July - Porsche Club of America – Northeast Region

open Roadster runabout. Classic era cars included a 1927 Rolls
Royce built in Springfield, MA, ’performance‘ entries like the
supercharged 1936 Auburn Boat-Tail Speedster, which included
a unique side door to access a golf bag storage compartment,
a 1935 V-12 Packard Limo for comfort cruising, as well as a 1932
Deusenberg SJ originally owned by Mr. Deusenberg himself.
Bob described how this ’car of the stars‘ was originally sold for a
base price of $8,500, which included the engine and the chassis
only. Then you would purchase a “summer” body and a “winter”
body, which you would have changed for the appropriate
season. This car could do 100 mph in second gear, and actually
had an altimeter mounted on the dash. Through the lower level
we passed a couple of ‘20s vehicles, including a 1926 Chevrolet
Woody and a 1923 Model T, ordered in everyone’s favorite color
of the day — black (chosen by Ford because the paint dried
faster).
We exited out behind the building and walked along the grass
over to the hangar, which houses many of the vintage aircraft
owned by the foundation. Walking into this building is quite
The Dusenburg
impressive, with a variety of vintage aircraft carefully staged for
viewing. In the middle of the floor sat an AT-6F trainer with its
wings folded up. Off to one side, was a Fokker DR-1 tri-plane
replica with a radial engine. As Bob explained it, the radial engine
used castor oil as a lubricant, and spewed a fine mist of the
stuff as it flew over the open cockpit. As castor oil is a natural
laxative, pilots took to wearing silk scarves over their mouths
in order to filter out the oil and also to wipe the mist off their
goggles. The Wright “Vin Fiz” hanging overhead was described
continued on page 32
The Pope Waverly!
Al Cappones Caddy
N O R E A S T E R 3 page 25