2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic
September 2, 2008 by James
Filed under Community, Events, Featured, Fun Finds, Gardens, Great Places, Guest Writer: Lindberg, James G., History, Iowa, Transportation
If you love authentic restorations and car history, the annual Salisbury Automobile Classic is the best of Des Moines, and the event will be held Sunday, September 7 from 12 pm until 5 on the Salisbury House grounds. Ninety vintage cars and hundreds of visitors are expected.
The special interest this year is William Crapo Durant whose life history reads like an out of control comet: son of Michigan’s governor; high school drop out; manager then buyer of Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (then called Oakland) and Cadillac; came close to buying Ford; founded General Motors; lost them all; co-founded Chevrolet Motors then bought out his partner; rejoined GM and led a huge expansion of the business including the purchase of Fisher Body and formation of GMAC; lost enormous wealth in the 1920s; fired at GM; founded another auto company only to go bankrupt during the Great Depression; managed a bowling alley in Flint; collected a pension from GM. He was a genius who at several wrong times, ran his businesses and his life a little too close to the edge of insolvency.
You can read his story in
- Flint Journal
- the Flint library website
- encyclopedia.com
- GM next
I have gone the last three years. To me the Salisbury Automobile Classic was well worth the time.
photos by Jim Lindberg
James is James G. Lindberg (Jim) is the Purple Wren’s sweetie and is a visiting chemistry professor at Grinnell College and retired from Drake University.
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[...] bookmarks tagged journal 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic saved by 3 others esmtz bookmarked on 09/02/08 | [...]
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
awesome cars dude
is anyone allowed to get a ride in them
considering they must b lotsa dollars to own
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[...] 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic was spectacular! An unusual treat this year was the 1933 Nash in the Salisbury House Courtyard; it [...]
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