RVM Classics

Our Tour to the Richard Munz Collection in Madison, WI

By Ken Bounds

On June 13, eleven hardy members met in Rolling Meadows to begin a rain-soaked trip to Madison.  Leaving the parking lot were Ken Bounds & Joe Kozmic in Ken’s ’50 Convertible, John Judge in his ’52 F-2 Tow Truck, Charlie Kaiser in modern, Frank & Phyllis Madrigali in their ’65 Barracuda, Dan Pudelek & Neil McManus in Dan’s ’53 Victoria, and Len Vinyard & Bob Paladino in Lenny’s ’57 T-Bird.  Our rear guard was Alan Wall in a ’62 Pontiac, trying to keep up with the Flatheads.  We caravanned in the downpour out the Northwest Tollway, meeting more V-8ers at the Belvidere Oasis:  Frank Koeder and friend Jimmy in Frank’s ’39 Convertible, Tom Buscaglia in his ’51 Tudor, and Roger Meness in a ’64 Ford Convertible.  After a brief stop, our trip continued via expressway to Madison.  As we neared the town, the rain left us and we had bright sunshine for the rest of the day.

Frank Koeder had arranged this chance to see a great private collection, and we thank him for that.  Mr. Richard Munz had graciously set up lunch for us at a restaurant near his building and was there waiting to meet us as we arrived, taking the time to introduce himself to each visitor.  He had even phoned while we were en route to make sure we were not having any problems.  We did not and we all walked in to the restaurant at precisely the arranged time.  To our surprise, Mr. Munz picked up the lunch tab for the entire group!  What a host!

After lunch Richard led our group back to his building, being careful to wait until everyone was behind his truck, then assisted us in safely parking our cars.  It is hard to describe the sight we saw when he opened the doors of RVM Classics and let us in.  As our eyes scanned the incredible collection on just the main floor of the three-story building, we started to take in what was there: rows of new or totally restored motorcycles, signs and memorabilia everywhere, an original 1940 Ford Coupe, race cars, engines on stands, neon signs, gas pumps, and much more.

Richard gave us an overview of his collection before turning us loose to view the three floors of goodies.  He fondly told the story of the huge picture on the wall of four teenage boys posing on motorcycles.  He saw that picture in recent years in a magazine and the author still knew two of the boys.  One of the guys he had lost touch with was none other than Richard Munz!  He got the picture and made an enormous blow-up for his wall.  The picture included Richard at age 16 posing on his first motorcycle, a 1951 Triumph.  And right there on display in a line of motorcycles was that very bike, preserved to this day.

Richard proudly displays his collection in a well-preserved three-story former dealership building with concrete ramps between floors.  The main floor contains primarily race cars, along with an original ’40 Ford Coupe (it’s for sale guys!), the large motorcycle collection, and memorabilia.  The lower level is all hot rods (not street rods), mostly ’32 Fords.  The upper level is mostly original, stock, or modified street cars.  Only two were not Fords.  One thing caught our eyes – attached to every car was a battery tender.  These pieces of automotive history are started and driven!  Also noticeable, on the wall behind many of the cars in the collection, were pages from magazine articles where these cars were featured.

The main attraction on the main floor had to be Chester Osgood’s highly modified ’26 T Roadster, built in the ‘40’s and raced until 1958.  The incredible aluminum body was handcrafted by the legendary Whitey Clayton.  It still sports one of the first Ardun-equipped flatheads.  Richard started the engine for us & we were all impressed not only by the sound, but also by how it readily roared to life.

Speaking of Ardun overhead valve heads, they were everywhere!  Two sets were in cars, two were on complete engines mounted on stands, one immaculate set was on the shelf, and another super-early set was on an unrestored engine [get info from Neil’s picture] displayed with the hot rods on the lower level.  The first car on the lower level was the well-known Tommy Foster Roadster, one of the no fewer than four ‘32’s displayed here that were among the “75 Most Significant '32 Ford Hot Rods” in history as determined during the 75^th anniversary celebration of the ’32 V-8 Ford two years ago.  John Judge was impressed that it sported the 1950 Ford accessory steering wheel, often misidentified as a Crestliner wheel, similar to the one on his Convertible.  As soon as we walked into the room, Neil McManus exclaimed “Hey, I’ve driven that one,” pointing to the second car in line, the Neil East Roadster.  Seems his brother Pete, also a NIRG member, used to own the car.  This super-impressive hot rod collection consisted of ten ’32 Fords and also included an Ardun-powered ’31 Roadster, a record-setting ’34 Flathead-powered Bonneville racer, and a ’30 Ford Track Roadster.

On the way up the ramps to the upper level, Lenny drooled over the endless collection of huge, original auto-related signs, pedal cars, and other memorabilia.  On this level the awe just continued.  Richard had displayed a collection ranging from mostly stock street cars, to a Dearborn-winning ’40 Convertible (now sporting a McCullough supercharger), to slightly modified cars, to amazing customs.  We saw an awesome, pristine, totally original ’32 Three-Window survivor.  There were no less than four immaculate Woodies, a 47,000-mile original “James Dean style” 1950 Mercury Convertible, and much more 

It is difficult to fully capture in words the quality of Richard’s collection.  Back on the main level, we took in some of the items in more detail.  Richard started and ran a totally stock V-8 60 h.p. engine on a stand.  We took a second look at some of the race cars, including a Crossfire V-8 and an Offenhauser-equipped front-engine Roadster.  Two spare 4-cylinder Offy engines sat on the floor, ready to go.  Unfortunately, it was about time to leave, so we gathered for a group picture.  Our host Richard, always the gentleman, even took a couple of shots for us to we could all be shown.  He then took the time to lead us to a gas station before we began our trip home.  We all went our separate ways, but will not soon forget the collection we saw nor the kind consideration of the man who shared it with us.