garage finds

[rmmchl]

 I was getting my car inspected at my mechanic's european car service shop today. I met an older guy( about 75 years old) here in charleston wv today that has a  1964 black 230sl. It was untouched-flat out original------------The guy has  a building full of old cars including duesenbergs, rolls royces from the 1030's-very old money, most were bought new by his father. There are some fine examples of our w113's out there folks. I thought my 250sl was nice. It's a joke compared to this guy's car. Of course it even had the fender marks by the front headlights-original paint, etc. body gaps were small and tight. He has had it since new. Along with his 30 other collector cars. This guys keeps his collection very private. Barrett-Jackson would salivate over this guy's toys. He knew that my 250sl was the rarest. He knew all about his 230sl. He was driving it, that tells me something. We talked about how I thought they made about 45,000 of our cars in it's run. He laughed and commented that about 30,000 are still on the road. He is probably correct. I just wanted to share this story with this site.

[mdsalemi]

Along the same lines...

I met a guy named Dick -----, who made his money in the collet business (no joke, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collet ).  His business was near my carwash in Westland, MI.  He didn't have anything resembling a barn, but had a huge new building (maybe 12,000 ft2) FULL of his car collection.  The much smaller building on the property was the collet business.

This guy has mostly American Iron, but more importantly each and every car has either a story of provenance, or was historic in some way.  So, no run of the mill 1957 Chevy's, but things like original Plymouth Fury from the movie "Christine" (at least one of them, there were plenty used); cars that were "the most expensive American built car in 1951" or rarities such as some custom bodied, original Muscle cars like a Super Bird, etc.

All have been restored, the chrome gleams in the HID lighting from above.  The place looks like a museum.  He has a full time mechanic who works on the restorations.  He doesn't allow many people in to see them but I did get a tour through a friend.  Every year he chooses to show some of them at local car shows.  They were packed so tight in the place that opening a door on any of them would be a challenge.  All had their hoods open and they must buy battery tenders by the caseload.  These are all the kinds of cars that BJ and RM want to get their hands on--special ones with gleaming chrome.

In Shipshewanna Indiana, there is a Hudson (and Essex and Terraplane) museum, all the cars were in the personal collection of one Eldon Hostetler.  http://www.hostetlershudsons.com/   Many of his early cars were bought either new or in good condition.  The man made his money in the egg-handling equipment business.

You have to keep your eyes and ears open as you never know what you will find or where.