My wife had a nick name “Lead Foot Louise”. I would assure anyone who was going to go for a ride with her that she always kept it under 40 MPH when turning into the driveway. Before I even knew there was such a thing as a Chrysler 300 Letter Car, I had a 1984 Dodge Dayton Turbo Z; front wheel drive with a stick shift. I had taught “Old Lead Foot”, how to drive a stick shift on that car but she didn’t get her hands on it too often. One day, she came home and told me there was something wrong with my car. I dutifully took the Daytona for a drive and I could not make it do the horrible things that she was complaining about.

About this time, I found a booklet at the local performance store entitled Letters from Chrysler. This was my introduction to the famous Chrysler 300 Letter Cars. I had to have one and as my first car was a 1964 Chrysler Windsor Coupe, I focused on the 300 Ks. I started buying monthly editions of Hemmings Motor New and soon came across an advertisement for the Chrysler 300 Club International with headquarters in Ann Arbor, Mich. Ann Arbor is very close to my hometown of Windsor, Ont. I joined the club and started to receive my copies of the club’s two fine publications. I will admit that the first articles that I turned to for every edition was the classified -- cars for sale section. I quickly learned that George and Eleanor Riehl were prominent club officers and wonder of wonders, they had a 300 K convertible for sale. We had several nice conversations about the club and the K convert.

Finally on a Friday night, Louise and I arranged to go to the Riehl’s and have a look at the K. Eleanor had given me great directions to their house but I managed to make the wrong turn on US 23 and found myself heading away from Ann Arbor. No problem, I took the first off ramp. There was a stop sign at the top of the ramp. I just had to turn left, go back over the freeway and go down the ramp, heading in the correct direction. Traffic was heavy and I sat for a long time at the head of the off ramp, waiting to make that left turn. I saw a small opening, up came the revs and I dumped the clutch which sent the Daytona into a violent wheel hop. What did I hear from the passenger seat, “See, see that’s what it does!”. No more Daytona for you little lady.

We arrived at the Riehl’s house on Donegal Crescent. Three things are etched in my memory. As I stepped out of the car, the Riehls had a drum table in the front picture window with a lit table lamp on it and the biggest cat that I had ever seen was wrapped entirely around the lamp. We had a fine visit with George and Eleanor and learned a lot about the club and why we should attend meets, see the cars and more importantly meet the 300 family. Invaluable advise! Of course, there was time spent in the garage, seeing my first Letter Car love and learning about its history.

After that night, there were further phone conversations and price negotiations. Finally, a Saturday was selected to go and pick up the K. Something happened on I-94 that I was unaware of at the time. A fellow club member spotted and recognized the 300K. I didn’t get the connection, until we attended our first meet in Rochester, NY. A tall thin gentleman walked up and introduced himself and told me about the chance viewing on I-94. That club member has become one of my dearest friends in the 300 club, Mr. Jim Krausmann.