The Audrain Auto Museum celebrated the repeal of Prohibition with a fun night which included an elegant tented dinner, live music and dancing, casino games, and stories from car collector and enthusiast Jay Leno. Held at the beautiful ocean view Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, RI gala guests were treated to a display of rare and vintage automobiles while enjoying cocktails on the terrace and grounds of Rosecliff.
Some highlights

1928 Morris Oxford; this is believed to be the only survivor of three wood-bodied examples built by Parkes Bosy Co. in Kent, England. The 4-cyl, 14 hp, single SU Carb engine had a 3-speed gearbox

1941 Cadillac Fleetwood Imperial Series 67 Limousine; this Cadillac originally belonged to Countess Gladys Vanderbilt Szechenyi, the daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The car was used at the Szechenyi wedding in 1949. Three years later the car received its last oil change and has not been driven more than 2 miles since

Rosecliff Mansion in Newport RI

1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom I Brewster Ascot Phateon; this Springfield Rolls is the only Ascot Phaeton of 21 built with roll-up windows. Painted parking line aside, the car certainly seems at home

1930 Packard Custom Eight Sport Phaeton

1937 Bentley 4 1/4 Litre Open Two-seater; this ‘silent sports car’ is a product of the best minds from Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The two-seater was bodied by Carlton Carriage Co. in England

1959 Nash Metropolitan Convertible; the ’59 model year saw many improvements on the Nash including a glovebox door, seat adjusters, and window vents. Sporting a 55 hp engine, sales peaked at 22,309 in 1959 before production stopped in 1960

1965 Peel Trident; is the second three-wheeled microcar made by the Peel Engineering Company on the Isle of Man

1964 Peel P50; the first 3-wheeled microcar originally manufactured by the Peel Company who produced 50, with 27 still known to exist. It was listed in the 2010 Guinness World Records as the smallest production car ever made. The car has no reverse gear, but a handle at the rear allows the very lightweight car to be picked up and turned or pulled

1961 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite

1959 Autobianchi Bianchina Transformadable

1959 Fiat Jolly; the father of the Jolly was Fiat’s Chairman Gianni Agnelli who wanted a small car to carry aboard his 82-foot ketch, the Agneta, and use during port stops in the Mediterranean Sea. The first Jollys, built on 2-cyl Fiat 500 platforms and modified by Ghia (remove roof, wicker seats, fringe top) were intended for resort trade. A version based on the larger 600 soon followed

1951 Fiat 500C Giardiniera; Fiat built a larger more practical wood-sided ‘Gardener’ 500

1949 Cadillac Derham Limousine; was originally owned by Doris Duke, daughter of a wealthy tobacco tycoon

1912 Packard Model 30 7-Passenger Touring; this Pebble Beach Class-winning Model 30 was acquired by racing legend Phil Hill in 1966

1925 Ford Model T Touring; the ‘Tin Lizzie’ was offered in several body styles including this 5-seat touring car

1906 Pungs-Finch Limited; this is the only Pungs-Finch car known to exist, shortly after completing this car Pungs and Finch had a falling out. The car is powered by a very large 4-cyl 600 cu-in engine

BMW cafe racer

1938 Chevrolet Custom 2-Door Coupe; not generally seen at the club by the Newport-y crowd

1940 Ford DeLuxe Woody Wagon

1948 Hudson Commodore Eight Sedan; the 1948 model year launched Hudson’s trademarked “Monobuilt” or “step-down” car, in which passengers stepped down into the vehicles

The back of Rosecliff Mansion

1948 Tucker 48 ‘Torpedo’; Only 51 cars were made before the company ceased operations on March 3, 1949, due to negative publicity initiated by the news media, an SEC investigation and a heavily publicized stock fraud trial. One of several innovative features was the directional third headlight known as ‘Cyclops Eye’. It would activate at steering angles greater than 10 degrees to light the car’s path around corners. At the time, 17 states had laws against cars having more than two headlights so Tucker fabricated a cover for the cyclops center light for use in those states

1939 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Touring; this is one of thirteen 6C’s to receive coachwork by Carrozerria. ‘Superleggera’ is just such a sexy word

Porsche 918 Spyder; if there were a bumblebee supersonic superhero this is what she would drive on her superhero day off

1956 DeSoto Fireflite; equipped with a V8 engine producing 200 hp when equipped with the 4 barrel carburetor and PowerFlite automatic transmission. The car cost $3,544 and AM radio was a $110 option

Ferrari 330 GTC

2005 Ford GT

1969 Oldsmobile 442 Coupe

1968 Ferrari 330 GTC in lovely Oro Chiaro

2011 Porsche 911 GT3 RS

2014 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG; 622 Hp, 6.3 L, V-8 naturally aspirated engine, and silly gullwing doors that should have been deleted off the modern edition

1971 Porsche 914-6 Targa; in the perfect color ‘blood orange’. The 914-6 came with a 2.0-liter (vs 1.7 L on the 914) flat-six engine with 110 hp from the Porsche 911 (vs 80 hp on the 914 from Volkswagen). The 914/6 was built by Porsche at the main plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen

1978 Aston Martin V8 ‘Canadian Vantage’; eight cars were built for the Canadian market, 4 automatic and 4 manual including this one. Engines were spec’d to European Stage 1 standards and given the chassis # suffix LCA

2014 Bentley GT3-R; weighing in at almost 5,000 lbs, this green-striped 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V-8 beast will get one to the first tee in style and record time. Better watch that front splitter on those country club driveway speed bumps

1991 Ferrari F40

2013 Bugatti Veyron 16.4L Grand Sport Vitesse; with an insane 1200 hp and ten radiators spread throughout, this Vitesse also has a custom blue carbon fiber center console

These girls just came from the library #sassy

Very elegant. Check out the ceiling lights, reminds me of the Starlight feature on the Rolls-Royce Dawn

The Audrain Auto Museum purchased a car

It’s an early Ferrari

Jay Leno and Ken Gross tell hilarious car stories. Brilliantly funny. One woman asked Leno what he did for a hobby. He answered “Knitting. Have you been listening at all tonight?”

Wayne Carini of Chasing Classic Cars, Herb Chambers – New England car mogul, and The Auto Blonde