Fall Colors Tour to Jim Manz Collection

By Tom O’Donnell

Greeted by a nice sunny day, a band of Northern Illinois Regional Group members met at the Town and Country Center parking lot in Arlington Heights on Saturday, October 12th for what would prove to be a very enjoyable Fall Colors Tour. The weather was on the chilly side so most members came in their modern cars.

My son, Steve and I arrived in  my 1953 Lincoln Capri Coupe and met Diane and Ed Crane, Ron Dopke, Kitty and Terry Freihage, with Gladys Duzell riding along, Terry Elliot, and Dawn and George Zulas, all traveling in modern cars. Pulling up in additional vintage cars were Jay Hinshaw and his son, Jack, 1940 Ford Tudor, Joe Serritella, 1950 Oldsmobile 88 Coupe, and Len Vinyard, 1957 Thunderbird.

We drove north along local roads 11 or 12 miles to Hawthorne Woods, where we entered a subdivision and enjoyed seeing some fall colors. A bonus was getting to view all of the homes with three and four car garages as we cruised through the upscale Hawthorne Woods neighborhood.  Just a little garage envy on the way to the Jim Manz Garage Mahal.

When we arrived at Jim’s home we were met by fellow members Alan Bryant and Mike Freund in Alan’s 1940 Ford Coupe. As the procession arrived the old cars parked around a circular drive just outside of gates leading to the inner driveway by the museum. Jim greeted each of us as we entered his museum and then began describing the history of his collection and how he acquired each of the cars he proudly has on display. He also took time to describe the unique features of each of them.

His collection included a  Krit Automobile.    Krit Motors made cars in Detroit from 1909-1915. The car was well liked in Europe and Krit did a great business exporting them. The First World War interfered with the export business and Krit Motors had to shut down. Presently there are very few Krit cars left in the USA. The radiator badge was a swastika and most of them were scrapped during the World War II scrap drives.

The interesting collection Jim has gathered also includes a couple of modified Model “T” Fords, a Gull Wing Mercedes Coupe, a Kaiser Darrin, a Rolls Royce, a Mercedes 300 SL roadster and a 1939 Lincoln Zephyr Three Window Coupe.

Jim also allowed us to tour his workshop area where he had more cars stored along with many shelves of parts for his cars. He also had many large signs in the workshop area.

After viewing the collection, we came outside to temperatures which were friendly than earlier that morning and drove to Oregano’s Corner Café for a good lunch and conversation.  All participants agreed that the opportunity to view Jim’s collection was a real treat.  Our 2019 Fall Colors tour proved to be a great success.