Usually, one local car auction won’t be what we’re talking about here at Jalopnik. The owner is not really remarkable, but when we saw Tampa Bay Times articles about This special auction, the original owner sounds too attractive not to cover. After all, he also owns two 14-foot-long fiberglass shark.
According to the article, Leroy Gonzalez, who passed away in January at the age of 84, did not grow up with much money. The real estate business allowed him to earn the money needed to buy the cars he once envied other people owning while growing up. But while some rich people do boring things with their money, Gonzalez isn’t boring.
Like Times “He was also a racetrack owner and auto show promoter, possibly connected to the Cuban Missile Crisis, and owned 14-foot fiberglass sharks. He can be safely described as a bit eccentric. Race tracks, fake sharks and international conspiracies? You got us hooked, Leroy.
According to his son, Richard, “He also said that he was once involved in a tow line in Miami. Every time we started drinking, he would tell me the story of an early morning when he stopped his car to open that tow road and found the National Guard had entered without permission to place missiles aimed at Cuba during the missile crisis.
Did that really happen? Maybe not. Gonzalez also claims the sharks he owns, leased to auto dealers as attractions, are modeled after an actual shark that one of his friends shot with jump out of the helicopter. Which seems impossible. But who doesn’t fall in love with a drunken uncle who tells myths whether they’re true or not? At the very least, it makes Thanksgiving dinner more enjoyable.
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Apparently, he’d also rather buy cars than drive them, probably because he doesn’t want to rub them in other people’s faces. So not only are the cars in his collection said to be mostly “in pristine condition”, but his son didn’t even know how many cars his father owned until after he was born. died. He mostly keeps the Corvettes at his office, but the rest is stored in the barns on his ranch.
Richard Gonzalez said: “He kicked them right off the property to the barn. “I knew he bought them but didn’t know he still had them. He never talked about them. For my dad, it was about the chase. He finds the car and then moves on to the next one. It’s not to make them brag. He just wants to get them.
If you are interested in Leroy’s collection, you can Find the auction listing here. It says online bidding will begin soon, so you don’t even have to be in Florida to get in on the action. Highlights include a 1958 Chevrolet Corvette, a 2004 Dodge Ram SRT-10, a 1999 Plymouth Prowler, a 1965 Cushman Eagle and what appears to be the engine of a Dodge Viper. Oh, and, of course, giant fiberglass sharks.
