ABOUT OUR CCI APPRAISERS

HOW IT ALL GOT STARTED...

In the early 1950’s My parents discovered that I was indeed smitten by anything with wheels on it. By
the mid 60’s I was tinkering with the family cars. I had a next door neighbor who was a Naval Officer
who asked my father if I would be interested in helping a fellow WW2 Naval Officer repairing a 1951
Ford Coupe that he had received in his mother’s estate. His name was Edward L Beach. He was the
author of the WW@ submarine book “Run Silent Run Deep”. I spent many a day helping him make
repairs on this “rust” free 1951 Ford. At the end of that summer (1964) he asked me what my plans
were for the future. I said to him that I enjoyed working on cars and the like. He handed me a business
card of the local Ford dealerships service manager. He explained to me that this man had been his COB.
In naval parlance that was the “Chief of Boat”. That was quite an esteemed position on any submarine.
When I decided to start working towards getting my driver’s license my dad told me that I would need
to be able to afford the insurance and purchase a car for myself. I found that business card and called
this service manager. His name was Paul Huntley. He hired me to be a lot boy. It started as after school
work. From 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm most nights and most Saturdays. When that all started I turned my
paper route over to my little brother. When there was time I started to work at several of the local gas
stations to fill out then was a 60-hour week during the summer time and evenings until I graduated from
high school. I took a year off from work to attend a college in Florida. That didn’t work out so well. When
I transferred back to the local area junior college there were several credits that they wouldn’t take
(theology?). That made me 1-A and subject to the armed forces draft. I passed my pre induction physical
and was advised that I would be sent to basic training in early January 1970. They started the first
“Lottery” and my number was 324/365. Not knowing how far they would take left me in a holding
pattern. So I went back to work at the dealership. By the summer of 1970 it looked like I would not be
drafted into the service. I decided just to keep on working at the dealership. In September 1971 I
accepted a position as a “Service Writer/Advisor” at the same dealership. I was an adviser for several
years. While doing so I met a man who was a loan officer at a local bank. He introduced me to
something called a 90-day note. I would borrow $1,000 and would pay him back $1,100 after 90 days.
This allowed me to freely buy and sell cars on the side. Well that side work started to blossom because
at the time no one would give much on a traded in old Ford V-8 in those days. I became the guy who
would pay a little more and clean them up and sell them at places like Carlisle and Hershey PA. That led
to having a dozen garages down on Porter street in NW Washington DC full of cars and parts. In 1972 I
met a guy by the name of Gerald F. McHugh. He sold me a decent 1941 Ford Convertible. I restored that
car over a 7-year period. Gerry and I became good friends buying and selling cars for another 40 years.
My professional career spanned retail dealership management and 25 years with the venerable NADA as
a fixed operations instructor. In the early 2000’s Gerry’s health became an issue and he asked me to
assist him in an appraisal service that he had started. By 2012. I found myself doing all the work and
Gerry just went for the ride. I was ok with that. What a great experience that was. I retired from the
NADA in the summer of 2018 and Gerry passed away that fall. I have by now appraised several thousand
cars and trucks. I currently do a lot of estate and insurance appraisals along with some more
complicated “matching number” appraisals. My wife accompanies me on most of my appraisal jobs as a
navigator and confidant. I have met some very interesting people and been into amazing garages doing
this work. I must say that it really isn’t work it’s a retirement play pay.