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/ > > >