KEITH SHELDON Keith Sheldon has lived at North Shore Towers Keith Sheldon and the vintage Rolls Royce he keeps at the Towers and (left) with his father after winning NST Club Championship in 2005. for more than 30 years. This youthful guy with prematurely gray hair has been collecting Golf trophies for his prowess on the links. We caught up with him in the VIP Room. What are some of your earliest memories as a child? Growing up in Roslyn. My father was a very successful high end costume jewelry manufacturer. He built a large house in Nob Hill and I had a privileged childhood. Marilyn and Irwin Sheldon were caring and supportive of my ideas and projects as a kid. At age 12 I became a week-end caddy at the Old Westbury Country Club where my parents belonged. During the summer I sold ices on the sand in Jones Beach and soon hustled younger kids to do the work for me. All along I was fascinated with cars especially classic and exotic cars. While my friends were delivering newspapers to make money I was selling cars from my parents driveway. I sold a 1963 Corvair for $450 through an ad in Newsday. I paid $50 for it. This led to sales of rebuilt Jags, Mercedes, and a Porsche. You left your family home and moved to your own place at age 19. How did you finance that? I was part of the Disco dance craze. Soon I started hosting parties and charging admission. I was too young to drink and certainly too young to sell drinks. I arranged with venues like the Swan Club and Manhattan venues to host my parties. I would keep the “door” which as $15 a person and they would sell the drinks. Some nights we had 200 guests making it quite lucrative for each of us. When did selling cars become your full time business as well as your passion? I opened European Auto Classics, Ltd in Great Neck in 1979 and it really took off. It became the prime source for a vintage Rolls, Maserati, Ferrari or other classic car. My other passion was golf having become the NST Club Champion in 2005 (see photo). Much of my free time was spent on my boat, a 43 foot Wellcraft which I called the “Portofino” and kept it at the Capri Marina in Manhasset. At age 24 I was flying on a private Lear Jet to another show room in Beverly Hills. This led to my building a $l.5 million dollar 40,000 square foot facility in Syosset which housed 150 classic and exotic motorcars. What are you doing now? Besides working out at the NST fitness center and playing golf I help my neighbors buy, sell, or lease popular priced new and used cars. I get great satisfaction helping people get out of any lease without penalty. My 40 years of contacts in the automotive business has made it possible to help my neighbors. I’m fascinated with the prototype of the cars of the future. That may be my next challenge. 48 North Shore Towers Courier n August 2014 By FRED CHERNOW
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