Quality over quantity: The Howard Kroplick Collection

Howard Kroplick has just nine cars in his waterside Roslyn, Long Island, garage, but they are very select. In addition to the Tucker, won at auction in 2017, Kroplick also owns what may be the first pre-production Mustang, a 1963 model; the personal Chrysler Imperial of Walter P. Chrysler’s wife; a fire-breathing, 100-hp “Black Beast” American Locomotive Co. (Alco) roadster that competed in the first 1911 Indianapolis 500 (and won the Vanderbilt Cup twice); and the 1962 Holman & Moody Challenger III, an ultra-cool fastback performance Ford Falcon.

The aforementioned Vanderbilt Cup, now held by the Smithsonian, is important to the affable Kroplick, a dedicated historian who has amassed a considerable racing archive at his Long Island HQ, and who writes copiously, with a particular focus on William Kissam Vanderbilt II’s racing activities in the area and his building of the fabled Long Island Motor Parkway. 

Kroplick tells a great story about buying his Tucker. “I’d always wanted one,” he said, “and in 2017, I heard that 1044 was coming up for sale at an RM Sotheby’s sale in Arizona. It was one of the cars completed by a group of Tucker employees that included designer Alex Tremulis after the factory closed in October of 1948. It remained in the Tucker inventory until 1950, when it was sold in the famous Chicago asset liquidation auction for approximately $2,000."

The Tucker had gone through five owners, and had been in storage for 34 years. The penultimate Ohio-based owner before me had only driven it 15 miles, then walled it up in a metal building on his property. It was off the radar for a long time, but the Tucker restorer and archivist Mark Lieberman was able to finally acquire the 8,000-mile car, which had been repainted twice, in 2016. He got it running and removed some incorrect trim. 

“I went to Arizona, and was shown the car by Lieberman, who’s owned six or seven Tuckers. I told him I thought the brown paint was awful, but I was interested, just not sure I could make the reserve.” In the end, the reserve was lowered by $300,000 and Kroplick was able to buy 1044 for $1.2 million.

A team that included noted restorer Rob Ida and Preston Tucker’s great-grandsons, Michael and Sean Tucker, restored the car finding the original Andante Green paint on a wheel rim. The car is now in beautiful condition and retains its original Cord pre-selector gearbox. Getting that one right is tricky, but it’s been mastered by both Kroplick and his curator, Dave Baum. The Tucker is now a multiple award winner, including at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. 

Kroplick’s other cars include the 1937 Chrysler Imperial C-15 LeBaron Town Car (Old Cars, June 2012). This opulent seven-passenger limousine, found in derelict condition, was long in the possession of the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport, Long Island. It didn’t have an actual Vanderbilt connection, but had been donated to the museum in 1959. The museum was thinking of selling it when Kroplick visited in 2010 on a mission to see a 1909 Reo racer that was also in the collection. 

“And over in a corner, I see this car,” Kroplick recalled. “They said, ‘Oh you don’t want to look at that, it’s a Chrysler.’ It was indeed a Chrysler, but not a run-of-the-mill production car. It had been special ordered by Walter P. Chrysler as a birthday gift for his wife, Della, and later owned by their daughter, Bernice Chrysler Garbisch (whose initials are on the door). “I pulled my wallet out, but they said it was county property and would have to be auctioned,” Kroplick said. The auction had a $125,000 minimum bid in the final round, but that didn’t stop Kroplick, who emerged victorious with the keys to the Chrysler in 2012. The car is a unique Le Baron build, with distinctive Art Deco touches from the cowl back. Steve Babinsky’s Auto Restorations in Lebanon, N.J., took on what turned out to be a very challenging rebirth. 

“I’d owned a 1965 Mustang, and blamed my wife for it no longer being in my life,” Kroplick recounted. “I’d just sold my medical communications company and had the money, so she finally said, ‘Well, just buy another one.’ In 2003, I heard TV newswoman Katie Couric mention this Wimbledon White GT350 in a report on an upcoming Christie’s auction in Manhattan. I ended up winning the car, built as one of the original Hertz cars and used at the San Francisco airport, with a bid of $44,000 including commission. The results were held up when there was a question about the car having met reserve. But they sold it to me, and I was relieved to find out the interior was just like my old one. This Mustang was my first collectible automobile. And, of course, now the Shelby GT350 is a $200,000 car.” The sun visor was signed by the late Carroll Shelby, and the story of how Kroplick got that prize is a long one, but it illustrates his ability to think on his feet. It was a useful quality in his business career, too.

Kroplick’s 1963 Mustang III, known as “Shorty” because it’s 18 inches shorter than standard, is a custom-built S-code pre-production car, the ninth of fifteen, and may be the oldest Mustang on the road today. All but three of the S-code pre-production cars, destined for car shows, were crushed. This one, originally a convertible, was pulled out and sent to Detroit Steel Tubing to be made into a “two-seater experimental Mustang” that would be shown as part of the 1964-’65 Ford Custom Car Caravan. The total cost back then was $16,979.02. After tour duty, the unique Mustang III fastback was returned to the Detroit Steel Tubing facility where it was built. It was slated for destruction, but was kidnapped and hidden away by its designer, Vincent Gardner, in May 1965. Detectives eventually located the car, and it was sent to the then-owner, Aetna insurance company, which had settled the theft claim. The lucky Mustang was eventually sold to an Aetna executive, who titled it and ended its time on death row. 

This cool fastback started life as a sedate 1962 Falcon Futura coupe, but was chopped and sectioned and fitted with Plexiglas windows by Holman & Moody to make it lighter and more aerodynamic in endurance races, such as the 12 Hours of Sebring. Under the hood is a modified Fairlane 289 V-8 putting out approximately 250 hp and enabling 145 mph. There was some hope that a Falcon fastback could become a limited production car, but that never happened. The car was raced once during the 1962 Bahamas Speed Week. It performed respectably in the preliminary races, but suffered a broken fan belt and an overheated engine in the main race.

After the race, the car became part of the Ford Custom Caravan as the Challenger III, and was often exhibited alongside the Mustang III that Kroplick also owns. He bought Challenger III in 2021 and had it restored by Rob Ida in New Jersey.

Alco built its racers after licensing designs from France’s Automobiles Berliet in 1906. The components were shipped to Providence, R.I., where they were assembled in an Alco plant previously used to produce locomotives. This Alco has a six-cylinder engine producing a heady 100 hp. It entered the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup race on Long Island and won at an average speed of 62.8 mph. Only one other car of the 15 entered was able to finish the race. The Alco won the Cup in 1910, too. The car was then entered in the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911, but retired after a bearing failed.

Kroplick tracked down the Alco to Brussels, Belgium, in 2007, and was able to make a winning offer. 

“I didn’t even know if it ran,” he said. The Alco triumphantly paraded the field just before the race at the Indianapolis 500 in 2011.

Kroplick also owns an amusing 1-of-10 1984 Tritan A2 Aerocar prototype. It was intended to be a Domino’s Pizza delivery vehicle, but it failed on multiple fronts, including poor visibility and the fact that it was not as fast as it looked due to its 30-hp Israeli rotary engine. 

Kroplick is still hunting down and restoring cars, and his most recent acquisition and restoration was a 1930 Duesenberg Model J Murphy Convertible Berline that was being frantically prepared by Steve Babinsky for the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance during our visit. The car received an outstanding second-in-class award within the Duesenberg class there, underscoring the fine results of its restoration, and Kroplick’s continued resolve to authentically preserve history.

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