{"id":109947,"date":"2026-05-17T08:43:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:43:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=109947"},"modified":"2026-05-17T08:43:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T12:43:20","slug":"collector-car-cars-we-remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2026\/05\/17\/collector-car-cars-we-remember\/","title":{"rendered":"Collector Car \/ Cars We Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"

— The Car That Waited: One Father\u2019s Loss, One Man\u2019s Promise —<\/p>\n

[By Greg Zyla]<\/p>\n

Q: Hi Greg Zyla. I apologize for writing so late due to health issues, but I am intrigued by your articles now appearing in The Gettysburg Times. My favorite was \u201cMy Favorite Big Block Chevrolets,\u201d which ran on Feb. 21, 2026. <\/span><\/p>\n

Something you said in that article compelled me to write. Back in 1970, when I was 20 years old, I regularly passed a Ford Model A coupe body sitting outside a farmer\u2019s barn near Emmitsburg, Md., not far from where you attended Mount St. Mary\u2019s.<\/p>\n

For several years, the body never moved. Eventually, I stopped to ask the farmer about it. He told me it was his son\u2019s project. His son had disassembled the car with plans to rebuild it, but he was killed in Vietnam. The car became a remembrance of his son.<\/p>\n

Over the next couple of years, I stopped several times. On my third visit, the farmer invited me inside the barn to show me what his son had prepared for the car.<\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

Seven layers of Candy Apple Green cover a gold base, accented by isometric inlays. The body is the iconic steel five-window Ford Model A coupe. (Koenig collection)<\/p><\/div>\n

All of the remaining Model A parts were there, including crates filled with chrome-plated pieces. Nearby sat a modern Ford rear axle. It was clear his son intended to build a street rod \u2014 exactly what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n

After many visits, the farmer allowed me to take the car. Two years later, it was on the road. I already owned a small-block Camaro V8 and a Muncie four-speed transmission, and I used the son\u2019s Ford rear end with 4.10 gears.<\/p>\n

At that time, \u201cRod Runs\u201d were just beginning on the East Coast. I attended them and gathered ideas for improvement. I entered the car in a hometown Baltimore show and won nothing\u2014 except motivation to aim for larger shows instead of those held in parking lots.<\/p>\n

Next came a Richmond, Va., show, where I won my class, Altered Street Rod. With no other entries, I couldn\u2019t lose.<\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

Powering Koenig\u2019s street rod is a Chevy 302 fitted with dual four-barrel carburetors atop a tunnel-ram intake. A Crane roller cam and other race-bred components helped earn Best Engineered awards at major car shows. (Koenig collection)<\/p><\/div>\n

Then came Ocean City, Maryland\u2019s first car show at its new Civic Center. That was where I caught the bug to rebuild the car and take showing seriously. I joined the International Show Car Association (ISCA) and set out to earn as many points as possible.<\/p>\n

I entered 12 shows. Chicago was the largest, with 562 vehicles overall and 184 in my class. I finished 16th overall. I won my class at every show, along with awards including Best Paint six times, Best Interior three times, and Best Engineered once.<\/p>\n

As a result of improvements made during the 1972 and 1973 seasons, I was named Car Owner of the Year and won Most Popular Car of the Show five times, including at the Chicago show.<\/p>\n

So, what does this have to do with your column?<\/p>\n

During fabrication of a new chassis, a friend suggested I use an early Pontiac rear. He assured me I would never break it. Knowing these Pontiacs were beasts, we searched junkyards throughout Maryland and finally found a 1956 Pontiac rear buried deep in the dirt at a local yard near my home. You could barely see the tops of the wheel wells. It was so badly pitted that chrome plating was impossible, and I spent weeks repairing it.<\/p>\n

\"Collector<\/a>

The interior of Koenig\u2019s 1930 Ford Model A is itself an award-winning achievement, reflecting the same craftsmanship found throughout the car.<\/p><\/div>\n

I located a 5.57 gear set. Compared to the Ford rear, the Pontiac unit was massive. Until reading your story, I never had the opportunity to explain how unique that rear really was.<\/p>\n

I did not alter the housing. Instead, I had A\u20111 Fiberglass create rear fender molds three inches wider to accommodate wider tires, which I felt greatly enhanced the car\u2019s appearance.<\/p>\n

I have enclosed photos to support my very wordy story. Sincerely, Ed Koenig,<\/p>\n

Gettysburg, Pa.<\/p>\n

A: Ed, there are cars that stay with us because of how fast they were or how rare they became. And then there are a few that remain with us for reasons far heavier than chrome or cubic inches.<\/p>\n

Your letter is one of those reminders.<\/p>\n

Long before the term street rod became common, a young man near Emmitsburg began dismantling a Ford Model A coupe with the same optimism shared by countless young Americans of that era. He wasn\u2019t simply taking a car apart; he was planning its future. Parts were carefully saved. Chrome was boxed. A modern rear axle waited patiently, a clear signal that performance and drivability were part of the vision. This was a project begun by someone fully expecting to return and finish what he started.<\/p>\n

But Vietnam stepped in and stopped everything.<\/p>\n

The Model A became something else entirely. For the father, the Ford body resting behind the barn was no longer just steel and sheet metal. It was remembrance. It was connection. Some projects remain unfinished not because of time or money, but because completing them feels too much like letting go.<\/p>\n

What gives this week\u2019s column its importance is not simply that Ed Koenig finished the car, remarkable though that journey was. What stays with us is that the father refused to let the project quietly disappear. Over years of visits, he allowed another young man, one who shared his son\u2019s passion and respected what the car represented, to step carefully into that space.<\/p>\n

When the barn doors finally opened, it wasn\u2019t merely parts being revealed. It was trust.<\/p>\n

Ed\u2019s Model A traveled to places its original builder never could. It stood beneath bright show lights. It earned awards and recognition. And beneath every layer of paint and polish lived something far more important: the intention of a young man who never returned, and the quiet dignity of a father who never forgot him.<\/p>\n

Not every Vietnam story appears in history books. Some sit silently behind barns, waiting for someone to understand why a project stopped.<\/p>\n

Ed Koenig noticed.<\/p>\n

The father remembered.<\/p>\n

And because of both, neither a car \u2014 nor a young man \u2014 was forgotten.<\/p>\n

I am grateful to share this story with my readers. Some columns are about cars. Others are about people. <\/span><\/p>\n

Every once in a while, they\u2019re about both.<\/p>\n

(Greg Zyla is a syndicated automotive columnist who welcomes reader interaction on collector cars, automotive nostalgia, or motorsports. He can be reached at extramile_2000@yahoo.com<\/a> or by mail at 303 Roosevelt St., Sayre, Pa. 18840.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

— The Car That Waited: One Father\u2019s Loss, One Man\u2019s Promise — [By Greg Zyla] Q: Hi Greg Zyla. 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