Hi, if you managed to scroll all the way to the end of the original message
regarding Ed Messick, you will have seen that he seems to have killed his
wife and then himself. A tragic end for anyone. I had some brief dealings
with Ed, whom I knew as John Gault at the time. I believe John Gault is the
name of a character in a book, but I don't know which one.
John maintained two houses, one of which was in San Antonio. He initially
said he and I would have to meet up at some point but we never did. I
believe he was a very wealthy man. He loved 1962 Imperials in particular
and had a fabulous convertible. What I heard was that the restoration cost
some $50,000.
He took it to a California meet a few years ago and it suffered some seat
damage at some point, about which he was, naturally, extremely annoyed.
Ed was a man who took his politics extremely seriously. I don't really take
anything seriously, certainly nothing to the extent that he did, and so a
meeting never took place between us, just a few less than pleasant e-mails
from him before they petered out.
Nevertheless, the world of Imperials has lost a true enthusiast, someone who
really wanted to see Imperials placed among the very high end of the old car
hobby spectrum. He briefly was charge of the 1962 page, if I recall
correctly. We won't see his like again and as someone who likes to
celebrate all Imperials and most Imperialists, we are therefore diminished
by his departure, not matter what our individual opinions of him may have
been.
Hugh Hemphill
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