[Formulabruce]

[pont406]

Updated postings on the HAMB board, Looks like this car may not be "up for sale" afterall, looks like there's a family dispute over the car!

[LeighP]

Sounds like the last wife did not know the car was owned by the nephew.....wonder what'll happen now?

[63 Pontiac]

Well, there's family and then there's 'family', should be interesting to see who comes out on top. Hopefully the car will be heading to CA if that is in fact where the title is now.

[Formulabruce]

Too bad that little garage cannot be re-created in a museum

[mcguire]

Hello everyone,
Yes, it seems we had a bit of a family mess. It has been resolved, though. Rather that duplicate all the info here, I refer any interested parties to the post on the H.A.M.B. forum thread here:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/s...d.php?t=544491

-Dave

[mike nixon]

Copy of the HAMB post.

Hello all,
After recovering from the initial shock of these events and completing an investigation of my own, I am now prepared to make a public statement in response to the claims made by forum user "EDDIE STERLING" on 1/2/2011.

Melanie Sterling, Max Sterling's widow and wife of nearly twenty years, is the rightful owner of the 1962 Pontiac Catalina SD421 known as "White Lightning". Just to avoid any uncertainty, we went to the DMV office in Elkins, WV this morning to verify the ownership of the vehicle and the validity of the title. The only name on that title, as of today, is Melanie Sterling. There is no ambiguity; I type this with the title sitting in front of me.

It is an unfortunate fact that the death of wealthy relatives frequently brings out the worst in people. The past several days have given me a new appreciation for the depths of human ugliness, depravity, and greed. A recent widow, with help from her family, is respectfully, properly, and legally liquidating the assets of her deceased husband in order to settle his debts and find an appreciative home for the things she knew to be special to him. Unfortunately, a distant and long-rejected relative who is clearly angry about having been left out of the will is trying to make trouble for her during this already difficult time.

This is the very same man who came to Max's home and, before a dozen grieving witnesses, requested access to the garage before Max had even been buried.

Our internal family difficulties should not be cause for concern amongst either forum members or potential buyers. To be clear about the legal status of the car: The title is valid and legitimate, as verified at our local DMV facility on the morning of 1/3/2011. Any potential buyers will have full in-person access to the vehicle and its title, through me and under my direct supervision, to perform any verification or investigation desired to satisfy any question as to the legal status of the car. I will personally facilitate full and complete transparency.

On behalf of those not gracious or tasteful enough to do so themselves, I apologize for the disruption and disrespect to this forum and its members.


Sincerely,

Dave McGuire

[mviker]

Man, That is one fine machine. Hope everything works out for the best.

[Rack776]

Man you got to respect that in all the posts on both forums,
not one member tried to pull one over on the new guy,

We should all be proud of how helpfull & honest the members are here
Pontiac Guys need to stick together.

We are all lucky Pete McCarthy did his homework back in the day
and wrote a book, some times we can take PHS for granted too.
We are lucky to have such information at hand.
Hope they find it a good home, too bad there is no hope of it
going to the Pontiac Historical Collection anymore

[Doug]

Conceding that the SD car is titled in the widow's name, I am somewhat curious as to who has the the "title of ownership" to other car stuff (parts, trophies, etc.) and any other property that may have been owned by Max. I am led to ask if Max had a will or if he died without one? In any case, the settlement of his estate by due course of law follows a prescribed timetable (probate of will? appointment of administrator of intestate estate?) which can cover months. Accordingly, since Max died only in late November, I find it interesting that McGuire already has some of Max's stuff (set of N.O.S. Ram air II heads, 59 tripoower stuff) listed on E-bay. It could be that McGuire is not technically (legally) qualified to dispose of anything pending compliance with estate laws.

There could be a host of "title" problems with any/all of Max's property. For instance, since Max apparently had "transferred" title of the car to his widow, one could be led to ask if Max was mentally competent (by legal standards) when he did so.

As I understand it, Max was 82 years old when he died and Max's widow (his last wife) was several years his junior and she basically worked out-of-state and commuted to WV on weekends.

It could be that Max "owed" money to other parties and the settling of his estate would require that these debts be resolved prior to distribution/disposal of any of his property. This settling of the estate process usually looks backward at property transfers Max may have made fairly recently in his life and it is conceivable that the transfer of title for the car could be "undone".

If the car should happen to have a set of tube headers on it and the original factory Super Duty exhaust mainfolds were sitting on a bench in the back of the garage, does the widow own the original Super Duty manifolds under her "title"? Hmmmmmm???????

[Aluminum Chief]

I purchased some SD parts from Max several years ago, he told me he had a blue 62 SD Sedan and crushed it many years ago, he then told me he had built a 62 SD Clone with an alum. front end and bumpers. Someone should get a visual on the vin of this white car before getting carried away. KC

[pont406]

Originally Posted by Aluminum Chief

I purchased some SD parts from Max several years ago, he told me he had a blue 62 SD Sedan and crushed it many years ago, he then told me he had built a 62 SD Clone with an alum. front end and bumpers. Someone should get a visual on the vin of this white car before getting carried away. KC

Glad to see you posting on here Ken, Welcome to PY! anyways, the claims in your post sort of line up with a post on the HAMB board that states that Max "rebodied" this car back in the day from a sedan to a hardtop, because it would be lighter? knowing that didn't make sense to me, a VIN check would definitely be in order here! perhaps the SD car was wrecked back in the day?

[Aluminum Chief]

I diden`t even know about the reboding post on HAMB, I have been chasing SD Cars and parts since the mid 70`s, when ever I get a lead I document the car or the parts and the owners info, and I would follow up on the lead, that`s how I got the two 62 SD Car`s in Ovid NY. I looked back at what I had about Max and I wrote that he said he had a blue 62 SD Sedan that was crushed and that he had made a clone 62 SD car. That was in 92. I then purchased a set of 62 aluminum front bumper brackets from him in 2002. I tried to call him recently but the number or area code was no longer good.

[Jerry H.]

I was subscribed to that post over on the HAMB, now I can't find it. Seems it may have been deleted for some reason. Hmmmm.

[pont406]

Originally Posted by Jerry H.

I was subscribed to that post over on the HAMB, now I can't find it. Seems it may have been deleted for some reason. Hmmmm.

Yes it looks to be gone from the HAMB, i couldn't find it either!