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Usually, a native automobile public sale wouldn’t be the sort of factor we’d cowl right here at Jalopnik. The proprietor isn’t precisely notable, however once we noticed the Tampa Bay Instances article about this explicit public sale, the unique proprietor sounded simply too attention-grabbing to not cowl. In any case, he additionally owned two 14-foot fiberglass sharks.
In response to the article, Leroy Gonzalez, who handed away in January on the age of 84, didn’t develop up with a lot cash. Going into actual property allowed him to make the cash he wanted to purchase the automobiles he had been envious of others proudly owning whereas rising up. However whereas some wealthy individuals do boring issues with their cash, Gonzalez was something however boring.
Because the Instances put it, “He was additionally a racetrack proprietor and automobile present promoter, might need had a hyperlink to the Cuban Missile Disaster and owned 14-foot fiberglass sharks. He can safely be described as just a little eccentric.” Race tracks, faux sharks, and worldwide intrigues? You’ve acquired us hooked, Leroy.
In response to his son Richard, “He additionally mentioned he as soon as had one thing to do with a dragway in Miami. Each time we might begin ingesting, he’d inform me the story of when he pulled as much as open that dragway one early morning to seek out the Nationwide Guard had gone inside with out permission to arrange missiles pointed at Cuba throughout the missile disaster.”
Did that truly occur? Perhaps not. Gonzalez additionally claimed the sharks he owned, which have been rented out to automobile sellers as points of interest, have been modeled after an precise shark one in every of his mates shot with a harpoon out of a helicopter. Which appears unlikely. However who doesn’t love that one uncle who will get drunk and tells wild tales whether or not they’re actual or not? On the very least, it makes Thanksgiving dinner extra attention-grabbing.
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Apparently, he additionally loved buying automobiles greater than he did driving them, maybe as a result of he didn’t need to rub them in different individuals’s faces. So not solely are the automobiles in his assortment reportedly nearly all “in pristine situation,” his son didn’t even know what number of his dad nonetheless owned till after his loss of life. He principally saved Corvettes at his workplace, however the remainder have been saved in barns on his ranch.
“He drove them proper off the lot to the barn,” mentioned Richard Gonzalez. “I knew he purchased them however had no thought he nonetheless had them. He by no means talked about them. For my dad, it was in regards to the chase. He discovered the automobile after which moved on to the subsequent one. It wasn’t about getting them to brag. He simply wished to get them.”
Should you’re occupied with Leroy’s assortment, you may discover the public sale itemizing right here. It says on-line bidding will begin quickly, so that you don’t even must go to Florida to get in on the motion. Highlights embrace a 1958 Chevrolet Corvette, 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10, 1999 Plymouth Prowler, 1965 Cushman Eagle, and what seems to be the engine from a Dodge Viper. Oh, and, after all, the enormous fiberglass sharks.
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