David and Evelyn Broxterman have a “Hall of Fame” of a story behind their impressive ’55 Chrysler 300.

“After spotting your call out in Old Cars, I thought someone there might like to see a photo of my 1955 Chrysler 300. This “Brute” has a storied past:

Originally issued to the manager of the New York Yankees, Casey Stengel, as an “MVP Car” in May of 1955, the car was given to Baseball Hall-of-Famer Enos “Country” Slaughter shortly thereafter as part of a deal to entice him to go the newly formed Kansas City Athletics for a year and train the less experienced outfielders. Enos owned and drove the car for 8 years before selling it to a MoPar collector, Leonard Shultis, of Halcottsville, NY in 1963 for $550. Mr. Shultis stored the car in his 3-story barn; on the second floor, until his death in the 1990’s. His wife and children decided to finally sell the collection and I bought the car in 2003. In 2012, Moebius Models, Inc. used this car as the prototype to produce their 1/25th scale model kit.

The car was featured in several magazines, over 10 years ago, including American Icons; The Antique Automobile; and Street Thunder. However, it’s been up on floor jacks since 2014 and did not seen the light of day for 8 years – until 2 weeks ago.

The car is currently in the hands and shop of Master Mechanic Larry Jacklin of Lakeland, Florida who is carefully bringing life back into this rolling piece of history. He has guaranteed it’s presence at the upcoming LAKE MIRROR CLASSIC Concourse Show here in Lakeland, Florida in October. 

My family and I are looking forward to getting the Chrysler back on the road. “

If you would like your car featured in Reader Wheels click on the link below and tell us a little bit about your ride.

CLICK HERE

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Old Cars is turning 50. In honor of 50 years of the privilege of bringing the old cars hobby to our valued and faithful readers, Old Cars will revisit 50 of our past featured cars in 50 days, to commemorate the half-century of Old Cars. Here’s to fifty more years of Old Cars!

 DAY ONE: 1961 Chrysler 300

Don Verhoff is a modest, low-key guy who just happens to like really fast cars. He doesn’t make a big deal about them, but chances are if it’s got wheels and it’s in Verhoff’s garage, it’s really fast.

So it’s only fitting that when Verhoff was in the market for a finned-era MoPar a few years back that he stumbled up perhaps the fastest specimen of the time — a sweet 1961 Chrysler 300-G hardtop. Make no mistake, among all the fast company in his garage, the fancy and horsepower-packed Chrysler with the prominent fins fits right in.

“It was called the banker’s hot rod at the time. It was the fastest car on the road, even the Corvettes — nobody had anything close to 300 hp,” chuckles Verhoff, a resident of Oshkosh, Wis. “This thing would outrun anything on the road at the time.”

 To learn more about Verhoff’s 300 <CLICK HERE>

CHECK OUT DAY NINETEEN OF 50 CARS IN 50 DAYS, CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF OLD CARS HERE

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If you like stories like these and other classic car features, check out Old Cars magazine. CLICK HERE to subscribe.

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Story and photos by Jeff ‘Titus’ Bloedorn

A few months ago, I was in Annandale, Minn., visiting French Lake Auto Parts (FLAP), my favorite junk yard. FLAP has thousands of vintage cars and millions of parts, and the owners are always adding old cars to replenish the stock. In my frequent trips, I have gotten to know Skip Nolan, the owner of the yard. Skip is a second-generation junk yard operator, as FLAP was started by his father, Floyd, in the 1950s.

Skip often tells me about leads on cars he’s buying for the yard’s inventory. On a recent trip, Skip mentioned he was in the process of buying a private collection of cars that numbered in the 250-vehicle range. He had bought some cars from the collector in the past, and now the owner had decided he wasn’t getting any younger and he would sell off many of the cars so they could be saved or parted.

The owner of the car collection had a job that required him to travel, and on his endeavors, he would sometimes purchase cars and then drive them or have them hauled home. Therefore, a lot of the cars were out-of-state cars and good solid projects, not the typical rusty vehicles found in Minnesota.

Skip shared a list of the vehicles that he would be securing from the collector, and there were several very rare and interesting cars. Included in the collection is a 1957 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham, one of 704 built from 1957-’58. There was also a 1956 De Soto Adventurer with a 345-cid Hemi with dual four-barrels and a 1956 Chrysler 300-B that has documentation to prove it was Jack Chrysler’s personal car. Other rare cars from the collection include a 1956 Continental Mark II, 1962-’63 Ferrari 250 GTE, early-postwar Chrysler Town and Countrys, more than half a dozen Chrysler Airflows plus 1950s Packards, many other finned Mopars, Cadillac Eldorados and other rarities.

I noticed a 1935 Ford coupe on the list and mentioned to Skip that when he purchased the vehicles, I’d be interested in it.

A few weeks went by and I didn’t hear from Skip. Another month went by and still nothing. Finally, I made another trip to FLAP in search of parts for my wife’s ’59 Olds, and on that trip, I asked Skip if he had heard anything on the collection. There was indeed some news — Skip had a more sound deal worked out and had arranged to start loading the cars in two weeks. I reminded him of my interest in the ’35 Ford.

A couple weeks later, Skip called.

“Hey, if you wanna look at the ’35, you’re welcome to come out.” Naturally, I hooked up the trailer to drive to the collection. Upon arriving, I was astonished at all the neat and amazing cars that were being staged in a field for loading. I couldn’t get too nosey, because the owner didn’t know me and was recently turned off by people. He had encountered theft from his collection, which I learned was another reason he wanted to let go of some cars.

I met up with Skip’s friend Mike Carrols, who was helping identify and number the cars. Carrols walked me over to look at the ’35 coupe and then told me they found another coupe body in the collection. I looked over the cars and made a deal to purchase both.

The drive wasn’t too bad, so after I unloaded the first Ford at my house, I went back for my second prize find. When I returned to the collection, I came upon a few semis waiting to be loaded. Saying that you’re buying 250 cars and then figuring out the logistics of transporting them is two different things. Skip has made purchases of car collections before, but nothing on this scale. It was a huge undertaking: first, all the cars had to be tagged so he knew which were staying and which were going. Then, he had to get the machinery to the location to remove and load the cars. Since the location of the collection is in the Midwest, and this was March, there was snow and ice with which to contend. Fortunately, some cars were stored indoors and they were easier to move.

Skip had planned 14 days to complete transporting the car to FLAP, but the project took just 10 days. The cars are all now at FLAP and are offered for sale. They are moving fast, as Skip has been offering the cars at very reasonable prices. Those cars already on the sold list include a 1956 De Soto Adventurer, which is going overseas, and a 1960s Ferrari. In addition to the 1935 Ford coupes I purchased, I also brought home a 1959 Buick convertible that I plan to fix up as a driver.

If there’s anything that sparks your interest, contact Skip at FLAP without delay:

French Lake Auto Parts
3531 County Road 3 NW
Annandale, MN 55302
320-274-8497
www.frenchlakeautoparts.com

More treasures pictured below:

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