The Death Wish - True Story Of A 1936 Ford - Double Murder In St. Louis, Missouri

[trulyvintage]

Art Abuchon was well known in
the St. Louis, Missouri area
in the 1950’s as one of
the top dirt track racers …

Art built this 1936 Ford
and drove it around town
when he was not racing
it during that time …

Art was known to
have a temper …

Motivated by the scorn of
a woman who was in the
process of divorcing that
he had taken up with …

Art committed a double murder
and was sent to prison
for 75 years …

Art appealed his
double murder convictions
while in prison and was denied
a new trial or a reduced sentence

The appeal transcript is available
online and reading it I was
enlightened as to how brutal
the murders actually were …

I was hired to transport this car
not knowing what the history was

Meet “ The Death Wish “






Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[trulyvintage]

The ownership history …

The Slaymaker Brothers
grew up in Spencer, Iowa

Dennis Slaymaker is standing
next to The Death Wish in
the photo I took above
when I picked up the car

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jack Slaymaker had bought
this car many years ago from
Ed Fuch out of St. Louis …

Ed Fuch had bought it
from Gene Kelch …

Gene Kelch had bought it
from Art Abuchon’s Mom
who had kept the car as
it was went her son went
to prison for the two murders …

I believe Art was released
from prison shortly before
his death because of his age
and health - I don’t know if
the car was sold before or
after Art’s death …

Art had done the chop
and cut the glass himself
along with the other
custom work - he had
someone else chrome
the dash in the 1950’s …

It didn’t appear any work
had been done on the car
since Art went to prison
by anyone …

I believe everyone was
so scared of Art while
he was alive …

All of this came to light
after I had picked up
the car in Iowa and was
on my way to California
to drop it off to the new owner

•••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jack Slaymaker was well
known and regarded in the
car community - he died
suddenly in 2019 …

He would buy old cars
(mostly Fords) and restore
them to their original
period modified running condition
but would usually go no further …

A Preservationist Of History

When I picked up The Death Wish
it was the only car Jack
had not worked on …

The only car left as it was
by Jack in his collection …

I picked up The Death Wish
in November of 2019 …

When I arrived to pick up
I walked the garage with
Dennis Slaymaker who
shared the story of how
his brother found Death Wish …

.•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The Death Wish parked
among the other cars …






Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[Jeff/Illinois]

That is a neat story

[trulyvintage]

The story continues …

You can watch my video of what
I had the privilege to view
if you are logged into a
Facebook account here …


https://www.facebook.com/story.php?s...00005456325407

More cars from
The Jack Slaymaker Collection

These stills were taken from
my video you can watch on Facebook …









The Death Wish before we
rolled it out to load …





Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[ford38v8]

Jim, I'm sure there are others like myself that would like to see your videos, but the facebook thing is too much to ask. I've found that youtube is a valuable resource, perhaps it can work for you also?

[trulyvintage]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

I have viewed numerous collections
since 2006 when I started transporting
and sharing stories …

I have had a YouTube channel
for over 12 years

I have been a member of Facebook
for over 10 years and that is where
I primarily share stories from the road

As it is, I spend about a minimum
of an hour a day on average uploading
images and videos to share

YouTube videos have to be individually
uploaded and take several minutes to
complete - during which I cannot
use my phone

Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[hotcoupe]

As a life long resident in the St.Louis area, I recognized the names of the two gentlemen that you referenced that owned the car while it was in St.Louis.
Tom

[trulyvintage]

Thank You for your post …

I ended up spending the
better part of the day onsite …

I toured the other buildings
with Dennis - the story
of The Death Wish continued …

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Jack Slaymaker bought the
car on EBay and Dennis went
with his brother to pick it up

It was in a bad part of
St. Louis and they had
difficulty finding the pickup
location - it turned out to
be in the middle of a parking
lot that was unfenced and open
to the public - the car was sitting
unattended in the middle of
the lot - no one was around …

They started the loading process
onto their open trailer - the electric
winch quit for no apparent reason
so they went to the only place
that appeared open - an auto repair
shop of some kind - a few guys
were sitting around on chairs …

They asked for help pushing it
onto the trailer - offering to
pay for their time - one guy
asked what car they needed
help loading - when they were
told all of the guys declined …

So the Slaymaker Brothers
managed to load the car
onto the open trailer by
themselves - as they finished
the EBay seller showed up …

That is when they learned
the story of the car - Jack
was rattled - on the trip
back to Iowa he named
his new purchase …

The Death Wish

Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[trulyvintage]

More than five years have passed
since I took these videos so probably
nothing remains you will see
that would still be for sale …

You have to be logged into
a Facebook account to view …


https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00005456325407



https://m.facebook.com/story.php?sto...00005456325407


Images from these videos …











Jim
Transporting To Travel
Traveling To Share
Stories From The Road

[cas3]

Facebook is evil...I don't go there. I'll take that 33 tudor though