Model T Ford at the Palace of Fine Arts

I was at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco this morning to welcome the arrival of the Historic Vehicle Association of America in their 1915 Model T Ford – culmination of a 3600 mile drive from Detroit following the tracks of Edsel Ford who made the same road trip a century ago. He…

Edsel Ford and a 1915 Model T – automotive archaeology

Mark Gessler and the team from the Historic Vehicle Association of America called in to Stanford’s Revs Program today on their epic trip from Detroit to San Francisco in a 1915 Model T Ford [Link] (Click on the photos for full evocative resolution) They’re following the tracks of Edsel Ford who took a Model T…

Pebble Beach 2015 – history as advocacy

Yesterday I was again at Pebble Beach Concours d’Élegance – that rather exclusive and impressive gathering of car collectors and connoisseurs [Link] I was there to wind up our Stanford class concerned with the historical significance of the automobile (Jon Feiber, David Kelley, Reilly Brennan and myself running ME200). Since April we have been debating…

the automobile as document

This is one of a series of comments on the 8th biennial symposium “Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car” held at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Florida in March 2015. [Link] The skill set of the sophisticated collector Miles Collier took us round some of the cars in the collection of the Revs…

history’s ruin – the case of an automobile

This is one of a series of comments on the 8th biennial symposium “Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car” held at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, Florida in March 2015. [Link] I’m in a workshop at the Revs Institute in Naples Florida, home of Miles Collier’s remarkable collection of cars and all things…

Revs at Pebble Beach Concours

Yesterday was the culmination of ME200 – a class at Stanford concerned with the historical significance of things. With about 30 students last term Reilly (Brennan), Jon (Feiber) David (Kelley), and I explored how cars connect with history. The objective – to judge which of the cars entered for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance was…