I couldn't find the original post, but you may remember a guy with a 356 that his wife hated, wanted to sell it to fix up his Dodge Omni.
Pin Head.
This is how it ends.
http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Porsche-offers-restoration-comedy-in-sale-4671480.php
Oy, can ya fix the typo in the title?
Being featured in an Advocate column produced a solution for Kevin Cleary — but not one that he or I expected.
Cleary, as you may remember, was the car lover with a problem. He was unable to sell a disabled 1956 Porsche 356A because he couldn't secure proof of ownership or transfer such proof to a buyer.
Last month's column generated a big response, and I heard from dozens of readers who thought they had an answer for Cleary's problem. I also heard from many who wanted to buy the car — regardless of the proof-of-ownership issue.
The Cleary household heard from those people, too. In fact, on the Sunday the column ran, the Clearys' home telephone started ringing at 9 a.m. and jingled for the rest of the day.
There was just one problem: Kevin Cleary was away visiting family in Pennsylvania, leaving his wife to handle the calls. And Linda Cleary was already no fan of her husband's penchant for collecting dead cars.
"She wanted to kill me," Cleary said. "She almost gave the car away that afternoon."
One caller was a Boston-area man who badly wanted the Porsche. He wanted the coupe so much, in fact, that he offered more than twice what Cleary ever expected to get for the car.
Cleary's initial response: "What!!?? You've gotta be nuts."
Nuts or not, the guy from Boston came to look at the Porsche the next weekend. And on the weekend after that, the car was hauled away for a new future in Massachusetts.
"Now I have the money to fix my other cars," said Cleary, referring to his 1985 Dodge Omni GLH and 1959 Austin-Healey Sprite. (Cleary asked me not to reveal the purchase price.)
I'm glad I could help. But did we ever uncover a viable solution for the proof-of-ownership issue, one that doesn't require the sudden appearance of a crazy Bostonian?
The answer, apparently, is yes.
Remember that Cleary had inherited the Porsche from his father, who lived in Pennsylvania. That state issued the title. But New York doesn't issue titles for cars made before 1973. Here, registration serves as proof of ownership for cars that old.
The problem was Cleary could only register the car at the Department of Motor Vehicles if it was insured — and he couldn't find a company willing to insure a car that didn't run.
Readers suggested many creative solutions, with varying degrees of practicality. Some, including Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola, noted that a buyer need not worry about ownership proof because he or she would still be able to use the DMV's "statement of facts" form to eventually get the car registered.
"We get these situations all the time," Merola said. "It's simple."
Other readers knew of insurance companies willing to cover a car that doesn't run — a solution that would have worked for Cleary, if he'd needed.
In any event, Cleary is happy the car is with somebody with the skill, or at least the resources, for a proper restoration. The Delmar resident had been saddened by the sorry state of the car, and he's asked the Bostonian to send photos as the restoration progresses.
"I'd love to sit in it once it's finished," Cleary said.
End of story?
Well, there's one last detail to discuss.
As it turns out, there's more than one Kevin Cleary living in Delmar. That means my article was a little unfortunate for the other Kevin Cleary — the one without an old Porsche on his hands.
"We got a bunch of calls," the other Cleary said.
