By Jim Miga

It was one of those midsummer days when the air was thick, hot, murky, and motionless. But that didn’t dampen the spirits of the crowd that gathered for our private visit to the Collings Foundation car and airplane collection on Sunday, July 20th. At around 11:30 AM, the cars started to roll in, one right after another, and what cars they were! The first to arrive was a Maserati Quattroporte, followed by an Alfa Romeo Duetto, a Bentley Continental, a Jaguar XK 120 fixed head coupe, a Triumph TR6, a 1947 Buick convertible, several Harley-Davidsons(!), and many more Alfas, Jags, Porsches, Triumphs, and other marques (including AONEr John & Lauren DeWaele’s sharp red Morgan). This was great — the participants all brought their toys!

In the end, there were well over 50 cars arrayed in the field and upwards of 100 visitors—a terrific turnout! Along with our AONE crowd, we were joined by members of the Porsche Typ 356 club, NET (New England Triumphs), JANE (Jaguar Owners of New England), and a local Harley-Davidson group.

As the various cars arrived, the tire-kicking began, and then our crowd unloaded its picnic coolers, collapsible chairs and tables, blankets and pillows, and sought the shelter of a nearby row of trees to provide some shaded relief from the heat. It was pleasant chatting with some long-time friends as well as some folks from the other clubs whom we hadn’t met before, while consuming and sharing the food and drink we’d brought.

At around 1 PM, we were summoned to the entrance of the collection’s main building (an attractive wood and stone structure that doubled as an aircraft hangar), where we were greeted by Bob and Caroline Collings, co-founders of the Collings Foundation. There isn’t room here to go into all of the nifty things the Foundation does, so we urge you to visit their web site (www.collingsfoundation.org) to learn more. In brief:

The purpose of the Foundation is to organize and support "living history" events that enable Americans to learn more about their heritage through direct participation. The original focus of the Foundation was transportation-related events such as antique car rallies, hill climbs, carriage and sleigh rides, along with a winter ice-cutting festival. During the mid-eighties, these activities were broadened to include aviation-related events such as air shows, barnstorming, historical reunions, and joint museum displays.

It turned out that Bob was prepared to give us much more of a guided tour than we were expecting! Not only were we taken around to see the many airplanes and dozens of cars, but we also learned a lot of aviation and automotive history. Bob is a fountain of knowledge and an interesting, entertaining speaker—everyone greatly appreciated the time he spent with us and the enthusiasm he shared. The hangar was filled with aircraft dating back to 1909 as well as Indy, Formula, and Midget race cars. Also on display were several military vehicles from World Wars I and II and several micro-cars built by aircraft manufacturers in the 1950s, such as the BMW Isetta and one of the earliest Subarus!

The second part of the tour was held in a colonial-style building adjacent to the hangar that housed the antique car collection. On our way between the buildings, however, the skies opened up, and all of the owners of Spiders (and whatever Spiders are called by the other marques) made a mad dash to their cars to raise their tops, returning to the tour soggy but grinning. Notwithstanding that, the Collings antique car collection is a well-rounded one, boasting some of the greatest American cars from the brass era up to the classics of the 1930s, such as a Mercer Runabout, Stutz Bearcat, coffin-nosed Cord 810, and a Cadillac V-16 owned by Al Capone, all of which were beautifully restored. Also on display were some vintage trucks, such as an early Walker Electric and a Diamond-T flatbed.

While most of us were touring, some of the spouses spent time wandering through the beautiful gardens on the grounds, where Caroline answered questions and gave pointers. There were quite a few youngsters in the group who were enthralled to see such an array of exotic machinery up close (well, so were the adults), so it was truly something for everyone. This was certainly a great event that we hope to do again. Our sincere thanks go to Bob and Caroline Collings for being such gracious
hosts!

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