Revs Collier auto museum

Drove down with an old friend and racing buddy to Naples. FL for a private tour of the Collier Museum. On board were his nephew - also a car nut with a VW Scirocco, his wife and someone I never met, who turned out to be Dave from PA, aka Vette on the Austin Healey board. Incredible place. The former Briggs Cunningham collection is also there now, including every Cunningham ever built, the Le Monstre, the LeMans Cadillac, cars of all kinds from 1899 to super race cars of yesterday like the Miller Special, and today, more Porsches than in the Stuttgart Museum, a 1939 Mercedes Grand Prix cr (the kind that used to race with Auto Unions), an SSKL Mercedes, Delahaye, Bugatti, Delage, Ford GT40s, actual winners, a Scarab, a Birdcage Maserati, Lancias, Alfas, Ferraris, Deusenbergs, including Gary Coopers, the first Ferrari to win a race in the US and the car Sam Collier was killed in, auto memorabilia, the largest collection of auto books, original photographs, blueprints, you-name-it, in the entire world. British cars included a McLaren, a 1935 MG Magnette, several Rolls and Bentleys, Vanwall race car (the last rear wheel front engine car to win a Grand Prix race), Cooper, original Mini, and a Lotus Elite (being restored and up on blocks). Most of the cars also had a written plaque containing the story of the car. There was also a complete restoration shop with skilled techs walking around. Beside the Lotus, being worked on was a VW Beetle with a Porsche engine and a famous racing Corvette coupe. The library is upstairs and is not open to the general public but we had a guide and pre-arranged to see the archives. Lunch at Spanky's - a local joint a few blocks away, followed. Well worth a visit if you're in South Florida. Vette also has a BJ8 Healey, two Corvettes and an MGB needing total restoration. He was very knowledgeable.

Hi PD, it was great spending time with you guys down there. Every time I go to Florida to see our mutual buddy I get to hang with the best car guys in the world. It was great spending time with you. And the Museums and the food were great weren't they. If you ever get to Central Pa look me up. We'll hang out in my garage and have a sip of a wee bit of the amber fluids. I'll be up at The Glen for the Sahlen 6hrs of The Glen in June maybe we'll run into each other there. Michael said he might hop over from Conn. and drop into our airport one of these days maybe you could hitch a ride. Good seeing you. Dave. By the way, my C5 Vette made it a beautiful trip with open roads all the way. As I drove up the last mile to my house I got some snow flurries on the Vette, after I was home about 1/2 hr there was an inch of snow on the ground. We pulled into the garage in a nick of time. That Vette doesn't like snow.

Been through the Collier a couple times. The Elite was intact then. M. Collier drove it occasionally. An old pal is the CEO there, and another guy I worked with in Sewickley back-when. Top tier folks. I have some Elite bits here, must reach out to them now that the car is being restored. They had a red 275 GTB/4 that was previously owned by another pal's bro-in-law for a while. That friend and his son were with the group going through the place and remarked that the son had stood in the driver's seat as a toddler and made vroom-vroom noises as he jogged the steering wheel.

Oh, and the Porsche 907 was owned by another friend for a bit, he sold it (cheap) because he wasn't going to find the time to get it into good nick... kicked himself when we went through the collection and he saw it. Got permission to take a photo of him beside his former Porsche.

Great Stories Dr. Our group was quided that day by the current CEO I think. I might be mistaken because I was absorbing a lot that day and might have gotten his title wrong. The fellow that guided us was relatively new to the place, only a few years there. Could that be the pal you speak of. He did a great job and treated us really well. I will try to attach some pics of the cars we saw.

My pals had been there for many years, didn't know there was a change of personnel. Haven't been down there for a couple years now.

Sending a PM.

Was it a real Elite (Coventry Climax),or the "other" one (907)?

I'd like to see this museum, must make a trip.

By the way, Vanwall wasn't the last front-engined GP car to win a GP. They last won in 1958, Ferrari ran front-engined cars, and won, after that. The last win was the 1960 Italian GP.

Well Doc, at the risk of being picky, your use of the term "Coventry" suggests that you too may be under the misapprehension that Coventry is the make, and Climax the model.
The maker's name is Coventry Climax. The model in the Elite was the FWE. It would have been much clearer if they had called the company Coventry-Climax!

They made all kinds of engines, apart from fire pump. Before WW2 they, and their predecessor Coventry-Simplex made engines for smaller car makes, among others Triumph and Morgan.

Coventry alone is the name of the city where they were made. Godiva, the name on their emblem, was the wife of an Earl, and she rode naked through the streets of Coventry to protest against high taxes imposed by her husband.

The gentleman at Collier was Mark Vargas, Director of Library and Archives. I have his card. Formerly from academia and much happier in this job.

It's been quite some time since I've been at the Collier, but it's a great collection and well worth a visit. I'm a big fan of the Simeone as well.

Roger said:

Well Doc, at the risk of being picky, your use of the term "Coventry" suggests that you too may be under the misapprehension that Coventry is the make, and Climax the model.
The maker's name is Coventry Climax. The model in the Elite was the FWE. It would have been much clearer if they had called the company Coventry-Climax!

Click to expand...

Yeah, Roger, I know. For the sake of brevity I omitted the Climax part. Most of the Sevens (original) were also Coventry Climax engined. And the "Cosworth" nomer has some misconceptions connected with it as well. Wasn't trying to muddy the water, just make it clear the Elite was an earlier, "proper" one. :smirk:

Speaking of engines, they had a number of engines on display, both in and out of vehicles. You can't imagine the complexity of the 1939 Mercedes or the Ford GT 40. They look like nothing you've ever seen and make a DOHC Jag engine look like a Model T.