One of the Top Ten Most Valuable, Big Block, Mid-Year 1967 Corvette’s Will Be Sold at Russo and Steele’s 10th Anniversary Monterey Auction Event
Monterey, CA (Jul 28, 2010) -- Known for the high quality of its luxurious and collectable automobiles, Russo and Steele continues to offer some of the most historic automobiles on the Monterey Peninsula. Celebrating its 10th Anniversary, located at the epicenter of historic, downtown Monterey, and expanded to a three evening auction this August 12-14,2 2010 Russo and Steele will offer this 1967 Chevrolet Corvette 427/435 "Survivor" Roadster.
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The creation of the Rouge River Plant began when Henry Ford started buying marshland along the Rouge River in 1915 eventually acquiring over 2,000 acres. Groundbreaking occurred in 1917 for the first Rouge building. Construction was completed in 1928 when it attained the distinction as the largest integrated factory in the world. The first product produced was the World War I Eagle Boat warship designed to hunt down German submarines. These were produced in Building B. This original Building B, a three story structure, is part of the legendary Dearborn, MI assembly plant’s history, famous for its Model A production line.
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I have been an automotive artist for about 20 years; but it's really been a lifetime endeavor. I have been honing my skills since grade school when drawing cars and airplanes sometimes replaced the math I was suppose to be doing. I spent a couple of other decades doing enameling and silversmithing before getting back into watercolors.
I've been crazy about cars for as long as I can remember. My first sources of information were from magazines like Mechanics Illustrated, Rod and Custom and Hot Rod. I still have a car scrapbook I made in grade school.
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What do fire bombings, dead race horses, rental cars and Checker Cabs have in common?
Our saga of the great American taxi begins at the start of the automotive business in the early 1900’s with an entrepreneur in the tailoring and clothier business named Morris Markin. He was a Russian immigrant transplanted to Chicago, Illinois. As a crafty business man in search of profits he also handled a money lending operation which was well known and respected in the state. When a financial reversal for the owner of Commonwealth Motors in Joliet, Illinois made it impossible to repay a $15,000 loan to Markin he added auto manufacturer to his list of business credits. Taking over the business in 1921 Markin learned Commonwealth Motors was unique,
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On February 11, 1936, the Parade of Progress made its debut in Lakeland, Florida using eight custom-built Streamliners. The Streamliners resembled large moving vans. This version of the Parade ran until Pearl Harbor in 1941. During this time the Parade stopped in 251 cities and played before audiences of more than twelve and one-half million people.
Billed by GM in their 1936 promotional literature as "Silver-Topped Streamliners" and refereed to as the "World's Largest Highway Leviathans" at 33 feet from stem to stern, the 28 vehicle caravan, including nine support semis, was an impressive site.
It's hard for many of us to imagine this, but there were no 4-lane super highways in 1936 only 2-lane roads. It's been said that top speed for the Streamliners was about 40 mph.
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From its inception in 1936, the Parade of Progress was a well-planned undertaking of promotion and marketing. An advance team lined up cities and went in with promotional material aplenty. They promoted the show well in advance of it’s coming, while it was in town and even after it left. Today we call it "name-branding" and GM did it well!
Following are a few of the promotional pieces that GM used to promote the Parade of Progress.
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Futurliners were built especially for the Parade to carry its animated exhibits. They were the only vehicles of their kind in existence. On a show lot, their 16-foot side panels folded out to form marquees and stage platforms. Lighting towers pushed up from their tops and they had their own public address systems. The Parade of Progress was sometimes referred to as a Scientific Circus. It was not only fun to attend but was educational as well and of course, the big selling point – it was FREE! In 1954 the show provided a total of 26 exhibits for visitors to enjoy. To move the exhibits 44 vehicles were used. They consisted of 12 Futurliners, 10 tractor-trailers, 4 trucks and 18 passenger cars. A few of the exhibits included:
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One of the more spectacular new pieces of equipment for the 1941 Parade of Progress show was the new 1,500 person tent. The tent was radical and broke all the rules of traditional tent design. At first glance it looked like an inverted umbrella with ribs exposed. The frame was made of aluminum while the silver skin was plastic-impregnated to make it light-proof, water-proof and yet light in weight.
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A crowd of 79,000 greets the Parade on opening day and a record 457,000 visit during its stay.
Attracting the largest attendance in the history of its travels, the General Motors Parade of Progress closed an eleven-day engagement in Mexico City on January 19, 1938. More than 457,000 persons visited the traveling "circus of science and research" during the engagement. Previously, the exhibition's best day had been one in Oakland, California, when 30,000 people attended. Mexico City broke this single-day attendance record with an opening-day crowd of 79,000 people. On no day did less than 25,000 attend.
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