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Art Astor has assembled
a delightful collection
of Americana that
happens to include
nearly every car ever loved
by an American family
Art Astor is the modern-day Don Lee.
Don Lee owned a broadcasting network during the 1920s and 30s; Art
Astor owns a broadcasting group today. Don Lee pioneered television, developing
receivers, transmitters, and actually broadcasting nearly a decade
before NBC; Art Astor brought Wolfman Jack to American airwaves and is
developing an international syndication for the Wolfman’s shows. Don Lee
was a car enthusiast in Los Angeles; Art Astor is a car enthusiast in Orange
County. Don Lee’s name is associated with Cadillac and racing cars; Art
Astor’s collection is truly eclectic but Ford models do predominate.
Once upon a time a man named Bill Harrah had a collection in Reno. Any
Ford aficionado could go there and see examples of every year and model of
that favored marque lined up by year. Today, the Astor Collection fills that
void as the photos on this page show with the row of Model A’s, the row of
1940s models and the line of 1949-1950 and 1951s or, as on facing page, the
first years of the two-seater Thunderbird.
Some less usual cars are part of the collection too. A 1936 Ford isn’t that
unusual but modify the chassis just a bit and clothe it in a made-in-Britain
Jensen body with custom interior appointments (top and middle on facing
page) and deliver it to Clark Gable — ah, well, that’s another matter entirely.
Ford Werke, AG was conceived as an assembly plant that would be supplied
with components by Dearborn and the Dagenham plant situated on the
banks of the River Thames in England. However Ford Werke began production
in Cologne in 1933, the same year der führer urged the German citizenry
to "support home industry." By 1935 Cologne-built Fords were
certified as one hundred per cent German manufacture.
On the far eastern side of Germany, in Dresden, coachbuilder
Gläser Karosserie had developed a gorgeous convertible
coupe body for the Allemagne-made Fords. One of those
bodies, modified and mounted on an American-built Ford, with
custom, and equally gorgeous, interior (facing page) found its
way to America and into the Astor collection.
Closer to its Dearborn home, very close in fact, elegant
custom coachwork was being created for Lincoln (and others)
by LeBaron Carrossiers. This firm, a partnership of Ray
Dietrich and Tom Hibbard, had commenced business in New
York in 1920. By 1925 Dietrich was gone and in ’29 Briggs
Manufacturing purchased it, moving the design function to
Detroit. It was only natural that Lincoln would avail themselves
of LeBaron services and what could be more grand than
a pairing of LeBaron coachwork with the V-12 engine/chassis.
This 1936 Lincoln V-12 convertible limousine (left) is
believed to have been part of the Wrigley fleet. Wrigley,
founder of the Wrigley Company of chewing gum fame, was
also an avid automobilist. Son Philip K. Wrigley inherited
both the chewing gum empire and the passion for automobiles
from his father who died in 1932. Thus this Lincoln V-12
very likely could have been part of Philip’s estate after his
passing in 1977.
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