05 Jan

New England Auto Museum Announces Winter Speakers Series in Westport Beginning January 30

Dragone Classics Gallery & Showroom, 176 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut

Dragone Classics Gallery & Showroom, 176 Post Road West, Westport, Connecticut

Westport, Conn. – The New England Auto Museum announced the formation of a Winter Speakers Series to take place at Dragone Classic Gallery & Showroom in Westport featuring well-known automotive writers and experts. Each event will be held on Saturday morning commencing at 11AM and a light luncheon will be provided. Specifically the events have been scheduled as follows:

January 30 – “CARS OF THE FUTURE: SMART, SAFE & SUSTAINABLE”
Freelance writer Eric Evarts has been writing about energy, the environment, technology, transportation, business, and consumer affairs for 25 years. He spent 15 years covering business, advanced technology, and the auto industry for The Christian Science Monitor spending the past 10 years at Consumer Reports writing about cars, fuel economy, pollution, and alternative fuels, and the latest developments in transportation and technology. He can tell readers how to get the best deal and avoid buying a lemon, whether it’s a used car or a bad mortgage. He currently works as a freelance writer for AAA, Nature, and a new consumer website, thewirecutter.com

Writer & Car Expert Eric Evarts

Writer & Car Expert Eric Evarts

February 27 – “CARS OF THE PAST – STORIED INDEPENDENT AUTOMAKERS”
One of America’s best-known automotive writers is historian/author Patrick Foster – a dedicated researcher who has spent more than 30 years studying various aspects of the automotive industry, has also been writing for automotive magazines for well over a decade. He has appeared on several radio and television talk shows and also the documentary “Women and the Automobile”, produced for television, in which Foster explained the significance of the Nash Metropolitan, a car designed primarily for women.

Pat has written numerous books on almost all the independent U.S. automakers that have disappeared from the scene including Packard, Studebaker, American Motors and many others. Pat is a feature writer and columnist for Hemmings Classic Car magazine, writes for Automobile Quarterly and Collectible Automobile, and has a column in Old Cars Weekly.

Author Patrick Foster with his restored 1967 Rambler Rogue

Author Patrick Foster with his restored 1967 Rambler Rogue

April 2 – “THE EARLY DAYS OF THE AUTOMOBILE IN CONNECTICUT”
Hartford does not claim to have made the first automobile but does claim to have started the automotive industry,” This statement was made by pioneer auto designer and engineer, Henry Cave, who worked with Daimler Motor Company, Locomobile and with George B. Seldon to design, develop and demonstrate the first Seldon patent car. The 24th Annual Klingberg Vintage Motorcar Festival in New Britain, CT on June 18th, 2016, will feature many automobiles manufactured in Connecticut including examples from Pope Hartford, Columbia, Corbin and Locomobile and is in fact the largest gathering of these early “brass era” cars in the country. Klingberg Festival Director Mark Johnson will talk about plans for this year’s event including participation again this year by Wayne Carini, host of “Chasing Classic Cars” on VelocityTV, as Grand Marshal with his dad Bob and daughter Lindsay.

Mark Johnson at the opening of the Klingberg History Museum in New Britain, 2014

Mark Johnson at the opening of the Klingberg History Museum in New Britain, 2014

Each Speakers Series event will include a technical session hosted by restoration expert and historian George Dragone focusing a one aspect of classic car preservation and maintenance. The January 30th seminar will feature representatives from New England Dry Stripping of Trumbull, CT providing tips and insight on their area of expertise. Tickets for each event will be $15 per person and can be purchased at the door or in advance at the museum’s web site www.neautomuseum.org. The Dragone Showroom is at 176 Post Road West in Westport, CT.

Source: New England Auto Museum

Pope Hartford back in the day

Pope Hartford back in the day