The Audrain Automobile Museum

Newport, Rhode Island is most famous for the majestic mansions that grace Bellevue Avenue. The Tennis Hall of Fame is also on Bellevue and in between them is the Audrain Automobile Museum.

I liked this auto collection as it was all in one big room and the collection rotates every three months.

A stunning 1953 Ferrari 250 Europa. If one ever comes to auction and you are in the mood to purchase one, get ready to spend around $3.000.000. This was easily my favorite car in the collection.

The Bugatti Veyron, at one time the car with the highest top speed in the world. 

The ultra rare and fast, Saleen S7. It has a Ford 7.0 liter (427 cubic inch) V8 and a 6-speed manual transmission. 

One of famous cars ever manufactured, the Duesenberg. Production lasted from 1921 - 1937 and was extremely expensive for its time. Prices started at $13.000 and could exceed $25.000. This car unattainable for most of the populace as the average salary in 1925 was less than $1.300.  

You literally had to be a movie star such as Gary Cooper to afford one. His Model J sold for $22.000.000!

I did not know this saying originated from the car itself!

Mount Washington Auto Road

I alway enjoy a good driving challenge. One of the challenges I have not completed was driving my car up Mount Washington. I had seen the bumper stickers everywhere, you know the ones that say, "This car climbed Mt. Washington". Finally in August 2017, I decided I wanted one of those bumper stickers. Not even a drive of three hours each way was enough of a deterrent.

We stopped at the base of the mountain for lunch (Dad came with me). After lunch, we paid the admission fee and up we went. As we were going up, the ride would only be tolerable in 2nd gear. I tried upshifting to 3rd, but the grade was too steep. Back to 2nd it is...for 30 minutes! There are mile markers along the road so you can gauge how far the summit is. The distance from the base to the  summit is 12.2 km (7.6 miles).

Mount Washington Auto Road

If you notice the second sentence in the sign, "...one mile of gravel road.." My first question is why is there a section of road that is still unpaved. Second, "Why hasn't it been paved already?" Ironically enough, this portion is also the narrowest. The drive was going fine until I encountered this portion. I stopped to allow a wide pick-up truck to pass me and when I let off the clutch, I stalled the car! I immediately engaged the e-brake and took a deep breath. If I did not do this right, the car would roll back several hundred meters and be flung off the side of the mountain. Start the car, first gear, little gas, clutch out, e-brake off, and start up the mountain again.

The weather was at the summit was sunny and calm!

You had sweeping views in all directions for 97 km (60 miles).

Going back down was as challenging as going up. The average grade is almost 12%, which means you will go very, very fast if you don't literally ride the brakes. I tried to use 3rd gear, but that accelerated the car to more than 105 kph (65 mph). Back to 2nd gear for another 30 minutes. 

Just for the record, a month later, Travis Pastrana did the same drive in under six minutes, in a highly modified Subaru WRX STI. Slowpoke!