I got a strange email asking me about values for some cars, some of which can only be found in Lee's collection in Illinois. Here's some photos of his place: http://www.harley-davidson-hangout....hicago-panheads-forever-sectret-location.html My jaw hit the floor. The list of motorcycles is unreal, as is the list of cars. I'm toying with making a trip up there new to do a story on the place before it might be too late. I figured some of you guys might have been there and could tell me more about him and his collection.
The only reference I found is that he might be in a rest home now. Which probably means the museum is closed.
is he related to udo? udo owned a couple micro breweries in westmont and berwyn that i used to deliver to.
I spoke with someone today who was close to Lee. Lee passed away back in March peacefully in his sleep. His long time companion Margie will be taking over as tour guide of the museum, which is fantastic news! Usually when a guy like Lee passes away the place goes to an estate auction and it is all gone. I'm going to get a tour when I head to Chicago in August and I'll do a write-up about it. I must say I'm excited about going to see the place.
Lee's museum was one of the first things I discovered when I moved up here 25 years ago. I still have an old flyer for "Hartung's Auto Museum". Tours could only be done on sunny days because the main building was lit only with skylights. There was so much cool stuff that I had never seen! The place was packed, crap on top of crap, so much it was hard to even tell what you were looking at. Beautiful! I visited a couple more times but not within the last 10 years. Always interesting. Sorry to hear of his passing. He was a cool guy! Hopefully things carry on.
Old friend, collector and fellow Glenview resident passed away this summer. Local newspaper broke the story this week. The day has arrived which is the begin of the selling off of one amazing museum
Wow front yard 80% cleared already as of July 21st, The 1949 (BMW) Vertias Conv I guess will be shipped back to the BMW Museum in Germany ~ I think the Chicago wood Paddy Wagon should go to the Chicago Historical Museum. Lee put the gems way in the back to slow down the fire sale
Lee was a real great guy to me on the odd occasions that I visited him & Marcie. He didn't like or trust everybody, but he'd yakk about all kinds of stuff if he thought that you were OK. I was lucky enough to fall into that category. A few years ago, when I visited him I took a new SSR out there & offered to let him drive it. He passed, but Marcie didn't. We came back laughing like idiots & I think that Lee was convinced we were, but we had a great time that day anyway. Lee had THE most complete US lisc plate collection at that time, including the ones the State of IL sent to the Bishops & Cardinals of the church. He also had 1 of EVERY model of 32 Ford body style in the museum. He had more stuff that never saw the light of day in the back buildings. Godspeed old buddy. Anybody know how Marcie's doing? I no longer have her email addy, so if anybody has it, please PM it to me.
July 24 2011 Semi Trailer is now parked in front of the Musuem's front gate. Marge is wasting no time cashing out the Museum. I warned lee "That someday the side of this building will be removed and everything will be sold off if he fails to move his pieces to the right museums" Sad part is there will be no record of whats going where. All I want is 1 piece for my garage. Imagine the guys who are cherry pickin the Museum this week, while old Marge stuff's the cash into her Subaru, hell she put up with Lee Temper for many years, I see her in Florida at a fance spa by December The Death of Hartung's Museum 2011 all you can do is watch I will post upcoming photo's as the players load-up and roll out
We don't always agree with the actions of friends in life or death. But if we are friends we have to respect their wishes esp their last act. Some will envy those who got a shot at the "bones" , others will savor the time spent with our "friend". Never met Lee, but he does sound like a couple of eccentrics I have known and may become. RIP Lee
We knew Lee. What a character. He had a story to go with every piece of treasure he had. He took a turn for the worse last fall healthwise. The village was squeezing him to bring his buildings up to code. He'll be missed. We used to get together and ride over to see him. Here's a link to some pictures I took in October of 2009. Sad that it'll soon be gone. CLICK HERE , then click on SLIDESHOW (excuse the delay in the beginning, just some of the guys and their bikes )
Never2Low - "What in the hell is this? A '36 or '37 Lincoln two nose?" It's a custom twin nose '36 Lincoln Zephyr Sedan
Thanks for the pics, DuoGlide...some exotic stuff for certain. I never knew FN made motorcycles, I always think of them in terms of arms/ammunition.
This link will give you the history of the Twin Nose Lincoln Zephyr, originally known as "Mr Morrisons Mellow Machine" http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/06/07/sia-flashback-mr-morrisons-mellow-machine/
actually if you read the article "mr morrisons mellow machine" was once a 34 ford, the twin grille zephyr was another car he built. confusing article
I wanted to introduce myself, I found this site yesterday while looking for more info on the Hartung Collection. My Father and I were invited to go there today (7-27), we both collect cars among other things and a mutual friend knows Marjorie. She set up a time for us to walk thru and make offers as well as preview the collection. Marjorie greeted us with reluctance and and from what I understand, if you were to just show up, Bob (long time friend and helper of Lee's) would ask you to leave. She seems real nice and before we entered she asked us to place our hand on Lee's urn (he had died May 18th). I was there specifically look at the 1950 Edwards R-26, the '49/50 Veritas (which I don't believe is authentic after seeing it) and a '36 Ford Cab. I think Marjorie was as interested in understanding the value of the collection as much as we were trying to see some potentially rare items. So far, nothing has left the premises, it is only being cleaned up. Marjorie is interested in breaking the collection up and selling it to specific collectors of particular items. She would like to see the bicycles get sold to one or two individuals, Artwork and signs sold as one lot and appears to want the license plates to all go to one individual in order to keep it together. There are suitors though, when our hour was up another man was literally waiting for us to leave and from what I understand RM Auctions is planning a visit very soon. I had never heard of this collection until yesterday, which is really sad, because it was interesting and I would have loved to meet Lee. On a side note (knowing that this could very well be the last time any individual may see this collection as a whole) I was able to video about 22 minutes of footage and will put it up on You Tube if anyone here is interested. Nice to meet you, Mike
Margie .... Who you guys like to think of as a good friend Is whats known as the two headed monster. She thinks it's all hers but she has other people to check with before anything goes. Before anyone pays out any money be sure to ask for a copy of the will stating she was left all that is. The word is she is looking for bids only too get an idea what things are worth . So far no cars or bikes have left yet. GO AHEAD , MAKE HER DAY. Take this from someone that knows.
Hey guys, her name is Bonnie and she and Lee were engaged for 19 years. I was a good friend of Lees. I do believe she will respect any of Lees requests if there were any. He was a great guy and will be missed everyday. R.I.P. Leroy.
Well, it took me some time to upload the videos, but here they are on You Tube. If you watch in High Def and pause every few seconds you wont believe how much memorabilia Lee collected. Every square inch of this 40,000 sq/ft place is being used. Where you see a pile of stuff, generally there's a car underneath. http://www.youtube.com/user/bitdrive#p/a/u/1/qGBJ962eRGc http://www.youtube.com/user/bitdrive#p/a/u/0/I47qCXxoKwk I'll have a third one up this afternoon. Cheers! Mike
Final video: Had problems uploading it earlier, works like a champ now. http://www.youtube.com/user/bitdrive#p/u/2/KQZbDC4BakU
Hey guys. I live near the Hartung Museum and I just received some "insider" news that I thought I'd pass along: The executor of Leroy Hartung’s estate, the property at 3623 West Lake Ave., is planning on an auction for the entire collection. She has retained the services of R.M. Auctions, http://rmauctions.com/ for this purpose. They are planning on a 4 day event- 2 days of viewing, 2 days of auction. The dates are November 2-3 for viewing, November 4-5 for the auction.
The Jalopy Journal
