1928 was a boom year in several regards. The world stock market was white hot. Skirt lengths were also up, and so too the attitudes of women, who sensed that total freedom for them was at hand. The Volstead Act prohibited alcoholic beverages, but that only gave rise to moonshiners and gangsters. It seemed like everything was on a roll… even at duPont Motors!

Imagine a classy sports car, hand-built to personal tastes and needs, all done using the finest materials with final inspection done by the company owner. The duPont Model G Speedster was such a car, a classy ride built by a company whose roots derived from an immigrant family that started its fortune from gunpowder manufacturing in post-colonial America . This episode introduces the duPont automobile.

The early 20th century witnessed the rise and fall of many American automobile manufacturers. Sometimes they lasted only a few years, sometimes a decade or two. Some of them even made speedsters, and the Cole Motor Car Company was one of them!

The Pathfinder represented a pivot for the partners who now owned the former Parry Auto Company. They renamed it to be the “Motor Car Mfg. Co.” to buy themselves some time with which to invent a company name. Motor Car Mfg. made touring bodies and also a racy speedster, finally deciding on “Pathfinder Mfg Co.” - and that was in 1916, the year before they went bankrupt. Ironic, eh?

The Parry brothers began their careers in buggy manufacturing, with one moving on to cars while another made truck bodies. But it didn’t stop there. In fact, in one way, Parry is still going… its DNA is found in the modern Jeep!

From tow truck obscurity to show circuit celeb, this story chronicles a remarkable Lincoln, rescued from an inglorious end in some forgotten junkyard. A speedster that would go on to win at Pebble Beach and other prestigious concours!

A hundred years ago young hot-rodders were building Model T speedsters in their backyards. For motivated tinkerers on a serious budget, The Kuempel Red-I-Kut kit gave this gal or fella a set of plans and patterns with which to fashion a snappy speedster body. This episode features the only known surviving Kuempel Red-I-Kut Model K9.

Now, go ahead and say that name 10 times!

Does a random expression ever set your mind to thinking about speedsters? For me, it’s “Great Jumpin’ Jehosaphat!” And, of course, I imagine speedsters leaping through the air…

The speedster movement is alive and well, both with classics or modern. This episode considers two marques in the U.K. that produce a speedster.

The roads are alive with classic and home-built speedsters. This post begins a series that we’ll revisit from time to time: owners who own, build, and drive ‘em!