Friday, July 28, 2006

Ernie Kanzler

I had the opportunity to work with an elderly man who I see often at the coffee shop, on his memoirs. His name – Ernest Kanzler Jr. His father, Ernest Kanzler Senior worked for Henry Ford and later Edsel Ford. Ernie Jr. told me many stories about his father’s power and prestige - but I had to do some background checks of my own. He was right. The man was quite powerful in his time. In addition, his wife and Edsel Ford’s wife were sisters. All of the wealthy then hung out together - especially those in the automotive industry – the Firestones, Fords, etc. But Ernie had been adopted and so he is on the quest for his real family.

Ernie also has some spiritual gifts of healing he has been writing about. He asked if I'd type up his writings. Since posting this site, I have had numerous posts and inquiries about Ernie along with pictures of the Kanzler car that he designed, the awards he won, etc. Maybe that autobiography he has been wanting to write will come together after all.

46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Found you by "Googling" Ernest Kanzler, Jr. I was reading a manuscript written by an acquaintance involved in auto racing. He was employed in the 60s by Ernie. Thus my interest.
This friend saw a family photo album & in it a picture of Hepburn & Tracey with the family. He noticed a strong resemblance to Spencer.
Ann

Contact Me said...

Ann;
Thank you for your note. I would like to find more information about Ernie when he was younger and photos. Do you know how I could access this/

Thanks,
Pam

Anonymous said...

Hi Pam, I worked for Ernest Kanzler Jr in 1969. I designed a CANAM racing car for him called the Ti22. I once went with Ernie to his family house on Jupiter Island in Florida. We were visiting the Sebring 12 hour Auto race. There was a family photo Album in the family room that I read while waiting for Ernie to come down from his room for Breakfast. In it were pictures going way back of family and friends who had stayed at that house. I have no doubt that Hepburn is his real mother. But if you saw the picture of Ernie as a child with Tracy and Hepburn, you would seriously consider the possibility that Spencer Tracy was his father. The shock of blonde hair on both Ernie and Spencer Tracy is too much of a coincidence. I bet Ernie has white hair now. Check him out yourself, does he look like Hughes or Tracey?
I am writing a book soon to be published about my 15 year racing life and would like to send a copy to Ernie to check out. Can you please pass him my e-mail address?
I have high regard fr Ernie Kanzler Jr. I will always be in debt to Ernie for giving me my first chance at designing a racing car. He made my career take off. On top of that. He is one hell of a nice man.

Peter Bryant

Anonymous said...

Pam, I have the website up for my car designed by Ernie Kanzler.
www.liberacekanzlercar.com
Has photos and the history of my 1979 Kanzler. Please pass this along to him. Thanks, Bill Neff

Anonymous said...

Go Ernie !!
Just wondering what you were up to and discovered this site. A litte dismayed to see they refered to you as and old man. I like to forget that I am one also. Thanks for the good old times and please contact me if you like at my E.
costaragua@yahoo.com
Dennis Toomey
Granada Nicaragua

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jamesagain said...

Hi Pam,

I hope you actually write this book, he's such an interesting man it should be a great read!

Be sure to ask him about Friday Harbor, Ramtha, JZ Knight & Linda Evans.

I trained horses for him for a short time in about 1986. He owned a million dollar Arabian stallion that they believed was a reincarnation of Ramtha (google it). Some pretty hooey stuff! The farm was amazing though--the indoor riding arena and barns had glass pyramids on the roofs. For a while there Ernie employed nearly every craftsman on the island to make the place very unique.

I suppose it may be a part of his story that he'd rather forget--I think the very young wife ran off with the horseshoer--but an interesting bit of his history nonetheless.

Val

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Anonymous said...

...ernie was my father-in-law for awhile as i was married to nina in the early 1990's...we lived on the property in yelm and i had the unique experience of hearing the history first hand. feel free to call

robert opsvik
206-819-9356

Anonymous said...

...ernie and the Sealion...

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=73384f8f-fed5-4bce-9a9e-2025c5660133&k=43451

robert opsvik

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Anonymous said...

...the Kanzler...


http://news.windingroad.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/1979-kanzler.jpg

robb

Contact Me said...
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Anonymous said...

I currently have a 22 foot 1972 Marauder Autocoast race boat Blue deck Red hull it looks like the Pony Glore II and it's know the Erine raced it in Newport Calirornia. I'm restoring now and need some question answered about her. The boat is local to Erine in Federal Way, Washington

Please pass on the my address
hhulman@hotmail.com

Thank you Hugh

Anonymous said...

I would be interested in the purchase of any Ernie Kanzler photos. His Kanzler coupe, previously owned by Liberace is getting ready to be restored in Florida. Please contact me with any information

Eriktampabay@yahoo.com

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symbio said...
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Anonymous said...

I love Ernie with all my heart, he is a wonderful man, a bit ecsentric I might add, we have done some crazy fun things together in our day, i love him to death, and always will.

robertopsvik said...

judy, call me..robb

206-819-9356

Anonymous said...

Anyone know how to reach Ernie? I once met him with his wife Jill when living on Orcas Island WA. Had been a friend of Jill and trying to find her.

Thx

keolalani.koaloha@yahoo.com

HarleyGoddess said...
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Shelly said...

Hi Ernie,

Thank you for everything ... if you ever need anything... call! Come visit Ohio again!
Miss you,
Shelly

Enjoy everyday as if it were your last...

David McCarthy said...

It was heartening to read about Ernie on this blog.
I met Ernie in the early nineties in Yelm Washington.
A very kind and generous man. I lost touch with Ernie when he moved to Arizona..

If anyone knows how I may contact Ernie? Please Email me at: whereyabeen@ywave.com

Thank you.

David McCarthy.
Yelm.

Anonymous said...

...i talked with ernie this sept., he had been living in vegas with his 1/2 brother, a howard hughes trustee, he had re-connected with an old love and they were making plans to move to rio...the man is still on a roll of a lifetime!

Anonymous said...

Andy Cipollo is not his half brother. He is someone involved in a stock scheme. With Steve Fishman. Ernie has been suckered into believing they have something to do with Howard Hughes. Andy Cipollo claims he is the irrevocable trustee of Howard Hughes. In which it was just away to scam more people out of money.
If any of you out there care about Ernie you will tell him to stay far far away from that group of people. Just google Steve Fishman anytime.

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HarleyGoddess said...
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Anonymous said...

Whatever Jill. You were just begging to find him in another blog. You just recently got back in contact with him. Go find another horse trainer.

Anonymous said...

...I'm not "Anonymous said"...my intel comes from the man himself...

HarleyGoddess said...
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Anonymous said...

some people find more satisfaction in living the past, therefore never progressing to the 'now'. that is 'their path'. bless them.

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Anonymous said...

Hello Suzzane. My name is Erik. I used to live on Ernies farm next door to you. Michelles son and Tinas brother.

Anonymous said...

Ohh and she is one shameless goldigger

Anonymous said...

Yes, unfortunately for Ernie (and probably many other trusting souls as well)..

Which side of his property did you live on?

Anonymous said...

I was Ernies step son. I was there before they started on all of the pyramids.

Unknown said...

Hi Pam,
My name is Chris Drew, and I knew Ernie, lived with him for a short but memorable era, and looked up to him.
It wouldn't surprise me to find he was actually the son of Hepburn and Tracy. He has an air of amiable eccentricity that would be spot on for being Hepburn's son.

I was wondering what he is up to these days, wondering if he's still alive and well, so I googled his name, and found your site here.

Anonymous said...

Tulsa judge hands down sentences in money-laundering scheme

By DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Published: 10/23/2009 3:18 PM
Last Modified: 10/23/2009 3:18 PM

Two men were sentenced Friday to more than 20 years in prison after being found guilty of taking part in a money-laundering, mail-fraud and wire-fraud conspiracy involving 19th-century railroad bonds and 100-year-old Chinese bonds.
Joseph L. Thornburgh of Mounds was ordered to serve 24 years and four months behind bars and Steven Fishman of Corona, Calif., was given a 21 year and 10 month sentence in Tulsa federal court.

U.S. Chief District Judge Claire Eagan also ordered both men to contribute towards $3,684,213 in restitution due to what Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McLoughlin said is more than 400 victims of the scheme scattered around the world.

Both men had been free on bond since the June 26 verdict in the case but on Friday Eagan ordered them taken into custody immediately at the respective conclusions of their sentencing hearings.

Thornburgh, 61, and Fishman, 59, were among four people charged in a Nov. 30, 2007, indictment that wasn’t made public until Aug. 21, 2008.

A federal grand jury alleged that Thornburgh and Fishman; Robert William Searles, 71, of Loudon, Tenn.; and Wayne Leslie Davidson, who is in his early 60s and is from Wanganui, New Zealand, promoted fraudulent investments involving bonds, including those issued in the 1850s by the GH&H Railroad and some issued in China in the early 1900s.

Prosecutors alleged that the defendants acquired these “historical bonds” and falsely represented to investors that hundreds of millions of dollars in interest had accrued since they were

issued and that payment was still due.
The defendants purportedly told investors that Amtrak and the U.S. government backed the interest payments due on the railroad bonds.

But McLoughlin told the jury in June that the bonds held no such value. He said the railroad bonds held only minimal value for those who are interested in scripophily, the collecting of canceled old stocks and bonds.

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Depew said that at least some of those bonds will likely be sold by the government as such collector’s items as part of the effort to pay restitution to the victims.

McLoughlin said a total of about $4 million was lost by a total of more than 400 people in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand from 1998 to 2005. Twenty to 25 of the investors live in the U.S., he said.

On Friday, Fishman told the court that he disagrees with the jury verdict and will appeal. He said he was “sad and remorseful” that any documents he prepared may have been used by others to defraud people.

However, McLoughlin said during the hearing that Fishman was the “mastermind” of the scheme who evidently thought he could insulate himself from criminal liability. McLoughlin said Thornburgh, who also is planning to appeal, took more of a recruitment role.

At trial, Fishman’s lawyer, Stan Monroe, said his client was not promoting any illegal activity. Thornburgh’s lawyer, Gloyd McCoy, suggested that Thornburgh was actually a victim of the plot because he had a “good-faith” belief in the investment program.

Still, McLoughlin said the evidence showed that Fishman knew as long ago as 1983 that the railroad bonds had no real value.

Searles pleaded guilty April 3 to a money-laundering conspiracy charge and agreed to pay a judgment of $260,288. He stated in his plea agreement, however, that the overall loss exceeded $2.5 million and that more than 250 people were victimized.

Searles, who is on bond, faces as much as 10 years in prison and is set to be sentenced Nov. 24.

Davidson is a fugitive and is thought to be in the United Arab Emirates.

David Harper 581-8359

david.harper@tulsaworld.com


I think Ernie owes me an apology. I told him Steve Fishman was trying to rip him off and instead he stood by the crooks side instead of someone trying to help him.

Erik Brown

Rchilds said...

Hi Pam,

Ernie was my dad's best man in 1956. They were both working as grad engineers at Ford. My favorite story from my pop was hearing of them cruising around Detroit in Ernie's mid '30's Alfa adn leaving the cops in the dust only to have them come knocking on Ernies door later to serve him a ticket. How many folks in 1956 Detroit do you think had an Alfa to ply the streets with.

I am sure my dad would be happy to add to your trove of Ernie lore and reconnect if possible.

Rich Childs