ML: After 44 years, the engine could have been complete...

["Hugh & Therese" <hugtrees@xxxxxxxx>]

This story is getting to be like a good subject for a movie.  It has a lot
of dramatic elements.  If Patrick has anything to do with it, it will even
have a happy ending.

I've frequently pondered how it is that "my" 58 is still here.  I only know
about its first owner.  I imagine the second ran it like a high quality used
car.  I have a picture of the first owner with an early 60s Cadillac, which
makes me think he didn't keep the 58 Imperial too long.  The key player was
probably the third owner.  At that point the car is slipping down the food
chain and someone at some point has to have made a conscious decision to
keep it up.  The museum got the car in 1984 and never used it.  It was on
display only.  The engine has a nasty crack in the block, which must have
happened earlier.  It had a quality repair which still was not leaking when
the engine was pulled recently.  I have heard that cracked blocks are more
common than you might think here in Texas.  The guy who donated the car to
the museum donated two other Imperials, both of which have long since been
disposed of.  At some point, though, someone decided to "save" the car.  I
tried to find out some of the car's history but I came up with nothing.  The
relevant government agency has no records prior to computerization.

Hugh

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <PNKMoore@xxxxxxx>
To: <mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 10:57 PM
Subject: IML: ML: After 44 years, the engine could have been complete...


This past weekend I took a trip to Hazlehurst, Mississippi to assess an
estate property for work.  This is the same estate from which I recently
purchased
my Imperial: a ‘58 Southampton 4 door.  The car left Hazelhurst in 1960 when
the gentleman who had purchased it new died.  His daughter inherited it and
the
car was transported by her son, then about 23, to Shreveport where it
remained until two weeks ago.  Today he's 66 and my client.

The Hazlehurst property was originally a "city farm," meaning it was in town
with the house facing a main residential street.  To the rear there was an 8
acre field with support buildings, garden, paddock, etc.  The house was
closed
in 1960 and has suffered innumerable violations over the years.  I went to
take a survey of the risk/value of the place to the estate and determine if
the
buildings were best slated for demolition, etc.  I went on Sunday morning
because it was my first chance, and I wanted to get up there as soon as
possible
after getting the case.  Once the Mississippi heat sets in the critters and
snakes get feisty in old places like that, and I didn't want to have to make
any
new "friends."

While it was a somewhat sad errand to see a once grand old house fallen to
ruin, I did enjoy climbing through the house itself and lurking around the
outbuildings, wondering what it was like 44 years ago when the Imperial
lived
there.  I had another attorney with me, and both of us enjoyed the
opportunity to
do something
"legal" that really just felt like fun.

The barns, servants' quarters and carriage house were either collapsed or
completely gone but a more modern garage, built on a slab and covered in tin
instead of wooden siding, was still standing. ("Is" still standing.  I was
there
only yesterday!) The garage was completely hidden in the trees and brush,
and
being so hard to see it escaped some of the theft that was so apparent in
the
main house.  Some cans and bottles and miscellaneous junk were still on the
shelves and strewn on the floor.  The pedestal and guts of an ancient TV
were in
there, the "carved" Bakelite knobs being the only remotely intact portion.

I looked around among the wreckage to see if there was anything to walk away
with.

I found something: Standing in a bucket, next to a collapsed workbench, was
the sparkplug wire cover for the passenger side of my 392 Hemi.  Alas, it
had
obviously been sitting in water for a long time, at least until the bucket
sprang a leak, and it was hopelessly rusted.  Still I was amazed to find it,
knowing that it must had stood there for 44 years after being removed from
the car.

I continue to look for a replacement wire cover, having missed a chance to
bid on a pair on Ebay last week. Darnit!  Nonetheless, at least I know where
the
original one went!

I also found a twisted, nearly unrecognizable piece of thin chrome under the
leaves in front of the garage.  I'm wondering if it's the trim piece off of
the right rear windshield molding over the deck of the Imperial.  I haven't
had
a chance to hold it up to the remaining chrome to check, but I have my
suspicions.

I walked away with some poison ivy, some very minor architectural knick
knacks, dirty clothes and a bruised ankle of my own making. (I stepped
through the
floor in the kitchen, though I should have known better.  Termites, I
guess.)
I also have one more little chapter to the story of my old car, a chapter
that
no one but us IML folks will appreciate!

Patrick Moore
1958 4 door Southampton
Southeast Louisiana