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Greetings!
Welcome to the June edition of the Blackhawk Automotive Museum newsletter. Each month we look to share the latest news and information about the Museum, as well as the many automotive events and activities with which we are involved.
This past month has seen a host of activities in the Museum, as well as our participation in a number of shows and events. Thank you to all who joined us for the June 'First Sunday' Cars & Coffee. This event continues to bring out new car enthusiasts each month with an ever growing diversity of cars.
As a public museum our docents are a very important and essential part of the Museum's function and are also the face of the Museum for many of our visitors, so our annual docent awards event is an important date on our calendar. This past week we had five new docents graduate from the training program, and now join the ranks of the team of over one hundred docents we currently have. From school group tours and hosting corporate event guests in our galleries, to car clubs tours and outreach events, the collective number of hours that are devoted each year in support of the Museum by our docents signifies their unlimited passion for the cars.
This summer the oldest active trophy in international sport, the sailing world's America's Cup, will be contested in San Francisco. Originally awarded in 1851, the history and prestige of the trophy has attracted top sailors, top designers, top strategists and the very wealthy to contest for its victory. Also, in June, the world's oldest active sports car race in endurance racing, the 24 Hours of Le Mans, will run its annual race to test the speed and endurance of car and driver. Held since 1923, this race has attracted the very best drivers and cars, being entered by car manufacturers and private teams, all seeking to gain victory.
In these two very competitive sports - sailing and motor racing - there has been one person that has accomplished so much at the highest level that he was inducted into both the America's Cup Hall of Fame, and the Motorsports Hall of Fame - Briggs Swift Cunningham II.
  
photo courtesy Mystic Seaport / Rosenfeld Collection
This July, as part of our 25th Anniversary celebrations, the Blackhawk Automotive Museum will salute Briggs Cunningham. A classic American Sportsman who made his name racing automobiles at Le Mans from 1950 to 1963, and put the United States on the map in European sports car racing. Briggs also skippered the 12-metre yacht COLUMBIA to victory in the 1958 America's Cup. He built his own Cunningham sports and race cars, and built one of the best classic car collections and museum. Through July, the Blackhawk Automotive Museum will showcase a selection of Cunningham cars to pay tribute to a true automotive icon.
We would like to take this opportunity to say congratulations to one of our Museum members and a member of our 25th Anniversary Gala Host Committee, Howden Ganley. Howden, a former race car driver with McLaren, BRM, and Williams in F5000 and Formula One, and for Matra at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, was recently inducted into the New Zealand MotorSport Wall of Fame.
Please join us for our annual Father's Day Car Show on June 16th with cars of all types and family activities throughout the Museum and the Plaza. The Museum's caterer, Scott's, will be presenting a Father's Day Champagne Brunch with sittings at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Father's Day weekend will also see the reopening of the Museum Store and Library. The Store will offer a wide range of automotive books, prints, scale models and other gift ideas. Our Library, which is used by docents for their automotive research, contains publications, promotional materials, and periodical sets going back to 1906. We are always pleased to accept donated automotive book collections to expand our source of research material.
We look forward to seeing you at the Museum during our Silver Anniversary year.
With regards,
Timothy McGrane
Executive Director
25th Anniversary Partnership Opportunities Available
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Feature Museum Exhibit
1963 Jaguar Cunningham E-Type Lightweight
In 1963 the Jaguar E-Type Lightweight made its official debut at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. This much lighter high-performance version of the series E-Type was ordered by Briggs Cunningham, who wanted to enter three in the 1963 24-Hours. His aim was to achieve as high a placing as possible in the GT Class following his 4th place finish in 1962.
This number 14 car, was one of the three sequentially numbered Cunningham Team Jaguar Lightweights entered by Briggs. Drivers Walt Hansgen and Augie Pabst were paired to co-drive. This Cunningham team car would fall prey to transmission problems not long after the start and retire from the race, but in part would help the #15 car go on to a 9th place overall finish with Briggs co-driving.
5114 WK would subsequently be acquired by leading collectors over the years, and starting in 1987 it underwent an extensive restoration after which it would be campaigned in leading historic events such as the Goodwood Revival.
We are proud to have this Jaguar Cunningham Team car on display at the Blackhawk Automotive Museum, especially as it is from the final year of Briggs Cunningham campaigning at the famed endurance race.
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Events - BULLITT 45th Anniversary Car Show - June 22
On June 22, the Blackhawk Museum will host a BULLITT Car Show a s part of a 3 day celebration for the 45th anniversary of the making of the legendary Bullitt movie.
Steve McQueen's San Francisco based legendary pursuit movie still rates as one of the greatest ever car chase movies.
The anniversary event will celebrate both the movie and Steve McQueen, whose insight and commitment to reality gave this movie a place in cinematic history. Highlights of the 3 day event include a tour of the movie locations, an evening movie memories event and the car show at Blackhawk Museum.
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Events - Blackhawk 'First Sunday's Cars & Coffee'
Blackhawk Museum together with Blackhawk Plaza, the East Bay's premier shopping experience, hosts a monthly Cars & Coffee event for car enthusiasts throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Held on the 'First Sunday' of each month, and starting at 8 a.m. and going to 10 a.m., the Plaza and the Museum welcome all car owners and enthusiasts. Thank you to the 155 car owners, along with the Northern California Packard Club and the many attendees who participated in our June 2nd gathering.
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Lecture Series ~ Saturday, July 13
"Art Deco and the Automobile" - J. Michael Hemsley
J. Michael Hemsley retired from the US Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel in 1994, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 2001, and from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2008. As a freelance journalist, he has reported on motorsports events at all levels of the sport and has written about automotive history and, especially, Alfa Romeo automobiles.
He is currently writing a book on all types of vehicles whose design was influenced by or reflects the Art Deco style. The working title for the book is "Art Deco and Transportation." With the establishment of Vintage Roadcar magazine in 2012, he began writing a regular column called "Art Deco and the Automobile" for the magazine.
The July Lecture Series date follows the AlfaCalifornia2013 Convention in the Sonoma Valley Wine Country. |
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About The Blackhawk Automotive Museum
The Blackhawk Automotive Museum, located in Blackhawk Plaza, Danville, California, opened in August 1988 to fulfill its mission of ensuring that significant automotive treasures blending art, technology, culture and history would be exhibited for public enjoyment and educational enrichment. Founded by a partnership between benefactor Ken Behring and Board president Don Williams, the Museum houses a rotating collection of 90 one-of-a-kind custom coachwork classic cars, limited production and concept automobiles across two galleries in a spectacular 100,000 square-foot multi-level architectural masterpiece. The Blackhawk Automotive Museum is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution and is open year round, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday and most major holidays.
To Imagine.... To Dream.... To Inspire....
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