Wow what a find Dads 82 Lawrence R Noska lnoska@xxxxxxxxxxxx Hauser, ID 83854 -----Original Message----- From: mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mailing-list-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of PNKMoore@xxxxxxx Sent: Monday, April 19, 2004 8:58 PM To: mailing-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 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