For some, restoring classic cars is a hobby. For me, it was a passion. Since 1970, when I took a job with an auto restoration shop to finance my education at the University of Michigan, I've been committed to the concept of restoring cars to their original beauty and performance then driving them. I am particularly proud of my role restoring a Rolls Royce Springfield Silver Ghost (which took top prize at the 60th anniversary Alpine Tour reunion at Beaulieu), a 1930 V16 Cadillac Cabriolet, and a J-175 Duesenberg Murphy Dual Cowl Phaeton (last seen winning its class at Pebble Beach in 2023)
Though my education led me in the direction of aerospace, then geology, remote sensing, digital imaging, and mapping, my interest in cars never waned. As a partner in a high-tech company I helped develop and sell new image data exploitation concepts and software for remote sensing and digital image processing. Also, I patented several related inventions and visited space and mapping agencies in Europe and Asia. Sometimes I would come home with car parts, and occasionally I bought a British or Italian sports car.
Receiving a Lion Award for my 1966 Jaguar E-Type at the Concours d'Elegance of America (2017)
I was a member of the Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance Car Selection and Events Committees, a judge at the Italian Concorso d'Italia, and volunteered many hours supporting local and regional vintage car events. My cars have been invited to the Meadowbrook Concours d'Elegance, Concours d'Elegance at Cranbrook, Eyes on Design Automotive Exhibition and numerous other club events across the U.S. In 2023, my very long restoration of the Giulietta Spider featured below paid off with two big awards and a gold certificate. I also attend vintage motorsports events in the U.S. and Europe as time permits.
In 2000, I founded an online discussion group for Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Guilia Type 750 and 101 cars that now has over 900 members around the world. My desire to better network classic car enthusiasts in Southeastern Michigan led to the co-founding and naming of the Points and Condenser Preservation Society (PCPS) at a storage facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan. I also developed an automobile restoration program at Washtenaw Community College (WCC) in Ann Arbor and taught there for five years until staff changes, politics, and WCC's lack of academic focus curbed my enthusiasm.
In my 1958 Alfa Romeo Giuletta Spider Veloce (2023)
Although I was born in Germany and started school there, my collection does not include a German car. I prefer the jaunty looks of the 1948 MG TC that I rescued from a field and boxes during college; the elegance and sophistication of my pair of 1958 Alfa Romeo 750 Giuliettas (I am still finishing the Sprint); the haute couture of my 1963 Maserati Vignale Spyder; and the outrageous E-type Jaguar, also represented by both a coupe (1965) and a roadster (1966).
My wife Cynthia in her 2019 Mini Cooper S at the Gilmore Museum (2022)
In 2015, my TC was adopted by a young family in Wellington NZ. I can’t imagine a more fairy tale outcome for that sports car, my first rescue. Two years later, my 1966 E-type won a trophy at the Concours d'Elegance of America wearing its hardtop. I liked my FHC more and concluded now’s the time to shift it. But Mark Hyman wanted or needed my almost finished Maserati more. That was like selling three Jaguars in one day!
Then Bonhams was more than happy to auction my Jag at Amelia Island to an old Ecuadorian collector in Miami. He promptly died then his son used it as a down payment for a Ferrari. For two years, it sat in two dealer orphanages, then popped up on Bring a Trailer in September 2021 where it sold to a more fit collector in Tacoma WA. And I got a nice check with a bottle of “collector wine” from the seller for helping answer questions from the peanut gallery. I certainly never could have dreamt this up!
In my 1966 Corvair Corsa at Willow Run Airport (2013)
(Photo by Ben Colman)
The cost of significant German sports cars and Ferraris always included a high premium for snob appeal that I didn’t want to pay for. In retrospect, I was a fool. A 250 Ferrari GTO had just left the restoration shop I joined in 1970 then sold for $12,000 (compared to about $35 million today). I could have owned Tom Paine’s FIA 289 Cobra for $7,000. Instead I saved my money for tuition, rent, and food.
Peter Pleitner
But in 2006, I acquired that "cool domestic" — a black-on-black Corvair Corsa coupe from Arizona with factory air conditioning. This is exactly the car I wished I had driven on the Monte Carlo Winter Challenge through the mountains of France instead of a two-cycle Saab which twice ceased its crankshaft bearings. David E. Davis made it obvious I couldn’t pass up a good Corvair to round out my collection. It constantly amazes me, the design is timeless, is very pleasant to drive, and tells an important story about American business management. Alas, that American car overstayed its welcome. So in 2023, it was adopted by a friend in North Carolina. Now on its fourth, and this time a reliable engine! To me its obvious that Ed Cole should have consulted with the Italians before he committed to aluminum for an engine in a revolutionary "economy" car.
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