“Depending on the car, he would store them and, when needed, restore them,” Haynes explained. “He drove them very rarely and showed them less.” While Smith was all about country and community—actively participating in his local Rotary and Kiwanis clubs in addition to his many board appointments—when it came to autos, he recognized that the most beautiful vehicles ever built didn’t come only from factories rooted firmly in American soil. Rather, Smith’s admiration for automobiles traversed oceans, and in his collection are rides from Italy, Germany and even England. From Italy, his collection offers two Ferraris: a 1983 308 GTS with a 2.9L engine and 5-speed transmission and a 1998 355 GTS Targa with a 3.5L engine and just 27,189 miles. His German- built fleet includes three from Mercedes-Benz: a 1959 190SL roadster and two 450SL models, one from 1972 and a convertible from 1975. And from England? The Smith collection includes a 4-speed 1967 Austin-Healey 3000 MkII BJ-8 Roadster and a 4-speed 1974 Jaguar E-Type Series III Roadster. “Larry Smith was my mentor,” his friend, shop manager and mechanic Thomas Little stated, “a wonderful individual who would give you the shirt off his back, and most of all, he was a true friend. I was fortunate enough to spend the last four and a half years working on his cars, visiting with him and learning the true meaning of life.” Little explained that Smith was a stickler for having things done “the right way,” but that he was also more focused on the journey than the destination. He said Smith was always an active sponsor of car shows, as well as Little’s own racing dreams and pursuits. “I feel very lucky to have found someone in my life who had the same respect and devotion to keep the classic car alive,” Little said. “He is dearly missed every day, and he will live on through his collection. I made a plaque and placed one in each of his cars. It states, ‘In Memory of Larry W. Smith. A piece of his personal collection. Once his dream, now yours.’” “If you met my dad, you would never forget him,” his son Dr. Landon Smith said. He described him as “gregarious, outgoing, caring, smart, a business savvy person who could talk to anyone about anything,” and added that “Pure bliss for Dad was sitting in his car barn, cigar in mouth, dog at his feet, Motown in his ears, and his next car maybe only a click away.” Larry Smith lived in his bliss-filled dream for many years, and with all 40-plus of his dream cars now headed to Dana Mecum’s 33rd Original Spring Classic auction, it’s an opportunity for other collectors to start or continue adding to their own cloud nine collection of Corvettes or otherwise, and Larry Smith wouldn’t have had it any other way. OFFERED AT THE 2020 SPRING CLASSIC MECUM.COM • 29
