I recently visited a small collection of eclectic customs up in Washington, at the invite of it's owner. I was not prepared for what I saw. Aside from spending time with my old friend, the R&C Dream Truck, I saw for the first time since it's restoration, the Ina Mae Lincoln. My heart went out to not only the beautiful car, but to the owner, designer, Mother of a great friend, Ina Mae Overman. What a great lady.... As is her daughter Mary Ellen... And there sits the Jade Idol. Holy crap, it's like a homecoming of great automobiles. El Capitola and Jim Seaton's pearl white '55 Chevy also adorn the room. And there are more, but these critters really got my attention. A couple things really got my attention. First, what kind of person takes his passion to this extreme. Well, one who recognizes the creativity, far out thinking, and ability to put their passions into steel and paint creations, and don't necessarily give a hoot if you like their work or not. These ideals shine throughout every car in this great covey of customs. One who has the wherewithall to have these examples of past creativity in his bedroom. Well, not quite, but close by. His home was purpose built with this collection in mind, and it worked. One thing stood out to me as I gazed in amazement at these works of art. Each has a story to tell, about it's builder, it's owner, and the time of it's creation. Every one is a stand alone example of what can be achieved, with a lot of work.... But wait !!! Where is an example of one of my personal favorite builder's work. That being Joe Wilhelm. I never met Joe, but his widow was a wonderful lady, and was as dedicated to Joe and his work as any one I know. Marion still owned the Mark Mist GT when we met, as well as several other vehicles. I helped her sell off what she did not want to keep, and one of those things was the "Mist"..... I had kept track of the Mist since 1999, when it went away, and am a personal friend of the last owner. We vintage raced together for over 20 years, but now a change seemed necessary. I mentioned the Mist to the collection owner, and cautiously pushed the point that he needed a Wilhelm Custom in his collection, and that started a whirlwind of phone calls and text messages. We met, the owner, the collector, and myself, at the depressing building where the Mist was being "worked" on. I was shocked.... The poor critter looked totally alone. Even though it was in great original shape, very presentable, and with perfect 1959 interior, it still said "Please, get me out of here"...... Even all the electrics still worked, lights, doors, everything. An old friend and boss for many years used to say in regards to the architecture and cost of a structure... "This is what the building wants to be"...... Well my thoughts when I saw the Mist, after visiting that collection in Washington, were simple. The Mark Mist GT wants to be in that collection, not only for the owner, but as a fitting tribute to Joe Wilhelm.... Now that is going to happen. Not only will the Mist be there, but also the sign from Joe's shop, which I have kept under wraps for all these years... My thanks to Tim McMann for giving this great custom a forever home !!!!
That's cool, I'm always happy to hear that some of these historical cars made it into the hands of people who really love them for what they are. I'm even more pleased when it's one of the many early customs that other people might be tempted to make changes to.
Very cool. I'm told that Tim is going to have my friend Robbie go through the mechanicals on it shortly. Coincidentally, my '36 Phaeton ended up parked next to the Mark Mist car several times at various shows throughout the early 1960's, so I plan to drive it over and get some photos of them side by side again. Here they are at the Oakland Roadster Show, 1960 if I remember correctly: I've always thought that The Mark Mist GT was a somewhat funky-looking, but very cool car, I'm excited to see it in person. I think it ended up in the right hands with Tim. ironandsteele.com
My first "Roadster Show" was when it was still at the Civic Auditorium in Oakland. My favorite Corvette is shown right behind the Mist. I last saw it on a used car lot several years later....
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