Classic Car VIdeos
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Representing the pinnacle of engineering, styling and design for their era, the Full Classics® displayed at the Museum were built between 1915 and 1948, typically in limited production numbers. Famed automobiles such as Cord, Delahaye, Packard, Pierce-Arrow, Stutz and Wills Sainte Clair are just a few that are exhibited at the museum.
To view the fine automobiles online, and to learn about their history, watch our growing collection of videos by David Charvet.
1920s
1924 Packard Model 143 Town Car
Following World War I, Packard entered the 1920s as a preeminent manufacturer of luxury cars in America. In 1923, the company introduced their Single Eight engine, a 358 cubic inch L-head design that produced 90 horsepower, over four times more powerful than a Ford Model T. The Single Eight chassis became the platform for many custom coachbuilt cars. Among the most luxurious was this 1924 Packard Model 143 Town Car, with Body by Fleetwood.
1926 Marmon D-74 Sedan
Howard Carpenter Marmon was born in Richmond, Indiana in 1876. He obtained an engineering degree and joined the family business, Nordyke and Marmon, which was the world’s largest producer of machinery for flour and grain mills.
1926 Wills Sainte Claire Phaeton
C. Harold Wills was born in 1878 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After moving to Detroit as a boy, he developed interests in commercial art and mechanical engineering. By age 21 he was working part time for Henry Ford and in 1903 Wills was one of the first employees of the Ford Motor Company.
1929 Cord L-29 Town Car
E.L. Cord produced the first successful front-wheel-drive American production car, the L-29 in 1929. Based on the racing designs of Harry Miller and Cornelius Van Ranst, the L-29 was sleek, low and unlike anything else on the road in 1929.
1929 Lincoln L Sport Phaeton
At age 74, Henry Martyn Leland formed the Lincoln Company, in 1917, named in honor of his hero, Abraham Lincoln. Leland, who had previously founded Cadillac, was a precision engineer who used his new company to build Liberty aircraft engines during World War I.
1929 Lincoln L Willoughby Limousine
One of the finest custom coachbuilders of the Classic Era was the Willoughby Company of Utica, New York. Founded by Edward A. Willoughby in 1897, they originally built carriages and sleighs. But as the automobile developed in the early 1900s, so did the demand for custom bodies.
1930s
1930 Cadillac 353 Convertible Coupe
It’s now ironic, that following the stock market crash of 1929, America’s luxury car builders were creating some of the most beautiful and luxurious classic cars that the world would ever see. Of course, the designs for these automobiles had been on the drawing board before the depression ever hit.
1930 Packard 734 Speedster
The Packard Motor Car Company had dominated the luxury car field throughout most of the 1920s. But in 1930, when Cadillac introduced their V-16 cylinder line of automobiles, executives at Packard knew they had to respond with a new glamour car.
1930 Packard 740 Roadster
The slogan of the Packard Motor Car Company was “Ask the man who owns one.” But in the case of this 1930 Packard 740 Roadster one would have to ask the woman who owned one. Margaret Dunning was born in Plymouth, Michigan on June 26, 1910.
1931 Cadillac 370A Convertible Coupe
In an effort to dominate the luxury car field, in 1930 Cadillac introduced a new twelve-cylinder model to compliment their sixteen-cylinder line of automobiles.
1931 Packard 833 Club Sedan
Brothers James Ward and William Doud Packard founded the Packard Motor Car Company in Warren Ohio in 1899. By 1903 the company had moved to Detroit and was soon the leading luxury car manufacturer in America. Packard combined superb engineering, exceptional design, and quality craftsmanship to create some of the most elegant automobiles of the classic era.
1932 Buick 90 Club Sedan
Scottish born David Dunbar Buick formed the Buick Motor Company in Detroit, in 1903, specializing in the manufacture of internal combustion engines. In 1904, the firm was taken over by James H. Whiting who moved the company to Flint, Michigan, and brought William C. Durant on board to manage the operation.
1932 Pierce Arrow Model 54 Club Sedan
George Norman Pierce formed the company that bore his name in Buffalo, New York, in 1872, manufacturing such diverse items as bird cages and bicycles. The company built its first successful automobile, the one-cylinder Motorette, in 1901. And by 1904, had entered the luxury field with the four-cylinder Great Arrow.
1933 Cadillac 370C Fleetwood Town Car
While the stock market crash of 1929 devastated the American economy and by 1933 fully 25% of the workforce was unemployed, there were still wealthy families who had weathered the storm and managed to hold on to their money. It was to this small group that Cadillac directed their 1933 Model 370C Twelve Cylinder Fleetwood Town Car.
1933 Lincoln KB Sport Touring
Being a division of the might Ford Motor Company, Lincoln was able to weather the storm of the Great Depression. Henry Ford had put his son Edsel in charge of the company and Edsel was determined to make Lincoln the preeminent luxury automobile in America.
1933 Stutz Monte Carlo
In 1931 America was mired in the depths of the Great Depression. Luxury car sales were at an all time low. While the Stutz Company of Indianapolis did not have the financial backing to compete with the sixteen cylinder models offered by Cadillac and Marmon, they introduced the Model DB32, a 322 cubic inch, eight cylinder engine with nine main bearings and dual overhead cams, and dual intake and exhaust valves, making four valves per cylinder, instead of the customary two.
1936 Buick 80C Convertible Phaeton
Harlow Curtice began his career with General Motors in 1914 as a bookkeeper for the AC Spark Plug Division. By 1929, at the age of 35, Curtice was named president of AC and in 1933 was appointed the president of Buick in an attempt to revive the failing brand.
1937 Cord Supercharged Beverly Sedan
Thirty-five year old Errett Lobban Cord formed the Cord Corporation in 1929 as a holding company for over 150 business he controlled, including the Auburn and Duesenberg companies, which he had purchased from impending bankruptcy. That same year Cord introduced his own brand, with the Model L-29 Cord, the first American-made, front-wheel-drive production car.
1937 Packard Twelve Coupe
Packard introduced the first production V-12 cylinder automobile engine in 1915, prior to the classic era. By 1923 the Packard Twin Six was phased out in favor of their new Single Eight model. But when Cadillac introduced their V-16 engine in 1930, in response, Packard engineers created a new Twin Six that was debuted in 1932.
1938 Buick Lancefield Drophead Coupe
In 1938, the Singer family ordered a new Buick Special Model 44 Sedan to be shipped from Canada to their sewing machine factory in England. Desiring a custom creation, the car was delivered to the Lancefield Coachworks in London.
1938 Packard Twelve Convertible Victoria
While Packard saw their largest sales year ever in 1937, the stock market tumbled in 1938, creating what was called a “second depression.” But at Packard the challenging time were being heralded as “A Year of Promise.” And no other automobile offered the promise of more elegance than the 1938 Packard 12 Convertible Victoria.
1939 Buick Redfern Tourer
The Maltby Bodyworks was founded by John Hugh Maltby during the Edwardian era in England. Over the years they created custom bodies for English cars including Morris and Riley. In 1939, Maltby’s was commissioned to create a special Dual Cowl Phaeton on a Buick Model 60 chassis.
1939 Delahaye Type 135M Cabriolet
Emile Delahaye founded the company that bore his name in Tours France in 1894. The company became known for their fine quality, exceptionally engineered automobiles. By the early 1930s, Delahaye had made a name in the racing world with victories on many European courses.
1939 Packard Super 8 Chassis
During the classic era, the epitome of styling was the custom coach built car. The term coachbuilder was a holdover from the days of artisans who handcrafted horse-drawn carriages for nobility and heads of state. Each creation was unique.
1939 Rolls-Royce Wraith
Charles Rolls and Henry Royce formed the Rolls-Royce Company in 1904. By 1907, with the introduction of the Silver Ghost model, Rolls-Royce reputation for quality had been established. During the 1920s and 30s, Rolls-Royce produced some of the finest motor cars in the world.
1940s
1941 Packard Model 180 Limousine
Packard was the leading luxury car brand in the United States throughout the 1930s. With the discontinuing of their 12-cylinder models in 1939, Packard introduced the Model 180 as their top-of-the-line offering beginning in 1940. This 1941 180 Limousine is powered by Packard’s 356 cubic inch, straight eight engine generating 160 horsepower. In the Packard tradition, it is smooth, powerful, and nearly silent at idle.
1947 Cadillac 62 Coupe
During World War II, no new automobiles were produced in the United States for over three and one-half years. With the end of hostilities in August of 1945, Americans were clamoring for new cars. Just 54 days after the Japanese surrender, the first postwar Cadillacs began rolling off the assembly line in Detroit.
1947 Lincoln Coupe
Description coming Soon!
1948 Jaguar Mark IV
The Swallow Sidecar Company was founded in 1922 by William Lyons and William Walmsley in Blackpool, England. The company quickly gained notoriety for their all-metal motorcycle sidecars and by 1926, had branched out to building bodies for the Austin 7 line of automobiles.
1948 Lincoln Continental
The car that became known as the Lincoln Continental was created at the request of Edsel Ford by E. T. “Bob” Gregorie. Edsel hired Gregorie to be a designer of the Lincoln in 1930. While he was a high school dropout, Gregorie had a natural talent for design and had previously worked for Harley Earl in the Art and Color Design Department of General Motors.