Hagerty Drivers Club

This collector came into Henrys life when he was younger and never thought it would be something he would hold onto this long. Henry said he built this back when he was just 15 for less than $600 total and in his mother’s garage. His dad had cool cars and a shop right next door with friends that where in the hobby and came over to make sure he built it strong enough. He never said he had a hard time getting insurance back then. But did say the first time his mom got in the car was to take it to their local insurance agt. The way Henry put it, the local agent had a hard time believing Henry built a car and the title said 1964 Handbuilt, so the agent requested Henrys mother to ride with him to show the local agent. He said his mother was scared to death!

Over the years he has put about 150k miles just when he was younger all locally. Since then he has restored 2 more times all with less than 5k into the little Ford.

Carol Ann grew up in southern California during the height of surfing and hippies. She has had a passion for VW Beetles her entire life and now has four of them on her Hagerty policy. Recently Carol Ann added a 1963 Volkswagen Bus that she discovered has an amazing history and story to tell.

This 1963 Camper Bus is infamous in several ways: In 1964 it was sued by the United States Government, yes a vehicle was sued by the government “United States of America vs ONE 1963 VOLKSWAGEN CAMPER”. The original owner, Thomas Post a descendant of the Post Cereal family of Washington DC apparently abandoned the vehicle and the government sued to get the title of the Camper Bus. The Camper Bus sat in impound until 1972 when it sold at public auction for only $175.00.

The next owners were going through the Camper Bus when they discovered an unused $4.00 concert ticket for the first ever Beatles concert in the United States February 11, 1964 at the Washington DC Coliseum Arena. How did an unused 1964 Beatles concert ticket end up in this abandoned Camper Bus? In research they found out that in 1964 a women left a note on the windshield of the Camper Bus for Thomas Post to contact her. She wanted to know if Thomas would "ferry some people in the bus" for her in a couple days and she would pay him. "I just need you to take my clients to a concert on Tuesday evening (Feb 11, 1964)." Pick them up at the Shoreham Hotel and take them to the Washington Coliseum. "It's your bus I'm interested in. I want to provide them with a spiffy ride to the concert."

Upon delivering her clients at the Coliseum the woman gave Thomas two tickets for the concert, thus the unused ticket was the second ticket that Thomas never expected to receive let alone the one ticket he used to watch the concert.

The clients he drove were the four BEATLES; John, Paul George and Ringo. (The limo at the hotel was the decoy vehicle). Yes, Thomas transported the Beatles to and from the Coliseum, delivering them to a different location where a reception was held after the concert. The unused $4.00 ticket to the Beatles first ever concert in the USA discovered in the old abandoned Camper Bus sold on eBay for $5,111.

So this 1963 Volkswagen Bus IS a part of American History:

• It’s been sued and jailed
• It’s a descendent of success
• It’s carried Iconic Superstars
• It represents Hippie Pop Culture

It’s a rare breed, rare body and rare model: Included in Carol Ann’s purchase is the certification document from Volkswagen which verifies the bus is the rare split window, Twin Barn door model. Included is the original government auction document from 1972. Also included are two surfboards, the luggage on the correct roof rack, a colorful tent made for VW buses and more.

A book has been written and dedicated to this historical, infamous 1963 VW Camper Bus titled “Hippie Van” by Robert Luther.

Steven’s first vehicle was a 1968 Camaro at the age of 17. He had been working three jobs while in high school and would give all of that money to his grandmother who took care of him. When he graduated, she surprised him and asked if he would like to get a car. She had saved all the money and gave it back to him. He soon found a 1968 Camaro, the man selling it decided to give it to Steven for $2500, the same amount of miles that were on the odometer.

Steven remembers cruising around in the car on the search for his “dream girl”. A couple years later, he was deployed in the military and the car was left to sit. When he returned, he discovered many issues with the car including the transmission. It was too costly to fix so he was forced to sell it.

Fast forward to a couple years ago and Steven is driving around with his wife, he sees a 1968 Nova (yellow), the vehicle is in decent condition but needs some work. He restores the vehicle back to original and since then it has won many shows. Now that he is happily married, he states “Back then, I had the car but didn’t have the girl. Now I have the dream car and the dream girl”. He has also personalized the license plate to read DOLLFACE which is his nickname for his wife.

Since then, he has also purchased and restored a couple other cars to their former glory and plans on showing them at small local charity events. His hope is to use the appeal of a classic car show to draw visitors in to purchase raffle tickets for items local businesses have donated. In turn, he plans to donate all proceeds to local children in need.

Steven believes these cars represent much more than the style and money invested into the vehicles. They represent his childhood, present and future. He hopes this story shows that if you want something bad enough, and hold it close in your heart without compromise someday it will come back to you.

I had a fun conversation with Lance about his 1982 Datsun 280ZX Turbo, purchased new by his father. The Datsun has 42,000 original miles, and other than some hoses and belts is 100% original, and he plans to keep it that way.

Lance remembers going to Manteca Datsun with his dad to test drive one, then his dad being disappointed he could not order white with a black interior. Red was the only interior option color, his dad didn’t want that, so he ordered Midnight Gray with a silver interior instead.

Lance has many good memories of cruising with his dad, especially driving up Highway 99 to visit his grandparents in Sacramento. He remembers how fast the car was, how quickly it could get you into trouble with the CHP. His two younger sons are already fighting over who is going to get the Datsun when it comes time to pass it on.

“The older you get, the wiser you become.”

We have all heard that before either from a parent, a grandparent, or the old man sitting on the bench in the park. That quote has held true for David Mackey over the years. David has been debating what hot water heater he should buy for the past six months. He wants to make sure that he picks the right one, not paying for any feature that him and his family does not need. David makes sure to do his research before pulling the trigger on any large purchase.

This fall David and his wife Margret traveled up to Lake Geneva Wisconsin from their home in Northern Illinois to visit with friends and for the Classic boat show as they have in years previous. While at the show they stopped at Delavan Lake Boat Shed. There David saw an old wood boat that shined in the sun of a warm fall day. The more David looked over the boat the more he fell in love with the planked mahogany, the shine of the chrome and varnish. That old boat he was checking out was a 1955 Chris Craft Continental.

After a few minutes, a gentleman came up to David and his wife, who were still admiring the beauty of the Chris Craft. The gentleman introduced himself as a salesman for Delavan Lake Boat Shed. David and the man got talking for some time and come to find out, the boat was owned by an older gentleman who was selling it to health reasons. The boat has been kept at the Boat Shed for many years. The salesman told David that every time the owner was done with the boat the Boat Shed would clean thoroughly, polish with vinegar, and store the boat for the owner in a fully enclosed rack storage.

David was the first person to be looking at the boat as it was just listed online the day before. After talking for about 45 minutes with the salesman David went over and talked to his wife. David expressed to her how he loved the looks of the boat and its classic style. He admitted that he does now know much about Chris Crafts except for his childhood growing up on the lakes in Michigan and his friend’s parents having the boats and endless hours on the lake. David knew that he would want to review, research, and shop a bit more before he made any offer or considered the purchase of a boat, especially one that is almost as old as he is. David’s wife looked him right in the eye and said “If not now, when? You just turned 68. If not now, when?” With that David turned around and shook hands with the salesman.

When David retuned a few weeks later to pick up his boat, claim the title, and exchange money, he found out that there was a man that came into the boat shop about 15 minutes after David and his wife left originally with cash in hand to purchase the Chris Craft that day. To David’s relief the salesman honored the simple hand shake that they exchanged minutes before the arrival of the other potential buyer. If it was not for the stern voice of his wife and breaking of habit, David would have missed out on the boat and the memories that he and his wife will now be able to share together.

David told me that this is the fastest that he has ever bought anything in his life, and with no research. In less one hour David went from visiting with friends to becoming a boat owner of now his beautiful 1955 Chris Craft Continental.

In our conversation David wanted to make sure to pass a message along to me: The older you get the less time you have to enjoy the little things that life gives you. Don’t miss on any opportunity due to over thinking it. Life is short and you don’t want to miss out. In other words “The older you get, the wiser you become.”

Greg has been in the business of art for 25 years – but it wasn’t until years later that he made a piece of art and his work really took off. Always a lover of older cars with a VW bus for his first vehicle, Greg found joy in creating art from classic vehicles and 5 years ago found himself inspired to paint a picture of a rusty old Chevy pickup full of golden retrievers. There was something about the red color of the Chevy with the rusted white top that really called to him and he posted the artwork to his website for others to view, as well as sending it off to a few people he thought me be interested in using the art. Little did he know just how successful that piece would be!

After sending it out, Greg started to get calls from car companies and gift manufacturing companies approaching him to do artwork for them in a big way. Since then, he has created pieces that has been featured on tins, puzzles, fabric, gift wrap, paint by numbers, popcorn tins, greeting cards and that will be featured this year on the front page of Summit Racing’s winter catalog! He says the hardest part of his work for private sale is to not step on any trademark rights that could result in a lawsuit, so he removes any iconic badging or chrome work from his pieces to make them less recognizable as a certain brand or model.

For all his huge success, Greg was still the same car-crazy fellow he had always been – taking his family “out to dinner”…conveniently across the street from a car show that happened to be going on so he could sneak away and take photographs of all the cars to put into his work. Once people realize WHY he is taking the photos, they are always more than happy to “help” him by offering to reposition their vehicles, or park them in the light or bring it by his house for more photos and whatever else they can do. They find it so exciting to know that they may see part of their vehicle on a jigsaw puzzle or a popcorn tin!

Years of making art out of products like John Deere, Indian, Chevy, Dodge, and Farmall, not to mention covering nostalgia pieces for the Route 66 era, couldn’t help but give Greg the itch to find the perfect collectable vehicle of his own. For 3 ½ years he searched for the old truck that was meant for him and only him. Karma always intervened on his behalf though -- from deals falling through, to his daily driver breaking down on the way to a potential purchase, he just couldn’t seem to get a classic in the garage until July of 2017. That was when he found his 1966 Chevy C10…the exact same color and model as that painting that really got him going so many years before. Never in his wildest dreams did he think the truck he had painted then as a sample piece would be the vehicle he was destined to have years later.

Greg says the purchase and ownership of this vehicle has been a joy since the beginning, from a great experience with the seller, to tinkering on the vehicle and now just having the pleasure of driving it to show it off as much as he can before the snow flies. He just could not be happier with his beautiful red Chevy C10.