Introduction from new SC owner

[LeeTidwell]

Hello, My name is Lee Tidwell. My brother Ken (KMT on the forum) recently passed. I'm traveling out to Salem Oregon tomorrow to help take care of Ken's affairs and clean out his house. I have inherited his 35th anniversary SC and the plan is to drive it back home (I live in Maryland). Ken had a 10 x 12 storage shed full of SC parts and I need to figure what to do with them. I plan to take what ever I think I might need and will fit in the trunk - the rest of the parts will be up for sale. I'm looking for someone that might be local to Salem OR and would be interested in the parts that I can't take back (Sorry, as of right now I really don't know what is in the storage shed - I will be on site this Saturday) I would prefer someone take everything. I don't have time to ship or sell one part at time. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll send my contact info.

Thanks.

 

[DOUG H]

Hi Lee, sorry for your loss. I know Ken has helped a lot of people on this site since 2007

 

[LeeTidwell]

Thanks Doug, I appreciate it.

 

[SuperChicken89]

This is sad news and I am very sorry for your loss. Ken was a great asset to the Super Coupe community. He will be greatly missed.

 

[351tt]

Hello, My name is Lee Tidwell. My brother Ken (KMT on the forum) recently passed. I'm traveling out to Salem Oregon tomorrow to help take care of Ken's affairs and clean out his house. I have inherited his 35th anniversary SC and the plan is to drive it back home (I live in Maryland). Ken had a 10 x 12 storage shed full of SC parts and I need to figure what to do with them. I plan to take what ever I think I might need and will fit in the trunk - the rest of the parts will be up for sale. I'm looking for someone that might be local to Salem OR and would be interested in the parts that I can't take back (Sorry, as of right now I really don't know what is in the storage shed - I will be on site this Saturday) I would prefer someone take everything. I don't have time to ship or sell one part at time. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll send my contact info.

Thanks.

Condolences Lee, if you have plans to keep the car and there are any electronic parts, it would be best to keep those as they take up relatively little room . if its possible maybe you or someone could take a few picks of the overall parts and post them to get some quick advice one what would be more important for you to keep .. we all tend to keep stuff that is either valuable or hard to easily replace [ cars are getting pretty old now ] and I would assume Ken was the same, so again if you are keeping the car put a bit extra time into what you can and should keep , it will be very helpful down the road, and also keep in mind there are plenty of people here that can guide you on quirks , care and maintenance of these cars .
Dave.

 

[LeeTidwell]

Condolences Lee, if you have plans to keep the car and there are any electronic parts, it would be best to keep those as they take up relatively little room . if its possible maybe you or someone could take a few picks of the overall parts and post them to get some quick advice one what would be more important for you to keep .. we all tend to keep stuff that is either valuable or hard to easily replace [ cars are getting pretty old now ] and I would assume Ken was the same, so again if you are keeping the car put a bit extra time into what you can and should keep , it will be very helpful down the road, and also keep in mind there are plenty of people here that can guide you on quirks , care and maintenance of these cars .
Dave.

Thanks Dave, I'll be there this coming Saturday morning and get some pictures of the parts. My plan is to keep the car and maintain it in my brothers honor. I appreciate the help.

 

[LeeTidwell]

This is sad news and I am very sorry for your loss. Ken was a great asset to the Super Coupe community. He will be greatly missed.

Thanks for the kind words. Ken taught me many life lessons growing up, among them he taught me how to work on cars, how to drive, how to troubleshoot, and how to become organized. He had an amazing attention to detail.

 

[Rick_Leuce]

Very sad to hear that. KMT helped me a lot through this forum.

 

[David Neibert]

RIP Ken (KMT)

 

[AdamG]

He definitely will be missed by this community. Unfortunately I never got to meet him, I wish I could have. He seemed to have such a wealth of knowledge on these cars. I've been reading posts on here for years and he was always one of the first to chime in and help (Doug H, same goes to you). It's people like this that make this community so great and keep these cars going. Best wishes Lee, glad to hear you're keeping his car, keeping it going will keep part of him going for years to come.

 

[SC-AL]

he was always one of the first to chime in and help (Doug H, same goes to you).

I agree. He responded to my threads with good information, when I was getting my SC back in service. Quite a loss to the SCCoA family, as well as his own. I am sad to see him pass. RIP, Ken.

 

[Tim Groth]

Sorry to hear this news, my condolences to you and your family. As many have already stated Ken was a great wealth of knowledge and a real asset to this club. He will be deeply missed.

There's a decent group of SC owners passed and present in VA, WVA, DE, MD area ...if we can ever be of any help please reach out.

-Tim

 

[Tommyboy]

Lee,
I only just saw your post this morning (07-23-23) and want to add my condolences on the loss of your brother. I met Ken at an All Ford Show in Champoeg a few years back where we talked about each others 35th Anniversary SC's.
If you are still in the area, I may be able to assist you with inventorying and sale of any parts.

 

[Kurt K]

Lee,

Sorry for your loss. Never met Ken in person, but he was always helpful. As others have stated, you may want to hold onto as many parts as you can as I'm sure Ken was stashing them for a reason, but logistically I understand that may be a problem.

Good luck with everything and don't be afraid to reach out to the forum for any assistance.

Kurt

 

[jclars]

Hi Lee, I was shocked by the news of Kens passing. I think I had been in contact with him as recently as June about some issues I was having on my "Angry Bird" SC conversion. I probably interacted with Ken over the last 10 years and he was my "go to" guy when issues came up with my SC transplant. Last year I did Rte 66 in Angry Bird and ran into problems where Ken made himself available to get me back on the road. We finally managed to meet in person as I drove through Salem. You can see your recently inherited car next to my vehicle which is an SC at heart - from radiator to IRS with the interior in between. Ken was an integral part of it's success and was always encouraging to me. It was a great meet up last year at the end of of my 6,000 mile trip and a culmination of many years of bantering back and forth.

I was aware that he had recent severe back issues and surgery that resulted in major pain. I understand it surfaced while doing what he loved - tinkering on a new project. I had contact with him via private e-mail during that time. He had mentioned of being patient during his recovery, a trait he learned while in Asia. I admired him for that!

I am 72 years old and remember warning my children (back in the day) of the new hazards of online chat rooms and not to get involved in them. When I started back into cars as a renewed hobby in my retirement, they chastised me about my online forum friends, calling them chat room buddies! I have learned that not all forums are created equal. (Nor are chat rooms.) SCCOA is one of the exceptional ones that creates community among members. Ken was an integral part of that community and made it what it is today. He will be sorely missed. I must say it pains me to say he was my first online friend that has passed, and I am so glad to have met him in person. But even without that meeting, I would consider him a true friend!

My sincerest condolences to all his family and friends. May God grant you peace during this tough time.

John Larsen

Birds o' a Feather

On the final leg home of his Route 66 tour, John and I were finally able to meet up in Salem today. 6k miles solo in a few weeks...not bad!

www.sccoa.com

Day 21 - Williams, California to Wilsonville, Oregon

Over 500 miles today in about 10 1/2 hours of drive time. I was tempted to get past Portland tonight in order to miss the morning rush ho...

angrybirdonroute66.blogspot.com

 

[LeeTidwell]

Hi Lee, I was shocked by the news of Kens passing. I think I had been in contact with him as recently as June about some issues I was having on my "Angry Bird" SC conversion. I probably interacted with Ken over the last 10 years and he was my "go to" guy when issues came up with my SC transplant. Last year I did Rte 66 in Angry Bird and ran into problems where Ken made himself available to get me back on the road. We finally managed to meet in person as I drove through Salem. You can see your recently inherited car next to my vehicle which is an SC at heart - from radiator to IRS with the interior in between. Ken was an integral part of it's success and was always encouraging to me. It was a great meet up last year at the end of of my 6,000 mile trip and a culmination of many years of bantering back and forth.

I was aware that he had recent severe back issues and surgery that resulted in major pain. I understand it surfaced while doing what he loved - tinkering on a new project. I had contact with him via private e-mail during that time. He had mentioned of being patient during his recovery, a trait he learned while in Asia. I admired him for that!

I am 72 years old and remember warning my children (back in the day) of the new hazards of online chat rooms and not to get involved in them. When I started back into cars as a renewed hobby in my retirement, they chastised me about my online forum friends, calling them chat room buddies! I have learned that not all forums are created equal. (Nor are chat rooms.) SCCOA is one of the exceptional ones that creates community among members. Ken was an integral part of that community and made it what it is today. He will be sorely missed. I must say it pains me to say he was my first online friend that has passed, and I am so glad to have met him in person. But even without that meeting, I would consider him a true friend!

My sincerest condolences to all his family and friends. May God grant you peace during this tough time.

John Larsen

John,

Thanks for the message, I really appreciate it. Ken told me about your truck many times and sent me pictures of it - very cool truck!

Lee

 

[LeeTidwell]

Update, after seven days, ~ three thousand miles and twelve states we made it back home. The Thunderbird worked flawlessly and it averaged 25 mpg. We left Portland, made a stop in Idaho, then onto Utah where we spent the night in Moab. We left Moab and headed south to Winslow Arizona. From Winslow we ran I-40 east through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, jumping off onto the Original RT66 as much as possible. So many cool places to see and explore on RT66. At Oklahoma City we went south to Dallas to visit family. Left Dallas and headed east on I-30 until picking up I-40. Ran I-40 east and jumped on I-81 North in Tennessee and headed back to Maryland. It was a great trip. Ken was with us in spirit all the way...

As far as the parts Ken had, I carried back as much as I could fit in the trunk and someone local got what was left over.


Lee

 

[jclars]

The perfect commemorative drive! Congrats - I know you had a comfortable ride in the SC. Because I had the same! Okay, with a Jag front clip, but close!

Thanks again for posting to the forum and letting everyone know. Not always thought about in the duties of the executor when a loved one dies.

 

[psychicmechanic]

Lee, please accept my condolences. I'm here in Portland and while Kne and I never met - I can say that I know Ken would more than approve of you taking such great care of his car. That road trip was a fitting tribute.