© Copyright 2025, Richard Troy

Richard Troy's Toys

From here you can browse this incomplete list:

My collection varies in size with time, and has, over a long term basis, hovered between 18 and 20 cars. Everyone asks, "where do you keep them all?" ... as if in disbelief... Well, the company I work for has a bit of extra space, so they let me store my cars there, and there are usually one or two on display in the entrance hall, three or so in the workshop, 9 or so in the "back 40" warehouse space, and perhaps another in the driveway... -smile- Hey, it's what I do instead of raise children!

The collection includes pre 60 Ghias, Porsche 356s,  one very nice, low mileage 1969 911 a Montage Suisse removable hard-top Karmann Ghia and a Rometsch. Oh, and I own a 1947 Cessna 140 that I personally restored.

The following image I refer to as Ghia Row. In this location I have 8 Ghias, plus or minus one or two now and then. Or you can view them from another angle.

In the images, from either foreground, or left: '58 Cabriolet (hacked up, not in image above, black), '58 coupe (red), '58 Cabriolet (white), '59 Cabriolet (brown), '59 Cabriolet (red), '58 Cabriolet (sliver-blue), '59 Coupe (red), '55 Coupe (black/motled with primer), and, not really in view, back row on left, '59 Coupe (blue) Montage Suisse. (The other cars aren't mine.)

 

Listing of my automobiles

The following list is roughly by production date, in ascending order, with car types mixed together. I have decided to go-ahead and list cars I no longer own as well because I often have good data on them for historical reference. Which is which can be distinguished from disposition entry for each car.

...Notice: this list has _never_ been accurate as I never have time to keep it updated!...

Ivory 1959 Okrasa 1500 Super powered Karmann Ghia Coupe'

Aerosilver 1958 Karmann Ghia Coupe'

Porsche 356 SC Coupe'


The Porsche 356 SC Coupe, 1963. I bought this car in '87 with about 76,000 miles on it. It runs great, and has really turned heads at some Porsche Club Events. . . You see, as the oldest car run at some of these events, people expect it to be soundly beaten by modern cars - they're in for a surprise!

Incidentally, this car is sweeter even than she looks...

Porsche 356S B Cabriolet


...and then there's the 356 B Super Cabriolet - also a '63. This car went off road at some point in its life, and it had all 4 wheels replaced. Its mileage is unknown, but I suspect it's high, because since its purchase in '90, it has forced me to do a lot of work on it.

First, though the SC should beat it, I felt it wasn't competitive enough with the SC, so I tore the engine apart, against the shrieks of my girlfriend (who felt it was running fine and why have another project...). I found one of the pistons was broken, and the crankshaft was cracked, and about a half dozen other problems - it was amazing it ran as well as it did! So I rebuilt the engine... installed the SC crank, a big bore kit, etc., etc.

I pulled it out of storage one day and when I hit the brakes found it wanted to change lanes all of a sudden! ...OK, redo all the brake components. It was something like $800 just in parts - gee whiz...

Then one day, the pinion shaft lost a tooth! Ouch! (brakes are positively cheap by comparison) ...So I rebuilt it myself, with all new synchros, bearings, etc., and a new pinion shaft! Double-Ouch! It was about $4k just in parts! This was circa 1993.

Goodness I hope this car gives me a break! ...at least it's fun to drive... Take a look at the typical 4th gear problem - we're at the bottom of the RPM range but already going 70 MPH! FUN CAR!

 

Rometsch Roadster

The Rometsch Roadster is perhaps the strangest car I've ever own. It's a 1959 model, and I bought it from the second owner, though the second owner did literally nothing but store her for some 25 years. She has only about 43,000 miles on her, and I drove her back to California from Illinois!. This shot was taken on the day I bought her, never wrecked, complete, and not rusted either.

Cessna 140

OK, it's not a car! But this is my Cessna 140, tail number 2996N, built in 1947. ... When I was 5, my father's friend "Rusty" flew us to one of the Chandeleur Islands in a Cessna 170 where we spent the day. Rusty noted my aviation awareness and budding passion, even at that age, and had me sit in the co-pilot seat on the way back where he gave me two full hours of dual-time instruction, and so I began my path to becoming a pilot.

I used some inheritance money to further my aviation passion and soloed before I was ten. While it took me two tries, on the second I passed the written exam at 12 years of age with only three incorrect answers, and at about that time I decided to buy this Cessna 140.

Unfortunately, my dad, who was also a pilot, "ground looped" her one day, and the insurance money wasn't enough. So, I rebuilt her with an old coot named Farley Vincent out of the "Covington Vincent Field" just north of Lake Pontchartrain. Unfortunately, just as the plane was ready to fly, Farley died without signing any paperwork.

I then learned that Farley had made a lot of enemies, apparently because he was quite frank about telling people when they were full of shit. So, in the end, no one else would sign off our work either. So I paid Loucien Tax of AirTax Inc. to "rebuild" it - take it apart enough to sign it of, but he was a rip-off artist, and thus led to a far longer path to getting her airborne again.

This image is from the AirTax hangar - oh, and Loucien UNDID a lot of the work Farley and I had done just to jack up the fee -ugh!- He removed the windscreen, the brand new interior, etc... I could write a book about all this!  To wit:

Richard Troy