Five Minutes With: Jack Libaire, proud owner of a 1921 Mercer Raceabout

Jack Libaire's 1921 Mercer Raceabout has been in his family for more than 80 years. Most of the time, people only get a glimpse of it when he drives it on the back roads of Beaufort. But everybody can get a good look at it this weekend.

Libaire is showing his Mercer at the Hilton Head Island Concours d'Elegance and Motoring Festival.

The Beaufort resident explains how the Mercer became a family heirloom.

Question. How long have you had the Mercer?

Answer. I've had it since about 1990. It was my father's before that. And it was his mother's before that. It's been in the family since 1926. It's got 200,000 some miles on it. It's been a joy.

Q. How'd it come into your family?

A. A friend of my grandmother's. Her son crashed his airplane. The mom got rid of his toys, so to say. He had this car and a fast boat and a plane. My grandmother bought the car. When my father turned 16 they let him use it. ... My father was one of the early collectors. All his buddies were collectors. They all had Mercers. They would meet at a garage on the east side of Manhattan and take off for the weekend. It was shown at the World's Fair in 1939. It's been driven a lot and used a lot with like-minded souls with it.

Q. Ever considered selling it?

A. I have kids who would kill me (laughs). We've always been car collectors. I'm down to just this one because of time and money. This one is the most fun. It's designed to be fun. The Mercer Automobile Company -- the Roebling family founded it. Washington Roebling raced in the Savannah races, the Vanderbilt cups. It was the only car really in America that a wealthy young man could buy, take the fenders off and take it to the track and expect to win. It had a certain mystique -- even today. Jay Leno has one. There aren't that many of them left.

Q. Do you take it out much?

A. It's a road car. It's meant to be driven. I go when not that many people are out -- a Sunday morning or something like that. Beaufort County has some wonderful back roads.

Q. How fast can you get it up to?

A. Its top speed is 75. But that's faster than you want to go. I try to keep it at around 50.

Q. Do you get a lot of attention when you take it out?

A. People wave all the time and smile. When you stop for something everyone asks questions. Nobody can believe it's an American car, for some reason. They think it's English or Italian. ... It's open air. It's vintage noise. It's motoring at its purest.