Spotlight on Mark II Histories

[Milsteads Garage]

No. Cell phones are the worst to upload pictures with.

[Milsteads Garage]

I found a history you posted yesterday Pat, about Chubby Checkers buying one of these cars used! I wonder what other interesting people bought one of these used?

[Milsteads Garage]

Reading on, I came across 3289 which belonged to a former presidents brother. I bid on this car believe it or not around 10 years ago when it was on EBay. It was a very rough car back then that yard drove and one of the previous owners bought a parts car out of Russ Uptons boneyard in hopes to put it back together. It was a very bottom of the barrel cheap way to be an owner. To fix and drive however, that example would have been one of the hardest to do.

[Pat Marshall]

I found a history you posted yesterday Pat, about Chubby Checkers buying one of these cars used! I wonder what other interesting people bought one of these used?

For starters - Gene Autry, Elka Sommers, Richard Carpenter, William Clayton Ford...

[Milsteads Garage]

I read the history of Elke Sommers car which is 3498. She owned it between 1981-1984 and was sold in a divorce. I would be curious to know why a relatively well known actress buys a 25 year old used car. Nonetheless, very interesting owner who bought one of these second hand.

[Milsteads Garage]

While I was looking up Gene Autry, a very familiar name popped up: Earl “Mad man” Muntz. This guys claim to fame was the aluminum bodied Muntz Jet built between 1951-1953. Very interesting mash up of parts as I believe these had Ford based chassis and running gears but these often have been seen powered by Ford flatheads, the Cadillac OHV 331 or the Chrysler 331 hemi. Bo Maelfors of Copperstate classic cars here in Phoenix had one in his shop forever as he moved 4 times over the 20 or so years I’ve known him. Bo reupholstered my MarkII so I got to see him and his guys rebuild the car when I would skip out of work a minute to check on my car.

[Pat Marshall]

I read the history of Elke Sommers car which is 3498. She owned it between 1981-1984 and was sold in a divorce. I would be curious to know why a relatively well known actress buys a 25 year old used car. Nonetheless, very interesting owner who bought one of these second hand.

Wow Morgan! Is that because she was a woman? An actress? relatively well known (actually at that time she was extremely well known) Or that it was a 25 year old (nothing special?) used car.

Sommers lived in a community which highly valued the Mark II and even in the 70's and 80's I sometimes saw them driving around Bel-Aire and Beverly Hills on my commute to work (intersection of Beverly & La Cienega).

She also knew Buddy Holiday, the original Apple Valley Mark II Guru. Buddy had a lot of star clients (buy/sell/repair/parts) and also rented his cars to Hollywood for use in films and TV shows.

[Milsteads Garage]

Wow Morgan! Is that because she was a woman? An actress? relatively well known (actually at that time she was extremely well known) Or that it was a 25 year old (nothing special?) used car.

Sommers lived in a community which highly valued the Mark II and even in the 70's and 80's I sometimes saw them driving around Bel-Aire and Beverly Hills on my commute to work (intersection of Beverly & La Cienega).

She also knew Buddy Holiday, the original Apple Valley Mark II Guru. Buddy had a lot of star clients (buy/sell/repair/parts) and also rented his cars to Hollywood for use in films and TV shows.

All of them are good questions to ask, I will explain why. First, let’s start with her and my reasonings behind it. Until yesterday, I have never heard of Elke Sommer. My first observation is she shares a striking resemblance to my wife. From an outside view it seems outlandish that a woman like her would willingly drive a big,25 year old car. I actually have no problem with this as Sarah drives a fully loaded 2016 Ram 1500 4x4and on occasion my bigger 2020 Ram 2500 4x4 with the Cummins Diesel in it so that peaked my interest in a positive way. I wish more women would trash their stupid jelly bean looking basic cars and drive something more substantial and awesome like my wife does. Secondly, concerning me participating in this thread I have this perspective to offer. Reading these histories and the people behind the cars is very new to me as my expertise is mainly making these cars functional. While I spent countless hours with Axel Holm, we never discussed the amount of special people that owned them. I have a real, genuine interest in this.

[Milsteads Garage]

So tell me more about Buddy Holliday. I owned 3756 which was a project car of his that he didn’t finish and ended up at Russ Uptons boneyard. I just know the basics about him but nothing really in depth.

[Milsteads Garage]

Found a very interesting post about 2632. First, the car was sold by the Lee Moran company. I believe Lee Moran and HB Halicki knew each other. If you don’t know who HB Halicki is, watch the 1973 version of Gone in 60 seconds. In the movie, a great get-away scene is filmed (actually the whole film is pretty much a car chase scene) where Eleanor the Mustang causes absolute havoc in a Lee Moran Cadillac dealership. Great watch if you haven’t seen it.

Second, this car was purchased at one of his dealerships, then shipped to Sydney Australia where it was converted over to right hand drive, well, everything except the power window switches.