Vintage is the key word for the month of October.
It opens with a car show and the 10th annual Coronado Speed Festival at North Island, Oct. 6 through 8, and closes with Lakeside Historical Society’s centennial salute to Barney Oldfield, Oct. 28.
They describe the festival as a “blast from the past as car lovers roll out their finest for display and action.” Lakeside’s Historical Society will remember a 1907 weekend when Barnstorming Barney raced on a specially prepared 2-mile speedway around Lindo Lake.
To depict that period, several horseless carriages and a Blitzen Benz will take center stage. A similar Benz was driven by Bob Burman in 1912 in a land speed attempt on Mission Beach’s shore.
The Lakeside Auto Speedway was claimed to be the first dedicated auto racing facility built in the country when races were held on public roads and horse race tracks.
This celebration will be highlighted by a gathering of horseless carriage vehicles from 1907 though 1919. They will be paraded around roads closely following the path of the original speedway.
To the average person, a vintage car may be nothing more than dusty metal on wheels. To the automobile enthusiast, these vehicles are investments, an exciting hobby and a great way to form camaraderie among individuals with a common love of cars of the past. They take car restoration and preservation seriously.
Savvy investors purchase vintage cars, wait for their value to increase and sell for a profit, usually at auctions.
Guidelines for purchasing vintage cars vary. They may go through a period of being worthless. The general rule is to purchase older cars in fairly good condition for less than $500, protect them from the harsh elements of weather, start their engines every couple of months and sell the cars years later for 20 times the original price.
With any antique collecting there is a huge risk. The value of the vehicle has much to do with its rarity, the beauty of the car and how much it reflects the era in which it came.
Many vintage car experts, such as Jay Leno, purchase cars by the motto “Collect what you enjoy, for the future monetary value is completely unpredictable.”
As an organization, General Racing Ltd., chief Coronado Speed Festival sponsor, is considered the world’s premiere producer of exotic and exciting vintage race car events. It will feature 225 of the world’s most unique and pedigreed machines on a spectator-friendly 1.7-mile course constructed on the runways and taxiways of the naval base.
“¢ With ratings exceeding 2.0, Championship Off Road Racing has announced NBC Sports expansion of its coverage of the 2007 season, adding an additional hour-and-a-half to the broadcast schedule of Chula Vista, Fort Worth and Las Vegas, now delivering a total of 90 minutes of off-road racing action.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the relationship that CORR enjoys with its broadcast partner, NBC Sports,” said Deanne Vernengo, CORR’s TV/media director. “This is only the start of what will be an ongoing marriage of the nation’s top sports broadcast network and the nation’s premiere off-road racing series.”
“¢ Gleaned from Business Week:
Its Hunk of Junk survey lists American Motors’ Pacer as the worst-ever constructed car, followed by the Serbian Yugo, Ford Pinto, Pontiac Aztek and Chevrolet Vega.
In another article it notes that Porsche is experiencing the “speediest growth” in the industry. And not Toyota?