Previous Owners
Roger says, "I bought my Belvedere convertible, sight
unseen, from Exner-era Mopar vendor Dave Donley, who resides in MN. He had
purchased the car from an Iowa carpenter, had hauled it home, and advertised
it in Hemming's Motor News, where I spied the ad."
"Since the car spent its entire life in the central
Iowa region, it was easy enough to write to the Iowa DMV and request a list
of prior owners. However, the list arrived with the prior owners' addresses
blanked out, due to new privacy laws!"
"I probably should not admit that the marker they
used did not sufficiently hide all information, so with the help of Anywho.com,
Reverse White Pages, and some other Internet services, I tracked down and
contacted eight of the nine previous owners, or their survivors. I gotta say
survivors, because, remember, this Plymouth was new 45 YEARS AGO!"
"I won't bore you with specifics. Let me just say
that this was a 'fair weather car' to most of its owners! Each owner (except
#8) owned the car for two years or less. Most of them were not even 20 years
old at the time. One owner took it to Yellowstone where the head gasket blew.
Two owners reported electrical problems, melting wire insulation, and a horn
that would sound by itself upon left turns."
"Another owner admitted the car was used primarily
for 'parking"' if you know what I mean. In fact, that particular woman
married her mechanic, sold the car, then bought the car back, ( for more fun?)!
The car spent most of its life around Fort Dodge."
"The owners who owned it the longest (16 years) were
neighbors of the 'parkers' just mentioned. These new owners (#7) had over
125 cars on their farm, according to the widow. She told me she didn't recall
the car..her feeling was it was probably stored with many others, awaiting
restoration that would never come."
"Owner #8 was a retired man who wanted to restore
it, but again it didnt happen. He sold it to the carpenter (#9) who began
a restoration only to give up in the face of such a big challenge."
"So I am #10. They must use salt on Iowa roads, as
the car was very nearly unrestorable..frame and body rust were extensive!
The car was, however, complete, and we were able to splice it together with
a SF hardtop to come up with the Sport Fury convertible it is today...(WA
State Rules state that the frame and drivetrain define the title of the vehicle.)"
