NEWS
October 14, 2009
Vintage Auto Television Makes South Carolina Debut in November
South Carolinians Play Show-and-Tell With Their Dream Cars
Hilton Head Island, SC … Ken Gottleib’s dream car as a young man was a 1963 Chevy Impala convertible. But while he was serving in Vietnam, his parents sold his dream ride to get it out of the way in the family driveway. After Gottleib returned from the war, he began a search that resulted in him finding the next best thing to that magic carpet ride, another ’63 Impala convertible!
Every car has a story, and the older the car, the taller the tale told in Vintage Auto Television, debuting on South Carolina Educational Television November 8th at 5pm and on ETV’s SC Channel, November 15th at 6pm. Other classic cars profiled in the first Vintage Auto Television are a 1947 Ford Sportsman Super Deluxe Convertible Woody, a 1926 Packard Sport Roadster and a 1966 Studebaker Daytona owned by Hilton Head-area residents.
The Gottleib’s 1963 Impala
South Carolina’s automotive history is deep and rich, yet is an untapped treasure trove of remarkable achievements. Paul Ianuario, long-time Curator of the BMW Museum in Greenville and a retired automotive engineer, reminds viewers that NASCAR was born in the Carolinas and that the Anderson Motor Company manufactured cars in Rock Hill, SC from 1916 to 1925.
“It was a car the Smithsonian called one of the finest cars built in the US,” he said. “But because John Gary Anderson refused to compromise the quality of the car, he could never make it price competitive with the Fords. Still, more than 5,500 Andersons were produced, but only about a dozen still exist. There was a time when six out of ten people worked in an auto-related industry and many of us worked on cars in our back yards. That’s spawned a fellowship of those who collect, restore and drive classic cars in the South, since we can also drive a convertible for ten months a year with the top down!”
Vintage Auto Television will feature classic cars through the memories of auto enthusiasts, from race cars, to brass era cars and even muscle cars, providing eye-catching imagery and historical information and footage to bring our great automotive history to life, according to the show’s producer, Guy Smith of Hilton Head.
“Vintage Auto Television transports the audience back to a wonderful time and reflects the cars’ early origins, with all the nostalgia and great love stories that go with each collector’s car,” Smith says. “The documentary-style show is unique among automotive and lifestyle genres.”
And a bridge between the past and the future, according to Carolyn Vanagel, Executive Director of the Hilton Head Island Concours d’Elegance & Motoring Festival.
“We need to build the next generation of caretakers for these vehicles,” she says. “This type of program promotes the automotive industry from a preservation and restoration angle.”
Hosted by Hilton Head resident and former ESPN sportscaster Bob Stevens, Vintage Auto Television is the latest offering of SCETV, South Carolina’s statewide network of 11 television stations, 8 radio stations and a closed-circuit educational telecommunications system in more than 2,000 schools, colleges, businesses and government agencies- advancing education, culture and citizenship.