Terry Larson: Jag Joy

Highline Autos, May 2018

Terry Larson knows how to take care of historic Jaguars. For moving on five decades, he has restored, raced and stewarded examples of the great marque with finesse and passion, in recent years from his hand-crafted garage in the foothills of Mesa, Arizona. He and his wife Darlene have a 1938 Jaguar SS 100 3 ½ litre; an XK120 roadster; a 1952 Hangsen Jaguar; a 1952 C-type; a 1958 ‘Knobbly’ Lister that was a factory team car; two XKE roadsters and a coupe; a few Italian cars; and a 1967 Corvette. The couple are also proud of their motorcycle collection, highlighted by a 1924 Brough Superior SS80 purchased new by the founder of Jaguar, William Lyons, which he raced on English beaches. “These cars are an important part of automotive history, and, as owners, we are their caretakers,” Larson says.

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Mark Kramer Celebrates 70 Years of Ferrari

Highline Autos, December 2017

Mark Kramer, Phoenix, loves his Ferraris. His teenage heart leapt up when he saw his first Prancing Stallion, a 250 Spider, in Rome, and he’s been looking in his GreatGarage since, morning, noon and sometimes just before sleep, for quick-paced stylish dreams. Last year, 2017, was the 70th anniversary of Enzo Ferrari’s first supercar, the Ferrari 125, powered by a 1.5-liter V-12 engine, producing 118 horsepower. That won its first race out of Enzo’s Workshop and by the end of the year had secured five more victories. Kramer’s joys are a 1972 365 GTB/4 “Daytona”; 1981 308 GTSI; 1984 512 BBI “Boxer”; 1995 F512M; 1996 eight-cylinder F355 GTS; 1999 550 Maranello and 2003 575M; 1995 308 GTS QV; a 2009 California, with an automatic. Wish list? A California Turbo, an F430 16M, 458 or a 488 Spider. “And, I always wanted a 275 GTB4 and could have had one once for $30,000. I just love everything about it, especially the sound. You know when you hear one coming.”

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Bill Harrah’s Rides: The National Automobile Museum

Highline Autos, July 2017

The founder of Harrah’s Hotels & Casinos and Harrah’s Automobile Collection, Bill Harrah, was also one of last century’s most famous car collectors. Opened in 1989, the National Automobile Museum (The Harrah Collection) in Reno features more than 200 vehicles, most of them American-made vehicles from his great collection. The marquee vehicle is one of the most famous American cars ever: the 1907 Thomas Flyer, winner of the following year’s landmark New York to Paris Automobile Race. Others: a 1937 Airomobile Experimental Sedan, styled by John Tjaarda; a 1934 Dymaxion Model 2 4-D Transport, created by Richard Buckminster ‘Bucky’ Fuller (1895−1983), inventor of the geodesic dome and the Dymaxion™ House, a car that was found dilapidated in a Mesa, Arizona, backyard. And, one of the world’s most beautiful vehicles, a 1936 Mercedes-Benz Type 500K Special Roadster, was purchased new by Princess Nina Mdivani, wife of Denis P.S. Conan Doyle, son of author, Sir Arthur.

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Larz Anderson Museum: America’s Oldest Car Collection

Highline Autos, January 2016

Soon after they married, Larz and Isabel Anderson purchased an 1899 Winton Phaeton Runabout, a true horseless carriage, and through 1948, the New Englanders acquired at least 32 additional more cars and carriages. As the cars became obsolete, the couple didn’t sell them but retired the vehicles to the Carriage House. By 1927, the couple had opened it for tours of their “ancient” vehicles –– the beginning of today’s “America’s Oldest Car Collection” in the original Anderson Carriage House on the grounds of the Weld Estate, now Larz Anderson Park, in Brookline, Massachusetts. Fourteen of these original 32 vehicles remain in the collection today to enjoy. Since 1927, the Carriage House has also hosted lawn events and other automotive activities and continues to schedule 25 car shows every year.

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Henry Ford Museum: Always Moving Ahead

Highline Autos, November 2013

Nov. 22, 1963. Dallas, Texas: Fifty-three years ago, the Earth stood still as a fanatical sharpshooter, perched inside a sixth-floor warehouse window, murdered a young president who represented the hopes of a new generation of Americans. The Henry Ford Museum® in Dearborn, Michigan displays the Lincoln Continental in which he was assassinated. In addition, the museum showcases tens of thousands of Americana artifacts, such as the bus on which Montgomery, Alabama’s Rosa Parks stayed seated and stood tall; technological innovation (Henry Ford’s history-shifting racecar); and social and political revolution, including one of the few hand-written copies of the Declaration of Independence. Motor on inside this great hall and see why you’re so proud to be an American.

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