We were both born in Chicago in the 1940's and probably played in the same sand lots. Before we were in our teens we both moved to Gary In. and this is where we grew up and met each other. We were married at the tender age of 18 and have been a number ever since. After a few years in the Navy we moved to Chesterton In. and this has been our home ever since. Cars are what provide for us and we have been in the auto repair business for about 30 years. Your typical small town Mom and Pop kind of business. Our son Shawn is also a part of the business. Our daughter Kim lives in Minnesota. So far we have three grandchildren. These days most of our spare time in the summer is spent boating on Lake Michigan. Before boating we did a lot of camping. This is when we started the collection. We were traveling to the east coast and stopped at many antique stores (for the wife) and a few flea markets and junk shops for me. Under a bench in this really run down junk shop was a box . I pulled the box out and saw our first car vase. We didn't have a clue as to what they were. The gentleman at the shop filled us in on what we had discovered. Now mind you, this box was full of carvases. So we bought the nicest vase and this started us down the car vase road. Yes, we should have bought the whole box as the most expensive one was all of $4.50. Imagine finding a box full today for less than $4.50 each. There must have been 40 or 50 vases in that box. Over the years we have spent a lot of time searching for these beautiful vases from the past.

                                                         click here to see the first vase

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