The personal town car of Chrysler Corporation founder Walter Chrysler, a 1937 Chrysler Imperial C-15 LeBaron Town Car, will return to what was once its home this weekend — the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point.
The town car, along with many other classic cars, will be on display this Sunday at the first Regimental Activities NAFI Auto Show at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
The midshipmen of the Kings Point Auto Club organized the show to bring the car back to where it was once owned by Chrysler, whose Kings Point home is now the academy’s Wiley Hall.
“This has been a long process,” said Paul Styx, a midshipman at the academy and the Kings Point auto club president. “We’ve had a lot of hurdles with trying to have this at a federal institution, so the fact that it’s actually happening is exciting for us.”
The first auto show — which is sponsored by the non-appropriated fund instrumentalities, the association that financially supports midshipmen clubs at the academy — will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on May 17 at the academy, which is located at 300 Steamboat Road.
The show is free to the public, but those who wish to enter their car as part of the show had to pay $20 and pre-register by Wednesday.
A barbecue concession stand will also open at 11 a.m.
While the show organizers wanted to get up the 150 classic cars to the academy, Styx said “Chrysler’s Chrysler,” is the jewel of the show.
The car is owned by Town of North Hempstead Historian Howard Kroplick, who bought it in 2012 from the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum, where the car had been sitting in storage since 1959.
Kroplick had reached out to the academy’s public relations department in recent years, trying unsuccessfully to get them to allow the Chrysler to be displayed at the academy.
Once Styx and other club members discovered Kroplick’s Chrysler online, they reached out to him, eventually going to his house to see the car.
“[The midshipmen] saw my car online and they knew my car,” Kroplick said. “They thought it’d be nice to have a reunion — to have the car coming home.”
Kroplick hopes to get about 1,000 spectators out to see the cars.
He said he also plans to bring three other high-profile cars to the show — a 1909 Alco Black Beast Racer, a 1964 ½ Mustang III Prototype and a 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350H.
This is the first time, he said, he will bring all four cars to the same show.
Kroplich said his decision to bring all four cars was based on the midshipmen’s excitement.
“The midshipmen came over to visit my garage and I was so impressed with their enthusiasm,” Kroplick said.
On top of Kroplick’s collection, Styx said about 50 cars had been registered by Tuesday, including vintage Cadillacs and Ford Thunderbirds.
Styx said the midshipmen have trouble connecting the academy to the community, and hopes this event will help promote the academy’s presence in Great Neck.
“So many times people say ‘We didn’t even know you were here,’” Styx said. “It’s frustrating.”
