we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website, strangeinheritance.com >> the people's house -- a family's legend. >> i can remember being a little kid and asking my father what it was. >> a century-old mystery. >> he said, "it's from the white house." and i go, "talking about d.c. white house?" i was just stunned. >> the white house neither confirms nor denies... >> what do you see? >> gold! [ laughs ] >> let's investigate! >> i scrape the paint layers down to the wood. >> and when you heard what it was worth? >> and sold! [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm in boston to meet an heir

who has an inheritance so strange, it takes years just to figure out what it is. >> my name is mike meister. my siblings and i inherited something that goes back to our great-uncle more than a hundred years ago. we'd always been told that it came from the white house, but it was just a family story. hi, jamie. welcome to boston. >> thanks, mike. nice to meet you. >> yeah, nice to meet you, too. >> mike leads me inside, saying he has something amazing to show me. he keeps it in its own molded, air-tight protective case. can i take a look? >> sure can. >> you brought me all the way here, mike. this is... what is it? mike's strange inheritance is this piece of decorative pinewood. 30 inches long, 14 inches across, four inches thick. on the back is a faint signature and a date -- j.s. williamson, october 15, 1902. >> there's a real story behind it. family legend is that it's from

the white house. >> could that be? the white house does have a colorful past. it's nearly completed at the end of john adams' presidency. he moves in in november 1800, but stays only a few months. thomas jefferson spends two terms there before handing the keys to james madison. then british troops set it ablaze in the war of 1812. [ indistinct shouting ] first lady dolley madison orders the staff to remove this beloved portrait of george washington by gilbert stuart. but according to william seale, author of two books on the white house, the building's interior is destroyed. >> they burned the second floor with rubble, and then they broke up all the furniture and poured lamp oil on it. and the attic fell in, and then it burned through the main floor and the whole thing, in about two hours, was just a

shell. >> after the war, the original architect, james hoban, rebuilds it exactly as it had been -- in what will become known as the federal style. >> president madison decreed that it be rebuilt as a symbol of survival. >> by 1817, the renovation is almost complete and our fifth president, james monroe, moves in. a dozen years later, the seventh, andrew jackson, lets a drunken mob trash the place during his inaugural ball. maybe this poor piece of wood was part of the collateral damage. who knows? over the years, presidents come and presidents go, redecorating, repainting, and renovating to suit their individual tastes. then, in 1902, theodore roosevelt begins the first wholesale restoration of the mansion that he officially names "the white house." it's time to pick up the thread of this strange inheritance

story. according to mike meister, in 1902, his great-uncle, joseph williamson jr., is a law student at georgetown university in d.c. one day, he strolls down pennsylvania avenue, spots the piece of wood in a junk pile, and thinks, "it's pretty neat." >> joseph jr. picked it up. >> like a yard sale? did they buy it? >> no, it was scrap. i mean, it was things that were gonna be eventually hauled off to landfills, burned, whatever. >> he brings it home to illinois from law school and gives it to his father as a memento. his dad inscribes his name and writes the date on the back. the piece is handed down in the family to mike's dad, wayne meister, in the 1930s. where was it kept? >> it was in the basement of our house out in illinois -- a farm that my parents bought after world war ii. and it was hanging on a wall. i can remember being a little kid and asking my father what it was. and he would say, "that's a

piece of the white house." >> did you believe him? you're a farm kid in illinois, and your parents have a piece of a white house? >> when he said something, it meant he wasn't making things up. >> pretty cool, though it's just one conversation piece in a house that wayne and his wife, ann, pack with all sorts of gewgaws, knickknacks, and odd antiques. >> one of their hobbies was going to auctions and tag sales and finding things of value, and then, if they needed refinishing, they would refinish them. >> did they ever consider taking sandpaper or a paintbrush to that mysterious hunk of wood in the cellar? mike shudders to think. >> what if she decided, "this ugly old thing, i'm gonna strip the paint"? but she certainly never did. >> are you kidding? that could have happened? >> well, it didn't. >> in 1964, the meisters -- and a moving van full of antiques -- relocate to massachusetts. it's there, during christmastime in 1988, that mike, all grown

up, announces he's getting married. >> we had a family dinner to meet the in-laws. and my brother-in-law, larry forrest, was there. >> that night, mike brings larry into the attic. >> i said to larry, "i want to show you something," and i took him upstairs, and i showed him. it was in a moving box from 1964. >> they didn't even unpack it. >> no, no. >> mike pulled out a piece out of the box, and he said, "it's from the white house." and i go, "talking about d.c. white house?" he goes, "yeah." i was just stunned. if you asked somebody what's the most important building in our history, they're gonna say the white house. and here it was, sitting right next to me. >> did mike ask you to learn more about it for him? >> the more we got talking about it, we said, "let's find out where this came from." >> but it's just talk, and it will be for years. mike's dad dies in 1996, and his mom in 2001. only then do the meister kids

begin to deal with any of the old stuff their parents accumulated. did your parents leave a will? >> we had a trust. >> did they specify? >> not in that particular case, no. to clean the house out, to send things to auction, and sell it, it was probably a good three months. but we kept a lot of the things, too, that meant something to each one of us. >> one of the things they keep is that distressed hunk of wood. >> there was no way we were gonna sell that, because we didn't even know what it was. >> what you think it was? >> an architectural element from the white house. but we had no idea what. >> it's not until 2007 that brother-in-law larry forrest convinces the meister family they need to get some answers. and he takes on the role of lead investigator. his first line of inquiry -- the white house itself. >> i spoke to a gentleman, and i told him about what the family had. and after the laughter and telling me that that wasn't possible, i said, "we're pretty sure, it's written on the back,"

and so forth. and he goes, "it's probably from some other old building or whatever." >> but larry persists. his letters, his calls turn up nothing. then after two solid years, his search leads him to historian and author bill seale. >> i said, "can i just send you pictures?" so when he received them, he called me back and he goes, "i swear i've seen it." >> was it a eureka moment? that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. the current oval office was not built until 1934, when f.d.r. was president. the answer when we return. ♪ i built my business with passion. but i keep it growing by making every dollar count. that's why i have the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy for my studio.

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>> the answer is "b," a laundry drying area. but if you said "c," you might know that the first formal executive office was created by f.d.r.'s fifth cousin, theodore roosevelt, and today is known as the roosevelt conference room. >> for years, mike meister was told his father had a family heirloom like no other -- a decorative piece of wood with peeling paint, reputed in family lore to be from the white house. the problem -- nobody knows how to find out if the story is true. it's become an irresistible mystery to mike and his

brother-in-law, larry forrest, who are determined to solve it. larry's inquiries are all met by laughter and blank stares, until he calls author and historian bill seale. >> he was skeptical that it could be the actual white house. so i said, "can i just send you pictures?" >> what was your initial reaction? >> well, i thought it looked suspicious. [ laughs ] and so, i didn't tell them much until i researched it. >> did you say, "ah, just leave it in the attic another 50 years. it'll be fine"? >> no. no, i was too curious for that. >> in fact, the meisters' photos have bill scratching his head. >> he called me back, and he goes, "i swear i've seen it." >> bill is remembering a particular photo from 1898, during the mckinley administration, that he used in one of his books about the white house. the photo shows a hallway called the cross hall. >> this is the cross hall. it's used a lot now.

started by president george w. bush. >> there it is. >> and this is that march to the east room. in those days, you had a grand staircase here. >> and then, suddenly, bill spots it -- off in the corner, between a chair and a potted plant. right there -- see it? look familiar? sure looks like mike's strange inheritance. and there it is, in the white house, in 1898, when william mckinley is president. >> and there is the plinth. it's the only one it could be because it's for that side. >> i'd never heard of a plinth. what is a plinth? >> it's a base of a column that runs up the wall. >> how many were there? >> well, there were four. they were in niches in the hall where originally built for stoves. >> do we know where the other three are? >> no, nobody does. >> never been seen. so now i'm wondering, how does the plinth get from that cozy corner in the white house to the meister's attic? well, in september 1901,

president mckinley is in buffalo, new york, at the pan-american exposition. he's shaking hands with the public, when an anarchist named leon czolgosz assassinates him. suddenly, vice president teddy roosevelt is sworn in. among his many big ambitions is a gut rehab of the executive mansion. >> 1902 was a major reshaping of the symbol of the white house into a more worldly time. america became more international, and the white house was redone to be compatible with that. >> t.r.'s goal is to return it to its original federalist incarnation, while clearing it out to accommodate a brood of six children and a pony. it also means separating the living quarters from our nation's most important executive offices. >> he moved the offices out of the family floor and built the west wing.

he reorganized the place so it wasn't just an old plantation house. >> to that end, roosevelt's architects rearrange the entrance, removing this stairway and these victorian tiffany panels from the cross hall -- as well as all that old ornamental woodwork, like the plinths. the workers pile loads of rubbish outside, and souvenir hunters snatch it up. >> there is one letter from theodore roosevelt, and he said, "people are scattering around for souvenirs." >> so bill seale is beginning to believe that the meister family lore about great-uncle joseph must be true. and that this hunk of wood really is a relic of the white house, going all the way back to 1817, when president monroe moved in after that nasty business with the british. were you interested in it? >> very. i was stricken by it, to tell you the truth. >> so, something that looks like wood or plaster is actually a

whole story, in and of itself? >> it's like dna. and the object has many, many things to say. >> and the next step is very much like a dna test. what they discover was that this strange inheritance was a lot more important and valuable an artifact than even bill seale had imagined. you're smiling. that's next. >> here's another quiz question for you. which amenity was added during the obama administration? was it the white house... the answer when we return. show me movies with romance.

show me more like this.

show me "previously watched." what's recommended for me. x1 makes it easy to find what you love. call or go online and switch to x1. only with xfinity. show show me more like this. s. show me "previously watched." what's recommended for me. x1 makes it easy to find what blows you away. call or go online and switch to x1. only with xfinity. [ bird caws ] >> it's "c." the white house tennis court was converted to a basketball court

for the former high-school hoops player. >> it's november of 2009, and historian bill seale, based on this photograph, believes that mike meister likely inherited a rare and very important relic -- an actual piece of the white house. it's an ornamental piece of wood called a plinth that may have been removed during teddy roosevelt's 1902 renovation. in order to verify its authenticity, seale advises the family to have the paint analyzed. so mike and his brother-in-law, larry forrest, drive from boston to bryn mawr, pennsylvania, to meet with this guy, historic paint analyst frank welsh. >> he said, "you guys go out for a little while, i'm gonna do analysis on it, and see what i think." >> frank studies the paint layers with a magnifying glass, and then a stereo microscope, as he scrapes away each layer with an x-acto knife.

>> then i start recording, starting with the layer closest to the wood numbering layers -- one, two, three, four -- all the way up to the most recent. >> well, we got a call in about half-hour, and he goes, "this is spot-on." there's 17 layers of paint on this, there's three layers of gold leaf on it. he said, "there's absolutely, 100%, exactly what it should be for that time period." >> everything seemed to line up very, very well. i felt very comfortable that the paints that i was looking at could easily be as old as they felt the plinth was. it is very unique. >> as t.r. would say, "that's bully!" in identifying those 17 layers of paint, frank may be the first person to open the door to a previously unknown decorative history of the white house. author bill seale matches each paint layer with a chapter in presidential history. >> if you want accuracy in history, here's the real thing.

this is our only touch with those periods. >> bill does the math. there were 21 administrations between presidents james madison and teddy roosevelt. but three of them -- harrison, taylor, and garfield -- were exceptionally short due to death from illness or assassination. if the hallway isn't repainted during those presidencies, and maybe one president lacks the inclination to repaint, you've got your 17 layers right there. after generations of repeating their family legend, the meisters now know they spoke the truth all along. you went from rejection to respect. how'd that feel? >> we had solved a mystery. >> bill seale encourages them to donate the plinth on the spot to the white house historical association. they say they're inclined to, but first they need to find out what it's worth. did you have a number in mind that you thought it would be?

>> no. >> what about you, larry? you did all the running around. >> you could shoot real high on this one, just from the fact of how much historical value it has. >> and when the meisters get the appraisal, they'll have some thinking to do. that's next. what's your "strange inheritance" story? we'd love to tell it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com. my school reunion's coming fast. ♪

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> by the fall of 2014 in boston, mike meister, and his brother-in-law, larry forrest, have determined that a piece of wood called a plinth, handed down through several generations in the meister family, really is from the white house, and very rare indeed. but is it valuable? they take it to an appraiser. you're smiling. >> well, he appraised it at $500,000. >> the appraiser was an old-time white house appraiser.

i was very surprised -- that was more than i expected it would be. >> who would buy such a thing? >> someone with the money to buy it, or someone that wants to buy it and give it to a museum or presidential library. >> historian bill seale is hoping the meister family will cut out the middleman, donate the plinth to the white house historical association themselves, and take a tax write-off. but that's a lot to ask of mike and his three siblings, who could be looking at walking away with $125,000 apiece. are you gonna sell? >> we're having it put up for auction. i think in the long run, and i'm hoping, that it'll be appreciated by many more people than might have been with the white house historical association. >> the meisters reach out to bobby livingston at rr auction in amherst, new hampshire. >> when i first laid eyes on the plinth, i was like, "wow! it's spectacular." as someone who handles a lot of historic items, when you see something like 17 layers of paint, it tells a story.

>> he joins us live from new hampshire. >> next thing you know, the story is getting big media coverage, including on fox news. >> we've never, in 30 years, offered any pieces of the 1817 white house. because there's no, you know, photography from that era, it's incredibly important. we've had registrations from all over the world, so we expect the bidding to be quite lively. >> number 22 -- architectural ornament from the main hall of the white house. >> the meister family is on hand for the auction in boston in september 2015. >> $100,000, $100,000, $110,000. >> here we go. >> $120,000. looking for $120,000. >> the bidding starts to pick up a little momentum. >> $120,000, $130,000, $140,000. >> but then it just fizzles. >> $160,000 once, $160,000 twice. sold, $150,000. fantastic. >> it's nowhere near the half-million dollar appraisal,

though a $150,000 is nothing to sneeze at. and mike reminds us that it wasn't only about the money but sharing a neat piece of america's past -- just like his ancestor, who wandered by the white house one day in 1902 and thought to snatch up a souvenir to send back home. is this the best case of being in the right place at the right time? >> i believe it is, i really do. i think from what we've learned of it and what hopefully other people can learn from it, i think it's a living piece of history. >> so, who bought mike meister's strange inheritance? well, we know this much -- a fox viewer. all bobby livingston would say is that one of those watching him on fox news before the auction was so intrigued, he phoned in and plunked down 150 grand. if you're watching now, enjoy your piece of history. and, remember -- you can't take

it with you. i'm jamie colby. thanks for watching "strange inheritance." [ rock music plays ] >> a world-record car collection... >> he just kept going. he never stopped. >> i believe his goal was to have one of every car ever made. >> a maverick driven to leave a mark... >> he went to a wrecking-yard auction, bought the whole wrecking yard. >> his family promises to carry out his grand plan. >> i think there was a feeling of dread, relief, excitement, and enthusia >> i love it. feel the hair blowing, the top down. >> but can they fulfill the patriarch's dying wish? >> none of us wanted to be the ones who said we split all the stuff up. you don't want that car oil on your hands. [ woman vocalizing, theme music plays ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ]

[ country-rock music plays ] >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm driving outside tacoma, washington, on my way to meet the heirs of a man who started with nothing, built an empire, left his heirs enormous wealth, but also an overwhelming task. >> i'm doug lemay. my father, harold lemay, passed away in 2000 at the age of 81 and left us with a world-record collection that has become a full-time job. >> doug has invited me to the family house, where his father lived for more than two decades and where he now lives and works. hey, doug. >> hi, jamie. glad you could come. >> i'm so happy to be here, but i can't figure one thing out. >> what's that? >> is this a house or a garage? >> well, it's a 5-bedroom house with a 300-car garage. >> 300 cars? >> yeah. >> good thing i have the whole day today. [ mid-tempo music plays ] as doug shows me around, it's easy to see this isn't just a

home, but a reflection of his father's passion for the automobile. i mean, doug, i got to be honest. i've been to car shows that haven't had this many cars. >> dad did it for a long time. >> everywhere you look, there's a collector car. what's your dream ride? a 1930 cadillac 452 convertible? a 1922 austro-daimler? 1961 metropolitan? it's probably here -- somewhere. there are even rooms completely filled with the same model or manufacturer. these are all packards? >> this whole row is packards, yes. >> oh, my god. there's so many of them. am i allowed to touch? >> yeah, have a seat if you'd like. >> oh, my gosh. you don't have to ask me twice. oh, my goodness. look at the steering wheel. i think it has my name written all over. so many do. [ jazz music plays ] harold lemay's fascination with cars started even before he could reach the pedals.

nancy lemay is harold's widow. >> his mother said, from the time he was born, he loved the car. he loved anything with wheels. >> harold is born in 1919 to marie lemay, a single mother struggling to make a living and care for three young children. when harold is just three, marie feels she has no choice but to place harold in the custody of friends who can better take care of him. when the couple comes to pick up harold, they're driving a 1914 baby grand chevy. >> harold was a little apprehensive. he had not met these people before. >> he's only three. >> and he's only three. and as he described, this portly man behind the wheel said, "harold, you need to sit on my lap, and you can drive the car home." >> little harold puts his hands on the wheel of that chevy and is instantly calm, sealing a lifelong love affair with the automobile. after driving a truck in

world war ii, harold returns home and builds up a garbage and scrap-collecting business. it may not be glamorous, but trash proves very profitable. how successful was his business? >> very successful. >> lemay enterprises eventually grows to become the 10th largest private trash-removal company in america, with annual revenues topping $100 million. in 1963, harold marries nancy. a few years later, he has another life-changing moment. >> a friend of his was in the model t club. he thought that that would be just the thing for him to get into. [ up-tempo music plays ] >> once he joins the club, a light bulb goes off -- harold wants to start collecting classic cars. he begins with american models, mostly chevys and fords, everyday cars and trucks. how did he find these cars? >> well, he would find most of them himself. >> by the 1970s, harold's hobby

really revs up, and, as his grandson eric says, so does his wish list and search grid. >> it didn't matter where in the country the car was. he'd say, "you want to go for a drive?" and the next thing you know, you're crossing from oregon into california. >> as his passion grows, harold starts buying nearly any car he comes across. >> grandpa never called himself a car collector. he was a car saver. he saved cars. >> harold couldn't stand to see a car crushed. would just break harold's heart. >> he went to a wrecking-yard auction in idaho, bought the whole wrecking yard. [ bluegrass music plays ] >> by the mid 1990s, harold's collection of cars totals into the thousands. >> he just kept going. he never stopped. >> and you never said to him, "honey, enough already -- we could use that money for a vacation"? >> no, but whenever we did go on vacation, there was always a car somewhere in the route.

>> as harold's fleet expands, he runs out of room in his 300-car garage, so he snatches up over 50 properties to stockpile his collection. >> he'd buy houses so that he could use the garage, you know, and then he'd rent the house and not the garage. >> he even buys this 87-acre former catholic boarding school called marymount. we'll circle back here later. how many conversations did you have with harold about what should happen to the collection when he passed? >> he never though about passing at all. this was not on his agenda. >> but the question is on his heirs' agenda. they're thinking about the huge challenge rumbling toward them once harold's gone. >> you've got to decide, at some point while you're alive, what are you gonna do with the stuff, and that's a very confrontational thing. and you know it's kind of a burden on everybody else, and you got to have a plan. >> up next, harold makes that

plan -- plus the one car he really wants but never gets. >> and now our "strange inheritance" quiz question. what was the first official white house car? was it an 1899 packard for mckinley, a 1909 white steamer for taft, a 1919 pierce-arrow for wilson, or a 1929 cadillac for hoover? the answer when we return. when it comes to small business, she's in the know. so strap yourselves in for action flo! small business edition. oh, no! i'm up to my neck in operating costs! i'll save the day! for plumbers and bakers and scapers of lawn, she's got customized coverage you can count on. you chipped my birdbath! now you're gonna pay! not so fast! i cover more than just cars and trucks. ♪ action flo did somebody say "insurance"? children: flo! ♪ action flo cut! can i get a smoothie, please? ooh! they got smoothies? for me.

>> so, what was the first official white house car? it's "b," the 1909 white steamer. that year, congress passed legislation on behalf of william howard taft for official white house automobiles. [ rockabilly music plays ] >> for nearly four decades, businessman harold lemay amasses a collection of classic cars in tacoma, washington, that includes at least 3,000 vehicles. even he doesn't know the exact number. but there is one car he misses out on, says his wife nancy. >> he always wished he'd gotten a tucker. >> preston tucker was an american inventor and entrepreneur who designed the tucker sedan in 1948, conceived as the car of the future. >> it was so ahead of its time. it's so sleek. it has awesome lines. >> but sales were doomed after tucker was investigated for stock fraud, and only 51 cars

were made before his chicago company folded. with or without a tucker, lemay's vintage car collection is named world's largest in the 1998 "guinness book of world records." it includes true classics such as a 1910 roadster, 1930 duesenberg, and 1936 auburn. harold, now in his late 70s, starts to worry about what will become of his beloved autos when he's gone. charlie maxwell was friends with harold for over 30 years. what did harold want to happen with the collection? >> well, he really wanted to see his collection preserved. he felt really, really bad when we would go to car auctions and he would see somebody's life collection being dispersed to the four corners of the world. >> easy for harold to feel that way. it isn't he, but his heirs, including son doug and grandson

eric, who will have the enormous burden of housing and maintaining all these cars. did he think about what he had amassed and what his family would face as he got older? >> yeah, he had made the decision -- him and my grandmother -- that they were going to create a museum. >> that's right -- a museum just for harold's cars. the family starts by requesting land from the city of tacoma, but before officials will award the property, they ask harold for an initial donation of at least 300 cars to get the project going. 10% of the collection. was that hard for him? >> i think it almost killed him. [ guffaws ] he had this document that he had to put his signature on, saying that he wasn't going to own this stuff at some point. and i can remember his hands shaking, and he kind of took a deep breath, and he signed it, and he handed me the piece of paper, and then he stormed off back towards home. [ dramatic music plays ] >> on november 4, 2000, after a

massive heart attack, harold dies at the age of 81. his heirs inherit his grand car collection and even grander dream of a museum to house it. >> i think there was a feeling of dread, relief, excitement, and enthusiasm. >> two questions arise. how many cars are there, and what are they worth? the family calls in larry batton, owner of the auto appraisal group in charlottesville, virginia. >> it was a massive operation. the cars were located in 53 different locations. his filing system was a 32-gallon green trash bag 'cause he never had any intention of selling or marketing a vehicle. we worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. >> over the six-month appraisal, the team uncovers countless classic cars only harold knew he had. >> we would open a door that hadn't been opened in decades.

it would be full of cars that had been their for years, covered with cottonwood flower like snow on the inside of a building. and there were bumblebee fords and convertibles, pierce-arrows, and cars that were so unique. >> in all, larry and his team locate, number, and value 2,973 cars, not including the countless rusted, half-wrecked hulks. >> i believe his goal was to have one of every car ever made. >> larry's not allowed to say what the whole collection is worth, but independent estimates peg it at $100 million at the time of harold's death. [ suspenseful music plays ] with the inventory complete, the family tries to realize harold's dream of a car museum, but starts hitting some roadblocks. >> creating a museum, it's like watching sausage get made. [ chuckles ] it's really ugly and hard. >> and they're not the only ones

with car trouble. oh, come on. get me a car that works. that's next. >> here's another quiz question. which classic american sports car came first? is it the chevy corvette, ford thunderbird, or dodge charger? the answer when we return. [ bird caws ] savings whiplash. you know, from car insurance companies shouting, "save $500 bucks over here." "no, save $300 bucks over here." "wait, save $400 bucks right here." with so many places offering so much buck saving, where do you start? well, esurance was born online, raised by technology, and majors in efficiency. so, they're actually built to save you money, and when they save, you save. that's auto and home insurance for the modern world.

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where his entire 3,000-plus car collection can be on public display. one that will be featured -- the black beauty that sparked harold's classic car obsession -- henry ford's model t. i meet with harold's grandson eric and his friend mike for a driving lesson. step one -- hand-crank the car to start it. i don't know. what do you think? >> i think you're up for it. >> you do? >> all right. let's see if you can do it. >> give it a good crank. >> oh! not quite. >> [ grunts ] aah! ouch. [ laughs ] wait. is this a trick? [ grunts ] oh, come on. get me a car that works. [ engine starts ] >> there it is! >> hey! >> all right. >> there you go. >> right on. the model t is considered the first affordable automobile, but it's not particularly easy to drive. it has three pedals, but the brake is on the right. what's it doing there?

you did clear the streets today? >> [ chuckles ] and the sidewalks. >> as we scoot around, it's easy to see why harold fell in love with this classic. i love it. feel the hair blowing, the top down. there's a big tree. >> there's a tree back there. >> big tree. brake, brake, brake, brake. okay, brake. ooh! that's forward. wait. brake, brake. oh, yeah. that thing on the right. throttle up. >> yep. [ engine turns off ] >> oh, my god. [ applause ] perfect. not a scratch. but a collision is in store for the lemay family as it tries to get its museum into drive. >> it needed a building, it needed fundraising -- all the next steps. >> the family donates 600 cars to the project and $15 million, too, but it's not enough. so they hire a fundraiser who tells them they have to court corporate sponsors for more big

bucks. that will mean, the lemays are told, they will have to sacrifice their control and vision of the museum. the family agrees, but soon find themselves just 2 on a board of around 30. on the one hand, you want to see the legacy and the stories of those cars preserved. on the other hand, you really can't control once it's in a museum's hand. >> exactly. >> the museum adds cars from other collections to attract national attention. then fundraising runs tight. the board tells the family they don't have the budget to preserve all of harold's cars, and many of the ones he donated they say are redundant. they decide on a step that harold lemay would've never ever considered -- sell some of his cars. if you could've controlled that situation, would you have asked them to sell other cars? >> i don't sell many cars. >> in fact, harold had only sold three collector cars in his

lifetime. family members are dismayed. >> none of us wanted to be the ones who said we split all the stuff up. you don't want that car oil on your hands. >> if you really didn't want them, why'd you ask for them? because it made me feel like that's why the reason they wanted them was to sell them. >> the museum auctions off 145 of harold's donated autos. their estimated value -- well into the millions. his 1940 packard convertible victoria sells for 113k, while his 1936 rolls-royce goes for more than 65 grand. the funds do their part to help the museum keep going, but when the sleek-looking building finally opens in 2012, its name's been changed from the harold e. lemay museum to lemay-america's car museum. that reflects the museum's shift in focus from just harold lemay

to cars from other donors, as well. that's discouraging to harold's heirs because his wish was for a museum devoted just to his world-record collection. but the family believes there's still a chance to keep his vision alive. eric, what is this place? would you believe a second museum just minutes down the road from the first? that's next. listerine® kills 99% of bad breath germs for a 100% fresh mouth.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> harold lemay's family continues to face the dilemma of how to honor his legacy. a chunk of harold's huge car collection has been sold off, and a museum in tacoma, washington, originally meant to be solely devoted to harold, now has a different mission. [ mid-tempo music plays ] then a solution -- the family decides to refit that school property that harold purchased in the mid 1990s. eric, what is this place?

>> this is the other part of the equation that was our family learning how to save the world's largest car collection. this is marymount. it's an event center, a museum, and -- >> your museum? >> yeah. >> why two? >> we wanted another museum that was more about the lemay family and our tastes in collecting. we may be only six miles apart, but we're very different culturally from each other. >> the lemay family considers marymount the down-to-earth little brother of the sleek, modern tacoma museum. it's the "dirty fingernails" version that celebrates harold's cars and nobody else's. [ rockabilly music plays ] the museum depends on the hard work of harold loyalists. everyone here, from the tour guides to car repairmen, is a volunteer. so, not to take off on a car color, but are you in the black or in the red? >> at some point -- and it's not that far away -- this will be a self-sustaining business.

it looks really like it's gonna be healthy for a long, long time. [ folk music plays ] >> before i leave, there's one last car eric tells me i need to see. >> it's a 1948 tucker. >> tucker? wait a minute. harold wanted a tucker. i thought he never got a tucker? >> he did not buy this. my grandmother bought it after he died. >> really? >> yes, we knew that he wanted one, and so group of our family went to an auction, and grandma bought the tucker that he couldn't have before he passed away. >> unbelievable. so he left, but you knew it was that important to have. >> we knew it was that important. >> what would harold say? >> he'd love it. i think, if grandpa were to look at how hard we've tried to do what he was hoping we'd do, i think he'd be really proud of it. and it took a whole community, it took a lot of volunteers, it took a family that never got off track with each other.

that's his legacy basically. [ mid-tempo music plays ] >> one last harold lemay story. back in the '80s, at a garbage convention in chicago, he caught wind of a car for sale -- a 1914 baby grand chevy, the same model he first tooled around in as a three-year-old that day he said goodbye to his mom. well, harold bought it on the spot, and he loaded it into the back of this fancy garbage truck that he purchased at that trade show. he and nancy hauled that old chevy all the way back here to tacoma. and there it sits to this day. he never let it go. i'm jamie colby. thanks so much for watching "strange inheritance." and remember, you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us?

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