Tag Archives: LeMans

Revs Institute: The Collier Collection

Naples, Florida

The Frozen Foursome swung by Naples to explore a private car collection at the Revs Institute. To say the collection is vast and impressive would be an understatement.
Upon entering the “museum”, we were told that the Porsche part of the collection alone, “rivaled Stuttgart”.

'53 Porsche
1953 Porsche 550 Coupe: Flat four, air cooled, pushrod engine. Won its Class in Carrera Panamericana IV

1961 Porsche RS-61L Spyder
1961 Porsche RS-61L Spyder: Flat eight, air cooled, twin overhead cam, 210 HP @8200 rpm.

1967 Porsche 911R
1967 Porsche 911R: Flat six air cooled, rear mounted, single OH cam, 210 HP @ 8000 rpm. The most successful 911R ever built with wins that include the 1969 Tour de France and the Tour of Corsica.

1935 Duesenberg SSJ
1935 Duesenberg SSJ: Straight eight, twin OH cams, 500 HP @ 5000 rpm. This car belonged to Gary Cooper.

1928 Stutz Black Hawk
1928 Stutz Black Hawk: Straight eight, single OH cam, 115 HP @ 3600 rpm. This car, driven by Dud C. Wilson, raced at Watkins Glen in 1948. Twenty years after it was built.

Stutz Black Hawk engine
298 cubic inch Black Hawk engine

1935 MG Type PA/PB
“Leonidis”;1935 MG Type PA/PB: 4 cylinder inline engine, single OH cam, Marshall Roots-type supercharger. A regular on the ARCA circuit with driver Miles Collier. Collier became the first driver in a decade to race at LeMans with “Leonidis” in 1939.

Leonidis
Leonidis

1950 Cadillac
1950 Cadillac Series 61: Eight cylinder, 331 cubic inches, 160 HP @ 3800 rpm. Dubbed “Petit Pataud” by the French, Miles and Sam Collier entered this ’50 Cadillac in the 1950 LeMans. This Cadillac Coupe finished 10th out of 60 racers, averaging 81.5mph for the 24 hours.

1963 Corvette
1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport: 377 cu in V8. What’s in that damn, dinosaur? It went by me like I was stopped!”—AJ Foyt at Sebring on the Corvette.
In 1963 at Nassau Speed Week, these Corvettes were finally able to run head to head against the famed Cobras, finally getting out from under the GM ban on racing. With drivers: Roger Penske, Jim Hall, Dick Thompson, John Cannon, and Augie Pabst, the Corvettes simply demolished their Cobra rivals.

1967 Gurney Eagle
1967 All American Racers; Gurney Eagle F-1 race car: 12 cylinder, 60 degree vee engine, 183 cubic inches. Dan Gurney won the Belgian Grand Prix with this car in 1967. Gurney was only the second American to drive an American car to a Grand Prix victory.

1930 Duesenberg Sprint Car
1930 Duesenberg Sprint Car:eight cylinder in-line engine, twin OH cams, Centrifugal supercharger with intercooler manifold, 168.7 cubic inches, 200 + HP.

This is just a small example of the types and quality of the cars on display. If ever in Naples, it is well worth the time to visit.

All car stats provided by the fine folks at the Revs Institute.