If you want to take an amazing road trip, stop caring how quickly you get somewhere and realize that the journey itself is the destination. Cliché? Sure, but take a long-distance trip on back roads instead of highways and you’ll understand. Just check out this amazing car collection I found in the middle of a field in Colorado while on my 3,500 mile road trip in Project POStal.
Coberly Motor Sales sits just outside of the small town (population: under 8,000) of Lamar, Colorado, — a place you’re not likely to see if you take a major interstate. My brothers and I saw a huge field full of amazing old cars just off of U.S. Route 50, and figured we’d stop by and talk to the owner.
His name is Ed, and his dad opened the used car sales spot just outside of Lamar over 60 years ago. Ed took over after another family member ran the dealership for a number of years, focusing on European cars if I recall correctly. Ed, like his dad, likes a healthy mix of European and American machines.
He greeted us with enthusiasm and took us on an epic tour of his fleet, pointing out fascinating bits of automotive tech. Ed has probably seen the cars sitting out in the field outside of his dealership a million times, but you wouldn’t know it based on how excited he was talking about how the four-cylinder engine in the International scout was basically a V8 chopped in half, or by how thrilled he was to point out the push-button shifter on an old Edsel. I could feel the energy in his voice when he showed me that the rear part of a Studebaker Lark Wagonaire roof cranks wide open, essentially turning the wagon into a pseudo-pickup truck.
Ed lives cars. Literally, and figuratively. It’s awesome.
My favorite in the collection was this old Ford Model A clown car. Notice how the rear wheel spindle is offset, meaning as the vehicle drives, the rear end bounces.
Here’s the aforementioned Wagonaire. It’s amazing:
I loved the diversity of the fleet. Check out this French machine (a Citroën DS):
And look at these two British Ford Prefects, one with a Ford Pinto motor and one with the original 1.2-liter side-valve engine.
That original engine is tiny:
Watch the video at the top to see more of Ed’s awesome collection, and keep an eye out here and on YouTube for a new Project POStal episode next Thursday at noon. (Here’s the last one in case you missed it).
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