It is with a heavy heart that I post this message about the passing of our hobby’s foremost and most beloved historian, Beverly Rae Kimes. She died May 12.

Beverly was a very prolific researcher and writer known for such books as “The Standard Catalog of American Cars, 1805-1942,” “The Star and the Laurel” and “Packard: A History of the Motor Car and the Company.” Most recently, Beverly was the executive editor of the Classic Car Club of America, and had been a longtime editor of Automobile Quarterly.

Such accomplishments would humble anyone, including myself. I felt like I was meeting a star when I first met Beverly at the Society of Automotive Historians’ 2002 banquet held in Hershey, Pa., during the AACA national fall meet. I was immediately struck by her class and grace, which came through in every article she wrote and every issue of the CCCA’s “Bulletin” publication she edited. Such elegance permeated every other conversation I was fortunate to share with Beverly, whether it was in an e-mail, in person or on one of her little yellow Post-It notes with a personal note stuck to the cover of the latest CCCA “Bulletin.”

In memory of Beverly and in lieu of flowers, her husband wishes donations be made to The National Kidney Foundation at www.kidney.org where there is a “make a gift” form, or via FAX to 212-889-2310 (National Kidney Foundation, 30 East 33rd Street NY , NY 10016).

We’ll have more details on the life of Beverly in the next issue of OCW. If you’d like to share your thoughts, I welcome you to do it here.

The treasure chest of muscle cars and parts found in Green Bay, Wis., by
Larry Fisette will be opened to bidders May 9-10 in Rockville, Md., during a
sale by Bud Ward’s Auction Co. Nearly all of the parts and many of the cars
found when Fisette emptied the 21 semi trailers holding the collection of
Donald Schlag will be sold by Scott Milestone, who purchased the sorted and
inventoried collection from Fisette in late 2006.

“I am keeping some of the stuff, such as the L-88 carburetors, one of the
fuel injection units, one set of heads for the [Yenko] Camaro,” Milestone
said.

Although Milestone is keeping the 1969 Chevrolet Yenko Camaro from the sale,
along with a few parts for it, he is selling the vast bulk of big- and
small-block engines, fuel injection units, manifolds and other muscle
car-era parts found in the trailers through a sale by Bud Ward’s Auction Co.
Among the cars found in the trailers to be offered in the sale will be the
1970 Chevelle LS-6 two-door hardtops, 1972 Camaro, International Scout and
Mercedes owned by Schlag’s father.

The vast majority of the parts will be sold individually, but some parts,
such as dipsticks, oil filter and the like will be sold in lots. When it
comes to the parts, Milestone expects the fuel injection units, intakes, Z16
and DZ-302 carburetors and the big-block parts to be the hottest items at
the sale. The pair of 1970 Chevelle LS-6, as well as the estimated 20
big-block engines and 70 small-block engines, are also expected to get their
fair share of attention from bidders.

It took Milestone six men, 18 days, a parade of semis and trucks and some
ingenuitive thinking to get the parts from Green Bay to Maryland. Due to the
size and weight of the parts, it didn’t take Milestone long to determine the
parts would be too heavy and bulky for cardboard boxes, which crumbled upon
moving them. Plastic containers available at retail stores were too small,
but it occurred to Milestone that a larger version, such as the large,
wheeled containers used by waste companies, would be perfect, and he was in
luck. The manufacturer of the 6-ft-long by 4-foot deep containers was near
Green Bay and delivered three dozen of the containers within two days.
Another 50 regular-size wheeled garbage cans were also ordered from the
container manufacturer.

The weight of the parts posed another problem. In order to avoid overloading
the semis, the parts had to be weighed before they were loaded using a scale
Milestone purchased just for the chore. Rather than weigh all of the parts
over again, he kept a list of established weights and added up the weight in
each container before it was loaded on a semi.

“We were within 200 pounds of weighing each truck to its maximum,” Milestone
said. Once the parade of semis, trucks and motor homes were in Maryland, it
took only three days to unload the parts.

Now those parts will be available at High Point Farms in Clarksburg, Md. The
collection that Schlag originally assembled in Green Bay will be available
for viewing May 7-8, with the parts sale beginning May 9. Automobiles from
the muscle car find, as some as some additional consignments offered through
Bud Ward’s Auction Co., will be sold May 10.