap these out for SS wheels prior to customer delivery. Yenko also added a wraparound vinyl graphics, “Deuce” hood lettering, “LT-1” hood stripes, Yenko badges and a hood-mounted Dixco tachometer.

Yenko referred to the Deuce, named in honor of the car’s Chevy II origins, as a “mini muscle car.” Given the Nova’s relatively light weight, performance was impressive, even by contemporary standards. A review of the Yenko Deuce in the March 2011 issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines shows a 0-60 MPH time of 5.5 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 12.84 seconds at 108 MPH. To be fair, this was for a similar car with 4.56 rear gearing, but even in stock form the Yenko Deuce Novas reportedly run in the low 13s.

Yenko’s ruse worked (at least in the short term), and few insurance companies initially understood that the small block 350 in the Yenko Deuce was different from the small block 350 in Aunt Edna’s Nova. Buyers snapped up 175 Yenko Deuces in the car’s sole production year, including 122 with the four-speed and 53 with the automatic.

The restored Yenko Deuce to be offered in Florida comes from the Wayne Schmeekle Collection, and was delivered new through Dale Chevrolet in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Mecum predicts a selling price between $175,000 and $220,000 when the Nova crosses the block on January 22. For more information, visit Mecum.com.

Photos by the author and Derek Klein.

No plan is perfect, and there’s nothing like a cross-county roadtrip to prove the point. Back when the idea of this trip from the LeMay/America’s Car Museum in Tacoma to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit was hatched, ACM CEO David Madeira threw out the invitation to the volunteer corps of ACM to see who might want to join the caravan in their own vehicles. One man stepped up, without hesitation. Gregg Smith volunteered to bring his 2014 Charger as a support vehicle not for a day or two but for the whole 3,000-mile trip to the Motor City.

Unfortunately, after a long day driving plus a heavy meal and a craft beer, the otherwise clear organization and communication suffered a hiccup. In Boise, Gregg was sent to a hotel which appeared on a previous version of the route book different from everyone else. After what must have been a frustrating attempt at locating the rest of the group, and having paid for a room at the first hotel, he was understandably a little frazzled and probably feeling unappreciated.

The next morning we were all feeling a little sheepish about the mistake. Gregg was still pretty upset, and would have been perfectly within his rights to cut out and head home. But he didn’t.

And as we headed out down the road in our caravan, our car-to-car walkie talkies were silent. Then from nowhere, the radios lit up with the familiar sounds of “Running On Empty” by Jackson Browne. You could see the smiles slowly creep across the face of each of the crewmembers. Heads started bobbing. Hands tapped along on steering wheels. Hunched shoulders relaxed.

Our Road Captain, David, had taken the temperature of the group and decided to let Jackson Browne do the talking. He was holding the open mike to the old radio in the Mustang. Next, Sherry Baby by The Four Seasons. Against the Wind by Bob Seger. And suddenly the crews were calling out requests. It was cold outside, but inside the cars the ice was starting to melt.

The mile markers flew by as the cars competed in a moving team-trivia contest across the Idaho plains. Name that song. Name that artist. Food trivia. Architecture. Geography. A range of topics from a very sharp and witty group of people. And by the time we hit the Utah border, our crew had become a unit.

Maybe cross country road trips should be required team building activities for America’s corporate executives?

Today I spent some time driving the Nomad, and found out why it was able to leave the others in the snowy mountain pass. The ACM guys have set the car up smoother than any 1957 Chevy has the right to be. The original 283 has been upgraded to a 327 with a Hurst four-speed and dual exhaust. It’s got a lot more growl than the big Chrysler, and the gear ratios seem perfectly spaced. The guys at ACM tell me that a last minute fix had to be applied to the clutch pedal pivot mount. A previous bad weld was distorting and causing the pedal travel to feel strange. ACM Technician Specialist Dale Wickell investigated, and a proper weld was applied only 12 hours before the cars left the LeMay. Had it not been found, it would certainly have broken and stranded the car on the road.

For safety, when the roads get a little slippery we decide to get back into our “default” cars, which means more seat time for me in the Chrysler. The big car likes to wander in the truck troughs when the road gets slick, and it has unnerved some of the other drivers. The secret to handling the car is actually counterintuitive: Relax and let the car track itself out with minimal correction. Tugging the wheel is like putting the Apollo Lunar Module in gimbal lock. Not good.

The crews are feeling the love from the Internet community. Journalists have been rotating in and out of the cars since the launch, and they have been relentlessly filming and blogging every step of the journey. They have been keeping us posted on public reaction as this groundswell of curiosity seems to be building for a very special homecoming in Detroit. Everyone on the journey is relieved that we have moved past the “why?” and gotten to the “hell yeah!” understanding of our trip.

Crowds have been growing at our nightly enthusiast events. It’s hard to describe the feeling of pulling into a strange new town and being met by folks whom you don’t know but have an immediate bond with. The local Porsche club in Salt Lake City had heard about our trip early on and arranged a meeting at a local Mexican restaurant. What we didn’t expect was a delegation from the local Chevy Nomad Club to show up. Wouldn’t it be great if we could challenge the Ford, Chevy and Mopar guys to outshow each other at our next stop, just like the trivia teams competed earlier in the day?

Just another way of bringing people together, and creating units.

William Hall is a writer, car collector and classic car broker based in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.