A LIFE, TOLD IN CARS: For Kansas City man, his six-car collection recalls important moments, memories

For years, the cars from Roy Thornton’s past lingered in his mind. There was the first car his dad owned, a 1929 Chevrolet Coupe, and the family’s 1937 Chevrolet.

“He bought it in 1937,” Thornton said. “The war came, and we had to soldier on. You couldn’t get parts because of the war effort.

“By the end of the war, it had 80,000 miles, which was very unusual for that time. That is what you did. You made things work during the war.”

In 2012, Thornton bought a 1937 Chevrolet, adding it to his collection that now stands at six vintage vehicles that range from a 1929 Chevrolet Coupe to a 1952 Kaiser.

“For me, in America, you can remember your first car, your dad’s first car, the car you took your girlfriend in,” Thornton said.

“I associate the ’37 Chevy with World War II because we had to drive that through the war. You couldn’t buy tires. Chevrolet was making tanks during war times.”

For so many car collectors like Thornton, the cars aren’t restored primarily for driving purposes. They are individual slices of American history.

“These cars are not fun to drive,” Thornton said. “We have little interest in driving them. We consider them historical art pieces.”

Thornton’s father owned the ’37 Chevrolet until he bought a Kaiser in 1947. In 1949, Thornton bought his first vehicle, a 1948 Jeepster.

Whether he lived in Texas, California or Kansas City, the cars from Thornton’s youth stayed in his mind.

One day in 1990, he took action and found a 1948 Jeepster that he wanted to buy and restore. Thus started a quest for Thornton to find the cars that had a major impact on his life.

“Your wife has to go along with it,” Thornton said. “The first one (the Jeepster) was the hardest to sell her on. My argument was this was our courtship car. She finally agreed to it. Her terms were I would have to take her out and buy her ice cream.”

Thornton, 83, has been married to his wife, Jan, for 58 years. She probably had more than an inkling that her husband enjoys classic cars.

The first car that Thornton restored was in 1962. While Jan was in Dallas visiting her mother, Thornton bought a 1931Ford Model A, for her.

“She came back, and it was in the driveway,” Thornton said. “She said, ‘What is that all about?’

“I told her, ‘This is your car.’ She said, ‘I don’t know how to drive.’ She learned to drive on that Model A. When we moved to Kansas City, we left that car in Houston.”

But it wasn’t until 1990 that Thornton truly got into buying and restoring the cars of his youth. One of the last cars that Thornton bought to have restored was a 1937 Chevrolet in 2012.

Thornton was 5 years old when his dad purchased a 1937 Chevrolet. Thornton’s dad drove the car through the World War II years.

“That is the car my sister and I grew up in the back seat,” Thornton said. “We made a lot of trips to Oklahoma to see relatives.”

In a book binder with more than 100 pages, Thornton details the history of the six vintage vehicles he owns, the reasons behind the purchases, recollection of those days when he first rode in them and pictures of the cars and family members.

Simply put, the book is Thornton’s family history told through cars. For instance, Thornton writes that his dad never had an emotional attachment to his cars. He added that his dad once said, “I wouldn’t own a car if I could catch a handful of streetcars to get where I want to go.”

Thornton, though, has an abundance of sentimentality for cars of the past. He even had the restored 1937 Chevrolet painted red to match the color of the Kansas City Southern Railroad because his dad worked there for 47 years.

The 1952 Kaiser he bought takes him back to when his dad bought a 1947 Kaiser to replace the 1937 Chevrolet.

Thornton owns a 1938 Ford because that was the first car he drove. He bought a 1948 Dodge Power wagon because one summer in 1950 he worked for a cousin who had one.

It has become an enjoyable hobby for Thornton.

“Some cars you can’t get out of your mind,” Thornton said. “I remember the first time I saw this Dodge Power Wagon, and then I got to drive it. It was just in the back of my mind, this car.

“I think that explains it. I never got them out of my mind. It is revisiting and keeping alive the past.”

Thornton isn’t quite sure if he is done. Four of his cars are with his daughter and son-in-law in California. Another one he has in storage in Paola. And until recently his prize 1937 Chevrolet was at his Merriam office.

“I am always thinking of the next one,” Thornton said.

And that means there is a chance his collection might expand.

“If I have time,” he said.

This story was originally published September 11, 2015 at 7:40 PM with the headline "A LIFE, TOLD IN CARS: For Kansas City man, his six-car collection recalls important moments, memories."