Summer 2019 found us traveling on the boat through the Chesapeake Bay, visiting interesting places. One is the small town of St. Michaels, which has an outstanding maritime museum and some great restaurants. A new attraction has been added since our last visit, one which attracts the gear head in us. This somewhat nondescript building, with no real signage, holds many an interesting attraction inside. We only found it because we were looking for it, after reading an article in the Chesapeake MG T-Register newsletter.
Inside is a much different story. The building is a beautiful post-and-beam construction, built by an Amish crew. There are no nails or bolts in the frame. Posts are fitted together and held in place with wooden pins. This building was purpose-built to house a car collection, made available to the public. Take a glance at the horizontal beams - a collection of metal toy trucks are displayed on each of the beams.
And, it must be a good classic car museum since the first two cars inside the front door are MGs, an MGTC and an MGYT, both early post-war cars.
MGTCs were produced from 1945 through 1949. This is one from the last year of production and has been restored in original-like condition with a few exceptions. The most obvious is the dark, dark green paint that appears black. It certainly was not an original color. And, all the cars arrived in the US with silver wheels. The paint job is beautiful and only purists will take exception to the unoriginal color.
The dark green color displays better at this angle. It is in immaculate condition.
The MGYT was also a 1949 production car. The MGY series began alongside the MGTC in 1947 and continued until 1953. They had the same engine, with just one carburetor, and a more sophisticated independent front suspension, rather than the straight front axle of the TC. Most of the Y-type cars were 4 door saloons (British for sedan). Only 904 were constructed as an open, 4-seater touring car, which received the designation YT. One big difference between the cars is that most TCs were exported from England, mostly to the US. Very few Y-type cars were exported to the US, reason why you may have never seen one before.
The 1940 Ford convertible coupe sitting next to the MGYT is notable for a few reasons. One is the engine. Henry Ford kept producing a 4-cylinder engine after developing the Ford flat-head V8. The engine in the 40 Ford is a 4-cylinder, but one with probably more horsepower than the V8. Cars were the leading technology of the 30s and every engineer tried to improve on the cars. A display engine in the museum helps illustrate a period correct modification.
Ford's car engines were all flat-head designs, cheap to build but not efficient or high power producing. George Riley designed and built a head in 1930, during the Model A period, which greatly improved horsepower. The head used an overhead valve design for the intake valves and retained the stock in-block exhaust valve. There were two intake valves per cylinder, making it a 3-valve engine, quite advanced for the time. This particular engine has a few more modern modifications also - a Weber carburetor, remote oil filter, and flex blade fan.
There were some pre-war cars in the collection, including this 1927 Cadillac Phaeton, an accepted standard in luxury automobiles.
This 1934 Auburn Speedster represents the height of performance cars at the time. It has a supercharged Lycoming engine producing 150 hp and a dual ratio rear axle. It was the first car to travel 100 mph for 12 hours. All Speedsters were guaranteed to be able to surpass 100 mph. The Auburn today is recognized for its Art Deco styling, another high point.
A 1956 Corvette, the last year of the original body style. The early Corvettes were not the hit Chevy had hoped, being outsold by the Ford Thunderbird. Today, the design and innovation in creating a two-seat sports car is recognized and valued.
OK, a Mustang. There are millions of Mustangs, you say. Well, this is a 1969 Mustang Boss 429. Is this important? Many special editions of cars are just decals, badges, and special colors and interior packages. Not the 429. There were just 859 built in 1969. The purpose of making this car was not to create a model to increase sales, it was to improve Fords performance in NASCAR racing.
Chrysler had a 426ci engine with a hemispherical combustion chamber which produced more power than the traditional wedge-shaped head. Wanting to be competitive, Ford designed an engine with hemi heads. NASCAR required that at least 500 engines be produced and put in cars sold to the public before it could be considered a "stock" engine. The Mustang was chosen to be the car to carry the engine.
The hemispherical design has the valves on opposite sides of the combustion chamber at a large angle, rather than side-by-side, flat in the top. This design requires the head to be quite large. The 429 engine was too large to fit in the engine bay of the Mustang. Ford produced the cars without an engine, sent them to an outside constructor who modified the engine bay and installed the motors. So, yes, this is a special and historical Mustang.
And, for fun, a Jeepster. Technically, a Willys-Overland Jeepster, manufactured 1948-1950. Willys built many of the WWII Jeeps and owned the name. After the war they began producing consumer vehicles, the CJ (Civilian Jeep) and trucks. They wanted to expand their market into passenger cars, designing a station wagon, pickup truck, and sporty open 4-seat phaeton they called the Jeepster. It was believed that GIs who drove a Jeep during the war would love to duplicate the experience in a sporty model.
The St. Michaels Classic Motor Museum is located in a tiny town, off the beaten path on the Delmarva Peninsula. and takes effort to find. However, the small collection is interesting and educational and well worth the travel and time to find.
The museum was a stop on our way south from New York to Florida on our trawler, Last Dance. To see the places Last Dance has traveled, click on Last Dance to access the blog of her adventures.
