He was also the only music disc jockey on the airstaff to move to the new format, co-hosting WRKO's Morning Magazine program with Norm Nathan for two years. Bill Stephens William Weyman Stephens Jr., known professionally as Bill Stephens (born October 16, 1949) is an American network television host and commentator specializing in automotive and motorsports presentations. GERRY WITH KATIE OSBOURNE OF NBCSN AND HOST OF POWERNATION TV GERRY WITH HERB MCCANDLESS, DRIVER FOR THE ICONIC NHRA TEAM, SOX & MARTIN . Everybody knew it was going to lose money, but the question was, What does Bill want? Bill wanted the museum, so the board authorized that project. Dixon:I had calls from all over to save the collection: from United States senators from other states; from Dave Thomas, the chairman of Wendys; and from the mayor of Reno. He offered his suggestions for our consideration; some of those cars are as follows: Of course, no one really knows for sure about the future values these cars, not even Bill Stephens, but given Bill Stephens experience and knowledge about cars, his thoughts are worthy of serous consideration. Of course, some of these finds have been pretty crazy, with cars ranging from the early 1900s and even some insane supercars from the modern world. Most Americans Struggle With Car Maintenance And Can't Afford Unexpected $1,000 Repair Bill. In CARFAX, riuniamo gli eventi della vita di milioni di auto usate di 20 Paesi europei, degli Stati Uniti e del Canada. He set up a shop with 125 people full-time just to work on his car collection. [1] Allen negotiated that 5% of the proceeds from the sale of VECO be given to the employees for the years of service they had given the company. He offered his suggestions for our consideration; some of those cars are as follows: Cobra Jet Mustang 1965 K Code Mustang 1969/70 Mach 1 Third & fourth generation Camaro Early Mercury Cougars do you have a list of cars and where they went of the collection from Rockefeller? I enjoyed listening to Bill Stephens experience and thoughts about muscle cars. His speedy Tahoe Miss won five races and was the American Power Boat Association (APBA) Gold Cup winner in 1966, on the way to a National Championship. Clyde Wade: I feel that selling the collection was a big tragedy, a tremendous loss. Volvo sent dealers promotional plastic models, Lockhart said. My dad loved them and we had a Studebaker station wagon when I was a kid.. What cars have the greatest investment potential in the current Muscle Car marketplace. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. When he reached the driving age of 16 in 1967, it was the apex of the American muscle car era. He was, absolutely, a man head of his time. [excerpted fromEvery Light Was On]. Miles Collier (Collector, REVS Institute founder):A lot of collectors, back in the day, when it was revealed that Bill Harrahs collection was part of Harrahs Casinos Inc., which was being sold to Holiday Inn, and the whole collection was going to be sold, got pretty pissed at Bill Harrah posthumously; What kind of a jerk are you? They had different car spotters in different parts of the country. Founded in 1852, the Studebaker Co. originally made horse-drawn wagons. If ever you wanted an illustration of the unfairness of life, take a look at Steven Tyler. They talked about doing another backhand donation, which I think went up in smoke the moment they realized how valuable all this stuff was. [citation needed]. It should be no surprise that his rst car was a performance pony car, a 1971 Ford Mach 1 fastback. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Your email address will not be published. Vintage Relish/Celery Dish Old Nuremberg Bavaria Germany. There were consortiums, including the state of Nevada, who tried to buy the collection , Tom Perkins (venture capitalist): I put a group together and I negotiated a purchase with Holiday Inns management in Memphis: $10 million cash, another $10 million cash from a bank loan secured by the collection, and a note from the seller for the balancea total of $30 million dollars. [5], On May 11, 2007, the VECO Corporation announced that CEO Bill Allen and Vice President for Community & Government Affairs Rick Smith had resigned from the corporation. Meade Dixon, who became the executor of his estate, would have me go to the office with him, and to sit down to talk with Bill Harrah about what he wanted done on a project. A couple of weeks before we were to sign, the governor of Nevada got into the act. The company provides vehicle restoration, frame and axle servicing and vehicle painting. 4 were here. peoplepill id: bill-stephens. [citation needed], As a teenager, Stephens developed a fascination with radio broadcasting after seeing several remote broadcasts presented by WBZ Radio in Boston during the rock and roll era of the 1960s. The company had no money; the companys earnings were in decline; and Bill had substantial personal debt besides the estate taxes to pay. [citation needed], In February 1973, Stephens was instrumental in one of the most ambitious promotional stunts in Connecticut radio history when he locked himself inside the WCCC AM&FM on-air studios in Hartford and played the Top 40 song "Bitter Bad" by Melanie for 35 consecutive hours to protest the station's reluctance to offer him a full-time job. For the uninitiated, a resto-mod automobile has been upgraded with improved suspension systems, fuel injection, radial tires, disc brakes, etc. It was remarkable to me that with a standing price on the whole collection of $10M just after Mr. Harrah died, no buyer could be found even with a value of $1M each on the two Type 41s not to mention the rows of Dueseys and Bugattis. [In 1980, two years after Bill Harrahs death, the Holiday Inns Corporation bought Harrahs Casinos, Inc. for $300 million.]. we escaped a flood, drove a 3400 miles round trip, spent my B'Day knocking down mile markers throurh MO and KS. Next, complete checkout for full access to Motorious. mainly a 1912 locomoble and a 1907 Packard model 30. He Is one of the founding owners of the annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals that are held in Stephens Center in Chicago the weekend before Thanksgiving. William Bill Sefton is an avid car collector from Chicago, Illinois. Stephens, the youngest of three children and the only boy, was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to William and Claire Stephens and raised in Somerville, Massachusetts, several miles west of Boston. That meant restorations were performed without regard for cost or economic return. Most were designed for O scale electric train sets, originally, he said. Stephens moved back to Osterville in October of that year, and after taking several radio announcer positions on Cape Cod and in Boston, he founded his own TV production company, Ultimate Garage Productions, Inc. Stephens serves on numerous automotive and motorsports television productions as a host, commentator, automotive expert, and pit reporter and has been seen on CBS, NBC, ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, Fox, Fox Sports Net, SPEED, The Discovery Channel, Discovery HD Theater, Velocity, The Outdoor Channel, The Family Channel, and HDNet. You never knew whether it was coming or going. Thanks for all the history youve put together in this article! The Exxon Valdez oil spill was the second-largest in United States history, after the BP Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill. What initiated the Muscle Car phenomenon? The IRS ran an audit and determined that the . Email Cindy Hval at dchval@juno.com or call Voices editor Kimberly Lusk at (509) 459-5457. [1] Instead, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined $750,000.00. Get breaking news delivered to your inbox as it happens. His parents permanently separated when he was 13 years old, and following graduation from Somerville High School in 1967, Stephens held several jobs including driving a truck, driving a taxi, making pizza, and working in local auto body shops as a body repairman and painter. In 2011, he researched, wrote, produced, and narrated the National Hot Rod Association's 60 Greatest Moments video to commemorate the NHRA's 60th anniversary. He has also served as Senior Producer for WheelsTV in Acton, MA, producing video features of new and pre-owned automobile evaluations and analysis for various automotive Internet sites such as Vehix.com, J.D. It was nice, but all the cars were tightly packed in. Stephens is a frequent writer of motorsports features and automotive content for such publications as AutoWeek, ESPN The Magazine, ESPN.com, Drag Racer Magazine, and Drag Racing Action. Many of you will know Bill Stephens from his commentary on the Velocity Networks Mecum Auction Shows plus the show Whats My Car Worth? It was clear from listening to Bill that he is very passionate about cars. Email this Business. He couldnt compete with the larger automobile manufacturers, so his foray into that world was short-lived. If you are into awesome cars, you have come to the right place. i was just a kid when my parents took me with them to Harrahs both in Reno and Las Vegas and the hotels always had special feel to me. His first marriage was to Joyce Anne Carberry in Boston, MA in February 1973, soon divorcing in the fall of 1974. It would have been disaster for the company. He is an avid car collector and has owned numerous collector-grade vehicles including a 1965 Shelby American Continuation Series 427SC Cobra, a 1965 ERA 427 Cobra Replica, a 1993 GMC Typhoon, 1998 Jaguar XK8 convertible, 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9, 1994 Mitsubishi 3000GT and 12 Chevrolet Corvettes in model years ranging from 1960 to 1980. Considered an entrepreneur and a canny businessman, always a sharp dresser, outwardly shy, but insidiously clever with innovative promotions and bold new business practices, Harrah overcame a drinking problem, and was married seven times to six different women. He died of a neural hemorrhage. What was the event most responsible for touching off the collector car boom in the late 1980s? ", "KTUU.com Alaska's News Source Alaska's Top News, Storm Watch Weather, Politics, Sports, Health and Business Headlines", "Bill Allen sentenced to 3 years in prison, fined $750,000 | Alaska Dispatch", "Lady's first: Rachel Alexandra wins Preakness", "Bill J. Allen, Alaska Businessman at the Center of Scandal, Dies at 85", Disgraced Alaska oil executive Bill Allen dead at 85, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bill_Allen_(businessman,_born_1937)&oldid=1149515856, American chief executives of energy companies, American businesspeople convicted of crimes, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2010, Articles with unsourced statements from September 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 18:35. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, spilling eleven million gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince William Sound. My particular passion is Studebakers, he said. Gooding:Bill Harrah came to Cleveland in 1978. Every week hed give me one.. I worked on the [contracts for] cars and I worked on his divorces [laughs], of which there were many. Over cold beverages at Mickey Ds in Bridgman recently, I spent an hour or so being amazed and delighted as Bill shared his very interesting life story; a life lled with hard work and following his dream of owning some truly fabulous performance cars from the 1960s and 70s. He is an avid car collector and has owned numerous collector-grade vehicles including a 1965 Shelby American Continuation Series . Copyright 2023, The Spokesman-Review | Community Guidelines | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Copyright Policy, Spokane Valley Fire roundup: Multiple engines, water tenders fight rural home blaze in Otis Orchards, Downtown Spokane stadium groundbreaking set for Tuesday , Pandemic project: Dental lab owner Robert Carnell paints pop art abstracts of celebrities , Gardening: Bird feeders safe to hang this winter after salmonella epidemic in 2020 , Pandemic projects: Retired Freeman High School teacher self-publishes Welsh mystery series , Getting There: WSDOT reminds Spokane it could close local access to U.S. Highway 195 if safety issues arent addressed, Cheney High School student dies after incident during PE class, Craig Chamberlin, former voice of Spokane County Sheriff's Office, dies, Seattle Mariners No. The Volvo is unique in his collection because the majority of his models are the smaller 1/43 scale and made of sturdy die-cast metal. Ill tell you a funny story. Kaiser also founded Kaiser Permanente to provide health care for his workers. Bill asked an interesting question of the audience to identify the first car that could be considered a muscle car. VECO also was a worldwide player in the oil industry, having divisions in many major oil markets, including Sudan, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Syria. $10.20 shipping. Sign up for the Insider newsletter to get a deep dive into the collector car market every Sunday.]. He was also interviewed on the phone during his 35-hour broadcast by Don Imus on WNBC in New York and Larry Glick on WBZ in Boston. Bill Steven's Auto, Inc. is a full service auto body shop also offering sales of used automobiles. You've successfully subscribed to Motorious. Im a brand X guy and like all American muscle cars, he replied. Bill Harrah wouldnt like it much but hes not around to know 24Saying Donny Stevens has a passion for muscle cars is a bit of an understatement. Ed actually played with them as a kid and gave them to me, Lockhart said. Meade Dixon (Harrahs executor and Harrah Corporation chairman):Bill loved to drive automobiles, but he was used to getting into a car that somebody else prepared for himhad it cleaned and all running and sitting out front. Stephens has written three books for Sports Publishing, LLC of Champaign, IL. His most recent purchase is a classic woodie with a matching Airstream trailer. Informazioni su danni e incidenti per le auto importate, Informazioni sulla protezione dei dati per i proprietari di veicoli. This article was originally written by Dar Davis of The Herald-Palladium, a newspaper distributed in the Southwest Michigan region. Performance buffs unfamiliar with this successful event should visit www.mcacn.com and plan a trip to Chicago come November. Profit and joy Your billing info has been updated. Harrah felt that these cars should be preserved, and he thought that a full-blown restoration was the best form of preservation and celebration of these carsand that it was very important to restore a car to the highest, most authentic level, so it could be understood, seen, and preserved in perpetuity. Satre:Meade Dixon went with him to the Mayo Clinic along with Verna. The Toyota Land Cruiser is a legend in the history of the automobile, the utility vehicle serving as the gold standard of off-roaders ever since its introduction. (505) 308-1580. 0:00 / 35:51 Part 2- Steven's Collection, 1940-50-60-1970's , A Massive HOARD of 1000 + Classics Cars & Trucks Heart of Texas Barn Finds and Classics 15.8K subscribers 11K views 1 year ago On.