If you watch this space, you know about the adventures of Howard Kroplick from East Hills, New York. He’s a keeper of history on early Long Island driving and racing, has written a book about the Long Island Motor Parkway, and runs around his hometown in a fire-belching 1909 Alco race car dubbed the Black Beast.
For a while, Howard’s also been endeavoring to get his hands on another car with rarity and strong Long Island connections. He’s finally taken possession of just such a one-of-one car: the 1937 Chrysler Imperial Model C-15 Town Car originally commissioned by Walter P. Chrysler for his wife, Della. Cast lettering in an Art Deco styling underneath the rear windows dot out BCG for Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, the Chryslers’ daughter, who inherited the Town Car in 1938.
It rides on a 140-inch wheelbase with aluminum LeBaron coachwork that has room for seven passengers. As the photos demonstrate, the straight-eight Imperial has never been restored. Last week, it was transferred from the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport, New York, where it had been in repose since 1959, to Howard’s shop in Roslyn. Some of Howard’s pals who took part in the transfer were Jim Pearsall, Automobile Restorations Inc. of New Jersey owner Steve Babinsky, Hemmings Classic Car columnist Walter Gosden and Al Velocci, co-author of Howard’s The Long Island Motor Parkway book.
