Lakewood Ranch car show features an Excalibur packed with family memories

It was in 1973, the year it was built, that an Excalibur Phaeton was about to get the acid test from Ken Donovan Sr.

Donovan had driven from his home in Clearwater to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to pick up the specially built car that was the rage among celebrities. He bought it for his wife, Dolores.

She probably knew that Dean Martin drove an Excaliber, as did Dick Van Dyke, Phyllis Diller, Tony Curtis, Sonny and Cher Bono, and Jackie Gleason.

Better yet, the Excalibur Automobile Corporation had stopped using Studebaker engines and drivetrains and switched to Chevrolet engines and drivetrains. This particular car had a Corvette 454 engine that could get the very heavy body moving in a heartbeat. About 3,500 Excaliburs were made over the years.

Once behind the wheel, Donovan wanted to make sure he was getting his money's worth.

"Dad got popped bringing the car home from Milwaukee," said Ken Donovan Jr., who lives in Lakewood Ranch with his wife, Anne. "He was going 100-plus."

Although Dolores Donovan wanted to use the Excalibur as an everyday vehicle, it became more of a Sunday drive car as the years passed. Dolores and Ken also used the car for special events, such as their son Jim's Homecoming Day.

In 1980, when Ken Jr. married Anne at St. Brendan's Catholic Church in Clearwater, they drove to their wedding in the Excalibur.

Eventually, Ken Jr. took the car after his parents aged and eventually died. Just as his parents did, he used the car for Sunday drives and special events.

On Oct. 29, the Excalibur will return to the Knights of Columbus' Car Show and Cookout at Our Lady of the Angels in Lakewood Ranch. Last year, Ken and Anne Donovan brought the car to the show for the first time because they had just moved to the Country Club and wanted to support the church. The car received the "Fan Favorite" award.

The Donovans laugh about it since they aren't really the classic car show types. Although Ken Donovan Jr. spends his Sundays in his garage and driveway, washing and tinkering with cars, he isn't the type of owner who uses a tooth brush to get to those hard-to-reach places on his wheels. Last year's Knights of Columbus event was the first show he ever had entered.

The reason he keeps the Excalibur is because it holds so many memories for his family.

The Excalibur is not alone in that regard. In fact, it is not even his favorite vehicle.

He still has the 1972 Triumph motorcycle he rode as a young man, and a 1965 Mustang, and a 1975 MG.

He loves them all, as he does his favorite, a 1967 International Scout.

The Scout itself is plenty of proof that Ken Donovan Jr., who is 69, isn't concerned about show cars.

"The Scout is a step above a tractor," he said with a laugh. "But I took my driver's license test in it. I learned to drive in it. It's just the family history."

The history is all-important.

"I want to be buried in it," he said.

This time it was Anne who was laughing, possibly because she knows her husband was only half-kidding.

When they met in the 1970s, they quickly learned they both had a love of cars and motorcycles. Anne particularly loved the roar of a powerful engine.

On their first date, Ken Jr. drove the MG to pick her up.

"I saw Kenny drive up in this midget, and I was wondering how I was going to get into it with the skirt I was wearing," she said.

She managed to slide in, and they drove off.

The couple has three children (Ken III, Patrick, and Katherine) and the Excalibur continued to serve at special occasions, such as Ken III's wedding to Tamara in 2016 and in the 2017 wedding of Katherine and Steve Young. Eventually, the car will be passed along to one of their children. And their children have six grandchildren, including Ken IV.

Ken Donovan Jr. was asked if he had any car care advice for those attending the Knights of Columbus show.

"Keep it in the garage," he said. "The Excalibur isn't a good car for rain."

While the Donovans aren't concerned with the value of his classic cars, they do admit the Excalibur draws interest whenever they drive it.

"When you drive the car, it makes people happy," Ken Donovan Jr. said. "They wave and get excited."

But he never will sell it, or any of his other classic cars.

"I just don't want to let them go," he said. "Besides, by the time I get done with something, it is junk anyway."

They both will enjoy telling their family stories about cars at the Car Show and Cookout.

"I always enjoy when everybody drives in," Ken Donovan Jr. said of the show. "And I enjoy seeing cars driven."

His Excalibur never will be in perfect show shape because he does just that. He even says it is Anne's job to "get them dirty for me."