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Looking for John Snead Jr.
I have asked several members of the club, over the years, if they knew or remembered a member named John Snead Jr.
I had been told by his widow at the time we purchased our car that John had been a founding member of the Tiger Club (C.A.T.) and was very active until his car fell to a clutch failure and then his health failed due to a bicycle accident.
I always believed John would have stood out to fellow members of the time as he was a young black man when he joined the club. He was a student at USC at the time he purchased his Tiger (new in October of 1965). This purchase was made just days after the Watt’s Riots of August 1965 in Los Angeles.
John was hired by the City of Los Angeles (possibly as an Intern prior to his graduating from USC) and he helped write and publish a “Vision Plan” for Central Los Angeles just a year before the riots and his graduating. He must have had a very real visceral response to the riots and the destruction to “His City”.
I had very little success locating any information on John or even confirming he was a member of the club. That difficulty ended this year at the Tigers United. I was told that several of the early Tiger Tales were being placed on the Club’s website.
When I returned home I searched the website and the three copies of the Tiger Tales that were posted - no luck. Then in August I searched again and I found him.
In the January 1974 Tiger Tales it states that John Snead made his final report to the club as their Treasure and that the club was financially stable and in the black. I quickly looked to the February edition to see if there was any mention of John Snead. There was!!! John Snead was the new club president. I re-gained hope that someone would remember John and maybe have some photos of him or his car.
As you may be able to tell I’m passionate about recovering the history of my car and especially of the man that I believe was so unique. John was the first owner of our car and he had a love and vision for that Tiger. We are the second owners of 9471001 and we want to fill in as much history as we can.
John preserved the paperwork trail of our car in great detail. We received the original owner’s manual, the original warranty coupon book, the dealer’s paperwork, and every DMV receipt from the day of sale to being non-op'ed in 1977. John even saved the original tire stickers before he drove the car.
John went on to become the “Chief City Planner” for the City of Los Angeles and “President/Treasure” of our club. I only wish I could have met this man and shared a beer with him.
Please search your old photographs and help me document the human side of this man and his contributions to our club and cars. You can contact me at Hap04@msn.com or PM me.
Thank you everyone for anything you can provide to me for completing his record.
Hap & Patti Hazard
Tiger #: 9471001
PS. Thank you to all those that have provided the old Tiger Tales and placed them on-line.
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