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What was once lost, is now found. The story of one man’s 35 year quest to reunite himself with a relic from his past.

In the fall of 1972, when I was 19 years old I bought my first car, a 1955 DeSoto Firedome Sedan. The car was purchase from two elderly sisters who lived in Nixa, MO, for $175. It was a beautiful example of Detroit’s finest automobiles and the pride of the Chrysler Corporation. It sported a 291ci Hemi Firedome and automatic transmission with the shift lever sticking straight out of the dashboard. The toothy chrome grill was one of the classics of its time.

I drove the car for several years, but it suddenly stopped running and attempts by a local service station to push start the old DeSoto failed. A worker at the shop said that someone was interested in the car and would take it off my hands. Needing reliable transportation I reluctantly sold the car and put the meager proceeds toward another vehicle.

I had only one picture of the car taken from my apartment window in Ozark, MO. For some reason I had written the VIN number on the back of the picture. Several years later I began to get curious as to who owned the car, so I contacted the DMV and was given the name of the man who bought it from me. I contacted him and he invited me over to take a look at it. The car looked and ran good, but during our conversation I discovered that he had paid the service station manager much more for the car than I was given. Apparently, they had actually gotten the car running and arranged the sale (and hefty profit) on their own. Too much time had past for me to have any legal recourse, but the events surrounding me loosing the vehicle became the subject of many dreams over the years.

Then about 20 years ago I got another urge to locate the car. The gentleman I had sold it to had passed away and the car had been sold to a person in northern Iowa, near Decorah. I contacted him to ask about the car and whether I could purchase it back. He was not willing to sell at that time, because it was one of his favorite cars. But he took my name and number to store in the glove box in case he did decide to sell. I checked back with him about 10 years ago, but he still wanted to hang on to it.

Then about 2 years ago, while talking about car restoration with my brother-in-law, I told him the story of the DeSoto. Since he grew up in Decorah, he wondered if I remember the fellow’s name. When I told him, his jaw dropped as he informed me that this person was his best friend in high school. He remembered him as an avid car collector. So last year, with a new phone number and renewed hope of seeing the car again, I called to ask if it was possibly for sale. Even though the car had not run for over 7 years, he still had plans to restore it and did not want to let it go.

I was quite dejected, but somewhere in the process I was able to come to terms that the car was in a good place. With that, the dreams ceased and I felt like I could finally let it go. Then early this spring I got a call form my brother-in-law saying that there might be a chance that he would sell. I contacted him and traveled up north to take a look. The car was crammed into a garage with many other autos of all sorts. It had old boxes stacked on it along with plenty of dust and lichens. It hadn’t run for over 8 years, but we worked out a deal that was equitable to both of us, under the condition that any restoration process would be to bring the car back to original shape. This was great, because that was my intention from the beginning.

I trailered the car 100 miles back to my farm and we have spent the last few weeks getting reacquainted. During that time, I have gotten the engine running again and am starting to work on the brakes and other mechanical issues that any 54 year old car has.

It has been quite an adventure, but well worth the wait.

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