I was able to visit the Stahl's Automotive Collection in New Baltimore / Chesterfield Township Michigan this past Thursday evening. It'a primarily a pre-WWII collection, but there are some post-WWII cars of note in the collection as well. They also have quite the music box / player piano collection that were popular in hotels, bars, and saloons in the early 1900s.

This particular box  can play 15 songs before you there is a need to place the music roll. Quite a good thing for a saloon.

 

 

Music Box #1

 

 

 

Music box #2

Authentic replica of the first automobile, the 1886 3-wheel Benz Motorwagen.

1904 Curved Dash Oldsmobile

1907 Rainier

Bllly Durant purchased Rainier and turned management of it under Buick until it was shut down. Remember when Buick came out with the Rainier SUV back in the 2000s? It was not for Mt Rainier. This is the first Rainier I've ever seen.

 

A GM-produced 1910 Cartercar. GM purchased Cartercar after Byrom Carter's death in 1908. Cartercar purchased the Pontiac Spring and Wagon Works in 1908 and moved from Detroit to Pontiac. The Cartercar facilities were eventually given to Oakland Motor Car Company once Cartercar was shutdown.

1914 Oakland Model 34 Touring

1929 Durant Deluxe Roadster 4-40

1904 Peerless Type 8 Style K

 

1905 Columbia Mark XXXU Open Drive Broigham

 A cross between a carriage coach and an electric vehicle with 38 and 42 inch tall tires.

1907 Pope=Toledo Type XV Touring

1912 Baker Electric

1914 Rauch and Long Electric Model 14

1912 Edison Electric

 

 

This is awesome!

Thankz as always for the great story N Pic's.

I’ve got a LOT more, I just ran out of time yesterday. Hang on!

1913 Stanley Steamer Model 64 10HP Roadster

So by the early 1900s, you had the choice of electric, steam, or gas powered vehicles, all at the same time. Which one won again?

1923 Wills St. Claire Model A-68

1916 Owen Magentic Touring

1932 Chrysler CL Imperial

1932 Stutz DV-32 LeBaron Sedan

1930 Cadillac Series 432 All-Weather Phaeton - with a V16

1927 Franklin Series 11B Coupe

1927 LaSalle 303 Phaeton

Remember the "Companion Car Program"?

Oakland had Pontiac

Buick had Marquette

Oldsmobile had Viking

Cadillac had LaSalle

1927 Bugatti Type 35 by Pur Sang

1926 Duesenberg Model A Roadster - probably the most art deco Duesenberg I"ve ever seen. This is a real stunner.

1919 Meisenholder Roadster

1936 Mack 1M Jr Pickup Truck - yes the same Mack Truck famous for their semi-trucks.

1915 American LaFrance Rhino Speedster

I've never seen a Rhino hood ornament before! The detail is amazing!

American LaFrance is most famous for making fire trucks!

The uber-rate 1935/36 Stour Scarab. Nine were built between 1932 and 1936. Five are still known to exist. This powered by a Ford rear engine mount flathead V8.

I have still more photos to share.....stay tuned.

 

 

 

1936 Terraplane Deluxe - Series 61

1935 Ford Woody

1935 Brewster

1934 Studebaker President Regal Roadster

1932 Nash Advanced Eight Convertible

1954 Kaiser Darrin

1947 Packard Clipper

1941 Graham Hollywood

19

1940 Packard 1803 Convertible Victoria by Darrin

1939 Graham Model 97 Custom Sedan

1939 Pierce Arrow

1939 Peugeot 402 Darl'mat Special Sport Roadster

I still have more....

 

More from Stahl's.....

1951 Hudson Hornet convertible

1955 Oldsmobile Super 88 convertible

1951 Nash Metropolitan taxi

1956 Meserschmitt

1911 American Eagle

A custom VW bug. Note the license plate - kinda says it all.

A chrome 427 AC Cobra replica autographed by Carroll Shelby

 

Here is a special car............"Big Daddy" Ed Roth's Mysterion (an exact replica)

The car has two engines, transmissions, and diffs. Now I learned something. The passenger side engine and tranny are fake - hollow essentially. There is a belt that runs from the driver side crank and runs to the passenger side crank. So it turns the belts on the passenger engine to make it look like both engines are running together!

The radiator is mounted sideways on the passenger side of the car. The radiator cap is barely visible through the shag carpet in the elongated indent in the bubble. It just have been karma since I was wearing a Rat FInk T-shirt to the museum that night.

They have quite the hood ornament collection too.....

How many of these car brands do you recognize or have seen before?

Remember Burma Shave signs?

How about some movie cars?

The 1904 Winton Flyer from the 1969 movie "The Reivers" starring Steve McQueen.

This is car was created for the movie by none other than Von Dutch aka Kenny Howard. McQueen liked it so much he kept it in his personal collection until his death in 1980.

This is the car from the 1969 movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - this is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

"The Leslie Special" from the 1965 movie The Great Race - autographed by stars Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood.

Professor Fate's car from the Great Race.

From the 2000 "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", the Whoville Family Sedan

 

You missed a chance to get your face in the Grinch cutout???  LOL  that place is sooo cool.  Thankz for sharing your visit.

A pair of truly exceptional cars....

1963 Chrysler Turbine - one of five left - one of two that still drives (Jay Leno owns the other one)

Stahl's spare engine and transmission for the Turbine. Life begins at 35,000 RPM!

1948 Tucker Sedan - this is Tucker #15

A Tucker engine

 

That's it from Stahl's !!!

On 12/3/2022 at 3:42 PM, JUSTA6 said:

You missed a chance to get your face in the Grinch cutout???  LOL  that place is sooo cool.  Thankz for sharing your visit.

Someone else would've had to hold the camera. I thought about it.....

Edited December 6, 20223 yr by Frosty

I justa read where the Motor City Chapter of POCI is inviting folks to Stahl's this coming Saturday, Feb 4, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. A small donation is requested, there is no entry fee. I'll be going back with a buddy of mine.

Edited February 1, 20233 yr by Frosty

I made another trip to Stahl's this past weekend. It was essentially the same cars as last time. Nothing new. Any interest in me posting anything new?

3 hours ago, Frosty said:

I made another trip to Stahl's this past weekend. It was essentially the same cars as last time. Nothing new. Any interest in me posting anything new?

for sure 

9 hours ago, Frosty said:

I made another trip to Stahl's this past weekend. It was essentially the same cars as last time. Nothing new. Any interest in me posting anything new?

Okay here goes....I'm not really going to comment this time around since I did so much last time. 

Okay here goes....I'm not really going to comment this time around since I did so much last time. 

Great shots as always buddy.  Each is worth a 1000 words.

Frosty - once again you have excelled. What a fantastic collection of cars & pics. I think we can all agree that there is obvious evidence of experimental drug taking when you look at some of those incredible art deco designs. And the hood ornaments! That rhino horn is just itching to spike an unwary pedestrian or passerby. We should bring them back.

The Chrysler Turbine and the Scarab...simply amazing. Pass the pipe...

great pics Frosty 

 my fav was certainly the Mopar turbine 

Thanks guys.

As I said before - there are only 5 turbines left of the 55 or so built. Two of the five run - this one and Jay Leno's. Unfortunately, Jay's motor sustained damage and it is not running at the moment. Stahl's is lucky - they have a spare engine and transmission for theirs!

The art deco cars are simply amazing craftsmanship. Madmen indeed!

The volunteers at the museum tell me that there are well over another 100 cars in the collection that are not on display. They are expecting another new building to be built right behind this building in the coming year to house the added cars. So hopefully in the next year or two, there will be more cars to see than this. I have my fingers crossed.

This past weekend I spent with the West Michigan Pontiac Club, along with some members of the Widetrackers and Motor City chapters of POCI. The weekend consisted of going to Stahl's, Jack Frost Auto Museum and restoration shop, and the Pontiac Transportation Museum on Sunday. So I thought I'd post my recent Stahl's photos here.

 

One of 100 Benz Replicas made to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the first automobile.

Here is the oldest known electric vehicle in world. The 1896  Roberts Electric Stanhope Carriage.

Real Burma Shave signs

We had an organist playing for us too. The Star Wars and Indiana Jone music was truly fantastic on this organ. It's tied into other instruments around the building creating an almost symphonic sound.

 

Sorry this next one is blurry. Of course the sound is what is really important here.