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Local couple prepare vintage car for festival
(Kokomo Tribune Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 4--Jeff Griffin was looking through the online listings of Hemmings Motor News, a magazine that lists cars for sale, when something caught his eye.
In San Francisco, a seller listed a 1923 Haynes Model 55 Sport Sedan.
"I knew I had to have it. You don't see them very often. I didn't want to wait."
Jeff Griffin talked to his wife, Mary Ellen, and told her what he had found.
"I couldn't believe he found it," she said, adding that "my first thought was, 'How much?'"
When she heard the sale price, which they agreed was reasonable, she agreed they had to have the car.
Jeff Griffin e-mailed the seller and learned the car had sat in a warehouse for four years, since the seller's father had died. After several phone calls and e-mails, the car was on its way back to where it was made, Kokomo, via FedEx truck.
The Griffins and some friends were waiting on May 18 when the truck pulled into their driveway to deliver the car. They were amazed by the condition it was in -- all that it needed was to be polished and to have the water pump fixed.
"We had seen pictures online," Mary Ellen Griffin said. "It was even better when it got here. We couldn't believe how beautiful it was."
Jeff Griffin said the Haynes company made about 4,500 cars the year his was manufactured. New price on the Model 55 would have been about $2,700, he added, at a time a Model T sold for $685.
"This was an expensive car."
The Griffins are the car's fifth owners. The second owner, Alvin Bodenschatz, bought it in 1926, when he was 19, according to an article in Special Interest Autos magazine. In 1932, Bodenschatz suffered a severe seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy. Doctors ordered him to never drive again.
He put the car up on blocks in his garage, drained the fluids and covered it with a tarp. He would sit in the back seat to read magazines in it, hoping one day he would be able to drive it again. He never did, and it had to be sold to pay for his nursing home expenses when he was 83.
Jeff Griffin said most of the car is original, though the front seat upholstery was replaced at some point. It also has been repainted, but in the original maroon color.
The Griffins plan to have it in Saturday's Haynes Apperson parade, and Jeff Griffin said Bob Gollner was instrumental in helping him fix the water pump so it can be driven in the parade.
Gollner, a local Haynes restoration expert, is pleased to have another Haynes back in Kokomo.
"I think it's wonderful. I'd like to see more of them come back. They're hard to find, it may take a while to get some more back."
He said he worked on the car with Jeff Griffin and was impressed by its condition.
"It's an excellent car. I think it's wonderful. It's just such a nice car."
Jeff Griffin's interest in cars began when he was young, going with his father to old car shows. When he and Mary Ellen married, he was into restoring Corvettes. He once won best of show at the Haynes Apperson festival car show with a Corvette he had restored, Mary Ellen Griffin said.
As rules grew tighter about restored Corvettes, Jeff Griffin moved away from the sports cars and became interested in older cars. In 1996, he bought his first vintage car, a 1911 Model T. When the couple's oldest daughter, Kelly, married Randy Cook, he drove them from their wedding to their reception in that car.
Mary Ellen Griffin said they've bought and sold several older cars since then, but "I think [Kelly] would kill us if we sold the Model T."
Jeff Griffin thinks the Haynes is back in Kokomo to stay.
"I probably won't sell this one."
Mary Ellen Griffin said they only have three vintage cars at a time, because that's what they can fit in their garage.
"I think if we had a place for more than three, I'd own the museum north of town," she joked. "I've never parked my car in the garage since we got married."
She said owning and restoring old cars becomes a family project, and everyone has to be patient during a restoration. Their family has lived with car parts in the bathtub and on the dining room table during projects, she said.
Mary Ellen Griffin hopes when the time comes to downsize, their daughters will each want one of the cars. She already knows Kelly will want the Model T, and hopes Kadra and Kelsey will each want one as well.
When they found the Haynes, she said, they had just bought a 1927 Buick, but sold it quickly.
"You might not ever have the chance to buy a Haynes again," Mary Ellen Griffin said.
Jeff Griffin said the car has been in California since it was purchased by its first owner, and he thinks it is appropriate that its first parade back in Kokomo is the Haynes Apperson parade (scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday).
"There are very few of them left. It can give people a chance to see what the Haynes Apperson Festival is all about."
Danielle Rush may be reached at (765) 454-8585 or via e-mail at
danielle.rush@kokomotribune.com
To see more of the Kokomo Tribune or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kokomotribune.com/.
Copyright (c) 2008, Kokomo Tribune, Ind.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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