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Title: A Secret Detroit Warehouse is Home to the Rarest American Cars Ever Made
Source:
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URL Source: https://www.yahoo.com/autos/secret- ... rican-cars-ever-160018972.html
Published: Mar 20, 2016
Author: Myles Kornblatt
Post Date: 2016-03-20 12:12:41 by Justified
Keywords: Cars, Gear heads
Views: 2667
Comments: 13
Getting to the Detroit Historical Society’s reserve collection almost sounds like the beginning of a sci-fi conspiracy novel. I am given directions to a remote storage facility that I’m asked to keep secret. Their nondescript front office hides a door to a vast warehouse where footsteps echo past visible light. It’s filled with rows of machines sealed away in their own plastic pods, each with a layer of dust that makes it feel like a forgotten secrets.
Scared? Nope. I’m too excited about being let into the world of these treasures. Occasionally stories about this place come out because it’s home to a few priceless prototypes, but it turns out there are a lot more stories waiting to burst out of Detroit’s secret “bubble” cars.
It might be easy to overlook a Lincoln Continental Mark V, but the one here was Lee Iacocca’s personal car. It’s also likely one of his last company products before getting the boot from Ford. The legend is Iacocca went down the assembly line with the car and chose the components he wanted for the coupe, just as the rest of us built our high school cafeteria lunches.
Sitting in the same row as a 1963 Mustang II concept is what is quite possible the first AMC Pacer ever built. And if that wasn’t kitschy-cool enough, it still has a Burl Ives 8-track sitting on the passenger seat.
There are even some oddities like a factory-built Cadillac station wagon from the mid-1980s. This was developed in a series to show there was a future for body-on-fame Caddys, specifically by those who wanted to keep the historic Fleetwood/Clark Street plant open. The proposal failed, but the Detroit Historical Society got these and something else very interesting from this (more on that in a moment.)
But what about the really interesting prototypes? Two cars that come up very often are Ford proposals known as the 1963 Cougar II and XD. This coupe and convertible were styling exercises that also happened to be built on Cobra CSX chassis. So there are plenty of collectors out there who would be happy to make their home in the pods next to these concept cars.
One of the first reactions to seeing all these interesting cars locked away and frozen in time is that it’s a shame these are not shared with the world. But that is far from the truth.
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Clean up the place and they could charge a fee admissions. What car guy would not want to go see this place?
GM might even turn a profit again!!! 8)
#2. To: All (#1)
I thought this was GM! LOL guess next time I should actually read the article first! Oh who am I kidding! Pictures first article second!!!
#3. To: Justified (#0) (Edited)
What is that reddish car, next to last photo, before the Pacer ?
It looks somewhat like a Pantera.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
There are no Carthaginian terrorists.
President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. --Clint Eastwood
"I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
#4. To: Stoner (#3)
"This coupe may look like a custom Corvette Sting Ray but it is actually a Ford concept car called the Cougar II. Ford built this car in 1963 using a modified Cobra CSX chassis. The Cougar II made the rounds on the show circuit for a few years, and it was even at the 1964 World’s Fair. Like all concept cars, it was eventually was pushed aside and forgotten."
http://www.autominded.com/1021_rarely-seen-cobra-concept-cars-coming-to- amelia-island
#5. To: randge (#4)
" Cougar II "
Thanks randge.
Shame they did not produce it, it looks good to me.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who don't
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
There are no Carthaginian terrorists.
President Obama is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people. --Clint Eastwood
"I am concerned for the security of our great nation; not so much because of any threat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within." -- General Douglas MacArthur
#6. To: Justified (#0)
It sounds like this warehouse is where old concept cars go to die.
#7. To: TooConservative (#6)
Can you view the ani gif below:
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
#8. To: redleghunter (#7)
Can you view the ani gif below:
Nope. It seems that you have to be a signed-in member of their forum and load images from a forum page.
#9. To: TooConservative (#8)
Shame. Can't find it on the web.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
#10. To: redleghunter (#9) (Edited)
See if you can find the same pic using TinEye.com (you can download the image first, then upload it to TinEye to get other copies of it). Also, try to find it with Google image search by just drag-dropping the image on Google's search box.
#11. To: TooConservative (#10)
See it now?
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
#12. To: redleghunter, tomder55, sneakypete (#11)
I see it now. So did you just upload via Imgur or did you use TinEye or Google Image search to find the same image elsewhere? I see that TinEye has a lot of copies of it. BTW, the free Wordpress and Blogger sites all allow you to post their images anywhere (just for future reference).
And, of course, you still can't top Trump at Wrestlemania 23.
#13. To: TooConservative (#12)
Actually I went back to FR where a poster has that as his tagline photo. :)
I was working on an Android device last night and following your instructions proved difficult on that particular device. Kids were using the computers last night. :)
But thanks. Now I know something new to use.
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)
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