It was the summer of 2011 and we had been able to find several low mileage, untouched cars to increase the size of our collection. It was about this time that we began to realize that at least three groups of cars had been so popular that locating an untouched, original low mileage car was very difficult. This group included 1967–69 Camaros, 1955–57 Chevys, and 1955–57 Fords (including Thunderbirds).
In August of the same year, we spotted an eBay ad for a 1967 Camaro with about 9,000 miles. It’s not always easy to prove that these cars are truly low mileage, but in this case the owner, Adam Kellerman, mentioned that his grandmother, Bernadine Kellerman, had purchased the car new from Moore Chevrolet in Port Huron, Michigan, on March 17, 1967. We have very few three generation cars in the Foundation and continued to ask Adam for more information about how this car became part of the family.
In the beginning, Bernadine’s husband, Vincent Kellerman, was totally against his wife having her own car. Besides personal reasons, he always said that their garage was only big enough for his car and could not accommodate even a small car like a Camaro. This statement led to one of our great family relationship stories—the automobile and how it relates to this country’s history has always been most important to our Foundation.
After Bernadine purchased her new car with the title in her name, there was a problem between her and her husband about the limited parking space in the garage. Vincent Kellerman always owned large American vehicles like Cadillacs, Lincolns, Buicks, etc., and Bernadine drove her small Camaro very little, leaving it in the garage for weeks on end. Adam explained that the Camaro had long scratch marks down its side because his grandfather constantly had to squeeze his large car into the garage and would rub against the Camaro.
Adam’s family (his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister) lived close to Bernadine and Vincent and visited them often. Adam said he had become so attracted to the Camaro that when they arrived at Gramps’ and Gran’s, his whole family would rush into the house, and he would rush into the garage. In fact, as he grew older, he would drive Gran’s car out of the garage, turn it around, and drive it back into the garage. Using this method, Adam was able to keep Gramp from destroying one side of the car, but sort of spread the scratches over both sides.
A final, humorous anecdote concerning squeezing both cars into the garage was when Adam compounded the paint to clean up the Camaro. He said, “Each side of the car had tiny streaks of different colored paint where my grandfather’s car had rubbed against it. I can remember saying to myself, ‘there’s Gramp’s Cadillac blue paint, there’s his green Lincoln Mark IV’ and so forth.” I (Steve) still look at the sides of the Camaro in the Foundation trying to find other areas of his grandfather’s paint.
As time and vehicles wore on, Bernadine and Vincent grew older and drove very little. Vincent passed away in 1995. In 1998, Bernadine had her title changed from Bernadine C. Kellerman to Bernadine C. Kellerman and Christopher Allan Kellerman. This new title also added a caveat “full rights to survivor.” Possibly, she was looking to the future and transferring the ownership of the car to her son, Christopher (the father of Adam Kellerman). Bernadine passed away several years after this title transfer and her estate was transferred to Christopher.
The distribution of the estate, of course, was a private matter, but on January 7, 2003, Adam had the car appraised by Bill Leslie and Sons (an antique and classic car appraisal service). I assume Adam acquired the car through the Trust after the appraisal and immediately titled the car in his name on February 3, 2003. This all seems correct, since the car was appraised with 8,845 original miles and Adam was very clear that he wanted the car to stay under 10,000 miles. He sold the car to us with 9,902 miles on October 4, 2011.
One last opinion—however, this is not a known fact. He truly did not answer me when I asked why in the world he wanted to sell what could be called a family heirloom. It was about nine months later at the Ames Performance Nationals in Ohio that I was asked about the car. A customer from Michigan knew about Kellerman and asked if we bought his car. I said yes, but added my lingering question, “Do you have any idea why he sold the car that he loved and had been in his family for over forty years?”
“Yes” he said, “I’ve heard he got a divorce!”
’Nough said!
Written 2012, Steve Ames
Last Edited: September 26, 2024, JA
Comments