When I was looking at eBay parts for the Sprite, I happened to notice a
pair of SU's from the "Tony Esholf [actually Elshoff] Collection"
(http://tinyurl.com/y46aml) that brought back memories of this very
unique Sprite and Midget collector. While visiting friends in the
small East Anglia town of Bungay a dozen years ago, our friends' son
Marcus excitedly told me that his friends father had "over a hundred"
Sprites and Midgets in his pasture. Yeah, sure. OK.
Well, I went over and met Tony, and while he may have 50-60, I don't
think there were 100 (unless they were in his barn and outbuildings).
Tony was by then a huge man, and it was doubtful to me that he could
still get in one of them. He was an odd duck, and very bitter about the
racing crowd of which he had been a outstanding member in his by then
long-distant racing days. It seems that many years before, he had
brought a couple of his cars to America, planning to campaign as far
west as Riverside. He bitterly claimed, however, that his "enemies" in
the U.K. had somehow arranged to have him banned from racing in
America. From that point on, he was an embittered man, content to buy
up cars, but never do anything with them. At the time I saw him, he was
flogging a miracle device that clamped on the fuel line that supposedly
extended gas mileage by 15-20 mpg. In fact, I just ran across that
literature he gave me a few weeks ago.
The cars he had in his pasture were in remarkably good condition
considering they had been exposed to the elements for many years, and a
couple had plant growing out of them, and others partially covered by
vines. He showed me around to them, and adamantly refused to even
consider selling any! In the barn was a Sebring Sprite that had been
rallyed and raced by Pat Moss, John Sprinzel, and Mike Drucker. Tony
was delighted when he said Sprinzel had been furious because the rotting
floor above it finally collapsed on the Sebring! One things he had in
hiding (no doubt from his creditors) and would not show me was an
Austin-Healey 100S.
When Tony died about 4-5 years ago, Marcus told me they were going to
try and sell whatever they could to provide some living expenses for his
widow. I told Marcus to make them STOP whatever they planned, and get a
good auto auction house involved. In the end, Tony's widow had a tidy
little sum, far more than the mere living expenses she had hoped for.
He must still be remembetred, for the "Tony Elshoff" SU's are in heavy
bidding at #57.56. ($107.90).
Buster Evans
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