(Photos by Dave Nutting) – The door opened, the lights came on, and the three of us nearly swooned like Victorian era women on a fainting couch at the sight of what lay before us. Three huge rooms filled with a literal automotive Library of Congress. The machines range from the most modern hyper cars to the most BangShifty and eclectic 1970s Detroit iron that only real car guys actually love. Before we go any further, Ken Lingenfelter is a real car guy. He’s a highly successful man who has the means to procure the cars that he likes and he’s done that on a level few other people ever have. He knows each and every car’s ins and outs, every one of them has a story, and he told us multiple times that the theme of the collection is basically cars that he finds interesting. That’s why you’ll see some total freaks in here and that’s why this place was so incredible to crawl all over for a full day.
We shot hundreds and hundreds of photos inside the Lingenfelter Collection and picked a bunch of cars for individual featurettes. Those cars range from the brutally fast, the stunningly beautiful, and the seemingly bizarre. This is the first peek into the collection to get your salivary glands rolling and to get you in the mood for what is to come. Dave Nutting shot these photos and soon you’ll see photos from Craig Fitzgerald and I in the coming days.
More importantly, on April 26th, YOU can walk through the Lingenfelter Collection because Ken is throwing the doors open for the yearly open house at the Brighton, Michigan location where the cars are housed. The full press release for the open house is located below the photo. Read it, take the information down and get yourself to Michigan on the 26th because by the time we are done showing you around the place you are going to be dying to see it for yourself!
LINGENFELTER COLLECTION OPEN HOUSE SET FOR APRIL 26
Event to Benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank and the Bottomless Toy Chest
DECATUR, Ind. – Lingenfelter Performance Engineering opens its doors for the 2014 Collection Open House to benefit charity on Saturday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lingenfelter Motorsports, 819 Lochlin Drive in Brighton, Mich.
Donations accepted at this year’s Collection Open House will benefit Gleaners Community Food Bank, which provides support to a broad population in southeastern Michigan, as well as The Bottomless Toy Chest, which delivers art projects, crafts and interactive games to hospitalized pediatric cancer patients.
The Lingenfelter Collection, known as one of the most impressive car collections in the country, features more than 200 vehicles including historically significant Corvettes, muscle cars and late model exotic vehicles that have been secured since 1980 by Ken Lingenfelter, CEO/owner of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering. Ken and Mike Copeland, vice president and general manager of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, will be on hand to answer questions about Lingenfelter vehicles, products and services.
New to the collection are a 1989 Ferrari GTS, a 1964 Chevy Nova II Wagon fully restored by American Collector Car magazine and a 1971 LT1 Corvette with several rare options. Also displayed will be five special Lingenfelter Corvettes just returned from a special exhibit celebrating 60 years of the Corvette at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.
Did not see the smog motored green Corvette that made him famous at the U S Nationals in the 70s’ He blew the engine, rented a helicopter, went to his shop and got a block and built another engine on the grass in the pits at Indy. I think he won his first round race. He was a brilliant man and a visionary. A real shame we lost him way before his time.
yes, and is his ’67 Chevy II Stock, Super Stock, Super Mod car in the collection???
yes, and is John’s ’67 Chevy II Stock, Super Stock, Super Mod car in the collection???
Great collection, but the photography kinda sucks. Don’t need attempted dramatic up close shots of wheels, headlights and bumpers, show me pictures of entire cars.