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From here: http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/local/ ... 916fd.html
At Norcross car show, a car isn’t just a car
By Joshua Sharpe
joshua.sharpe@gwinnettdailypost.com
NORCROSS — All manner of automotive enthusiast roamed downtown Norcross Saturday. There were old car guys going over the minutiae of their painstakingly restored relics — the origin of the chassis, the engine, the paint job. There were young car guys and women peeking through the windows and under the hoods as the machines purred. There were kids and mothers snapping photos.
Corey Korpita was of a different sort. With a salt-and-pepper beard, donned in an event T-shirt and aviator sunglasses, he can rattle through automotive history until a layman’s eyes glaze over with the best of them, but he is less a car guy than he is a story guy.
He came to the Norcross Classic Car Show with his old hulking DeSoto. He also came with a story. A story about a car, yes, but a story which turned out to be more about love and history and mystery and how a car can be much more than a machine.
He must’ve told it 20 times Saturday.
It went:
About 12 years ago, Korpita and his fiance were planning their wedding. This was up north, before they moved to Norcross. The theme for the day was the 1936 Kentucky Derby, which sounds odd until Korpita mentions that both his father and his finance’s father were born in 1936.
A few weeks before the day arrived, Korpita heard about a car auction. The stock came from a storage barn that collapsed in New Jersey, damaging many of the vehicles.
He went and spied the DeSoto. It was near the edge of the collapse and not as badly hurt. Most people there that day were more interested in other cars. This one was “all original,” which in its case means the car was rusted and ragged-out and had a musty smell.
Korpita saw something else in it. The year: 1936.
He bought it for “nothing” and planned to get it running and ready to use in the wedding. His bride-to-be wasn’t thrilled with the idea of suddenly adding the car to the plans when they didn’t even know if he could get it ready in time.
“I thought (she) was going to kill me,” he said.
He had to work on the ignition, replace the worn gas tank with one from a lawn mower and run a fuel line. He got it running in about a week.
But the brakes took longer. The DeSoto wasn’t ready in time.
The wedding went on and apparently went well enough; they’re still married.
Later, Korpita researched the car, which he kept “all original,” and was fascinated with the history. He learned it belonged to a man named Charles Vanderbush, who Korpita in turn researched. Vanderbush was a storied collector around New Jersey.
The DeSoto happened to be the last car he ever drove.
A few years after the wedding, Korpita thought of Vanderbush’s wife and wondered if she was still around.
Maybe Korpita could impress this bride with the DeSoto.
He went to find her and, knowing she was well on in years, asked a man at her house if she was “still with us.”
She was. She was right inside.
She came outside.
Korpita thought the tears were going to flood her eyes.
“‘Ma’am,” he said, “would you like to go for a ride?’”
“Oh,” she said, “no, you’re way too young for me.”
But she was happy to see the car and that it hadn’t changed much.
Korpita now relishes in telling the story, just as the people who stopped by to chat Saturday relished hearing it and looking over the old car.
“Don’t change it,” Mimi Abebe, who came from her house around the corner, told him as the story ended. “You need to keep it this way. This is history.”
Korpita said she was right.
We lived in Norcross back in the early '80s - what an interesting story. So glad it was shared with us DeSoto guys.
"It's Delightful, it's Delovely, it's DeSoto"
"It's delightful, it's delovely, it's DeSoto"
I personally Knew Charlie Vanderbush. He was a very good friend of my father inlaw a Mr robert Grahm, from the Somerville NJ.
Charlie helped me purchase my 1939 Desoto. Charlie grew up in the salvage yard business and had several very unique cars. I had been on serveral tours with the local Jersy region of the AACA with Chralie and his wife and my father inlaw.
Charlie was a very knowledgeable contact and had provided me with a lot of information about my 39 Desoto. My 39 was purchased down here in valley Forge. The top of the roof on Charlies 36 had a crease in it from ne of the beams. I had found a used body for his 36 but we never got the opportunity purchase body and put it on his frame.
I did get a reply from the person that wrote the article but he does not have the owners address or phone number. I anyone that lives near Norcross might know the current owner or ever sees the car please have him contact me. Also the current owner is not listed a current member of the NDC so here is an opportunity to get a new member and we might beable to put a great article in the NDC magazine. I would be will to add my information about Charlie.
Please have the current owner contact me about this 36 Desoto.
Rich Hartung
Desoto1939@aol.com
C: 484-431-8157
H: 610-630-9188
Interesting story Mark. Thanks for sharing it.
Richard,
If and when you are successful in tracking down the present owner, please let me and/or Dan Lyman know so that we may address the possibility of an article for the magazine.
Best of luck!
Geoff Overley
