I met him at the Solvang meet in 2001 - I remember the incident of the
damage to his seat. He was truly outraged, although I was not able to
detect the damage, and I don't know how it happened.
Regarding his use of the John Gault name, I believe this is from a character
in a book by Ayn Rand - "Atlas Shrugged". It should be assigned reading
for anyone who is interested in the history American political thought.
(Which, by the way, does not include me, so save your flames.)
Dick Benjamin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 5:47 PM
Subject: IML: Sad News About IML Member Ed Messick / John Gault
> 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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