New Acquisitions
Here are some of the cars we’ve hunting and successfully brought down to Undiscovered Classics in Tampa, Florida in the past year or so.
1949 WOW Cadillac Convertible (1 of 1)
Built in the late 1940s, The WOW Cadillac is one of the earliest surviving American Custom cars and is the first postwar Cadillac custom to be built – quite an accomplishment by Rudy Makella and his company, the Indianapolis Power Hammer Company of Indianapolis, Indiana.
1949 Packard Monte Carlo Convertible (1 of 1)
Research continues on our Packard Monte Carlo with our research team which includes Leon Dixon, Bud Juneau and other folks from the Packard Club. Our Packard Monte Carlo convertible may well turn out to be the oldest postwar Packard Show Car in existence.
1952 LaSaetta Show Car (1 of 12)
The LaSaetta was Italian for “Lightning Bolt” and debuted at the Michigan Motorama in 1952 making it one of America’s earliest fiberglass sports car. This one was found in Mt. Dora, Florida. While 12 of these were custom built to the order of each buyer, just 2 of LaSaetta’s are known to exist – both are owned by Undiscovered Classics.
1937 Supercharged Long-Wheelbase Cord (1 of 1)
We’re still researching this car with the help of Karl Ludvigsen and other historians. The workmanship suggests that this may have been a coachbuilt car and we’re also lucky to have photos of the car taken in 1952 by Karl Ludvigsen himself. This will be a fun one once we move forward.
1956 Devin-Renault Special Race Car
We’re still researching this Devin-Renault Special and its history. Built with a custom round tube frame using late 1940s Renault 4CV components, this is sure one nice looking race car.
1950 DM Nacional “Sedanca de Ville” (1 of 1)
In the postwar era, Mexico had just one coachbuilder that built cars on order and from scratch. Designed to compete against European Coachbuilders, DM Nacional custom-built 5 cars to order from 1949 to 1953. Of the five built, just one survives. Although it will take a mighty effort to bring this car back, if it was built by man, it can be restored by men (and women) too.
1947 Kaiser/Frazer Sport Custom (1 of 1)
Built in 1954 by Walter Omelenchuk of Michigan, this Kaiser/Frazer Sport Custom is now in Tampa, Florida where it is on display at the Sarasota Classic Car Museum. Except for the hood, the entire body and interior is custom designed and built, and serves as an excellent example of the ingenuity and excellence of build that was shown throughout American in the years following World War II.
1962 Wellman Special (1 of 1)
The Wellman Special is a custom designed and built car by Dr. Warren Wellman and written up with full history in the June, 2002 issue of Special Interest Autos.
1956 Byers SR100
John Bond who was both the editor and owner of Road & Track magazine was so taken with the design of the Byers SR100 that he featured it on the cover of his magazine in February, 1957. Bond later went on and collaborated with Jim Byers to custom build his own Byers SR100 sports car – a car that still remains today.
1953 Kaiser “Show Dragon” (1 of 6)
In 1953 the Kaiser Motor Company pulled out all the stops and created a luxury version of their car like no other before -the 1953 Kaiser Dragon. Fully optioned down to custom interior by two renowned interior designers (Carlton Spencer and Marie Nichols) the Kaiser “Dragon” became available in the fall of 1952 and was produced for just 6 months. Approximately 1000 of these automobiles were built before production ended.
The announcement of the Kaiser Dragon took place at major auto shows across the country where 6 factory show cars known as “Show Dragons” were produced and sold to the public. A special color was developed for these Dragons – a turquoise shade – with gold plated trim thoughout which included 5 gold plated wire wheels.
Just 3 of these “Show Dragons” exist today with Undiscovered Classics owning one of these factory built vehicles.
Click Here To Learn More About the 1953 Kaiser Show Dragon
1953 Californian “LeGene Special” (1 of 3)
Lee (father) and Gene (son) Dodson, along with younger brother Jay Dodson designed and built six “LeGene” Sports cars between 1955 and 1960. Of these six, three remain and we recently were lucky to find their first prototype “LeGene” and restoration plans are in the works for the near future.
1955 Victress C3 Coupe
Merrill Powell joined Victress Manufacturing as a co-owner with Doc Boyce-Smith in 1953. By 1955 he had penned his first sports car design – one he called the Victress C2 Coupe. This was based on a 94 inch wheelbase and in 1956 Victress introduced the C3 Coupe which was fitted for a 100? wheelbase.
The Victress C2 Coupe was the first fiberglass bodied GT sports car produced in America that was of original design. Few Victress C2 or C3 coupes exist today.
Here at Undiscovered Classics:
“We find, research, restore, show and sell America’s
lost automotive treasures…”
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