Each year the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival, features leading automotive collectors from around the world. Among the notable names that visitors and enthusiasts will encounter at the 2019 event are this year’s chosen Pinnacle Collectors, Clive & Janet Cussler, who will share several cars from their collection. The Pinnacle Collector exhibit, will be featured both Saturday and Sunday, November 2 and 3, 2019, at the Port Royal Golf Club on Hilton Head Island.
“Collectors are the lifeblood of who we are. Without their passion for preserving automotive heritage, we would not exist,” said Carolyn Vanagel, the event’s president. “And this year we are excited to name Clive and Janet Cussler, first-timers to our event, as this year’s Pinnacle Collector. They have dedicated themselves to the preservation of astounding rare and vintage automobiles from all over the world with the Cussler Museum in Arvada, CO, and Clive looks at the automobile like we do – as works of art worth showcasing. And in addition to sharing their private collection with our guests, they are supporting our charitable fund, Driving Young America, by auctioning off and “appearance” in Clive’s (a NY Times bestselling author more than 20 times) next book at Autoweek’s Design Among the Stars dinner on Saturday, November 2 at The Sea Pines Resort.”
2019 Pinnacle Award Collector: Clive & Janet Cussler (Paradise Valley, AZ)
The Pinnacle Award debuted in 2013 in conjunction with the Hilton Head Island Motoring Festival & Concours d’Elegance’s move to the world-class Port Royal Golf Club. This year Clive and Janet Cussler, founders of the Cussler Museum (Arvada, CO) and the Janet Cussler Car Collection (Scottsdale, AZ), join fellow Pinnacle Award recipients Peter & Merle Mullin (2018), Ken Gross (2017), Miles Collier (2016), Fred Guyton (2015), Joseph and Margie Cassini (2014) and Sam and Emily Mann (2013). The Cusslers have hand-selected four incredible automobiles from their collection showcasing their love for old classic cars.
1911 REO FIVE PASSENGER TOURING
Ransom Eli Olds was a pioneer of the American automotive industry, after whom the Oldsmobile and the REO brands were named. He claimed to have built his first steam car as early as 1887 and his first gasoline powered care in 1896.
By 1911 Olds claimed he had built the best car he could, a tourer able to seat two, four, or five, with a 30-35 hp engine, 112-inch wheelbase and 32 inch wheels for $1055. That didn’t include a top, windshield or gas tank, which were $100 extra. A self-started was $25 on top of that.
1916 PIERCE ARROW, SERIES 4, 48 HP, 7 PASSENGER TOURING
Priced from $5,000 to a commanding $6,200, depending on the buyer’s choice of body style, the Pierce Model 48 was revered when new and perhaps even more so today it remains a mighty car, capable of carrying the most imposing coachwork and covering great distances with ease.
This car is a seven-passenger touring, specially ordered without jump seats by Albert Swabacher. Mr. Swabacher was a banker who spent all available free time at a ranch he owned in the Teton Mountains. It was there that the Pierce was kept, used for chauffeured hunting and fishing trips. It is important to note the horn mounted on the left. While he utilized a chauffeur, Mr. Swabacher preferred to blast the car’s horn himself, and he would often do so to alert his staff the he had returned from yet another expedition into the wilderness.
1931 CADILLAC V 16/4380 DUAL COWL ALL WEATHER FLEETWOOD
When Cadillac introduced the V-16 engine and chassis in the fall of 1929, the car became the world’s number one status symbol. The Fleetwood bodies were stylish, excellently built, luxurious and comfortable. The company would make any changes to the car the customer desired. This car is style # 4380 All Weather Phaeton. It is the 175th of 250 made and features a V-windshield, body molding on the hood tops, wool broadcloth and coded fabric interior with burled wood trim and a set of Cadillac factor Pilot Ray driving lights. The wheel base is 148” and average weight including the body is 5,900 lbs.
1937 CORD 812 SC CONVERTIBLE COUPE
The Cord Model 812 is considered by many sculptors and artists to be the most beautiful masterwork of mechanical art ever conceived. The brainchild of Gordon Buehrig, the automobile is unlike any that had come before.
Fewer than three thousand Models 810 and 812 were built. The rarest was the convertible coupe, often referred to by collectors as the Sportsman. One 195 were manufactured and a mere 64 with superchargers.
Receiving a research and complete nut and bolt restoration in 2006 by RM Restoration, the Cord was a winner at Pebble Beach in 2007.
For more information, visit the official Hilton Head Island Concours website at www.HHIConcours.com
