Latest news with #FreemanThomas
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Franklin has eye on the future while looking back, preserving its past
FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — Inside the Moore-Morris History and Culture Center of Williamson County, TN is an immersive re-creation of White's Tavern, which was inside the city's first inn. It was established in 1803 by pioneer Benjamin White. 'If you're here for a room, that will be 8 cents. If you need me to stead your horse, it will be 12; my boy will fetch 'em and take 'em out back,' said an actor portraying White, who appears as a hologram behind the bar. You can also hear from other historical figures — including Freeman Thomas, who escaped slavery in Williamson County and joined the Union Army. 'This was the biggest thing that ever happened in my life,' said an actor portraying Thomas inside a portrait that seemed to suddenly come alive. 'I felt like a man with a uniform on and a gun in my hand.' NEWS 2 ON TOUR: What draws companies to Williamson County? 'These living portraits are our main teaching tool here,' the center's managing director, Nat Taylor, said. 'What I like about them as a historian is that the words that they say — we pulled them right from primary sourced historical records.' The building on Bridge Street was home to the county jail from 1905 until 1942; later, it was a restaurant and event venue. The non-profit Heritage Foundation of Williamson County purchased the building and opened the center in 2024 to share the area's rich stories with the community. 'It's clear Franklin really cares about its history and understanding it,' Taylor said. 'Franklin is a great mix of a historic community and a great preservation ethic of this beautiful historic downtown, but it's also a community that continues to grow and evolve,' Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey said. Stuckey said that downtown is the difference maker in what sets the city apart and draws in new residents and visitors. 'It feels like home when you're here on these streets,' Stuckey said. 'It's not just any place in America. It is a special place, and people just naturally sense that. That's not an accident. It's been lovingly preserved over many years.' Although it may seem like Franklin has grown exponentially, Stuckey said the city has had a consistent growth pattern since the 1980s. 'We've grown [by] right about 20,000 a decade, or 2,000 a year since that time frame,' Stuckey said. 'It's a sustainable, steady amount of growth.' Franklin is home to major corporations including Nissan, Mitsubishi and Community Health Systems. In-N-Out Burger is set to open its regional headquarters next year. Stuckey said the city focuses on land use planning to keep infrastructure and utility needs met. One of the biggest challenges is affordable housing. MORE ON TOUR: Williamson County greenways plan survey extended 'It is both a community characteristic, but it's also an economic vitality component to have housing options for people at different stages in their career — different workers,' Stuckey said. 'We want to strive to do that; it's a hard issue. We don't have an easy solution, but we're continuing to work on it and think about it and look at ways that we can make that happen.' Franklin is a city with an eye on the future while it also looks back and preserves its past. 'I think communities that really care about their history — it will only serve them for their future, so I think we're pretty well positioned here,' Taylor said. For National Travel and Tourism Week, the Moore-Morris History and Culture Center is offering free admission through May 10. For more information, follow this link. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WKRN News 2.
Forbes
03-04-2025
- Automotive
- Forbes
New Meyers Manx Coffee Table Book Chronicles A True California Story
Available online or at the Meyers Manx Cafe in The Petersen Automotive Museum. A new coffee table book from Meyers Manx celebrates a true California story, six decades after the debut of the original dune buggy. Part biography of eponymous founder Bruce Meyers, part business history and part forward-facing expose as the company re-emerges today under the auspices of investor Phillip Sarofim and designer Freeman Thomas, throughout 220 pages, veteran automotive journalist and producer Basem Wasef weaves a compelling story complemented by historical photography, sketches and renderings, even plenty of golden age silver-screen connections. The book is a riveting read for anyone like me who loves classic cars, hot-rod culture and Hollywood lore. The story follows Meyers from a young age, a multi-talented surfer and sailboat designer who found inspiration in the world of kit cars and off-roading, before achieving almost overnight success with the first Manx. From there, the fledgling company's legend exploded, sparking rapid business expansion before an inevitable spree of ripoffs and imitations emerged to challenge the nascent venture. Wasef's narrative reveals the stellar highs and inevitable lows of such a tale, and hopes the book can set the record straight in vivid color. Bruce Meyers' surfing and sailing inspiration shines through in the Manx's iconic design. 'Bruce had written a couple of books about his experiences,' Wasef told me, 'So it was critical for me to disambiguate what was sort of an elaboration on the truth and what really happened. There were a lot of liberties taken with some of his storytelling, in the interest of telling a good story sometimes… And luckily it still is a good story, even if you shave off 90% of the hyperbole.' 'I had a probably deeper than most understanding of the brand and its history, which really helped me get into the writing process. But I couldn't have done it without the historical figures that thankfully are still alive to tell the story, people like Winnie Meyers and Nelson Sparks, Stewart Reed and current co-chairman Freeman Thomas.' Perhaps the highlight for me was learning about the pivotal role Meyers and his Manx played in the racing history of Baja California. In fact, the Manx set a record for the peninsula run—beating big-bore motorcycles and inspiring headlines that helped to spark a new era of four-wheeling popularity. Then, a Manx even won the first Baja 1,000 race in 1967, which was known then simply as the 'Mexican 1000.' The "King of Cool" himself insisted that a Meyers Manx appear in the 1968 film. Such exploits quickly ballooned beyond the hardcore automotive crowd and became a true cultural phenomenon. Lightweight and affordable thanks to monocoque fiberglass construction (at first) plus easily accessible Volkswagen parts, the Manx epitomized a carefree lifestyle perfectly wrought in three dimensions. Hollywood took notice, and in 1968, Elvis Presley drove a Manx in the opening scene of Live a Little, Love a Little—though the Manx's personality shone through best when Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway enjoyed an iconic scene blasting a Corvair-powered Manx along the beach in The Thomas Crown Affair (and I don't say so only because my grandmother designed their costumes in the film). 'There are very few things that are as intricately or intimately entwined with California culture as a Meyers Manx dune buggy,' Wasef mused, 'It just says California so succinctly. It's such a pure design, and I think that's what's led to its endurance. It's just so reduced but so evocative at the same time.' Famous for his Audi, Porsche and Volkswagen designs, Freeman Thomas now co-chairs Meyers Manx with a ... More vision for both past and future. Unfortunately, style points only go so far, and Meyers' business acumen—or lack thereof—led to his company eventually floundering and dissolving. Meyers later brought the Manx back to life for the 21st century, before selling the company to Sarofim shortly before his death in 2021, aged 94. The revitalized Meyers Manx company now aims to honor the original's spirit with a series of buggies, including an almost inevitable electric variant that may prove somewhat divisive. 'Bruce actually had an electric concept of a buggy in the past,' Wasef reminded me, as he wrote in the tome, 'So it's not outside of the playbook necessarily. And in fact, anybody who off-roads will tell you that doing so without the noise of an engine opens it up to a completely different experience. "It's also really intriguing to see how the design elements are still carried over. Freeman has done an amazing job of evoking, but not copying necessarily, the original design—and modernizing it.' From cover to cover, the new coffee table book screams design with engaging graphics, sun-soaked desert imagery, modern rendering of the forthcoming Manxes and even a familiar gel-textured cover. It's a perfect page-turner and artistic volume, spelling out a deeper story than perhaps even the most diehard Meyers Manx fans might know, equally enjoyable while revisiting bygone years or sparking imagination about the fun factor of future electric vehicles.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
25 years later, these 2000s cars are cooler than your AOL screen name
With the turning of the calendar, a fresh batch of cars turns 25 years old. That means they're officially considered antiques, and you can take them to your local AACA show or grab antique car insurance in most states. Feeling old yet? Here are eight notable vehicles that were redesigned or debuted for the 2000 model year. Penned by American car designer Freeman Thomas under the watchful eye of design chief Peter Schreyer, the two-seat Audi TT's look was inspired by Auto Union Grand Prix racers of the 1930s and named for Europe's Tourist Trophy, the world's oldest automotive race. Powered by a turbocharged 180-horsepower 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine, it shared its platform with the humble VW Golf. It would be joined by a 225-hp Quattro model a few months after pampering Cadillac DHS and sportier DTS replaced the DeVille but proved less popular despite being a far better car. With a 4.6-liter V8 providing 300 horsepower to the front wheels in the DTS and 25 horsepower less in the DHS, the new models were sleek and modern. The DHS and DTS were the first production cars to wear LED lighting. They were also the first car to offer Night Vision, which used infrared cameras to detect objects up ahead that couldn't be seen with the naked eye. An overlooked but notable automobile. Unveiled at the Paris Show in 2000, the 550 Barchetta Pininfarina commemorated the 70th anniversary of Ferrari's famed collaborator and coachbuilder Pininfarina. Ferrari built 448 cars, of which 127 came to America. The 550 Barchetta was based on the 550 Maranello, which debuted in 1996 as the automaker's first two-seat, front-engine, V-12 coupe since the Daytona. The Barchetta featured a more aggressively raked windshield, two-piece alloy wheels, the expected racing seats, and a reworked rear easy to forget what a revelation this compact entry was when it replaced the aging Escort. With communicative steering and great brakes, it proved to be both nimble and fun to drive. Available as a three-door hatchback, four-door sedan, or SE four-door wagon, the Focus was powered by a 130-horsepower 2.0-liter DOHC four-cylinder engine mated to a five-speed manual transmission. With a contemporary design and good space, the Focus proved that small American cars could still compete with their foreign competition. Sharing its platform with its corporate sibling, the Jaguar S-Type, the rear-wheel-drive LS was meant to take on similar midsize sedans from BMW and, well, Jaguar. The LS6 trim boasted a 232-horsepower 3-liter V-6 and five-speed manual transmission, while the LS8 came with a 280-horsepower 3.9-liter V-8 and a five-speed automatic. More than any American automaker, Lincoln's sports sedan had a clear European persona, more akin to a BMW 5 Series than a Lincoln Versailles, particularly in LS8 trim. This is notable yet as the S430 and S500, Mercedes-Benz's flagship sedan was completely revised for 2000, boasting a 4.3-liter 275-horsepower V-8 in the former and a 5-liter 302-horsepower V-8 in the latter. Both were mated to a five-speed electronic automatic transmission with manual shift capability and fitted with an air suspension as well as GPS navigation. Smaller and more efficient than its predecessor, its sleek modernism brought a breath of fresh air to Mercedes-Benz's design, even if the build quality wasn't what it once was. The Toyota MR2 Spyder was an attempt by the automaker to nab some younger buyers with a two-seat, mid-engine convertible. However, only 5,000 units were sold in the U.S. annually, so the volume was small. At 153 inches long, it was diminutive yet mighty, thanks to its 138-horsepower, 1.8-liter dual-cam four-cylinder engine mated to a five-speed manual and 2,200-pound curb weight. Unlike the front-wheel-drive Celica sports coupe, the MR2 Spyder was a true, dyed-in-the-wool, droptop, mid-engine sports car, and an affordable one at the first mass-produced modern hybrid vehicles in the world, the 2000 Toyota Prius might just be the most important. Power came from a 70-horsepower gas engine mated to a 44-horsepower electric motor. Engineered for fuel efficiency, not speed, the Prius was anything but quick, needing 13 seconds to reach 60 mph. However, it returned 35 mpg, which were impressive figures at the time. This car paved the way for all the hybrids that followed from Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Lamborghini, and others. It is a truly important if loveably nerdy-looking, car. Where were you 25 years ago? Top album: 'No Strings Attached' by 'N Sync Top Single: 'Breathe' by Faith Hill Top TV show: 'Survivor,' CBS Top movie: 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' starring Jim Carrey Top fiction book: 'The Brethren' by John Grisham Top nonfiction book: 'Who Moved My Cheese?' by Spencer Johnson
