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MG MGA - Carl Guderian...In Memoriam

To those of you who knew Carl via this BBS and learned from him and about the progress on his mga twin cam, I thought I should pass on to you the brief content of a phone call from his widow, Gretchen.

She called me a week ago to tell my wife (I was at work) that she wanted out local club to know that she had been in negotiations with a museum in Texas, and that Carl's Twin Cam had impressed the curator such that he paid her enough for it to pay off her mortgage!

That is really all I know at this point but I wanted to share this with you all who might recall his selfless efforts to help others restoring their MGAs.

Bob Muenchausen

I hadn't heard of his passing. It is truly sad and he will be missed. I'm glad his work has continued to benefit his family even after he himself is gone.
Steve Simmons

I thought you folks might find this letter interesting from Carl's wife, Gretchen, about the sale of his car which I received today.

"October 27th, 2004

"...If you want info on the sale of Carl's MG{A} Twin Cam for the newsletter here it is.

"I sold it October 5th, which was exactly one year from Carl's death, to Gene Ponder of Marshall, Texas.

"Mr. Ponder, who is in the cabinet business in a big way seems to be the "rich millionaire" of song. He has a sports car museum with mostly English, but some other breeds. It is good to think that Carl's last car will be nicely taken care of.

"It came about because Carl's daughter, Ursula, emailed the group Carl used to chat with about needing to sell the car. Robin from Toronto (whom I know nothing of except that he is exceedingly generous with his time) said he would find a buyer. He knew of Mr. Ponder. Ponder said he didn't know if it was worth $13,000(!) in aviation fuel to detour to Boise on one of his trips to British Columbia. Robin told him to call Dennis Scanlan in Missouri who had seen the car, and he did talk to Dennis. After few fits & starts, Mr. Ponder came, saw and made an offer which I happily accepted as it was more than Carl had estimated the car was worth. Carl's last instructions to me were to sell the car and pay off my (very small) mortgage which I am now able to do, just in time for retirement in January.

"I can't believe it all worked out so well. Mr. Ponder's trucker arrived two days later from Denver where he picked up another car. He told me Ponder's museum now comprises five buildings, so Ponder must be a fairly serious collector.

"A man, whose name escapes me {I am guessing it might have been Zimmerman}, came down from McCall {Idaho, a resort town on Payette Lake} early in Spring and asked to see the car. He said he originally bought it in Texas, and brought it to Boise. If true it is interesting that the car has returned to Texas these many years later.

"I'm rather sorry that I was unable to keep the car & drive it, but with a complete course in MG mechanics, it would been a stupid thing to do. Carl gave his other MG(A) to his daughter & it is happily residing in California where her significant other (who had a crash course from Carl) has joined those who will forever look happily upon the oil spots on the garage floor and the never ending amusement of side of the road repairs."

Gretchen
Bob Muenchausen

This thread was discussed between 25/10/2004 and 29/10/2004

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This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGA BBS is active now.