Jim Kennedy’s Car Collection

Farmer and high school teacher Ralph Shaw was visiting Hays, Kansas, in the spring of 1966 when he spotted a new white Imperial on the showroom floor of James Motor Co., a Chrysler-Plymouth dealership located just minutes from the campus of his alma mater, Fort Hays State College. Uncharacteristically for the frugal Mr. Shaw, the Imperial sparked a desire to purchase a new luxury car. Much more in character, Mr. Shaw decided to purchase locally, to support business in his hometown of Oberlin, Kansas. Upon his return home, he visited Joe Brown, brother of one of his former high school classmates and the proprietor of Brown Motor Co., Inc., Oberlin’s Chrysler-Plymouth dealer. Joe told Ralph and his wife that while he did not have an Imperial, he was awaiting delivery of a beautiful new car, and showed them glossy brochures of Plymouth’s top-of-the-line Fury, the VIP. The Shaws and their younger son were smitten, and took delivery of their new family chariot on August 15, trading in Ralph’s old Ford Galaxie as part of the transaction. The VIP, one of only 12,058 produced, was a rarity for western Kansas in the mid-1960s, with air conditioning, simulated wood grain interior, fender skirts, power steering, and power brakes. 

The Fury spent most of the next 55 years at the Shaw’s family farm just west of Oberlin. In the 1960s, Ralph taught science and mathematics at Decatur County High School in Oberlin, where his wife was the school librarian. He took particular pride in introducing an aerospace program to the curriculum, a first for the state of Kansas. For several years in the 1970s, he taught at Sproul Junior High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado. After retiring from teaching, he worked as a local insurance agent for 30 years, and his Fury VIP was a common sight around town. Throughout his life, Mr. Shaw was also a farmer; while teaching in Colorado, he drove four hours each way on weekends to tend to his Oberlin farm. The Fury spent one year in Colorado Springs, and two years in Manhattan, Kansas, when one of his sons took the car to college at Kansas State University. The balance of its time was spent in Oberlin. Although the Shaws subsequently purchased other vehicles, including an International pickup from Joe Brown about a year after buying the Plymouth, they could not part with the Fury. After Ralph passed in the fall of 2017, his family kept the car for another year before offering it for sale.

After returning home from Army service in World War II, Joe Brown joined his brother, Don, and his father, Leslie, to own and operate Brown Motor Co. It opened in 1950 as a Dodge dealership and was later awarded Chrysler and Plymouth franchises. At various times, it also sold International Harvester and New Holland farm equipment. In the early 1950s, the dealership sponsored teams on the local sprint car circuit. In 1956, Joe Brown bought out his father and brother to become the sole owner of the business. In the late 1960s, Mr. Brown relinquished his Chrysler brands when the Chevrolet franchise in Oberlin became available—Chevrolet being a more popular brand in the west Kansas farming community. He retired from the auto business in 1997 and died in 2002, at the age of 78.