The idea of a car being a heirloom is almost outlandish, I’m sad to say. I’d say that at least 98% of vehicles are viewed as an appliance, have always been viewed as an appliance, nothing more. Nobody in my family really did. We had cool cars in my history: Firebirds, Chevelles, Mustangs and Camaros, the Olds Omega that my mother drove for years, the Grand Prix my dad had for a daily beater. None lasted. If any car still exists today, I’d be shocked, and I know at least three of those old rides are gone. When my grandfather passed, the hand-me-down car was a 2000-era Chevrolet Malibu. His love of well-to-do Chrysler products basically ended on two sour notes: he bought the Chryslers for my grandmother to be comfortable in, and my cousin Vance absolutely destroyed the 1998 Dodge Intrepid that was the last Chrysler product he’d own. (We’ll ignore the incident where I was involved in a major accident in the same car.) It was just the last car he owned, nothing special, no hand-me-down, no keeper. He traded vehicles in ever four years, like clockwork. 1984 Chrysler E-Class, 1988 Chrysler New Yorker, 1993 Chrysler Fifth Avenue. All were turned in, none were thought of again.

This 1939 Chrysler Royal isn’t so much like Grandpa Ken’s high-zoot Chrysler choice as it is the equivalent of buying the low-buck Chrysler 300 model with the small V6. But it’s not what the car is that makes this one so special, but it’s story. This is Johnny Carson’s Chrysler. His father bought it new. Carson knew this car from the moment it was in the driveway until his passing in 1994. There was a gap, between when his father sold the car and when NBC found the exact car in his hometown, bought and restored it, and gave it back to him in the early 1980s. That’s borderline unreal, and even more unreal is that the car has remained more or less intact throughout the years. This car is quickly running up on a century of age, and look at it: careful ownership, mild restoration work, and an obvious amount of love have kept the car in great condition. How many fat-fender era cars are this original and this useable?