Family mourns death of Volo Auto Museum co-founder Bill Grams

Chances are, if you participated in the collector car auction scene in the past several decades, you shared a laugh with Bill Grams.

Friendly, sociable and knowledgeable, Bill Grams was as much at ease sharing a private jet ride with Dana Mecum of Mecum Auctions as he was chatting up star-struck would-be collectors he met at auctions across the country – as well as on the home turf he shared with his family in Volo.

“Bill’s bidder number is No. 4,” said Jay Grams, Bill's nephew. “Dana is into the hundred thousands now. Bill was one of the very first to get a bidder pass.”

The anecdote was one of many reminiscences that Grams' family members were sharing this week as the news sunk in of the death of Bill Grams. He died of a heart attack at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington on Tuesday after a battle with cancer. Bill Grams was 77.

“The collector car scene lost a great man, my father and co-founder of the Volo Auto Museum,” Lisa Santiago said. “He cherished the collecting hobby since he was a young boy, and he shared his love and passion for it up until his passing.

“We will get through this with his guidance from heaven. Like he always said, ‘The show must go on.’ It won’t be easy without your showmanship sparkle, but we will continue where you left off, dad.”

Bill Grams was married for 56 years to his wife, Carolyn. They lived their lives together in Volo, where Bill and his brother, Greg, co-founded the Volo Auto Museum in 1960. In recent decades, Bill ran the Antique Malls side of the business, as well as shepherding the pre-war car collection, including Ford, Crosley, Packard and more from the 1920s and 1930s.

In the early 1990s, Bill Grams became a leading proponent of incorporating Volo and served on the founding Village of Volo Board of Trustees.

“The car industry is a little less full without him,” said Brian Grams, Bill Grams’ nephew and director of the Volo Auto Museum. “He was very well known and liked by the car community, very much a staple in the collector car world.”

Bill Grams grew up with his younger brother, Greg, on the 20-acre farm property northwest of Route 12 and Route 120 that now is internationally renowned as the home of the Volo Auto Museum.

Bill and Greg Grams began tinkering with cars as teens. Things really took off after one of the tourists who dropped in to see their old car projects paid $25,000 for a 1931 Chrysler CD8 Roadster that Greg had restored.

Greg Grams recalled traveling to a myriad of car auctions over the years with his brother, where Greg tended to be all business and Bill, always wearing a smile, would enjoy talking with anyone and everyone.

“He was very nice to everybody. He didn’t just suck up to the well-to-do,” Greg Grams said. “He loved people. He could go anywhere and start a conversation.”

Greg Grams' wife, Myra, said Bill was a constant, cheerful presence on the Volo Antique Malls and Auto Museum property. While their business philosophies sometimes differed, Bill and Greg always could be found huddled together at employee events or other business gatherings, smiling and talking about their shared passion, she said.

Myra Grams also recalled that on family vacations to Florida and elsewhere, they’d almost always run into someone who knew and admired her brother-in-law.

“People recognized him wherever he was,” Myra Grams said. “He was so well-known from the auctions. People knew him and liked him.”

Brian and Jay Grams said they will miss their uncle, who enjoyed taking them for rides in his jalopy convertibles when they were young.

“I remember riding around in a rumble seat with my cousin Lisa,” Jay Grams said. “There were no seat belts of course. Just us two kids bouncing around back there with Bill and Aunt Carolyn up front.”

Jay Grams echoed his father Greg’s sentiment that while Bill knew and mingled with movers and shakers, he was never one to view wealth as a matter of superiority.

“Something will be missing without him,” Jay Grams said. “We’ll try really hard to make him proud.”

Among Bill Grams more recent passions was modifying old Fords, Jay said.

“I’m sure we’ll keep one of those on display at the museum as a dedication to him," Jay Grams said.

Greg Grams said his brother continued to attend car auctions up until last winter, when illness began getting the better of him. Conditions surrounding the current pandemic have made the loss even more difficult, he added, noting that no visitors were allowed at the hospital. Friends couldn’t even send cards.

“He was the one who always cheered me up,” Greg Grams said. “I’m going to miss my best friend.”

Along with his brother, Greg, daughter, Lisa, and nephews, Brian (Lesa) Grams and Jay (Kandie) Grams, Bill Grams is survived by his wife, Carolyn, his son-in-law, Keith Santiago, a sister-in-law, Marilyn Miller, and granddaughter, Mila.

Arrangements are being handled by Hamsher Lakeside Funerals and Cremations in Fox Lake. Services and burial will be private, with a memorial reception planned for a later date.