COLLECTOR JOHN O'QUINN.....1941 - 2009

John O'Quinn, who has graced these pages before, lost his life in a car accident this morning. Divorced with no children, O'Quinn's father had taken him to an exhibition of Duesenberg's as a child at the Sam Houston Coliseum, to see what his father called "the greatest car ever built." In 2003, O'Quinn saw a 1932 Duesenberg Durham Tourister for sale at a Houston auction, at which he bought 14 cars that day including the Duesenberg for $405,000.

O'Quinn had an extensive collection of cars, with a total value of over $100 million to buy 618 cars,[3] including: seven Duesenbergs; the 1911 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost featured in the film Titanic; John F Kennedy's 1962 Lincoln Continental Bubble Top limo; a 1937 Bugatti Type 57 Atalante.

In September 2006, he bought: a 2005 Lamborghini Gallardo covered with 33 celebrity autographs ($500,000); the Batmobile used in the filming of Batman Forever ($335,000), a 1941 Packard limousine used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt ($290,000), a 1938 Talbot-Lago ($3,350,000); and a 1938 Town Car used by Pope Pius XII ($250,000).

The center piece of the collection is plain grey 1975 Ford Escort GL, once owned by Polish priest Karol Wojtyla - before he became became Pope John Paul II. Bought at the Kruse auction at SEMA, the car was sold by the Pope at auction for charity to Chicago restuaranter Jim Rich in 1995, who paid $102,000 for the car. O'Quinn paid €690,000 for the car October 2005.

In late 2006, O'Quinn found cars missing from his collection, including a Ferrari 575M and a 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350. O'Quinn tried to get in touch with Zev Isgur, a 32-year-old ex-con whom he'd befriended and entrusted with the management of his collection of classic cars. Isgur was later convicted of embezzlement.