Fred Simeone was born on June 8th, 1936. He is a retired surgeon who lives in Philadelphia. He spent much of his leisure time throughout his life collecting automobile ephemera, as well as automobiles. He met Vinson at the Hershey Car Show and the two formed a friendship based on their mutual interest in automobiles and auto literature.
Recently, he established the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia to preserve his collection and to make it accessible for research.
Click to visit the website for the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum
Watch a clip of Mr. Simeone discussing the art of curating a collection and how he and Vinson differed as collectors:
In Z. Taylor Vinson’s unpublished “Auto-biography” he wrote of his esteem for Mr. Simeone and his collection:
Fred Simeone of Philadelphia is a collector par excellence but belongs on the dealer side of the ledger since he's never been a trading partner. He used to sell his duplicates at Hershey [Auto Show] back in the early '70s...A small, gentle, balding man about my age, Fred would sell [material] out of the back of a station wagon.
Perhaps the nicest item I got from him was a '33 Cadillac catalogue. Accepting his invitation to drop by [his home], I did so one Sunday in '74. The collection was stashed in a fireproof room, and that afternoon I became aware of treasures that took years to acquire (like the '32 Chrysler Custom Imperial catalogue). My own trading material was modest. He probably wasn't all that interested in them but, as usual, he was a gentleman.
Watch a clip of Mr. Simeone discussing Mr Vinson as a person and collector:
Click here to watch the full interview with Fred Simeone
You can also read a summary of the Fred Simeone interview on the Hagley website