The Old Man And The Chrysler

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Today’s Friday Lady is Ada Rosa Alfonso. And the car behind her is not your average Chrysler New Yorker. This 1955 convertible was bought new by the late and great Ernest Hemingway but disappeared after his death. Hemingway's driver, Augustin Nuñez Gutiérrez, took it away said somebody, to hide it from the Cuban authorities who wanted it for the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum, of which Alfonso happens to be the director. Or has been?

Anyway: many people, including herself, had been searching for the car, but it took until 2011 before it was found back. José Luis Herrera Sotalongo, Hemingway’s doctor, had it from 1961 to 1973 or so it turned out. Then it passed on to the doctor's son with many more owners to follow before it was found back. British travel writer Christopher P. Baker did some researches and confirmed the car’s authenticity after matching it’s serial number with the number on Hemingway’s insurance policy.

Next, Baker teamed up with American actor David Soul to get the car restored for the museum and turn the whole story into a film. A very promising promotional trailer was made in 2013 (click here). But there the trace ends, or so it seems. Baker said that ‘The convertible's bodywork will be repaired and repainted in the correct colours. Its leather upholstery will be renewed. Its 331-cubic-inch hemi V-8 will fire once more. And then it will go on display near the Pilar, where visitors can see the car and the boat and imagine a different end to the Hemingway story.” What happened? And what's more: does this car need restoration at all? What do you think?

PS: Hemingway would have been 118 years old today!

(Words editor, picture Christopher P Baker)

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