This was a rather nice spring morning in Winnipeg. The wind was picking up
some but the temperature was moderate and the cloud cover minimal. My
neighbour, AL met me behind my garage where I was doing some last minute
tinkering on the 78 Newporker. Fellow IML member, Darryl Kippen also met us
there. The other guys made a run to Tim Horton's for coffee while I
buttoned up the Newporker and preparted for our little adventure.
We headed away from my house about 10:15 AM, filled the Newporker with fuel,
filled ourselves with McDonalds breakfasts and off we went to the farm
auction. The auction was being held East of Pilot Mound, Manitoba, about
200 km from Winnipeg. The Newporker performed flawlessly. Al did the
driving as Darryl rode shotgun and I lounged in the comfy expanse of the
back seat of the Newporker. Actually, it was a little cramped for my 6'4",
350 lb frame but lets seeya do that in any OTHER car today! We arrived at
the auction at about 12:30 PM, about 90 minutes before they were scheduled
to auction the item of our interest. This item was a very respectable 1947
Chrysler Imperial Crown Limousine. This car is powered by a flat head
straight eight power plant that was brought to life with an apparently new
six volt battery. When the man started the car our jaws dropped. This car
ran as smooth as one could ever imagine!
The bidding started......"Ten thousand!" the auctioneer shouted! "Ten ten
ten ten lets hear ten.....eight eight, gimme eight!" he relented. "Give me
four thousand for this beautiful automobile! The lady of the house used
this car to fetch her groceries up until about two years ago!" The bids
finally started. Four, five, fifty five, six, sixty five, up they went with
the auctioneer becoming more and more excited as the numbers rang higher.
"Gimme seven!" he demanded...."Seven!" he cheered. Seventy five! Eight!
"Gimme eighty five...eighty five...we got eight, gimme eighty five!" over
and over the auctioneer chanted. "Eighty five? eighty five?" he pleaded.
"SOLD! For eight thousand dollars!"
I was unable to see who the buyer was but having had a close look at this
car, IMO it was worth 50% again that much...a real bargain for someone. I
can only hope it will be treated well so that many more people can enjoy
this fine example of automotive engineering.
The three of us waited around to see a few more items sell and then we
climbed into the Newporker and headed off home. The car ran great! The
auction was rather fun. The day was almost perfect (very windy) and the
company was enjoyed. I hope everyone gets to have "old car days" like this
once in a while. Sure, it cost me about $65 in gas but it was worth every
dime IMO.
Please see the pictures I've placed on my home web server. Some of these
will be displayed on the 1947 section of the OIC site.
http://imperial.point2this.com/misc/CarStuff/1947CrownImperialLimo/
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