Hagerty Drivers Foundation

Hagerty Drivers Foundation The Hagerty Drivers Foundation exists to help shape the future of car culture
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08/28/2026

At the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, this Packard was selected above all others as the finest representation of the automobile, pulling it from the Packard display to sit alone beneath the ceiling of an eight-story dome. They called it the Car of the Dome.
The fair, known as the Century of Progress, was designed to lift a country deep in the throes of the Great Depression — and Packard answered the call. Coachbuilt by Dietrich with a V12 under an impossibly long hood, the interior is finished in gold throughout — the dash, the bar set, the gas pedal, all of it.
The Bahre Collection of Paris, Maine are the current caretakers of the Car of the Dome, and brought it out to the AACA Grand National meet at the The NB Center for American Automotive Heritage

This Maserati was never designed for the oval. It dominated anyway.Meet the Maserati 8CTF — the “Boyle Special”!Built in...
08/26/2026

This Maserati was never designed for the oval. It dominated anyway.
Meet the Maserati 8CTF — the “Boyle Special”!
Built in 1938 for European Grand Prix road racing, this car first raced at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza before it came to Chicago. The man who bought it was Mike Boyle — known as “Umbrella Mike” — the powerful and famously corrupt boss of Chicago’s IBEW Local 134 electrical workers union, who funded his racing operation on a $35-a-week salary through means he described as “great thrift.” His mechanic Harry W. “Cotton” Henning prepared the Maserati for Indianapolis, where Wilbur Shaw drove it to victory in 1939 and 1940. A Grand Prix car built for European road circuits had become the most successful automobile to ever compete at the Indianapolis 500, with two wins, two third-place finishes, and a fourth. Today the Boyle Special calls the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum home.
The Boyle Special is NHVR No. 3. You can see it at the “National Treasures” exhibition at the Savoy Automobile Museum in Cartersville, Georgia, through December 2026.

08/21/2026

In the early ‘50s, Chainsaw and supercharger baron Robert P. McCulloch set out to build a new type of car. The Paxton Phoenix wore a fiberglass body styled by Brooks Stevens and featured a retractable hardtop. Underneath, a sophisticated chassis said to resemble the construction of an airplane wing was designed by Hoffman. The Phoenix was meant to be steam powered, but after costly development that didn’t work out, a Porsche 356 driveline was substituted.
The Paxton project never went beyond this prototype, but it has gone down as one of many “what-ifs.” of automotive history.
Myron Vernis is the current caretaker of the Paxton, showcasing it at various events around the county to help share its story.

08/19/2026

Some cars don’t have to win a race or be worth millions to be special. This 1962 Lincoln Continental toured America with the current owner in the back seat, and his grandfather behind the wheel. Today, the car is a treasured family heirloom and has been carefully preserved. The owner Richard Plavetich confessed, while his automotive interests lie in European sports cars, the Lincoln has a special place in his heart.
The Lincoln took home the Hagerty Drivers Foundation and preservation award at the Quail, a motorsports gathering, this year. This award is given in honor of Dr. Fred Simeone, a champion of the preservation of historic vehicles.

08/17/2026

This Cord was once owned by movie star Dolores Del Río, groundbreaking as Hollywood’s first female Latin American star. After her ownership, a chain of careful stewards kept the car in unrestored condition, and now is carrying the torch.
The Cord proudly shows its years of gentle wear, and notably, its discolored windows that earned it the nickname; “The Orange Pumpkin.”
This 1930 Cord L-29 was the recipient of the Hagerty Drivers Foundation and Pre-War Preservation Award at the 2026 . The award is presented in honor of Dr. Fred Simeone, a champion in the preservation of historic vehicles.

08/13/2026

Turn up the volume and enjoy the symphony.

08/11/2026

Without these cars, history would look very different.
From a WWI staff car, the winningest car at Indy, to the car from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the “National Treasures” exhibition, the first of its kind, brings together eight of the most historically significant vehicles in America, all of them officially documented by the Hagerty Drivers Foundation in partnership with the US Department of the Interior, with records archived at the Library of Congress.
The exhibition is open to the public at Savoy Automobile Museum through December 6, 2026.

08/06/2026

The National Historic Vehicle Register is the only Federally recognized program that records the history of America’s most significant automobiles, preserving their information in perpetuity at the Library of Congress.

Following the model of preservation work and legislation that has existed at the federal level for significant buildings, bridges, and airplanes, but never cars, the Historic Vehicle Association (now the Hagerty Drivers Foundation) initiated a collaboration with the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2013 to include automobiles in the Historic American Engineering Record through a National Historic Vehicle Register program. The vehicles listed here demonstrate the vast impact cars have had on all aspects of American history. Following criteria set forth by the Heritage Documentation Programs and the Secretary of the Interiors Standards, many more vehicles will be added in the future.

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4750 Amelia Island Pkwy
Fernandina Beach, FL
32034

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 5pm
Thursday 8:30am - 5pm
Friday 8:30am - 5pm

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