Step inside the two-bay garage at Williams’ ranch home and you’ll find a 1942 Packard Deluxe Eight, a sapphire and midnight blue convertible with curves like Jane Russell and a finish as smooth as Nat King Cole’s voice.
“It was a total restoration — body off the frame, new plumbing and brakes,” the 79-year-old father of three and grandfather of eight said of his handiwork. “I welded and welded on this and hammered and straightened ...”
Next to the Packard sits a 1964 Karmann Ghia, a tomato-red two-seater Williams will show Sunday, Sept. 20, at the third Concours d’Elegance at Carillon Park, the annual car show and biggest fundraiser for Dayton History.
“My daughter bought that for her husband for their 10th wedding anniversary,” Williams said of the classic Volkswagen. “When they thought about selling it, I just couldn’t let it go.”
There’s not much Williams can let go, it seems.
Perched near his Packard, Williams’ first set of wheels hangs from the ceiling — a wicker baby buggy he used in 1930, the same one his father had in 1902. Other family treasures hang or sit nearby, including century-old roller skates and ice skates, antique tricycles and sleds and a rocking horse from 1903.
Framed photos show nearly every car he’s owned and restored since he was a boy growing up on Catalpa Drive in Dayton — Nashes and Packards mostly, as well as stock cars, customized cars, soap box derby cars and race cars, including the modified 1991 Nissan 240SX he sped to 235 mph at the Bonneville (Utah) Salt Flats in 2007.
But to see Williams’ true love, aside from Janet, his wife of 55 years, you’ll have to travel a short drive away to a barn nearly 25 yards long and half as wide. There, under tarp, you’ll find the car he’s owned the longest — a 1958 MGA, a black British roadster he purchased in 1961 and drove daily for more than 100,000 miles.
“It’s part of my right foot,” Williams said. “I love this car.”
You’ll also find a dozen other vintage vehicles, most of them restored by Williams himself. There’s a 1941 Packard 120, blue like the convertible back home; a 1940 Nash Ambassador business coupe, a ’51 Kaiser coupe, a ’57 Morris Minor panel truck and his latest addition, a ’58 MG Magnette he bought in Cincinnati.
“I try to take each one out every summer,” Williams said. “I don’t drive them enough, because my main joy is restoring them.”
It’s Williams’ knowledge of cars, his attention to detail that have won him multiple awards over the years and the respect of his peers, his fellow motorheads say.
“In judging cars at the Concours, (where) everybody’s car is well done, you’re looking for the little flaw that was overlooked,” said Mike Edgerton, a frequent judge at the Concours and retired restorer for Dayton Wire Wheels. “It’s hard to find anything like that on one of Don’s cars. There’s no lint in the crevices of the leather upholstery; the screws, if they’re supposed to Phillips head, they’re Phillips head, that sort of thing.”
“I’ve been a lover of cars all my life,” Williams explained. “While I’ve had interest in other things as well, nothing has ever been as deeply felt.”
A few cars remain on his wish list, including a Henry J, a short-lived Kaiser from the early 1950s. But as he approaches his 80s, Williams said there’s only so much he can do.
“I’ve just got too many toys,” he said. “No doubt about it.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7408 or agottschlich@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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