While Richard was certainly all business in the field, in his occasional hours of free time, he preferred to pour himself into the collecting of premium wristwatches and high-end vintage and exotic automobiles. His love of the vehicular variety was likely instilled in him at just 4 or 5 years of age, according to his widow, Carol. She recalled stories of his first car: a little black pedal car, purchased for him by his only brother, who was 10 years his senior. This car, she surmised, was what planted the seed that would eventually grow into a firmly rooted love for automobiles. “His brother had saved up his earnings from, I don’t know, I think he had maybe a newspaper delivery job or something like that,” she explained, “and he saved up his money, and he bought his little kid brother a pedal car, which was $300, and in 1950, that was a ton of money … So that’s really, I think, what sparked his interest in cars.” Carol said that by the time Welkowitz was a teenager, he was already enamored with exotic and luxury cars and would own and drive the finest he could afford. By his 20s, he had started to collect them. “Rich, along with his father and his brother, they were all named after kings, and they all had sort of an affinity for anything old-world European, and they liked elegant designs. So, for example, our first date that we went on was in a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, and it was really his pride and joy at the time. I think, at that time, he may have had a half dozen cars, although he had more stored in Chicago. But he loved them. He didn’t really drive a lot of them—he had one or two that he was very fond of—and they were all in immaculate and pristine condition, fully restored.” Carol said that Welkowitz was extremely particular about his cars, that he insisted on “nothing short of perfect.” “The average person would look at a car that he bought and think it was great, but he’d look at it and think, I can make it perfect,” she said. Both of the Rolls-Royce cars, Carol explained, were in restoration for many, many years, and she noted that he even sent one back to have its interior completely redone after noticing a crinkle in the leather of the rear seat. MECUM.COM • 37
