Richard Kughn, 08/01/1930-06/08/2019

[webenda]

Richard Kughn 08/01/1930-06/08/2019

Richard P. Kughn once bought five cars in one day. But he couldn't ignore the gleaming 1939 Packard and the 1948 Cadillac beckoning him from the auction block. The 1928 Ford Model A, the 1952 Buick and the 1930 Pierce-Arrow were tough to pass up, too. "I lie a lot," Kughn laughed. "I always say I'm not going to buy anything, but if I see something I like, or that I think is going for less than it's worth, I'll buy it."

Kughn (pronounced "Koon") spent $293,500 for the cars at Aug. 2, 2009, Meadow Brook Concours d'Elegance auction in Rochester, Mich.

How could he indulge such extravagance? The Detroit-born Kughn was a self-made millionaire raised in a blue-collar family in Cleveland. He always had a flair for cars (while in his teens he constructed from scrap a 1923 Ford Model T). Poor vision that hindered his ability to read, he once explained, caused him to drop out of Ohio University after a year of engineering studies. He spent 30 years at Taubman Co., a developer that specialized in building gas stations, then shopping malls. Starting as an estimator, Kughn rose to become president. In 1979 he founded Kughn Enterprises, now a $2 million (estimated 2008 sales) assortment of radio stations, restaurants, and real estate. Kughn also invested in model trains (he owned and ran Lionel Trains from 1986 to 1995), movies (his Longbow Productions backed A League of Their Own) and trading cards (via Upper Deck, which he co-founded). It looks a bit as if Kughn lived his boyhood dreams.

Thank you for saving Lionel Trains, RIP Mr. Kughn.


Source: Murph
https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0907 ... 3c79b02215

[rogruth]

He did seem to make the right changes at Lionel at the right time.
His tenure was before my long absence from model trains was over.
I had a friend that knew him and I think Murph may have.

[Roy]

I remember seeing him at Cal-Stewart. I'm glad he got some more time, after his 2001 health scare.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

....
I had a friend that knew him and I think Murph may have.

Indeed. I did. I liked him a lot. He was a fabulous customer, and at one point, we spoke about my traveling to his layout for customized, personalized attention .

[chuck]

He was the epitome of class. I had the privilege of meeting him at a Car Rail function. He was also a part owner in the Whitney, a restaurant on Woodward near the cultural center that provided the food. Cars, trains, Matchbox cars, organs, ride em toys and automobiles. He milled around with the guests, incredibly personable, gave a talk about the collection, he owned a real rail car as well as the fantastic collection of toy trains. This was just before he started to liquidate the collections, no one else in the family had the passion to maintain it and he felt the stuff should go to people who shared his passions.

[Roy]

In 1979 he founded Kughn Enterprises, now a $2 million (estimated 2008 sales) assortment of radio stations, restaurants, and real estate.

I think that figure is probably in error.

[chuck]

Dug out some pictures from my visit to Car Rail. First shot is Mr. Kughn giving us a talk about his life and his collections just after our lunch catered by his restaurant (The Whitney).



This is the standard gauge layout (now owned by Henry Ford, a gift of the Manoogian foundation that won the bid at the auction). In the foreground are an organ, a grand piano and some riding toys.



This is a closeup view of the SG layout, note the guys in the back of the photo on an upper level.



This is where they were standing.



If you step back from the "edge" of the viewing area from the previous photo you are in a gallery with a couple of dealer display layouts.



If you step back further you are in the area of the Ogauge layout. This photo was taken back to where the O gauge layout wraps around and is almost "touching" the standard gauge layout.



one of the display galleries of diecast and trains on shelves.



There was also a 1:1 car gallery. An amazing place!

[rogruth]

Chuck,
I am sure I could do a search and find the answers but that isn't as nice as asking someone who has been there (and besides my skills sre not very good).
But how large was the train display area? How many layouts? All Lionel? Accuracy is not too important to me. I'm just curious. And too lazy to do it myself.
Was it open to the public on a regular schedule?

I have been to many model railroad displays/museums but these were all by a group of some kind.
I understand that CarRail was all Mr. Kughns.

[chuck]

It wasn't a museum per se with regular hours. It was a series of buildings that were converted into a conference center that housed the ~100 automobiles and the train/toy collections. The complex consisted of a bowling alley, a casket company, and an automobile showroom tied together into one large complex. You could lease the site for events/tours. I think it was my father-in-laws senior mens club that booked the event. They also would trek up to Holly to visit the Detroit Model Railroad Clubs layout that's housed in the old Holly movie theater (two rail O).

Total footprint of CarRail was around 45,000 sq ft, split roughly 1/2 for the autos, 1/2 for the train/toys.

Layouts as I remember them:

Standard Gauge biggest, most complete.
O gauge, very large, irregular shaped and multilevel. Not all of the O gauge layout had finished scenery.
Dealer display layouts, 3-8 total, some were hanging on the walls?
Christmas layout with Dept 56 buildings
N Gauge bubble layout in the bridge way between the two main display areas.
Galleries with train in display cases, wall displays and shelves, classic toys, artwork on the walls, ...

Standard gauge layout had a footprint that was way larger than the footprint of my house, ~40'x40' and included a loop of O near the highest level at the back that provided a forced perspective view as trains from the O gauge layout looped through (the two layouts were kind of back to back).

link to an excerpt from one of Roger Carps books:

https://books.google.com/books?id=MNYRgZsloZUC&pg=PA11&lpg=PA11&dq=Carail+standard+gauge+layout&source=bl&ots=dQsHCupBas&sig=ACfU3U1mEHoPMXprPXboBQ2njR5bo9VldA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi76NW2-eLiAhVR1qwKHd8iAzkQ6AEwFHoECAgQAQ

[rogruth]

Thanks, Chuck.
I must have missed that book.

[chuck]

Roger said:

I must have missed that book.

Me too. I found the reference via Google. I've got some of his other publications including the one on the dealer layouts which is how I recognized some of the ones at car Rail (he had an operating disappearing train layout at CarRail as well as some of the larger more elaborate ones).

Place was astounding. Literally everywhere you looked there was something collectible/vintage. Even some of the lighting fixtures!

[healey36]

There's also this from TM:

https://www.tmbv.com/Richard-Kughns-Train-Layouts-Collections/productinfo/RKDVD/

I have mixed feelings about Kughn...always figured he was a wealthy guy that had a knack for applying his wealth in solving problems and accumulating things he saw worth in preserving. Otherwise, he seemed to be largely a collector of cool stuff, just on a scale far greater than any of the rest of us could afford. I think he had a profound appreciation for the aesthetics surrounding the tail-end of the Machine Age in America, but I suspect if you laid a postwar Lionel loco on a workbench in front of him and asked him to replace the light-bulb, he'd be clueless.

Healey

[rogruth]

Healey,
I think there are many that can't replace a headlight.

[HONDO74]

Didn't Richard Kughn buy the Lionel train and Seashell museum from Sarasota Fl. I had a chance to see it when we went to Disney World in 1982. He had it all moved to CarRail.

I have some pictures I took back then but they are not that good. A lot of reflection from the glass.

Here is a video someone took and uploaded to YouTube/ .

Sarasota, FL Lionel Train Museum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3kfLfDbNLI

[Roy]

Of course, I remember Kughn buying Madison Hardware. I used to think of making the pilgrimage to NYC to see it, and I was saddened when I heard it was simply closed, and the contents moved back to Michigan.