A few months back while putting together our article on “RUST-oration Shows You Should Watch“ we stumbled across a program on MotorTrend TV called “Autobiography.” Being an amateur historian I was intrigued by the shows premise and… it’s always good to have something on in the background while you’re working, right? Progress was unfortunately halted when we hit Episode 3: “The Case of the Hidden Race Cars” as seen below. (Our apologies if you don’t have access to MotorTrend TV or the MotorTrend-Go! App, but definitely worth the watch.)
#spoileralert – The Shelby Daytona Coupe & Bugatti 57G Tank
The episode starts off talking about the 1964 Shelby Daytona Coupe (Prototype #1) and is filled with “REDRUM and Mystique” in a very Unsolved Mysteries of James Dean sort of way. Naturally, we were immediately hooked! The Daytona Coupe saw time at the Bonneville salt flats, changed owners a few times, including becoming the daily-driver of the famous music icon: Phil Spector. This Daytona Coupe may-or-may-not have been “the getaway car” in some alleged nefarious activities, was given away to “the bodyguard & his daughter” and then disappeared for over 30 years in an undisclosed warehouse in Los Angeles. Admittedly, there is more to this Shelby’s sorted past, but we don’t want to spoil everything. #morethanmeetstheeye #theplotthickens #thegameisafoot.
Featured alongside the infamous Shelby, was the recount of the Bugatti 57-G “tank” (seen above) – though, not shrouded in as much intrigue and espionage as the Shelby, its back story is also quite remarkable. During the early days of WW2, as German occupation of France was imminent, Ettore Bugatti decided that in order for “Bugatti to survive the war” some of his vehicles needed to be protected. Literally burying them underground in a secret location that only a select few people knew, it was a huge gamble that the 57G – let alone anyone knowing its whereabouts – might survive the war and be exhumed later. Many years passed, and the car was eventually pulled from it’s coffin, making this particular Bugatti a one-of-a-kind war-veteran.
The episode concludes with the hosts revealing that both of these vehicles found homes together at the Simeone Foundation / Museum in Philadelphia, PA. Followed by an interview with retired neuro-surgeon Dr. Frederick “Fred” Simeone talking about both cars and his museum.
The Museum
>Eureka!< A faint recollection of someone mentioning this venue in past conversations immediately came to mind. A couple calls and texts later to confirm… we found a few of our members had been to Simeone before – Sounds like it’s time to schedule a field trip! – After re-watching the Autobiography episode, it quickly became our mission to fire up the Mystery-Bus to go see the Shelby and the Bugatti in person.
The museum is nestled in an industrial park between the Philadelphia Airport and the Central Post Office which is only a couple hours away from GTM HQ. The museum itself is a rather non-descript building right off I-95 that looks to be a former factory, and you’d probably drive right past it if it wasn’t for the large blue signs out front.
Simeone’s collection took over 50 years to get to this point and contains over 75 cars, many of which are un-restored. Inside the museum, you’ll find that it’s a large open space, that has been cut up into themed areas like: Pre-war Racers, the Bonneville Salt-flats, Brooklands, an Italian Piazza, a working Garage, LeMans & Sebring Pit Stalls, and it’s own version of Gasoline Alley. Even though this museum might not be at the same level as something like the Barber Motorsports Museum we visited last year, its special in that its not only a private collection but also only focuses on “RACE CARS” – more specifically race cars with a pedigree, and a story to tell.
The museum seems to have the ability to change its front stage theme around easily and often. It complements the more static displays with two “demo days” per month. Our field trip organizers made it a point to schedule this trip around a demo-day weekend making this an extraordinary visit. The primary theme of the month held strong with the latest car-related pop culture craze of “Ford vs Ferrari.” While the demo-day centered around “The Dawn of the American Sports Car” which featured pre-World War 1 racers. Words simply can’t do justice to the exhibits, so we’ve put together a brief slideshow (below) with over 400 more pictures available through our Shutterfly Vault.
DEMO DAY! – “The Dawn of the American Sports Car”
As we mentioned, Demo Day is a special “twice a month” event, held on Saturday’s between 11am and 1pm. A portion of the vehicles from various exhibits are selected for review and starts with a technical demonstration surrounding the theme of the day. Since this was pre-WW1 era vehicles there was a lot of talk about Magneto Coils, “Flat vs T-shaped” cylinder heads and other period appropriate race car engineering.
Guests were then invited to get up-close-and-personal with the vehicles. Unlike most museums where the mantra is “look but don’t touch” this rare opportunity makes the experience more like “spending time in Fred’s garage” than just strolling along doing “the museum walk.” Being able to ask questions of Simeone’s very knowledgeable staff made the experience that much more impressive.
The cars on display this weekend included a 1909 American Underslung Traveler, 1912 National Model 40 Semi-Racing Roadster, 1916 Stutz Series 4C Bearcat, 1912 Hudson Roadster and the 1913 Mercer Raceabout.
After about a 20 minute lecture, the national anthem was played (Members Brett S and Brad N seen above, left), and then Dr. Simeone took the stage (above, right) to talk about each vehicle individually before they were moved to the large parking lot behind the museum for their parade laps. Take a moment to review the full length video below for the live demonstration portion of the event.
As we all know – and you can see from the video – Race Cars, like all older cars, need to be driven and can be quite persnickety and temperamental. Unlike other museums where you don’t know whether or not the items you’re looking at are just life size models, all of the vehicles at Simeone RUN! And because of the demo days, they make it a point to exercise all of the cars throughout the year. And much like our weekends… not all race cars are willing participants (Stutz, below right), and others often have issues (Mercer, below left). #becauseracecar.
Clocking in at a modest $12 admission fee for adults, this is a great place to take the family for a day-trip. Simeone supports educators and offers free admissions to Teachers and their families (up-to-4 people). The museum also offers several week long summer camps for children ages 6-10 and 11-15, concentrating on racing history and race car engineering. Hands on displays like the “motorized Fiat 600 cut-away model” was insightful and thought provoking for seasoned wrench-turners and newbies alike (Brad N seen below, trying it out).
We were really pleased that we got to meet Dr. Simeone in person (cover photo) and share in his passion. He’s a very knowledgeable car enthusiast, a real aficionado, and it shows. The consensus between the 8 folks from GTM (representing 3 of our regions) that made the trip was that it was well worth the price of admission! Many of us agreed that we are definitely going to make it a point to return for some of the summer demo days like “Le Mans 1959 – Simeone’s 24 Minutes of Le Mans!” –or- “Living to Race, Racing to Live! – Bugatti, Maserati, Ferrari, Shelby” – because who doesn’t want to hear a fire breathing Flat-12 Porsche running around a parking lot? – We hope you can join us on the return trip.
