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Jack Huntoon's Forever Dodge
By
Michael Diaz
Honolulu
Streets Magazine.
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Photos courtesy
of Lee Cataluna and Jack Huntoon. |
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Recently
a call came in from someone on Maui who sounded
pretty serious about the Dodge. Unfortunately Jack
didn’t get their number and has been hoping they
call back soon. Interested folks can find Jack’s
contact info at the end of this article.
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Kaneohe,
Hawaii – Jack Huntoon is 90 and he’s looking for a buyer for
his 1960 Dodge Phoenix. He wants just the right person to take care
of it like he has.
You’d think finding someone like that would be
easy since he’s the original owner and has been lovingly maintaining
it for almost 50 years, making it otherwise a pretty rare vehicle
for any car enthusiast to have today.
In September '57, he retired from the
Army, and then worked about three months as an assistant fleet
manager at a Dodge agency in San Francisco. While working at the
dealership, he took a civil service exam for a management analyst
for the military and was then offered a job at Fort Mason. After
accepting the position he went back to the same dealership and told
them he’d like to have a car.
But there wasn’t one on the lot that
appealed to him so Huntoon said he decided to order one from their
catalog. With a growing family it had to come with 4-doors but to
give it some style he wanted it to have that rich bronze painted top
which was as an option item.
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Jack is
so fondly attached to his car that he would be
happier to see his Dodge find a good home on one of
the outer islands instead. He said that way he
wouldn’t be reminded of it by always seeing it on
the road. That’s something only a true car guy could
understand.
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Hawaii
In 1968 a job opportunity became available in Hawaii. "It was a
promotion for me" said Huntoon. He heard that the man who would be
doing the hiring was going from Honolulu through Los Angles, then to
headquarters in Arizona. "So I arranged to fly down and meet him at
LA airport and was interviewed there and accepted for the job."
Huntoon recalled.
"The first two months we lived at
Mokuleia Beach Holiday Inn. There were cottages on the North Shore
that were rentals. It was kind of a nice introduction to Hawaii."
By then he was working at Schofield
Barracks and moved to Queen Emma Gardens where he gave his Dodge a
good home, shielded from the elements in the underground parking
garage for 40 years. It was only recently, “a little over a year
ago,” Jack said, that they moved to Kaneohe.
Coppertop
The Dodge was repainted once says Huntoon. "The guy doing the
paint tried to talk me into having the top white, it would be
cooler. I told him no way! I wanted that bronze top, the inside trim
and frames around the windows matches."
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