Re: [Chrysler300] Lefty's Earliest Owners List

["Ron Kurtz" <Mark268@xxxx>]

Hardy:

This is one beautiful story. Thank you very much for sharing it with us.

I've had my E since 1966 and my grandson (3) points to the car and asks what
it is. Some day I will tell him where's it been and what I did with it. Hope
to follow in your footsteps.

Best regards,
Ron Kurtz
E #292
----- Original Message -----
From: Hardy Graham Jr <hpgraham@xxxx>
To: Chrysler300 Forum (E-mail) <Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 6:42 AM
Subject: RE: [Chrysler300] Lefty's Earliest Owners List


> Regarding original owners I almost count (well sort of). My Grandfather,
> Hardy M. Graham, bought the car brand new in May of 1955. He bought the
car
> in Union City, TN and has been an avid Mopar man since about 1940. My
> Grandmother got a brand new Imperial every couple of years until the
> discontinued them. The last Mopar she bought was a Front Drive New
Yorker.
> She didn't like front drive so she bought a 7 Series BMW. Granddad used
his
> cars on the farm and to travel around for business so he wanted
performance.
> My Dad tells a story of getting the C300 to 150 on the speedometer on a
long
> descending straightaway in west Tennessee one time. My Grandfather tells
a
> story about being Mayor and routinely getting the Police department to
> verify the accuracy of his speedometer at 100 mph. He also said that he
> replaced the tires when they were only half worn out. Not sure how true,
> but he also says that he had them put a different cam in the car when it
was
> new to make even more power and changed the rear end for more speed. Like
> me he has always been a horsepower junkie. He tells a great story about
> working out on the farm late one day when one of his workers got injured
> badly on a piece of farm equipment. He said he put the man in the car and
> set out for a hospital running as fast as he could go. Most roads in
rural
> West Tennessee were dirt and in not very good condition. He was coming up
> on a bridge crossing a stream and just kept his foot on the floor. He
tells
> of hitting the beginning of the bridge and launching the car in the air.
> When it came down it hit so hard that it bottomed out and pulled the
exhaust
> system off at the manifolds. It was dark by then and blue flames shot out
> from under the car he said. With a tire squealing unmuffled Hemi C300 I
> have no doubt that the hospital knew he was approaching. After the car
got
> around 50,000 miles on it he bought another car and used the C300 to haul
> corn on the farm. He would actually drive it down the rows of corn and
> have people throw ears that the Combine missed into the trunk of the car.
> In 1969 the drivers outside door handle broke so he parked it in his
carport
> and just left it there. All through my childhood when I would visit I
would
> climb over this beast of a car sitting in their carport. Even at an early
> age I was amazed and fascinated by this car. In 1992 I convinced my
Father
> and Uncle to pay to have the car restored. My Grandfather passed title to
> the both of them and they jointly restored the car. There was extensive
> rust from sitting in the carport for 23 years. The restoration cost over
> $50,000.00 but didn't matter because it was Granddaddy car. When the
> restoration was complete and the car delivered back to Union City my
> Grandfather was the first to drive it. My uncle was with him as he pushed
> the car to 100 mph. He said that as he was looking at him to tell him to
> slow down, he looked 40 years younger. Granddaddy's last Mopar was a 1987
> Conquest TSi which I bought from him last year. It has 21,000 miles and
> cost me the hefty sum of $700.00. The last new car he bought was in 1994
> when he bought a Corvette ZR-1 at the age of 82. Grandmothers front drive
> New Yorker was way to slow he said. Granddaddy is 90 years old now and
the
> family won't let him drive anymore. At the last club meet in Nashville I
> brought his car and had it judged in the Concours event. I don't remember
> the points it got off had but I was happy, especially since it took first
in
> class (I am not sure if anyone else was in the class). Anyway, I gave the
> plaque to my Grandfather and it made him very happy. Although I am no the
> original owner my name is on the original title. Sorry for the long
story.
> I am beginning to sound like my Grandfather.
>
> Hardy P. Graham, Jr.
>
> To send a message to this group, send an email to:
> Chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> For list server instructions, go to
http://www.chrysler300club.com/yahoolist/inst.htm
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> Chrysler300-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>