Itʼs rare to unearth a story about two cars bought by the same family on the same day and only driven by them; even rarer to learn that they were parked up in 1975 and left for more than 45 years. But that is just the tale told to Alex Dragone of Dragone Classic Motorcars in Orange, Connecticut. It took place in nearby Bridgeport, where the Italian immigrant Capriotti family first settled in the USA and did well, owning the Brooklawn Palace Restaurant.
In 1940, Lenora Capriotti, who was by then divorced, took her two children and went to live with her parents. In that same year, Lenora went with her father, Frank, to buy a car to transport her children around. They ended up at Cochrane Chevrolet, where they could not decide between a Chevrolet Special Deluxe Coupe or a Convertible – so they bought one of each! Lenora used the Convertible and her father the Coupe for the ensuing 35 years, driving them sparingly and rarely leaving the local area. Frank died in 1975, at which time Lenora parked both cars in their small garage, never to drive them again.
Alexʼs father and uncle, who both grew up in Bridgeport, remember the cars, especially the Convertible, which Lenora used to drive to Sorrentoʼs deli most Saturday afternoons. Then, in 2016, a friend reminded Alex about the two Chevrolets, so he drove out in his MG TC to see if he could find the location and soon came across the empty house.
“I looked in the windows of the garage, and there they were sitting beneath inches
