Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Walter M. Murphy Coach Coachbuilder/Sales Plates

Pasadena, California’s Walter M. Murphy Company is primarily remembered today for their magnificent creations on the Duesenberg chassis.

Records indicate that Murphy built 125 Duesenberg bodies - about 25% of all the Model J's, JN's, SJ's and SSJ's produced - and as a very high proportion of the automaker’s cars still exist, so do a large proportion of Murphy’s coachwork.

Murphy is known to have built on Bentley, Bugatti, Buick, Cadillac, Cord, Crane-Simplex, Doble, Dorris, Duesenberg, Essex, Ford, Hispano-Suiza, Hudson, Isotta- Fraschini, Lincoln, Locomobile, Marmon, Mercedes-Benz, Mercer, Minerva, Packard, Peerless, Pierce-Arrow, Rolls-Royce, and Simplex chassis.

Although it was formed in 1920, the firm’s roots go back another 20 years to two of Detroit’s early automotive pioneers, Henry M. Leland and Henry Ford.

The Walter M. Murphy sold-badge on the right hand side is just one of many memorabilia badges that is offered for sale at www.arteauto.com along with an old RAC Badge from the UK. The picture on the right hand side is two Murphy Coach coachbuilder/sales plates which went on each chassis which was sold by the company.

Also on the right hand side is a picture of a collection of 54 British Auto and Motorcycle Club Badges which has a rich and noble history in car memorabilia.

There is a rich history behind most automobile memorabilia badges. Just look it up on the internet for an affluent history of car badges.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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Monday, November 10, 2008

Driver Race Suit Memorabilia

The Indianapolis 500 has become extremely trendy in society today. The 93rd Indianapolis 500 started on May 24th of this year. This event has become one of the many ways in which major corporations advertise. From this sport has grown driver race car suit collections.

One of the trends in the Indy 500 memorabilia is the collection of drivers’ race suits. If a car collector finds one, he will surely buy it. This allows the link to a time in which we fondly remember about a particular event in racing history.

Authentic racing suits are highly prized by car enthusiasts and race fans. Most drivers have about a dozen different racing uniforms. Most end up in car museums, auctioned for charities and given to primary sponsors as gifts.

Take the racing uniform of Danny Sullivan who won the 1985 Indy 500. His 1983 racing suit goes for approximately $1,900.00 if you can find it. Arteauto.com seems to be the only place to find it.

Or, don’t forget Didier Theys. He raced in the 1987-1993 seasons with 47 career starts, including the 1989, 1990 and 1993 Indianapolis 500. His suit sells for $950.00 which is also found at arteauto.com.

Racing suits of Jacques Villeneuve of 1985, Paul Tracy of 1995 and Stefan Johansson of 1995 all have intrinsic values ranging from $1,200.00 - $1,450.00 (www.arteauto.com)

So, step up to collecting racing suits and share them with friends and family and other of your sport racing friends.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com/. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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Friday, November 7, 2008

1959 Cadillac Car Couch: http://www.vintagevending.com/

I found this great article about the restoration of a 1959 Cadillac Car Couch and thought I would share it here. For pictures go the site from the URL in the title.

We restored hundreds and hundreds of items over the years—but only one car couch. Car couches are typically made by cutting off the back quarter of a very distinct collectible car. The secret, however, is that it usually comes from the less collectible four-door model of that car or one that has severe front-end damage.

What makes this 1959 Cadillac couch different from most car couches is that it was done in reverse. When car couches are made, the seat is usually placed inside where the trunk formerly was. But the customer who commissioned this piece wanted it done differently, making the restoration a bit of a challenge. The couch was to go in their basement recreation room, so they wanted to be able to see the tail light fins when you walked down the stairs, but have the seating facing away. It would be freestanding in the middle of the room. This would be the opposite of most car couches you see that are made to go against a wall.

This was a pretty involved project with lots of welding, fabrication, bodywork, paint, upholstery & chroming. We have included a few pictures of the process in addition to the finished piece. Also check out the two hassocks we made to compliment the piece. This is definitely one item I would love to still own.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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Thursday, November 6, 2008

TEXAS 1000 TO STOP IN HARPER, TEXAS

On Tuesday, November 11, 2008 the Texas 1000, a yearly event with entrants from around the U.S. and around the world driving 30+ sports & exotic cars such as vintage Ferrari, Porche, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Triumph and Sting Ray will make their lunch stop in Harper on their 5 day tour through the Hill Country.

Their lunch will take place at “l’art et l’automobile”, a gallery and auction house whose owner, Jacques Vaucher relocated from New York in the summer of 2006. A 4000 sq foot barn full of transportation memorabilia such as books, artwork, trophies, badges, sculpture etc. will be transformed into a cafĂ©/gallery.

The lunch will be catered by his wife Karen Vaucher, a veteran of the restaurant business in NYC and East Hampton, NY. Lunch will feature 2 main courses: Braised Thai Chicken & Penne Pasta with Vine Ripened Tomatoes Concasse, Fresh Herbs and Grilled Salmon with Mediterranean Seasonings, Chardonnay Smoked Sea Salt and Grated Pecorino Cheese. A Spring Mix Salad with dried Cranberries and Texas Pecans and a Dessert Table will also be featured.

l’art et l’automobile is open by appointment to the public by calling 830- 864-5040 or by visiting its website: arteauto.com

Old Stone Market specializes in Elegant Gourmet Dinners catered in your home by calling Karen Vaucher at 830-864-5060 or on her cell 631 377-0878. Website for gourmet products including Black Peppercorns from Madagascar is oldstonemarket.com.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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The Indy 500 Memorabilia Convention

As you may or may not recall, over 30 years ago, a tiny group of racing collectible enthusiasts just had their 30th anniversary in May of this year. This group is called the National Auto Racing Memorabilia Show which has gone through a progressive advancement in those 30 years.

The year was 1979 and the place was at Howard Johnson’s Motel on Washington Street of downtown Indianapolis. This is where the Indy 500 Memorabilia Convention began. Now the happening is shown at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

The Indy 500 Memorabilia Convention is now the second-oldest automobile memorabilia conference in the country. The convention is infamous in that each year hundreds and thousands of auto racing enthusiasts descend on this convention to buy, sell and trade automobile memorabilia in which you cannot find anywhere else In the market. The NARM Show (National Auto Racing Memorabilia) of the Indy 500 Memorabilia Convention offers the best place to find crew used uniforms, one-of-a-kind hood ornaments and cars which go back to the early 1920’s.


There are things that you see and items that are for sale here that you just can’t find anywhere else in town. At one booth you might find yourself looking through IndyCar crew-used shirts; at the next booth you are thumbing through candid photos of the drivers you followed in the 60s or 70s; and at the next one you’re debating whether or not to spend the money on one of the only two pit badges you need to complete your collection. You’ll find a guy who has just put the video of the ’68 Race, complete with amateur 8mm shots of fans coming in to the track posing for the camera in their race day finest, on to a DVD. At another stop you find a vendor who recently purchased the negatives from a UPI photographer who shot Watkins Glen in the 60s and has a multitude of prints featuring Graham Hill, Jimmy Clark and Mario. This is not a NASCAR diecast get-together.

If you’ve been coming to this shindig for as long as I have you know most of the exhibitors and about half of the other people in the hall. I run in to a good amount of folks I’ve known for what seems to be half of my life. From time-to-time it’s also afforded me an outlet to sell or trade duplicate items from my collection. Nobody comes to this Show and leaves in thirty minutes. Many come back to the show for a second day.

There is more to come tomorrow of this great event.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Automobile Memorabilia – The Collector’s Dream

Be sure to keep your feelers out for all those great license plates and other collectible automobile objects. There is no group larger than the sports car enthusiast with the exclusion of collectors of sport items.

My friend Richard has been speaking on this issue for years and has made a great deal of money off of automobile memorabilia. Websites such as WomenWithWheels.com are proof positive of the impact of automobile memorabilia. Items collected by car buffs are boundless.

Look at cover hood ornaments alone. Many of these sell for hundreds of dollars. Taking a quick look at Ebay, you see ornaments selling as much as $2,000.00 or more. There is incredible opportunity for those who seek wealth in car memorabilia.

What are some of the things for which to seek and buy when you catch the bug of automobile memorabilia? That is a harder question to answer since there are unlimited car memorabilia items in this world.

Sculptures, mascots, models and toys of automobile memorabilia are just some of the items of which to find and buy. Decals, badges, hood ornaments sell for hundreds of dollars per item depending on the year, make and model of the car from which they came.

Prints of various automobiles are also selling at unbelievable prices. They sell from as little as $200.00 up to tens of thousands of dollars.


I have loved cars since my teenage years when I saw my first supercharged porches. Join our blog and learn to become a car enthusiast who learns how to search for the treasures of the automobile memorabilia world.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Actor Steve McQueen Automobile Memorabilia Auction was a Success

Actor Steve McQueen’s automobile memorabilia was up for bidding on October 25th and a complete success. His racing trophy sold for $125,000.00 and his wife Neile McQueen (Neile Adams) sold several of his guns which brought a heaping number of dollars ($200,000.00). As you recall Steve McQueen died from mesothelioma in Mexico in 1980.

The range of the auction was from $500.00 to hundreds of thousands of dollars. On sale was a 1958 GMC pickup truck, 1929 Harley Davidson Model B, and 1920 Indian Powerplus ‘Daytona’ Racing Motorcycle. These brought in a whopping $1,000,000.00 dollars.

Included in the Bonham’s and Butterfield’s auction in Los Angeles, California was a pair of chaps from "Tom Horn", western saddle by Jack Grigsby, Wells Fargo Bank Master Charge credit card, mailgram regarding John Wayne, Wurlitzer jukebox and Coca-Cola advertising standee. These sold for over $500,000.00 dollars.

The 130 motorcycles and 35 cars that were auctioned brought in a total of $6.5 million dollars. Automobile memorabilia does pay off for you collectors and car enthusiasts.

There were a lot more big ticket items: McQueen's 1879 .44-caliber Winchester rifle, one of 18 guns for sale, went for a cool $20,000 (estimate $2500); a personalized Idaho license plate—MCQ3188, the number referring to his ID number at the Boys Republic reform school—was a shocker at $4500 (estimate $100); and his circa 1920 Indian Powerplus board-tracker (lead photo) brought $130,000 (estimate $60-90,000).

Too rich for ya? Then how about a T-shirt “heavily worn and faded with holes and rips throughout” for $3250? Or maybe one of the man's baseball caps, old and crumbling, for $2500? If McQueen sweat in it, it was worth money.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacques Vaucher was schooled at Winfield France's famous racing school. Jacques found his niche in touring car endurance championships in the US and produced winning results in Limerock and Watkins Glen. He has been in automobile memorabilia for 30 years with galleries in New York and now Harper, Texas. His main site is http://www.arteauto.com/ and his auction site is http://www.arteautoauction.com/. His blog is http://www.arteautoblog.com/.
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