By Frederick N. Rasmussen , fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com|March 05, 2009
James Synodinos, a retired electrical contractor who enjoyed collecting and driving vintage automobiles, died of cancer Sunday at Franklin Square Hospital Center. He was 68.
Mr. Synodinos was born in Baltimore and raised on Pelham Avenue in Mayfield. He was a 1958 graduate of Mergenthaler Vocational-Technical High School, where he studied aviation mechanics.
Trained as an electrician, Mr. Synodinos was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 24. He established Synodinos and Associates, a commercial electrical contracting firm, in 1980.
Mr. Synodinos worked on commercial buildings in downtown Baltimore, at city-owned facilities and at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport until closing the business and retiring in 2005.
Throughout his life, Mr. Synodinos maintained an affection for classic American automobiles that rolled off Detroit production lines during the 1930s and early 1940s.
"He still owned and drove his first car, a 1933 green Plymouth coupe that he had bought when he was 16," said his wife of 24 years, the former Ruth Meinecke, who also shared her husband's enthusiasm for antique cars.
Mrs. Synodinos said that other cars in his collection, which he housed in a six-bay garage behind his home in the Hampton section of Baltimore County, included a 1932 straight-8 tan Buick club sedan; a 1933 12-cylinder, five- passenger, tan-and-orange Cadillac town coupe; a 1941 8-cylinder black Packard touring sedan; and a 1947 8-cylinder blue-and-gray Packard touring sedan, all of which he restored, including doing all the engine work.
"He liked to tinker. The last car in his collection, which were not production models but had been specially ordered, was a green 1972 Pontiac Grand Prix," said Mrs. Synodinos.
Mr. Synodinos was a member of the Antique Auto Club of America, Packard Club, Buick Club, Cadillac & LaSalle Club, and the Classic Car Club of America.
He had been a board member and chairman of the membership committee of the Chesapeake Bay Region chapter of the Classic Car Club of America.
The couple joined other car owners on cross-country journeys, often stopping at historical sites along the way.
"That was one of Jim's favorite activities. We've been to Alaska, Seattle and throughout the West," Mrs. Synodinos said. "Our first trip was in 1995, when we left from Rhode Island and it took us three weeks to reach San Francisco, then it took us two weeks to return back home. You meet a lot of nice people on these trips."
