Is there a way to approach a family about a loved ones cars?

[southernfriedcj]

13 years ago a friend of mine lost his 16 year old son to suicide. He shot himself with a 30:06.

3 years later, my friend Jay could no longer take the pain and he shot himself as well.

I'm 57 years old and those are the only two funerals I have attended.

Jay was a subcontractor of mine. We were friends and we hunted together and we attended car shows together.

We were both Pontiac fans and he had a '73 Trans Am and a '70 GTO Judge that were among his favorites.

I wanted to purchase one of those two cars from the estate for sentimental reasons but I did not know any of his family members so I decided to just let it go. I did not want to bother them or seem like a vulture. He had a brother that was into cars so I figured they were in good hands as far as selling them if they went that route.

Well, yesterday an acquaintance of mine died from a heart attack. I've know him for 17 years or so. We were not close, just casual acquaintances. Neighbor down the street, kids went to the same school, he would stop by when I had one of my cars out, ect.

He has(had) a '74 Trans Am he got as his first car when he was 16(I believe he was the original owner). Basically a survivor car he kept all these years and drove every now and then.

Is there any tactful way to approach his family about the car? Waiting period?
I'm not trying to steal the car, and I'm not a huge fan of the '74/'75 cars, but it's a cool car with a cool story and I wouldn't mind being the care taker of it and making sure the family got a fair deal.

What say you? Let it go or say something at some point? His wife may call my wife because he would call me every now and then asking about the value of the car. I saw him out jogging last week and I almost stopped to ask about the car. The guy was an avid exerciser and appeared to be in excellent shape.