During my teenage years, back in the 1960s, one of the more interesting stories that I heard was about a late '50s Corvette that no one wanted. It had sat for two or three weeks somewhere with it's dead owner sitting in the driver's seat. It seems the owner had died from a heart attack or something and was not discovered for weeks. All the windows were rolled up when he had died. Of course, the smell in the car was terrible and no one could get the smell out. The car was put up for sale for as low as $300 but no one wanted it. They tried to re-do the interior but they could never get the aroma out and no one could be in the car for more than a minute or two before the smell drove them out. So this beautiful Corvette had to be scrapped.

The story, of course, was not true. But back then there was no internet and no social media and really, no way to actually check out all the tails told at the time. There was no actual fact-checking. But then, decades later, I heard of the Gagnon murder and the 1959 Cadillac and I was sure that the "Corvette Story" had probably originated from there. In the many years since, I have heard reports that the car in the bogus story was a Corvette, a 1957 T-Bird, a late '50s Chrysler limousine and a...get this...1960 silver Rolls Royce.

But if you want to know about the actual death car that was the source for all these tall tales, here it is. And, as it turns out, the story is pretty interesting after all. And it is, indeed, a true tail.