From an article written by Michael Reisig.
A reporter for the Ouachita
Mountain Neighbor and the Mena Star (newspaper) from Mena,
AR dated
April 15, 1997.
Don Rook started collecting things at a
fairly young age. Before his 10th birthday he had a stamp
collection and coin collection, but it was at age 12 that
he saw his first Packard automobile. It was long, sleek and
shiny black. It was then that he knew what he really wanted
to collect. "I like to collect original cars," he
says. "I don't work on 'em, I occasionally partially
restore 'em, I just like to collect 'em." And collect
them he has. When he and wife Kathy moved from Pennsylvania
to the Mena area in 1991, they brought with them 123 antique
cars from the years of 1928 to 1970. He has sold automobiles
around the globe including Australia, New Zealand, Finland
and England. "In 1958, I bought a black '41 Caddy convertible
and was making calls on customers in it." He then began
to buy and collect cars, a '55 Eldorado convertible, and his
first Packard, a 1941 six cylinder coupe, and then an eight
cylinder, four door 1937 Packard 120.
1941 Packard LeBaron used in
the movie "The Godfather"
By 1972, Don had collected 31 Packards,
but then they started getting more expensive than he could
afford. "I liked the look of the '65 Chrysler, but couldn't
afford a new one". But he could afford a used one. "I
bought a yellow Chrysler convertible, and the whole time I
was on the road as a salesman I was known for driving a yellow
Chrysler convertible. In fact I had seven of them, all the
same color". It was at this time that his interest in
the Chrysler 300 series began. " They only made the series
for 11 years, from 1955 to 1965," he says. "I thought
a guy could get one for each year, if he really put his mind
to it. So I started collecting them. At one time I had one
of each year hardtop. Also each year they made a convertible.
I had at least
one of each or as many as 43 300's."
Don has continued collecting and selling
rare autos, although he does more selling than acquiring these
days. "People come to me because they've heard by word
of mouth what I've put away. I'm not a dealer, I'm a collector.
I know a lot about authenticity, so I get a lot of calls for
advice. I'm not a official appraiser, but I can make suggestions
as to what a car is worth."
He's now down to 76 cars and many of them have interesting
histories behind them. He has the 1941 Packard LeBaron used
in the movie "The Godfather". He has Lionel Barrymore's
1941 Packard Formal sedan, which was specially designed to
accommodate his wheelchair, complete with wheelchair. There
is an Eisenhower administrations '55 Imperial available and
he has a '68 Imperial Stageway stretch limo, which ferried
famous country singers in Nashville, and later transported
infamous mafiosos. On the tour you'll see cars that where
only 2, 5, 7, 11 or 12 were ever manufactured.
As Don is getting older, he's started advertising
and selling off some of his collection. When staying at Raspberry
Manor be sure and take his interesting tour. He's always ready
to talk cars.
