Excalibur Dealers:
Vintage Car Store,Nyack,New York
The most sophisticated car collector in the world would have stared into the recesses of the darkened showroom in awe. On its gleaming marble floors, highlighted by rays of subtly colored lights, stood a collection of grand marques that would tantalize the appetite of the most jaded curator and bring the heartbeat of the average collector to a crescendo of excitement.
Dominating center stage of this automotive palace was the exquisitely proportioned shape of a 1930 Duesenberg dual cowl phaeton resplendent in red and black paint like some regal emperor holding court over his noble lords. Directly to its left was the elegant form of yet another Duesenberg, a stately town car which had come to life from the workshops of a talented coachbuilder named Holbrook. And to top off this galaxy of mighty stars was a Murphy-bodied Duesenberg roadster bringing up the right flank of the centerpiece.
Scattered between these timeless treasures were gaggles of sleek Ferraris, two elegant Packards and a selected group of other automotive titans. But the piece de resistance occupying front center stage was a gleaming white, brutally stark 1928 Mercedes Benz SSK roadster.
The time was 1966 and the place was the sleepy little Hudson River town of Nyack, New York. The showroom was the home of one of the world's oldest and most respected dealerships, the Vintage Car Store. It was also the domain of a rather remarkable man named Ed Jurist whose love for fine cars dated back to the early thirties, when as a young and impressionable student, he watched great cars fall to the wreckers' blows or wither in the deserted showrooms of closed dealerships during the depths of a devastating economic depression. Not for him the countless mass-produced mediocrities which could be had for paltry sums. There was bigger and better game to be had at virtually the same prices. The distinction between a thoroughbred and dray required only one instinct . . . good taste. It was a quality which Jurist developed early in life and had become the hallmark of his automotive career. If a car combined the priceless qualities and virtues of good engineering and esthetic beauty, it
had to be a winner yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Somebody else saw those same magic shapes as he peered into the shadowy depths of the Vintage Car Store in those early days. Famed fiction author Jack Denton Scott was putting together the framework of his new thriller spy novel entitled "Spargo." He decided that the hero for his novel should choose a car from Jurist's inventory to start his breathtaking adventure.
For Ed Jurist, excitement never ceased. It was a part of the rhythm of his life, his extraordinary survivability. As an 8th Air Force combat veteran, he was shot down over Germany and imprisoned for long painful months before escaping with some friends through Poland and Russia to the port city of Odessa from whence he returned to the United States.
After the war he embarked upon a successful career as a freelance writer and finally to the world he loved best, the world of vintage cars. But he never lost his love and respect for combat aircraft, and history records that almost singlehandedly he salvaged from neglect and destruction more World War II fighter planes than any other non-military individual and returned them to the United States from every distant and romantic corner of the globe.
Want to buy a Hawker Sea Fury single seat fighter? Call Jurist. With financial assistance from friends, he succeeded in acquiring two full squadrons of these rare birds from the Iraqi Air Force. Prior to that painfully negotiated transaction, he had discovered and brought home the world's last surviving Republic P-47 Thunderbolts from the Peruvian Air Force. No matter how remote or how seemingly impossible. Jurist managed to raid the deserts, jungles and wastelands of distant countries in his quest for surviving combat aircraft. And from these lands he also brought home the great cars for which the company had become famous.
Someone else was peering into the depths of that showroom one evening in 1966; Mr. Henry 0. Dorman, Chairman of the International Board of Industrial Relations and a close personal friend of the Stevens family,
Pictured above with the Series IV Excalibur is Vicki Scrima, Sales Director, Vintage Car Store.
designers and manufacturers of the fledgling titan named Excalibur.
As Dorman stood in the Vintage Car Store showroom, his eyes were drawn to the gaunt gleaming hulk of the 1928 Mercedes SSK on display in the showroom. Its lines were similar to that of that Series I Excalibur, but its price tag was one that few could afford. And availability was scarce, as only 33 Mercedes SSK's had built and only 14 had survived. But the Excalibur, en- dowed with the same teutonic nostalgia reflecting the V-shaped radiator and gleaming exhaust pipes of the Mercedes SSK, was available and affordable. Dorman suggested to the Stevens family that they consider the Vintage Car Store as an East coast dealer, and shortly thereafter, Jurist's treasures were blended with those of the Milwaukee based firm and Excalibur became a part of Vintage Car Store heritage from that day forward.
To this very day, the marble floors of the Vintage Car Store still abound with timeless treasures . . . here a Rolls Royce, yonder a Ferrari, there an Excalibur or whatever from the past that is still desirable today. Only the prices have changed since those earlier days, but so has everything else in this strange and wonderful world.
Jurist is still there, aided and abetted by his attractive Excalibur lady, Miss Vicki. Just call or write and they'll be there to help you with your questions. Who knows? Maybe you'll drive away in a Rolls . . . or an Excalibur ... or eve fly away with an airplane.