Vintage cars – The ExhaustNotes Blog

The Warhawk Air Museum

By Joe Berk

Sue and John Paul started the Warhawk Air Museum in 1989. It contains aircraft, automobiles, aircraft engines, automobiles, guns, and other things from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. For us, it was our eighth Idaho stop and only our third day in Idaho. We were covering a lot of ground.

The entrance to the Warhawk Air Museum hangar and display area.

Aircraft

The Warhawk Museum had a bunch of aircraft both inside the hangar and parked outside on the tarmac. I love these kinds of places and I love these vintage airplanes, partly because they photograph so well but mostly because of what they represent. We were taking in military history and I was loving it.

“Parrot Head,” a Curtiss P-40N Warhawk dominating the Warhawk Museum display area.

“The Boise Bee,” a North American P-51C Mustang.

The Warhawk has a beautiful, jet black, Vietnam-era Huey helicopter. I spent some time when I was in the Army flying around on Hueys (not in Vietnam, though). My time in the service was fun. I enjoyed the Huey rides, especially when the doors were open and the pilots flew low level. Cue in Ride of the Valkyries.

A Bell UH-1C “Mike” gunship helicopter. The “Mike” had an upgraded 1400 shp turbine.

Nose art on the “Mike” Huey: The 68th Assault Helicopter Company (the “Mustangs”). This is cool stuff.

Engines

The Warhawk Museum displays an impressive collection of piston and jet engines. The old radials, in particular, were amazing. As an engineer and as a motorcycle guy, the radials spoke to me. But they were all nice to take in. Mechanical stuff is just so much more intuitive and easy to understand than electronics or software. I can look at mechanical things and comprehend how they work; I could never do that with electronics or software.

A Curtiss OX–5 airplane engine. It’s a 90-horsepower V8 made in 1917.

A macro shot of the Curtiss OX–5 engine’s rockers. These parts were cast and machined more than a century ago.

A Pratt and Whitney R-985-AN 14B air-cooled radial engine. It made 450 horsepower and was used in three aircraft, including the C-45.

A second R-985-AN14B display engine. As the designator implies, these 9-cylinder engines displaced 985 cubic inches.

An Allison V-1710-81 water-cooled engine. It was a V-12 that generated 1,425 horsepower. During World War II, these powered the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, the Bell P-39 Airacobra and the twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

A Ranger engine. These powered the Fairchild PT-19 aircraft.

Perhaps the most impressive radial engine in the world: The Pratt & Whitney 4360 radial engine.

Another view of the It’s a 28-cylinder four-row radial piston engine that powered the C-124 Globemaster, the KC-97 tanker, and the B-36 Peacemaker. The B-36 had six of these engines. That’s 168 cylinders! How’d you like to adjust the valves on a B-36?

Automobiles

Who doesn’t enjoy vintage automobiles? I’ve probably done a dozen or more blogs on vintage automobiles in various museums around the country and I never get tired of seeing them. The Warhawk Museum had several vintage cars, and several more military vehicles.

A little 1960 Nash Metropolitan. These were made in England. They had a 120cc engine and sold for $1,672. Beep beep!

A 1940 DeSoto Deluxe with a beautiful two-tone tan and cream paint theme. This car retailed for $905 when it was new.

The DeSoto’s hood ornament. Those were the days!

A 1930 Packard 8. It was powered by a torquey inline 8-cylinder engine, and sold for a princely $2,385 in 1930.

A 1927 Studebaker couple. These had 6-cylinder engines and sold for $1,575 (big bucks in 1927).

The Studebaker’s radiator-cover-mounted brand emblem.

A US Army halftrack with a quad .50 mount. These are interesting vehicles. Note the armor on the radiator. I’ve always wondered why car or accessory companies making big tough guy trucks never copied this design; I think it would look cool.

A 1955 Buick Century. This was the golden era of GM auto design. This car had a 236-horsepower V8 and it sold for $2,590 in 1955. These were fast cars in 1955. The California Highway Patrol used them.

Other Interesting Stuff

In between all the exhibits mentioned above (as well as many more Warhawk Museum exhibits that space precludes including), there wasn’t any wasted real estate. I’m only showing a couple of representative exhibits here on the blog, but there were many, many more.

Flight suits, a uniform, and other militaria make for a colorful photo.

An M1903 .32 ACP Colt. I had one of these years ago.

The Warhawk Museum is located at 201 Municipal Drive in Nampa, Idaho, about 15 minutes from downtown Boise. It costs $15 to get in (and it may well be the best $15 you’ll ever spend). Vets, Seniors, and active duty military get a discount.

You can rent the indoor Museum display area for weddings and other events. My youngest daughter had her wedding at the Chino Planes of Fame Museum (a vintage aircraft museum) and it was an awesome event. These places make for cool venues; if I was a young guy getting married I’d consider it.

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The Franklin Automobile Museum in Tucson, Arizona

That motorcycle you see in the photo above is a 1913 Thor. It’s not been restored; the paint is original, as are the tires (and they still hold air). You don’t see something like that every day, and it’s something I didn’t even know was there. “There” being the Franklin Automobile Museum in Tucson, Arizona, a hidden gem in every sense of the word (more on that in a second).

A Franklin grill. These are majestic automobiles.

Never heard of the Franklin automobile? Don’t feel bad; I hadn’t, either. In checking out what museums were in the Tucson area, we found the Franklin Automobile Museum with an Internet search. The Franklin Automobile Museum has been called Tucson’s best kept secret. I believe it. I’ve been to Tucson many times and, as I said above, I had never heard of it.

Franklins were luxury cars, competitors to Cadillacs and other high end automobiles before the Great Depression. A Ford Model A in those days might cost $600. Most Franklins cost about $3,000; some went as high as $6,500.

A 1934 Franklin 19-B Club Sedan. This automobile has a 274-cubic-inch factory supercharged air-cooled straight six engine.

The first Franklin was designed by John Wilkinson in 1900. An industrialist named Herbert H. Franklin manufactured the cars, and the car was named accordingly. Franklins featured air cooled engines (initially four cylinder engines, but as the company grew, so did the cars and their engines…all the way up to a V-12, and yes, even the V-12 engines were air cooled). The cars were manufactured in Syracuse, New York. Franklin built approximately 153,000 cars from 1902 to 1934, and then the firm closed its doors, a victim of the Great Depression.

An early 1905 Franklin Model A Runabout. The car has a transversely mounted air cooled inline four cylinder engine.

The H.H. Franklin Club, founded in 1951, aimed to preserve the legacy of these automobiles. Approximately 3700 Franklins survive.

The Franklin Automobile Museum came to be as a result of the late Thomas Hubbard, a Tucson businessman. Hubbard was born in New York but raised by his aunt and in Tucson. Hubbard’s parents owned a Franklin. They visited Thomas in Tucson every year, driving the Franklin from New York to Arizona. Hubbard was impressed by his parent’s annual road trips, and he bought his first Franklin in 1953. It was the first of many. Hubbard opened the Franklin Automobile Museum in Tucson in 1962.

A 1931 Franklin 153 DeLuxe Phaeton, with a custom body by the Merrimac Body Company. This Franklin has the 274 cubic inch air cooled straight six engine. This car’s original price was $6,500, a heady sum in 1931!

A 1932 Franklin Series 16 Pursuit Phaeton, with the original factory body style and colors. This car has the same 274 cubic inch straight six air cooled engine. It was the first year of the synchronized transmission.

The Franklin Museum is tucked away in northeast Tucson’s Richland Heights area at 1405 East Kleindale Road. It’s not a place you would just stumble on to or notice from the street. If you use a nav system to find your way to the address (a highly recommended to get there), don’t be surprised when you enter the neighborhood: Even though the Museum is in a major American city, the roads in this area are dirt. And even though the address is on East Kleindale, the Museum entrance is on Vine (just around the corner).

The Franklin Automobile Museum is open mid-October to Memorial Day, Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $12, with discounts available for senior citizens and students. I’d give the place two thumbs up, and that’s only because I don’t have three thumbs. It’s well worth a visit.

A special thanks for Tony Warren of the Franklin Automobile Museum for the photos you see here.

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Yoo-Hoo Fred weighs in!

In response to our Bikes Gone By blog last week, good buddy Yoo-Hoo Fred sent this note to us:

Hello Joe & Joe:

Enjoyed your Bikes Gone By piece as I do almost all of your blogs.

As suggested here’s a list of the vehicular transportation modes that have gone through my garage(s) over the years:

Motorcycles
Yamaha Mini-Enduro
Yamaha DT100
Yamaha DT125
Yamaha DT250
Honda XL250
Yamaha XT250
Yamaha Maxim 700
Yamaha XT350
Kawasaki Vulcan 700
Yamaha Seca II
Kawasaki Ninja 250
Ducati 900CR
Honda XR400
Yamaha PW50
Yamaha PW80
Honda XL70
Yamaha YZF750
Yamaha Virago 1100
Yamaha FZR600
Yamaha FZ1
Honda XR100
Yamaha R1
Yamaha FJR1300
Triumph Tiger 1050
Triumph Thruxton
Yamaha FZ6R
Triumph Speed Triple
Triumph Tiger 800
Yamaha DT250
Yamaha WR250

Cars
Datsun PL620 Pick-Up
Datsun 200SX (78)
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Pontiac Sunbird (78)
Dodge Colt Levis Edition
Datsun B210 Wagon
Mazda B2000 Pick-Up
Datsun 200SX
Ford F-150 Pick-Up
Chevrolet S-10 4X4 LB
Dodge Colt Vista Van
Pontiac 6000 Wagon
Pontiac Fiero (84)
Pontiac Sunbird (92)
Pontiac Bonneville
Ford Ranger Splash
Ford Conversion Van
Lincoln Continental
Chevrolet Cavailer Z24
Jeep Cherokee
Chevrolet S-10 Lowrider
Chevrolet Astro Van
Honda Passport
Acura Legend
Ford Mustang
Nissan Frontier
Chevrolet Trailblazer
Honda Accord
Dodge Grand Caravan
Pontiac Grand Prix
Pontiac Sunfire
Nissan Xterra
Pontiac Fiero (85)
Chevrolet Cavalier (03)
Chevrolet Cavalier (98)
Chevrolet Camaro (97)
Chevrolet Silverado
Volkswagen Jetta
Chevrolet Cavalier (00)
Jeep Wrangler 4 Door X
Chevrolet Cruze
Chevrolet Camaro
Chevrolet Volt
Chevrolet Sonic
Mazda Miata
Jeep Wrangler (09)
Buick Tour X
Subaru CrossTrek

That includes some for spousal units and kids…..currently only have the Tiger 1050, Volt, and CrossTrek in the garage.

Except for the Fieros (!) each vehicle could store a sufficient amount of Yoo-Hoo.

I would send pictures of them all, but the Internet would break.

Fred, that’s a lot of cars and a lot of motorcycles. Thanks for sending the photos and the note!

So, how about it, ExhaustNotes readers? Do you have photos of your motorcycles that have gone down the road? Please send them to us (info@exhaustnotes.us) and we’ll post them here on the blog!

Vintage Rolls at the Nethercutt

We had a grand time at the Nethercutt Collection yesterday. There were several collections within this collection, and two of our favorites were the vintage Rolls Royce and the vintage Cadillac collections. This post focuses on the Rolls Royces; we’ll post the Caddies a bit later.

All of the above photos were in the main hall of the Nethercutt Collection, where approximately 150 cars are on display. Across the street, in the showroom for the guided tour, we saw the Rolls that formerly belonged to Constance Bennett, an actress.

This is the greatest collection of vintage cars I’ve ever seen, and it’s all free. We had an earlier Nethercutt post from a prior visit, and you can see that one here.

Keep an eye on the ExhaustNotes blog; we’ll be posting the Nethercutt’s similar series of vintage Cadillacs in the next few days.