CLASSY CHASSIS AT SHOW.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

Ken Findiesen got what he asked for when he talked a friend into selling him a 1948 Jaguar Mark IV convertible - a car that required a little imagination, since at the time its parts were stored in unlabeled cardboard boxes.

But no one stopping by the mint-condition, butter-yellow luxury car as it sat under a shade tree at California Lutheran University would have guessed it came from such humble beginnings.

The classic, with its roll-back top, was one of the more popular attractions at the ninth annual Father's Day Car Roundup on Sunday.

The show, to raise money for Cal Lutheran University projects and scholarships, attracted 243 cars and was expected to draw up to 5,000 visitors, said Jim Wiens with the Milestone Car Society. It was put on by the society and the Community Leaders Club of Cal Lutheran.

``I was walking around with parts in my hands trying to find out where they went,'' said Findiesen, remembering the restoration ordeal.

``In some cases, he had to make the tools to make the parts that were missing,'' said his wife, Jan Findiesen, wearing a big-brimmed straw hat fit for a country drive in the convertible.

The couple traveled to the show from San Clemente to participate in the Concours competition, a category of elegant cars that includes the Rolls Royce, and to enjoy the day with picnic food.

If the Car Roundup proved anything, it was that classic car hobbyists have an astounding kind of dedication.

Like Findiesen's Jaguar, many of the cars in the Milestone Car Society show had sat around like rusted piles of junk before a restorer dusted them off, gave them some paint and fixed every detail down to the car radio knobs.

Take, for instance, Dave Holmes' Marmon-Herrington 1946 Mercury 4x4, sitting in a row of woodie trucks and wagons in a separate section of the car show.

The mahogany-lined vehicle had been custom-made for Don Bleitz, a famous photographer of birds. It had been equipped with a built-in ice chest and water tank in the back, from which a tube would provide the driver and passenger with ice-cold water through a spigot under the front dash.

Seven years ago, it sat in a rusted heap without wheels. Holmes even documented it, taking dozens of pictures of the hobbled ``sports utility vehicle'' that would become his next project.

He paid $30,000 for that pile. He estimates that it's now worth around $200,000.

``I had restored a '42 Ford woodie, and the guy who bought it said, `You have to see this,' '' Holmes said. He saw the special features and was sold. ``That's what did it to me. I like to have what no one else does. This is a special car - the photographer, Bleitz, had money. Clark Gable had one like it and wrecked it.''

It took Holmes, a teacher in South Central Los Angeles who lives in Santa Monica, 2-1/2 years and $30,000 to fix the vehicle, and he doesn't regret a moment of it. Holmes said he's never had a new car or a foreign car - he's not interested.

``Sure, it's a lot of work, but - no offense - it's better than having a wife and kids,'' said Holmes, looking more like a surfer than an old car buff in shorts, thongs and sunglasses.

Scott Hurn, 81, of Los Angeles came to the event with his daughter Gloria Rennie and her husband, Larry, of Thousand Oaks for Father's Day. Hurn was a mechanic who started working on cars in 1933.

``It made my day - I saw a car older than I am,'' he said.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--ran in CONEJO edition only) A visitor views one of more than 25 vintage pedal cars on display.

(2) A 1911 Baker electric car was the oldest auto in the annual show.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News