Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose and Aero-Mobile Reunited

    GRANTS PASS, OR, May 21, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose and Aero-Mobile Reunited

*1936-37 "Aero-Mobile" on display now at*
Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum
500 NE Captain Michael King Smith Way
McMinnville, Oregon 97128

After a weeklong reunion, the "Aero-Mobile" will be leaving the Spruce Goose at Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville Oregon on Memorial Day, and heading to the Leake Collector Car Auction in Tulsa Oklahoma to be sold to the highest bidder on June 13th 2009. The automobile was acquired in 2005 from a museum owner's estate. Recently the car has been completely restored to the time Hughes had personally customized it. Eyewitness accounts indicate this vehicle was thought by Hughes to be an important part of his legacy, so he preserved it along with the Spruce Goose in a giant climate-controlled hanger in Southern California.

Howard Hughes was an American aviator, industrialist, film producer/director, philanthropist, and one of the wealthiest individuals ever. He gained fame in the late 1920s as a maverick film producer, filming big budget blockbuster and often controversial films like Hell's Angels, Scarface, and The Outlaw. Hughes was one of the most influential aviators in history, breaking many world air-speed records (for which he won several awards, including the Congressional Gold Medal). He built the Hughes H-1 Racer and H-4 Hercules aircraft. The Hercules, nicknamed the Spruce Goose due its mostly wood construction, is the largest flying boat ever built, with the largest wingspan and height of any aircraft in history. Hughes was an exceptionally creative thinker and inventor, whose extraordinary customization of this 1936 Lincoln into an aerodynamic boat tail speedster was definitely a predecessor to the streamlined designs of today's energy-efficient cars.

This car began as Howard Hughes' personal 1936 Lincoln K Model V-12 Limousine. Hughes converted the car shortly thereafter into his version of what a 1936-37 Boat Tail Speedster should be. Hughes completely re-designed and restructured the limo into a time trendy "art deco" aerodynamic vehicle. After reducing the original weight by thousands of pounds and modifying the engine and exhaust, this car would have easily cruised in excess of 100 MPH. Originally Hughes might have started out to compete in some sort of speed or endurance contest; however, some say Hughes was developing his version of the ultimate concept car.

This car appears to be half automobile and half airplane. A definitive reason why Hughes built this vehicle is uncertain. Still it remains today, much like its creator; unique, unusual and a mystery in many ways. It is a window into the soul of a man known as a true American Hero. Odie Henderson once said, "Insanity and Genius are two sides of the same street." Howard Hughes was a gutsy and eccentric man who walked the centerline.

Contact information:
Bill Smith
Co-Owner-Hughes Aero-Mobile
[email protected]
541.282.3333

http://www.Hughes36.com
http://www.leakecarauction.com

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