So long, Colonel...I'll take good care of the Chrysler.

Thank you.........

 

Great story and beautiful car. I don't know why you would ever want to sell it anyway. Never find another one like that. Have fun.

 

What a great car!! But the thing that is coolest to me is the fact you touched this gentleman and made him feel that letting go of his most treasured possesion was a positive experience. This is something that usually is a super sad event, but the Colonel looked very happy!! I am proud of you and I am sure you cherish the car and the experience.~Sololobo~

 

Great car....awesome story...

 

Great car and great story.

Seeing the similarities in stories and cars, here is mine.

When I was in high school I stopped by a guy's house to tell him the "if he ever wants to sell his car, keep me in mind" deal. Just so happened that he was thinking about it at the time. Talked with him for a while and he got back to me and made a deal. He had a relative that also wanted the car and chose to sell it to me. I am guessing that being a young kid interested in his baby made a difference in his decision. A little surpising to me since I was just a young kid of 16. The car is a 1959 Chrysler. Looks alot like yours. He was the original owner and took very good care of it. I still own the car. He died several years back but always had interest in the car.

Another car that I bought came from a guy that was not of good health and was forced to sell his cars. He had three Model A's that he had restored after he retired. I bought one of the cars from his son. He never came out of the house when I came to pick up the car so I never got to meet the gentleman. Anyway, that year we took our family Christmas picture with us in the Model A. Sent him a picture and never thought much of it. After he died, his son got word back to me that his dad had the Christmas picture in his room at the nursing home till he died. Still have that car too.

Old cars mean alot to some. They are their book of memories.

Found a picture of the Chrysler. Don't have a picture handy of the other but it is just a stock Model A roadster.

Neal

 

Scott, that brought a tear to my eye man, especially the picture of him kissing the car. I know how excited you are to have that gorgeous New Yorker and how much you had to sacrifice to get it. I LOVE IT that you have that car and are going to be its custodian, it deserves a good guy like you. Make the Colonel proud.

RIP Colonel!!

(I notice that a lot of Hambers also have BAD taste in cars. )

 

That is just too cool. Im sure he is proud and thankful you see the car in the same light.

 

I think (I hope ) the right people got the car...

Good luck to ya....

Go buy a lotto ticket...........

 

hey el gato how did that car have pa antique plates on it did you come up here to get it ? or was it down in texas?

 

Hi guys
Just wanted to share a similar story
The car in my avatar was owned by a dear friend of mine since 1976 as a stocker with 60000 miles.He bought it and held on to it for 30 years for a retirement project.Sadly ,as soon as he retired he took ill with terminal cancer and was unable to touch it.A few freinds and I took it upon ourselves to put it back together and get it running again so he could take a ride before he p***ed.Several months later we did that and the smile on his face was something I will never forget.
Long story short, a few weeks later he called me and wanted to go for coffee.I picked him up and when we got there,he told me his time was limited and the Merc was mine. How someone could give a chance to a punk 26 year old ( at the time ) still blows me away.I cherish this car and its memories more than anything
It still makes me proud when someone sees it on the street and says
Hey,thats Ernie"s Merc!I have owned it a long time but it will always be Ernies Merc
Thanks
Marc

 

Yeah you sure gotta know it wasn't about the money when he sold it to you for less than he'd been offered. Clearly he was looking for the proper owner. Neat fella for sure - I bet we could all have learned a ton more from him.

 

Awesome story Scott. It looks like he was actually "interviewing you" to see if you were worthy of his 'baby'. (congratulations...you obviously p***ed

My 1950 panel truck has a somewhat similar story...
I was pinstriping a 'very' clean '49 Chev pick-up in my shop. My neighbor stopped by when he saw me pulling it in...my neighbor also has a clean '53 pick-up too. So, we get to talking about how nice this truck sat, and how cool it would be to have a neat old truck like this for my business. I added that I would prefer a panel truck over the pick-up to haul my painting junk around in, to which he said he knew of one that was likely for sale, close by, that I could possibly get for a deceint price. The owner was clearing out his multi car collection as he was in very poor health...so my neighbor hooked us up. Turns out I've known this guy for almost 20 years (he used to be an old riding buddy of mine!)...and hadn't seen him in quite a while. And he DID sell me the truck, (for a fair price) but it needed a bunch of work to finish.
When he did p***, I did drive the panel truck to his service (altho his wife rode on the back of a bike, and spilled out his ashes as they went down the road.) John was a funny and awesome guy who really loved life!

Unfortunately, I need to sell the truck now...I'll be in Sac this weekend at the Autorama with it.

 

Great story. Better it go to someone like you who'll share the story with everyone and keep the car, than to get sold by his kids to a dealer after he dies and lose the history of it forever.

There was a story of a really clean Packard that someone bought at a dealership recently, was a trade-in on a Ranger truck, I've gotta wonder if that wasn't someone's baby that got dumped at the used car lot when the owner p***ed away. At least it's in good hands now.

 

Flop, the car was an original Pennsylvania car. The story the colonel told me was that his father-in-law retired as an attorney and bought himself this car, brand new in 1957. The father-in-law died after only putting 6k on the car and since his wife didn't drive, it sat in the garage for nearly 16yrs. The colonel took possession of the car, and since he was in the military, he and the car got relocated down here to TX. I think the car was with the colonel for a while in FL., too.

 

Great Story! The picture of the Colonel kissing the car looked a little fuzzy to at first, dang allergies.

Take good care of it, it looks like good Karma to me

 

What a great looking Chrysler! No wonder the Colonel was so damn proud and fond of that car. You're a lucking guy to have it handed off to you and now it's your turn to take care of it.

Any guy would love to have a car like that.

 

Very cool story! Hopefully, someday a grayed 90 yr old Scott will be p***ing the still cherry Chrysler to it's next deserving young caretaker.

 

Wow,this hits pretty close to home. As a young punk growin up in the 70's
I worked for(learned from) our local mayor at his gas station. He got a 57
New Yorker from the original owner when he bought the station. While
working for him we'd get it out at least once a year for a local parade and
of course before it got put away from parade duty I would ceremoniously
take it to the "flats" outside of town and blow the cob webs outta it. He
knows I'd love to have it and hopefully someday I will. Till then I visit them
whenever I'm back in town just to stay in touch. This car still has about
23,000 original miles on it. I used to tell people it had 1957 air in the spare...

 

Wow. Great story. Bout made my eyes water.

 

you sir are now a "care taker" of someones love and dreams...............

 

Chop it and drop it.








JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks for sharing.Great story,Great car,Great color too!

 

Since discovering this site I make daily (multiple) visits to laugh, get info and in this case, get choked up. Thanks

 

I asked Col. Lange to write a biography about the car before I purchased it, and he happily obliged. The guy was so old school that he typed it out...on a typewriter, which I thought was awesome. People under a certain age probably don't even know what a typewriter is. There are some details about the car in there, like it was the ONLY 1957 New Yorker that had that color combo (sunset rose/white) with the 392 Hemi to sell in Pennsylvania during that year. He said upon his father-in-laws retiring from being an attorney, that he purchased that car so he could "step out in style". I guess all the people in town knew who was coming when they saw the "pink elephant" cruising down the boulevard

 

The "Pink Elephant" was more bequeathed to you than sold. Sounds like the Colonel was one of us.

 

that's just an incredible story, couldn't be happier for you and the car. sounds like it needs to be right where she is. good luck and take good care of that baby!

 

kick *** story!!!!

 

nice car and awesome story, enjoy the car

 

wish i wouldnt have been cuttin up the onions while reading this thread!!!!



awesome story

 

The Colonel should be an inspiration to all of us. Congratulations