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SAAC News Highlights Page (latest updates
shown below in red) SAAC News Highlights Page (latest updates
shown below in red)
Here's another page that we found the need to create--to showcase various old car-related news items that seem sufficiently "significant" to warrant documentation at the SAAC site. If you have run across any news items of significance to the old car hobby (either locally or nationally), that you think might be appropriate for this page, please consider forwarding them along to the Webmaster. Thanks!
For each of the Highlights sections below, the latest updates are posted at the top. The clickable Index will take you directly to the section of your choice.
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: The information provided electronically, on paper, or otherwise is strictly for entertainment purposes only with no guarantees of any type, expressed or implied. Participation in any activity is strictly voluntary and done at one's own risk. The Shoreline Antique Auto Connection web site and it's author expressly disclaim all responsibility for any & all damages or claims, however caused. Observe all safety precautions when engaging in any activities with antique or modern automobiles. Obtain proper coverage from qualified insurance professionals for any type of activities, auto-related or otherwise, in which you may wish to engage.
Index to Highlights
Keene,
New Hampshire-area Antique Auto Expert Gordi Davis
featured in the December 13, 2007 edition of the Keene State
College newspaper, "The Equinox" (posted
here as of 12/14/2007)
Eastford's
Jack Larson of "Munchkin Motors" featured in the July
18. 2007 Hartford Courant Business section front page story (posted here as of 7/27/2007)
New
Exhibit at the Golden Age of Trucking Museum: 1925 Ford Model TT
'Thermosmobile' (posted here as of 7/27/2007)
Stony Creek's Pete
Brainerd of Brainerd's Garage featured in March 9, 2007
"Shore View" newspaper (posted here
as of 3/13/2007)
Remembering George Metcalf
- Noted Connecticut Vintage Ford Pinto Expert & Collector,
southeastern Connecticut automobile authority, and Vietnam War
Veteran (posted here 8/20/2006)
Remembering
Edward F. "Butch" Deming - Well-known Local Antique
Fire Truck Enthusiast And Active Community Member (posted here 2/8/2005)
U of
Mich. receives Douglas Pappas Collection (transcribed
from the December 30, 2004 edition of the Old Cars Weekly
newspaper, page 3, in the "Hobby News" section; posted
here 1/10/2005)
Disc jockey Ken Jordan, 60, was a rock 'n' roll
oldies aficionado (from the
NewHavenRegister.com web site dated 1/22/2004; posted here 2/2/2004)
Great-sounding new steam automobile
history book by Connecticut's Kit Foster! (posted
11/30/2003)
Branford-based antique Jeep & Willys
Restorer Brian Hainer featured in Shore Line Newspapers (posted 5/5/2003)
Kit Foster's Heads-Up on a Great New
Online Service Offered by CT DMV: A Searchable Vanity Plate
Finder! (posted 10/21/2002)
"United We Stand Plates" Now
Available in Connecticut (posted 9/15/2002)
Lindbergh's VW visits History Center (last
updated 8/16/2001)
Connecticut Suspends Motor Vehicle Safety
Inspections (last updated 7/10/2001)
Guilford Resident & Award-Winning Antique
Chrysler Featured in Shore Line Times (partially
posted 5/3/2001; completed transcribing the text as of 6/2/2001)
Dining Commons personality offers philosophy
with food - Snapshot: Gordi Davis
By: Chris Reynolds, Posted:
12/13/07
(We have known New Hampshire's Gordi Davis through the antique VW hobby since approximately the early 1990s, and he's been a great friend and huge help to us on more occasions than we can count. We indeed feel privileged to know Gordi Davis! His uniquely colorful personality is evidently becoming more and more appreciated by his current employer, Keene State College, as evidenced by this article. (Orginal location of this article: http://media.www.keeneequinox.com/media/storage/paper537/news/2007/12/13/Features/Dining.Commons.Personality.Offers.Philosophy.With.Food-3142945.shtml)
"...Gordi from the Zorn Dining Commons is a
friendly influence to many at Keene State College with a big fan
following and a lot of world experience.
Gordon B. Davis started working at the Dining Commons last year and the student response to his friendly character has been very positive. He also spawned a popular Facebook group.
"I think he's very friendly and makes me feel really comfortable walking into the Dining Commons," said junior Allie Krosofsky. Krosofsky, like many other students, said Davis makes her feel welcome with his hospitable personality. "I've heard him sing to someone before."
"He is such a charmer with the ladies and he certainly can joke around with the guys as well," said Food Service Director Sandra Johnson.
Johnson said she knew Gordi before he worked at the Dining Commons and he was hired because he had the perfect personality for the job.
Born in New Jersey, Davis is one of five children, all of whom attended college. He transferred to Keene State College from Windham College (now Landmark College) as a junior and graduated with the class of 1972. His father was a professor at Windham College, but Davis decided to transfer to a different location.
Coming from a family that lived in New Jersey, Davis said he found it hard not to be a New York Yankees fan. He is not a sports fanatic, but recognizes players such as Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris as unbeatable. "You have to support somebody," said Davis.
College life, as well as life in general, was much different while he was a student here. Davis said he has to smile when students complain about the food in the Dining Commons today. When he attended KSC about 35 years ago, it had a much different choice for lunch.
"We always called it 'mystery meat' because it depended on what color it was as to what it might have been. Hamburgers were always floating in a liquid. Also, if you were really lucky on weekends you got this green stuff that slithered that they called Jell-O for dessert," said Davis.
Davis said he brings people who cook professionally to the Dining Commons today and they are impressed with the food. It now has a very qualified staff that makes quality meals.
When he was in college the drinking age was 18. With this in mind, Davis said there used to be an on-campus bar on the second floor of the student union called the Pub-Club. It was paid for by the student center and as far as he can remember the only alcoholic substance it served was beer. He said he was a member of the college senate and student senate when they proposed the idea and made it happen.
He was also a member of Kappa Delta Phi which he said was the first KSC fraternity to go off campus.
Davis was editor of the 1971 Kronicle yearbook, the year the staff of the yearbook unleashed its photographic creativity. The book contained very little text except for a few quotes, names and a photo essay. The rest was a photo representation of the campus that year.
Before Davis' family moved to the Keene area, they lived in Vermont on and off for 16 years. Four of those years he lived in Peru and Ecuador because his father also worked for the Agency of International Development. He learned to speak Spanish during these years and his high school never offered it. As a result he studied it in college along with French. Davis graduated with a liberal science and foreign language degree.
All he lacked for an education degree was student teaching. One requirement for being an education major at that time, according to Davis, was a water test. The test involved 40 or 50 students taking turns swimming and diving for a brick at the bottom of a pool.
However, teaching was not something he wanted to do. "I can't be who I am and be a teacher. I realized that right off the bat," said Davis.
He said "believe it or not," he graduated without an iPod or a cell phone. He said if he wanted to find out where his friends were on campus he went looking for them. "If I had my way, I would have a rotary dial on my cell phone," he said.
Davis said he realizes cell phones are necessary. However he personally dislikes it when students come in on their cell phones today and complain the hand-scanning machines don't work. "It's because they don't have time to run their card through properly or see what the problem is because they have to be on their cell phone," he said.
Davis said he did teach for a little while, however. He taught auto mechanics, not French or Spanish. "I'm a consummate gear head," said Davis.
Davis has his own part-time business at his Swanzey home where he restores antique Volkswagens. This is something he started in college and still continues to this day. He said when he lived in Peru a friend of his had a Volkswagen bug which Davis drove around when he was 14.
He purchased a little rusty convertible for $20 when he was a senior but he put $100 into fixing it up. After that he couldn't afford a mechanic, so he learned how to work on cars himself. He said he got a job at an independent repair shop in Vermont while at Windham College. Then when Davis transferred to KSC he started working on Volkswagens on the side until he graduated. He said he started working at the Keene Volkswagen dealership during the summer of 1972. In 1989 he opened his own shop.
Davis is still involved in his business but on a select customer base, primarily the older models with air-cooled rear-mounted engines and vans. "Real Volkswagens don't have radiators," said Davis. Davis said he owns about six of the cars himself.
Davis was also featured in New Hampshire Weekly in June of 1996 for his Volkswagen collection. According to the story, not only did he own vehicles but also 2,000 Volkswagen collectables. Included in the assortment was a record player that looks like a Volkswagen bus, beetle cookie jars and a toy bus from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Davis said he now has around 3,500 Volkswagen collectables.
"I prefer German cars, American motorcycles, American beer, and Mexican tequila," said Davis. He said he is a firm believer in everything in moderation and nothing in excess. He said he felt the same way in college and still does.
Now at KSC Davis is a cashier with a lot of life experience and insight to share. "It's kind of like going back to college without the implied responsibilities," said Davis. This is his second year working in the Dining Commons which is run by Sodexho.
He said he works at the Dining Commons for the health care benefits. "It's not about the money anymore," he said.
About 370 people are members of the "I <3 Gordie from the DC" Facebook group. The page celebrates the students' love for Davis and the discussion wall is full of comments and Gordi anecdotes.
"I am very flattered with the Facebook page," said Davis. A Dining Commons manager e-mailed it to him a couple of months ago. He said he had no idea the group had been up for over a year before then. Davis thinks it's fun and he likes it because represents who he is and who he wants to be, though he does not have a Facebook profile of his own.
The group's creator, sophomore Kelsey LePage, said she started the group because she looked around and realized there wasn't one about him. "I appreciate good customer service," said Lepage complimenting Davis' style. "The world would be a better place if there were more people like him around," she added.
Rebecca Briggs, a Dining Commons nutritionist, has known Davis since he started working in the Dining Commons over a year ago. She said Davis' reliability and goodheartedness make him a great person to work with. "He would offer help to anyone that appreciates it," said Briggs.
Making students think and breaking them out of their shell is one thing Davis finds rewarding about his job. He said he is genuine when he asks people if they are having a good day. He has run into people who seem down and he just wants to remind people that things aren't so bad.
Fellow cashier Cassandra Brooker, a freshman, said he cheers her up when she is really sad. "He is a lot of fun to work with and he keeps me laughing when I'm tired," said Brooker.
Davis said the toughest part of his job is saying no. He can't let people go in to get a free meal or swipe twice to get a friend in. He asks that no one give him a hard time for doing his job.
Davis' enthusiasm with what he does is evident when one sees him acting the part with a holiday or theme. His name tag changes during certain events as well. He said his name tag has been labeled with "Guido," "Big Tex," "Sum Yung Guy," "Gordito," and when dressed as a yellow M&M on Halloween it read "If you gotta ask."
Briggs said she also works in marketing and leaves it up to Davis to dress up for these events. "I give him some ideas. I'm not that creative, but he is," she said.
Davis also tried to give feedback to the campus when possible.
When Davis discovered the team was having a hard time raising money for their organization, he approached junior Jenna Lane with an idea.
He proposed the Dance Team could rake his lawn, since he could not make it to their car wash fund raisers. "It needs to be done anyway, and this way I can make a donation to the team. It works out perfectly for everybody," he said.
Dance Team member Kate Guilmette said Davis paid them $150 for the job on his very large property. "I think it was a great idea and a great way to raise money," she said.
Recently Davis was awarded Sodexho's "Circle of Customer Excellence Award" for his outstanding customer service.
So next time you see Gordi sitting at the swipe station at the Dining Commons hopefully that's not all you will see.
"I've seen it, done it, bought the t-shirt and went home," said Davis...."
What a great
surprise when our good friend Greg Mattesen handed me a Hartford
Courant newspaper section recently, with a great feature
story, "Ultra Subcompacts - He Has Turned A Hobby
Into A Business, Selling Toy, Model and Pedal Cars,"
written by Janice Podsada, with a wonderful accompanying picture,
in color, by Stephen Dunn. The story took up a substantial
portion of the front page of the Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Business section (Section E), and continued on with a large
portion of the next page (page E2) as well--impressive!
We are pleased to say we've been friends with the subject of this wonderful article, Mr. Jack Larson, for about as long as we've been into old cars (probably the last 25 years at least), and treasure the times we are able to see him--usually at the AACA Hershey Fall Meet these days, but always a wonderful time to catch-up with this most wonderful gentleman. Jack has a great deal of "old VW" in his background, and shared a wonderful story with some old accompanying photos, which we entitled "Jack Larson's Old-Time Connecticut Volkswagening Memories," viewable at this page: http://members.aol.com/SAACRegion/JackLarsonOldVW.html . Jack has a strong Ford background also, that notably includes some Pinto background specifically, and we've also added his interesting input to the "CT Pinto Retrospectives" section of the CPR page: http://members.aol.com/cgearannex/CPR.html .
But this time the focus is on Jack's model cars business, Munchkin Motors, which has been a long-running pursuit of his, and we applaud the Hartford Courant for taking the time to come up with a most wonderful story about Jack's involvement in the world of automotive miniatures. And how nice that we were able to find the transcript of the article online--plus a high quality copy of the accompanying photo from the printed newspaper article, which we will also include here! Congratulations Jack on the wonderful Hartford Courant feature--it couldn't happen to a nicer guy!
Ultra Subcompacts - He Has Turned A Hobby Into A
Business, Selling Toy, Model And Pedal Cars
By JANICE PODSADA, Courant Staff Writer
July 18, 2007, EASTFORD
AS OWNER OF Munchkin Motors in Eastford, Jack Larson Jr. is devoted to small cars -- really small cars, like this miniature 1984 Mercedes-like 500 SL. Larson sells pedal cars and collectible toy cars all over the world. His showroom is a converted garage next to his historic Eastford home, which is also filled with small car memorabilia. Sick of the gas-guzzler you're driving?
Maybe you need a really nice small car, like a silver roadster with a 3-horsepower gasoline-powered engine and three-speed manual transmission - first, second and reverse.
It's not street - or highway-legal, but it might be just the thing for touring the backyard.
Jack E. Larson Jr., 60, the owner of Munchkin Motors in Eastford, has been selling toy cars, model cars and pedal cars for 25 years, mainly by word of mouth, repeat customers and a few automobile shows.
He has collected toy and model cars since his youth, but turning his hobby into a business hasn't been all fun and games.
"This is hard work," he said. "Try being here in the middle of winter when they deliver 500 pedal cars and you have to carry them up to the barn - and then repackage them because you don't like the original shipping materials."
Larson credits the four years he spent as a young man running a Ford-Mercury dealership in Ware, Mass., for giving him the skills and experience necessary to run his own business. Whether you're selling full-size automobiles or pedal cars, the problems are similar, he said.
There are warranty claims, mechanical failures, recalls and the occasional need for a "repo man," he said.
"It's a microcosm of a large dealership. You have service problems. You're competing with other dealerships. You have parts issues and past-due accounts," he said.
Large or small, customer service is key, Larson said.
"One of my customers has a little girl who burns out the clutch," Larson said. "Clutching a car is not her strong suit. So a couple times a year I ship them a new one.
"You solve the small problems because they have a nasty tendency to become large problems if you don't fix them quickly."
Larson discovered years ago that he could make money selling little cars and a little nostalgia.
"I was attending a vintage car show and selling parts," he said. "You'd see a couple trudging to the car with a pair of tires or some part I'd sold them. I had the idea to bring along some little wagons to the next show. I sold a dozen for $300 each."
A few months later, Munchkin Motors was born.
Larson spends about 25 hours a week selling toy cars to customers all over the world.
"If we break even, that's great. We do have an interesting life," he said.
Four days a week, Larson works as a car salesman at Bowen's Garage Inc., a Ford dealership in Eastford about 100 yards from his house.
A tall, A-frame garage, a former architect's office a few steps from his home, is his showroom. Inside, he stocks hundreds of model cars, which range in price from a few dollars to a few thousand dollars, and which range in size from a model one-187th the size of the original to half-scale.
Today, Munchkin Motors is a much scaled-down version of the business Larson once ran. From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, Larson employed five people to do shipping, catalog sales and bookkeeping.
"Things were really booming," he recalled. "The timing was right. Nobody else was doing this."
He attended dozens of automotive shows where he sold his wares as well as the big toy car shows in London, Milan, Nuremberg and Paris. Those were the years he spent $50,000 annually on ads in the car magazines like AutoWeek, Hemmings Motor News and Road & Track, carefully writing his own copy to circumvent trademark issues, he said.
"The manufacturers of the toy and pedal cars aren't necessarily affiliated with the automakers," he explained. "I once advertised the 3-horsepower Benz SL as `just like the car your ex-wife's lawyer drives,'" leaving the word "Mercedes" out of the pitch.
But business slowed with the advent of the Internet. Larson chose not to put Munchkin Motors online.
"You don't have the exclusivity and you don't have the profit. I used to sell this little 1955 quasi-Chevrolet Bel Air convertible pedal car for $395. It was available on the Internet for $159. I can't compete and still make money."
Now, most of his business comes from referrals, repeat business - and a few clowns.
"I do a lot with Shriners and clowns. I have these little Model T's and a 1932 Deuce that have a reverse gear. They can back up."
Even though he has downsized and attends far fewer car and toy shows, the satisfaction, and sometimes the intrigue, that comes from selling toy cars never ceases.
"When the moon is full, you brace yourself when the phone rings," Larson said. "You never know who's on the other end of the line."
Case
in point: "A few years ago, a well-spoken woman called to
order a $6,500 gas-powered E-type Jaguar that would fit a medium
adult. She gave me a phone number and a credit card. Around
Christmas I called to confirm that the car had been shipped. A
woman answered the phone, but she was very standoffish. Something
told me this wasn't the same woman. A little while later I got a
call from the first woman who had ordered the car. ... `Don't you
understand what you did? You called his home. I am his
mistress.'"
And just like big car dealers, Larson has occasionally had to have a car or two repossessed.
After he sold a pedal car to a New Jersey man, Larson got a call from the man's girlfriend, who apparently didn't authorize the man's purchase.
"She gets the bill and calls me up screaming. I canceled the charge and told her she'd have to ship the car back to me. Her response was, `You'll have to come and get it.'" We called in Dun & Bradstreet to repossess the car, but I totally forgot to tell them it was a pedal car. The repo man called me to ask, `Is this for real, a pedal car?'"
On a more satisfying note, there was a high-profile child abuse case in New York in the 1980s in which the doctor who was treating the little boy called, Larson said. "He wanted to give this little boy some special toy to ease the trauma."
Larson suggested a British racing green, TR-7 pedal car with Black Watch plaid upholstery, working lights and a horn.
"The doctor wanted it by Thanksgiving," he said. "It would have taken too long to ship it, so I found a small freight service that was willing to fly it to Long Island."
Like any longtime business owner, Larson has his regrets - inventory that never sold, sales he should have never made.
"The child-size boat-tail 1926 Citroen, yellow and black roadster - I never should have sold that. It had a convertible top that actually folded down, and a trunk, and a pedal chain-drive and a ..." he said, as the phone began to ring.
"Excuse me," Larson said. "I better get that."
"Munchkin Motors." Pause. "Anything in particular you're looking for?" Another pause. "We have a really nifty 1932 model pedal firetruck. Let's see what I can come up with."
Contact Janice Podsada at jpodsada@courant.com .
New Exhibit at the Golden Age of Trucking Museum: 1925 Ford Model TT 'Thermosmobile'
We received a mailing from the Golden Age of Trucking Musem (of which we are proud to say we're a member) postmarked July 13, 2007, that contained some interesting & exciting news, plus an accompanying photo (click HERE to see a scan we made of the photo of this super-cool & super-unique antique). ıThe press release read as follows:
"Attention Car & Truck Enthusiasts - New Exhibit - 1925 Ford Model TT Thermosmobile! The Golden Age of Trucking Museum is proud to include on display this 1925 Ford Model TT Thermosmobile. This truck will be in our showroom until June 2008. The Thermosmobile is an advertising vehicle used by the American Thermos Bottle Company of Norwich, CT. These vehicles traveled around the country to special events, political, sporting, and various exhibitions to promote the Thermos Bottle Company. The company started using these trucks for promotional purposes starting in 1913 until 1925. Please visit us at 1101 Southford Road in Middlebury, CT 06762. We now have extended hours for July and August: Tuesday through Saturday 10am-4pm and Sunday 12pm-4pm. We are a family friendly museum, with indoor and outdoor picnic areas--bring your lunch to enjoy. There is a hands-on children's area, fun for all ages. Come and see our antiques: trucks, cars, boats, collectibles, photos, signs and license plates on display. We have trucks and so much more. If you would like more information please call 203-577-2181 or email info@goldenagetruckmuseum.com. Web site: http://www.goldenagetruckmuseum.com/ .
And if you were not aware, we are BIG TIME FANS of the Golden Age of Trucking Museum, after having "discovered" it for our selves, back in February of this year--please see our full report on that most pleasant experience, "A Visit to The Golden Age of Trucking Museum, Middlebury, CT, February 2007," which is located online at: http://members.aol.com/cgearannex/GoldenAgeTruckMusFeb07.html
Stony Creek's Pete Brainerd of Brainerd's Garage featured in March 9, 2007 "Shore View" newspaper
This was the lead story in the "Shore Folks" ("Celebrating the people of the Valley Shore") section of the "Shore View" newspaper, Friday, March 9, 2007 edition, page 10. Story and photos by Jim Murtagh, Special to ShoreView. I took pictures of both the entire page 10, to show how the article appeared on the page (with the large '50s Ford image, and also the smaller Pete Brainerd picture), and will insert them here. The small photo captions, inserted under the Ford picture, read as follows: "Not all the cars in Pete Brainerd's Stony Creek garage are British. Here, a beautifully restored Ford gleams under the shop lights. Below, Brainerd in his office."
Additional notes: "Shore View" is published by "Shore Line Newspapers" of Guilford, CT (which in turn is part of the larger CTCentral family of papers that includes the New Haven Register and many others), and according to a 2/22/2007 Clinton Recorder article, it debuted on February 23, 2007, as a weekend publication to replace weekend editions of the Pictorial Gazette, Clinton Recorder, Shore Line Times, and Branford Review. It is reportedly mailed to more than 60,000 households in 15 Shoreline and Connecticut River Valley towns.
"The
British Invasion - Pete Brainerd is just crazy about English
wheels - Pete Brainerd still remembers when he
saw his first British sports car. It was in Branford's Pine
Orchard section just after the war, and the car was a beauty-an
MGTC.
"I was 15 at the time and I just fell in love with it," Brainerd recalls. "By '53, I bought an MGTD, drove it, raced it and enjoyed it."
Brainerd, who owns Brainerd's Garage in Stony Creek, is an anglophile for the automobile-exotic British ones-especially rare vintage luxury models, some half a century old. He lives his passion by ensuring they remain roadworthy.
Growing up around cars and working in the shop alongside his dad and uncles, the lifelong "Creeker" reckons he was a "gearhead" from the start.
Spend just a few minutes in the shop, and you will quickly conclude that this is not your typical automotive garage. Some things are immediately obvious, like the early 1900s automobile hanging from the roof trusses, surely a collector's item. You just don't see that in most garages.
It doesn't sound like a typical car repair shop either. The quiet takes a few moments to register. The incessant whining of air tools stripping lug nuts off tires is absent. Missing from view is the myriad of high-tech diagnostic gadgetry, like the wheel alignment machines and computer engine analyzers, which generally line the perimeter of most shops.
Instead, this garage is cluttered with old cars covered in blankets, but not just any old cars. A quick peak beneath the coverings reveals a rare 1937 Rolls Royce and an unusual 1938 Bentley, both partially disassembled and both on the road to restoration glory.
Clues to uncover Brainerd's passion are all over the shop. The sign on the front façade of the building sports the famous signature Bentley "Flying B" logo, which has been transformed into the symbol for Brainerd's Garage. There are numerous plaques and ribbons from The British Classic Motorcar Show adorning his office walls. And if that wasn't enough, then certainly the extensive library of books with titles such as "Rolls-Royce: The Elegance Continues," "Rolls-Royce in America," or "Bentley: Fifty Years of the Marquee" is all you need to see.
Sitting at his desk, beneath a photograph of his grandfather, Brainerd recounts his colorful family history. He tells a story of an 8-year-old boy, who was entrusted to a ship captain, and who made the journey to America without any family in 1640. He describes the three-story hotel his great-grandfather operated at the entrance to Stony Creek in the mid-1800s, and how the business acumen of his grandfather built the Brainerd General Store, the largest general store between New Haven and New London.
As the horse and carriage yielded to the automobile in the early 1900s, his grandfather, Frank Elmer Brainerd, branched out from his general store and began repairing cars. In 1920, the barn which once housed the horses and tack for the Brainerd House Hotel, was enlarged and became home to Brainerd's Garage.
Brainerd
vividly recalls where his fondness for British cars came from.
"I remember when the first MGTD landed in Pine Orchard. I
lusted after it! By '53, I bought an MGTD, drove it, raced it and
enjoyed it."
The Air Force interrupted any aspirations of Brainerd's racing future, and after serving a tour in England, he returned to the States with a wife, two children, and a station wagon. He would eventually retire from the Air Force after 38 years of service as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Brainerd's passion for British automobiles spilled over into the shop, and he became an authority on their repair and maintenance. Working on these exotic imports requires a large library of reference books, lots of specialty tools, as well as decades of hands-on experience. Brainerd recalls far too many cars that have come into his shop after they were supposedly "fixed" by less experienced mechanics.
While the garage specializes in British cars, they do work on all makes and years. Brainerd repeats a recent conversation he had with his son while they were cleaning parts together for a 1935 Chevrolet pickup. He tells his son Stuart "I was doing this sixty odd years ago, exactly this and in exactly the same spot."
Brainerd can often be seen driving his 1935 Rolls-Royce Cabriolet Deville around town and to antique car shows. This award-winning restoration is his personal time machine for when he drives it, he says, "It takes me back to when I had my first MG, and whenever you saw another sports car on the road, especially an MG, there was always the 'hi' sign."
When asked to describe the ride in these luxury vehicles, he responds "I'm going to shatter all the illusions-it's a car." And when people ask him we he dare drive it around, he responds "It's a car."
Just as a Rolls-Royce or a Bentley is not your typical car, Brainerd is not your typical mechanic, and Brainerd's Garage is not your typical repair shop. The same precision and craftsmanship that went into these automobiles at the factory, is exactly what Brainerd and his son put into their repairs today."
Remembering George Metcalf - Noted Connecticut Vintage Ford Pinto Expert & Collector, southeastern Connecticut automobile authority, and Vietnam War Veteran
I was very
saddened to hear of the recent passing of George Metcalf, who I
am happy to have met on a few occasions. He was drawn to Ford
Pintos and collected and restored several. He was happy to talk
Pintos, and always offered to lend a hand. I think he was very
pleased to see and participate in the fine gathering
of Pintos that happened in June of 2006, at the Colchester Cruise
on the Green--it was in large part due to his direct efforts
that the gathering was so successful! Little did anyone know that
George would pass away less than one week later. Here is the text
of the obituary that was published by the New London Day (where I
found it was specifically: published on 6/29/2006 in
Region/Obituaries of the web site TheDay.com):
North Stonington - George Metcalf, 60, of 20 Providence-New London Turnpike, passed away June 27, 2006, at the Lawrence & Memorial Hospital in New London. He was born on Feb. 13, 1946, in New London, the son of William N. and Helen Shea Metcalf Sr. A veteran of the Vietnam War, George had worked for many years as both an auto mechanic and service manager for many dealerships in the New London county area. A graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, July 3, at the Jordan Cemetery in Waterford. Visiting hours will be held on Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Byles Memorial Home, 99 Huntington St., New London.
Source: http://www.theday.com/re_txt.aspx?re=b3a773bf-01a8-473f-85aa-1b54e3f17618 (printer friendly) or http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=b3a773bf-01a8-473f-85aa-1b54e3f17618 (original)
It was via an e-mail from George's daughter Maria Metcalf that I learned of his passing. She had apparently discovered the Connecticut Pinto Registry and the page documenting the Colchester Pintos Gathering, and decided to write. The following words are excerpted from Maria's 8/16/2006 e-mail:
"...This is a somewhat difficult email for me to write because I found your site while searching for information on Ford Pintos... Much to my delight, I found pictures of the June 2006 Summer Solstice Vintage Ford Pinto gathering. My dad is George, of the "George and Glen of New London" team. Less than a week after this gathering, my dad passed away. While we knew he wasn't 100%, but it was very shocking news. My dad loved cars all of his life. The Pintos are just the most recent ones that he has played with. Your site has done a great job of showing them..."
We wish to extend our sincere sympathies to Maria and her entire family on this great loss. The entire Connecticut antique automobile hobby world, and especially the Connecticut Pinto hobby world, have lost a very fine person. The accompanying image here is a (cropped) photo I took showing George, and his prized '72 Pinto Runabout in the foreground.
I heard recently from my sister Sarah, who was good friends with Mr. Deming, and his wife Cyndy, the sad news of Mr. Deming's recent passing, and immediately thought back to my great pleasure at finally being able to meet him in person just a couple of years ago, after having admired his magnificent 1945 Ford Fire Truck for so many years at local antique auto shows. It was obvious what a wonderful person Mr. Deming was--and that he was very humble about his vehicle, which was a true standout. It was therefore also not surprising to read what a full and accomplished life he led, as was described in his obituary listing, which I downloaded from a Cromwell funeral home web site, and is reproduced in its entirety below. I also feel very fortunate that I was able to work on getting a feature online page created, with my sister's help, to present at the SAAC web site last year, documenting a very prestigious award that Mr. Deming had won at a big firefighter's convention, with his beautiful 1945 Ford. The URL for that page is: http://members.aol.com/foxcraft/ButchAnd45FordFiretruck.html
(The following text & accompanying image
came from: http://doolittle.lifefiles.com/registryMain.php?PHPSESSID=fa83bba8d49231bc84aea7dfaceeb85d&i_memorialid=1107808949)
"Edward
F. Deming - June 06, 1947 - February 05, 2005 - Edward F.
"Butch" Deming of West Street Terrace, Cromwell,
husband of Cynthia J. (Schiller) Deming, passed peacefully into
God's care, Saturday, February 5th. He was born June 6, 1947, son
of the late Alfred E. and Anna L. (Stone) Deming. Butch graduated
from Vinal Regional Technical School in 1966, attended one year
post-grad, then joining the U.S. Navy during Vietnam serving
aboard the U.S.S. Borie. He was employed by the Metropolitan
District Commission in Hartford for 30 years. Butch was a life
member of the Cromwell Fire Dept, having devoted 35 active years
of service; a member of the Cromwell Sea Scouts; the Cromwell
Outboard Association, the Connecticut Fire Police; the Middlesex
County Fire Police; the Antique Truck Club of America; American
Truck Historical Society; a life member of V.F.W. Post #10306;
and Carlson-Sjovall Post #105, American Legion.
Besides his wife, he is survived by his sisters and their
husbands, Carol D. and David D. Mandigo of East Hampton, and
Nancy J. and Walter J. Squier of Portland, and Jane and Kenneth
Richardson of Crete, IL; his very special girl Heather E. Deming
of Cromwell; his Aunt Winnie Knapp of Middletown; his
mother-in-law, Shirley (Swanson) Schiller of Cromwell, his
father-in-law, Charles H. Schiller, Sr., of Batavia, NY; his
brother-in-law and his wife Charles H. and Lucia Schiller; his
Goddaughter, Kristen (Swanson) Gilbert of Portland; and a
multitude of nieces, nephews, cousins; his best friend Neil H.
Swanson and his wife Mary; many special friends and neighbors. He
was predeceased by his sister, Elizabeth Fortin-Konopaske; two
nephews, Donald Fortin and Jason Mandigo, as well as his
step-mother Dorothy G. Deming
Butch enjoyed life to its fullest. He mostly enjoyed his summers
at Clinton Beach fishing with his friends Ken and Theresa
Holloway. His other love was his 1945 Ford fire truck. He made
many friends along the way with his truck at antique car shows,
parades and traveling on the road, he so much enjoyed the waves
from children.
Funeral services will be held at the Bethany Lutheran Church, 50
Court St., Cromwell, Saturday morning, Feb 12th at 10:00. The
Rev. Lawrence Wogman, pastor, will officiate and interment will
be at the convenience of the family. Friends may call at the
Cromwell Funeral Home, 506 Main St., Cromwell, Friday from 2:00 -
4:00 and 6:00 - 8:00 and are invited to send a message of
condolence to the family at the website of
www.doolittlefuneralservice.com. In lieu of flowers,
contributions in his memory may be made to the Jimmy Fund,
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 44 Binney St., Boston, MA 02142;
the Middlesex County Fire and Police Assn. c/o Dave Conat, 810
Westfield St., Middletown, 06457, The CT Cellar Savers Fire
Museum, 634 Main St. Portland, 06480 or the charity of the
donor's choice."
We extend our deepest sympathies to Cyndy and all of Butch's family, and know that the local antique automobile and truck enthusiast community also mourn this great loss.
U of Mich. receives Douglas Pappas Collection
(We received an e-mail in mid-December 2004 from our long-time old-car friend from New York, Steve Oakes, and as part of Steve's letter, he wrote about how he greatly assisted the mother of a close high school friend who recently passed away, with locating suitable libraries/educational institutions to accept the considerable collections of his friend. His friend was Mr. Doug Pappas, and as Steve describes their relationship: "...My old high-school chum, whom I had scarce gone two weeks in the last 30 years without speaking to..." Describing the nature of Mr. Pappas' studies and collections, Steve wrote: "...He was that friend who was interested in road travel and the development of the early federal road system (like Rtes. 6, 5, 20, especially the Lincoln Highway--the old pre-interstate routes), in hoaky travel and tourism related roadside sights, and in the economics of baseball, at which he was considered perhaps the king..." Among the items in Mr. Pappas' collection, Steve writes: "...his road travel collection, including early travel guides, an essentially complete American Guide series collection, thousands of postcards, all relating to specific highways and filed east to west and north to south, and a baseball library going back to before the turn of the century..." Steve mentioned that Mr. Pappas also created and maintained several web sites devoted to his American historical and cultural interests, with this being one of the most prominent: http://www.roadsidephotos.com/. Steve says he spent many months in the summer of 2004 assisting Mr. Pappas' mother with the proper disposition of these things, and judging by the article that appeared in the December 30, 2004 edition of Old Cars Weekly, in the "Hobby News" section, on page 3, others in the antique automobile world have also recognized Mr. Pappas and his work. The lead article on that page was entitled: "U of Mich. receives Douglas Pappas Collection," and we have transcribed the complete article below... We wish to extend our thanks to Mr. Steve Oakes for his work in assisting Mr. Pappas' mother with suitable and appropriate donations of the collection to the various institutions, and also for his passing along the background on this interesting man and his life's work; don't forget to check out that web site too--it's jam-packed with interesting American Roadside Culture...)
MICHIGAN
- The books, photographs, and vintage and contemporary postcard
collection of the late Douglas Pappas have been presented to the
Transportation History Collection of the Special Collections
Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by Mr. Douglas Pappas's mother,
Carolyn Reed Pappas, of Eastchester, New York. The collection
reflects Mr. Pappas's passion for traveling the old highways of
the United States.
Douglas Pappas received his Bachelor's degree from the University of Chicago in 1982, and was a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, Class of 1985. Mr. Pappas, 42 at the time of his passing in May, 2004, was an attorney in New York City; he was also the chairman of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Business of Baseball Committee since 1994, and a nationally recognized authority on the business and economics of baseball.
In addition to his legal career and his deep involvement in the study of baseball, Pappas was also the director of the New York Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association. His love of old roads led to an interest in the Lincoln Highway. The original Lincoln Highway Association, headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, was active from 1911 through the mid 1930s. The association was reconstituted in 1992 to conserve and preserve the history and legacy of the highway. Pappas's interest led him to become involved in the association, ultimately becoming the head of the New York Chapter. The Special Collection Library's Transportation History Collection owns the original documents and photographs of the Lincoln Highway Association and has a close relationship with the current association and its members. When searching for a suitable location for her son's collection, Ms. Pappas was put in contact with Michigan by author/publisher and association member Gregory Franzwa of Tucson, Arizona.
The 502 books, 34 photograph albums, and approximately 3,700 postcards have been asccessioned and will be made available for researchers. The books, mostly monographs addressing specific highways, some of which are rare and products of the Work Projects Administration (WPA), will bear a bookplate designating them as part of 'The Douglas Pappas Collection.' The photograph albums document Pappas's road trips from the mid-1980s through the 1990s.
Disc jockey Ken Jordan, 60, was a rock 'n' roll oldies aficionado
(We heard about the passing of local oldies & doo-wop radio legend Ken Jordan, via an e-mail from another well-known local oldies DJ, Rockin' Richard (Phillips), in late January 2004. Like Rockin' Richard, Mr. Jordan was well-known and well-liked by the local antique auto community, through his involvement with cruise nights, and the general "cross over appeal" of old cars and oldies music, and it seems very fitting to remember Mr. Jordan here, and reflect on his many contributions to making this world a better place. Here is a transcription of Mr. Jordan's obituary, directly from the NewHavenRegister.com web site, dated 1/22/2004; the original URL of the story was: http://www.newhavenregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=10848474)
By: Joe
Amarante, 01/22/2004
HAMDEN - Rock 'n' roll lost a good friend this week. Ken Jordan, a New Haven radio oldies icon, passed away at age 60, Tuesday, from congestive heart failure.
Jordan, whose given name was Kenneth Jordan Berger, was a music disc jockey with WNHC, WELI, WAVZ and most recently WLNG-FM in Sag Harbor, Long Island - playing oldies on a weekly show called "Ken Jordan's Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame."
Fran Fried, the entertainment editor of the New Haven Register, was a big fan. "Not only was Ken a nice, personable guy, he had a knowledge of early rock 'n' roll, especially the vocal groups, that went beyond encyclopedic," Fried said.
Veteran broadcaster and Hamden neighbor Kenn Venit also has fond memories. "Ken loved old-time rock 'n' roll. And although he didn't make a full-time career out of his passion for that music, he did live it, breathe it and share it whenever possible on the radio, at his record hops and at the oldies concerts he emceed," Venit said.
Jordan hosted record hops in the area for more than 30 years and also was the emcee for North Haven's annual summer oldies concerts on the Green. "He emceed a 40th anniversary celebration for us in a wheelchair," said WLNG general manager Paul Sidney. "He was a just a great gentleman." Jordan's day job was owner of a boutique in Wallingford called Dynamite Designs, but radio was his labor of love.
His Sunday night "Hall of Fame" show spanned 21 years on New Haven area radio, with the personable Jordan spinning tunes from doo-wop to early rock 'n' roll. He was an expert on Connecticut performers and interviewed many small and large music legends.
In July 2000, his show was picked up by WLNG, which can be heard along the Connecticut shoreline and throughout New Haven County at 92.1 FM.
Jordan, said Venit, "really loved the old rock music, especially the acapella songs. Professionally, he was at his joyful best when the musicians came to the studio and performed live for Ken's appreciative radio audiences. I wish I had tapes of those shows."
On a WELI show in 1991, Jordan reunited the "Straight Shooters" - popular disc jockeys from WAVZ-AM in the 1960s - Bill Beamish, T.J. Martin, Ed Flynn and Tracy.
In a 2002 Register story on the anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, Jordan talked of visiting Graceland and seeing Presley in concert at Madison Square Garden in the late 1960s. "What was incredible was the number of flashbulbs. It was continuous from the time he came out till the time he ended," he said in that interview.
He leaves his wife, Miriam Rabinowitz Berger, his mother, Ida Berger, a brother, five children and six grandchildren.
Jordan's funeral is set for 1:30 p.m. today at the Shure Funeral Home in New Haven.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, 2572 Whitney Ave., Hamden 06518.
In late
November 2003, we received in the mail a flyer from the Stanley
Museum (P.O. Box 77, Kingfield, Maine 04947) announcing: "...Publication
Date March 2004 - The Stanley Steamer, America's
Legendary Steam Car, by Kit Foster...Foreword by
Beverly Rae Kimes...copyright 2003 Stanley Museum, Inc..."
Wow!
(THE IMAGE AT RIGHT is a reduced scan of the front of the actual as-received bi-fold flyer, about 8 1/2" high by about 3 3/4" wide, and about 7 1/2" wide when opened; printed in black & white on glossy stock)
Here is a quote from Beverly Rae Kimes (author of the Standard Catalog of the American Automobile, 1805-1932, and other automotive histories; past president of the Society of Automotive Historians) that appears on the flyer: "...The fabled Stanley Steamer story - untold, lied about, ignored, misrepresented even by the well-meaning... Here at last is the definitive work on the Stanley steam car and the men who built it and persisted with a steam car even as the world passed them by. Not just a car book, this is a slice of history as colorful as the men who made it. Long overdue, and well worth the wait..."
Another very impressive review also appears in the flyer, by John R. White (Boston Globe automotive editor emeritus): "...The Stanley Steamer is, at least, the definitive work on Stanley twins Francis Edgar and Freelan Oscar and their remarkable steam automobiles. Historian Kit Foster takes us from F.E. and F.O.'s humble beginnings in rural Maine through their climb to a place among America's industrial elite as the 19th century ebbed, into the heady world of automobiles and the birth of the industry that reshaped America, to the melancholy end of the Stanley dream as internal combustion became America's motive power. This book is at once social history, industrial history, and automotive history. Elegantly written, rich in detail, lavishly illustrated, including many heretofore unpublished photos, this book puts to rest at last the myths of Stanley Steamers and sets the record-and the records-straight. Comprehensive appendices devoted to car specifications, patents, competition results, and a chronicle of collectors who have kept the Stanley flame alive make this book a must for collector and historian alike. Or for anyone who just likes a good bite of history..."
The flyer notes that commemorative edition signed copies of the 512-page, 12" x 9" book are available, and notes a book order deadline of December 15, 2003 (no time to waste if you're interested!). For more information contact the Stanley Museum, P.O. Box 77, Kingfield, Maine 04947, or place your credit card order at 1-888-263-4702. I also did a web search for the Stanley Museum, and found their web address, which is: http://www.stanleymuseum.org/ and the press release for Mr. Foster's book also has it's own dedicated page: http://www.stanleymuseum.org/SteamCarBook.html. Finally, the main telephone number for the Museum is: (207) 265-2729, and their e-mail is: Maine@StanleyMuseum.org - Tell 'em the Shoreline Antique Auto Connection sent you!
Branford-based antique Jeep & Willys Restorer Brian Hainer featured in Shore Line Newspapers
(From: "Spring Clamdigger 2003," received the week of April 28/May 2, "A supplement to Shore Line Newspapers;" story appears on pages 16, 17, & 22)
"He's
Driven By His Passion For Vintage Jeeps and Willys" by
Amy Peters, Special to Clamdigger; photos by Paula Forlano
Many on the Shoreline have probably seen Brian Hainer tooling about area streets in one of his vintage Jeeps or Willys. "When people see an interesting old Jeep or Willys driving around, they know it's me," chuckles 33-year-old Hainer of Branford.
These unique vehicles are the tools of his trade for Hainer spends his weeks--"six and a half days," he says--transforming rusted and rotted Jeep and Willys hulks into like-new vehicles. "I restore from the frame up the old '40s, '50s, '60s models Jeep and Willys vehicles," Hainer says. "Willys were the first sport utility vehicle made. They were manufactured until 1963. Willys made Jeeps for World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
Word of Hainer's expertise has spread globally and worse-for-wear vehicles show up on his doorstep from places distant as Africa, New Zealand, and Australia. "I get all of my business from word of mouth. I can't advertise any more. Being a one-man show, I'd be way too busy," Hainer says cheerfully. "A lot of times, I'll never meet the customer. I'll come in and there will be a vehicle waiting for me!"
Hainer brings almost two decades of experience to the job of painstakingly restoring all types of Jeeps, although he focuses primarily on Willys and military Jeeps. This experience comes in handy because some of the Jeeps and Willys arriving at his shop are on their last legs--or in this case, their last wheels. "I see some vehicles that are absolutely rotted away completely. I've got one outside the shop right now with no roof and no inside. Sometimes, I have to fight with people to tell them it's not worth it to restore. Thousands of hours can go into restoring," Hainer says.
Why would anyone spend the money to restore one of these Jeeps or Willys? "Some of the Jeeps I work on are early prototypes and extremely valuable. And most are just something the person wants. It's a sickness," laughs Hainer. "They just can't stop collecting Jeeps. Some of my customers have eight or nine--some have 15 or 20! I'm working on one Jeep now that was built during the Second World War for civilian use. It's a pre-production model with serial number six. I have to hand-build the whole body back."
Hainer seems to delight in challenges such as these. As well as having almost two decades' experience. Hainer credits his ability to work with sheet metal to his mentor, Fay Butler of Massachusetts. "When you have a desire to learn you turn over every rock. I learned my metal working abilities--my sheet metal work--from a master of metal shaping who has world renown. He's taught people at General Motors to shape metal."
Hainer says that sheet metal work is becoming a lost art. In fact, some machines he needs for his work are no longer made. Hainer, when presented with this challenge, simply takes matters into his own hands and makes his own machines.
Hainer must have a trace of this Jeep collector "sickness" because he has quite a collection of the military vehicles in his personal collection. "I have about eight. I scour the country looking for early, prototype Jeeps," Hainer says.
Until recently Shoreline residents may have seen Hainer lumbering around town in an old Vietnam era Jeep. "I've been driving an old Vietnam era pickup. I just sold it to a guy who drove one of those Jeeps while serving in Vietnam. I did some research on it and found that it did combat there. The guy who bought it lives in Maine and he had to have it. It was really too slow to drive around here anyway," says Hainer a touch wistfully, clearly a bit sad to see one of his vehicles leave the flock.
Along with his passion for historic Jeeps and Willys, Hainer has a life philosophy that has helped mold his career and focus. "With my work here I'm shooting for a quality life, that's what it's all about. You can get up and just do what you like to do every day. It's long hours and terrible pay but if you like it, it's okay. And, Hainer clearly likes it.
Editor's note. Brian Hainer, owner of Brian's 4WD Parts LLC in Branford works primarily on Jeeps and Willys. Because of his expertise in metalworking, he does receive requests to work on other cars as well. He can be contacted at 203-481-5873. His shop is located at 428 N. Harbor Street, Branford.
In an e-mail dated 10/18/2002, CT's noted automotive historian and plate enthusiast of note, Kit Foster (foster@netbox.com) writes: "...Not relevant to EA plates or YoMs, but fascinating (to me, anyway) is the new CT DMV web site for vanity plates: http://www.dmvplate.state.ct.us/VanityPlate.asp...For now, this only applies to passenger registrations, but the same principles apply as for all vanity plates: as you found out with your EA plate you can request what I call a "legacy" number, one that would have been issued as a regular number in years past. For passenger plates this includes all except the current 123-ABC format and the holy-of-holies, numbers under 10,000 (for which one has to be well-connected and stand in line)...The beauty of the website is that you no longer have to select your "top six" in the blind. You can know with some surety whether you'll get your first choice (although it's not absolutely guaranteed). Of course you have to pay the $81, but I found this more attractive for a probable sure thing than a shot in the dark...Result: I recently replaced the "ordinary" 118-PFR on my 1993 Infiniti with K-99 (I've always liked the single-letter prefixes; I don't know why). 99 is my birthday (Sept 9th), and is also on my other car (KIT-99, issued in 1969)...Since I think there's a separate set of vanity numbers for EA plates (in other words something like "FRED" could be issued as passenger, combination and EA, all to different people), this process could be used to get an EA vanity (once the web site is upgraded to include EAs, which they promise for the future) with the same number as a YoM plate you happen to have. (I think.)...Anyway, it's fun to play with the web site and see what numbers you _could_ order if you wanted to. Word to the wise: most combinations of popular names (STEVE, JUDY, BARBIE, KEN, etc.) are long since taken. Interesting legacy numbers, like Y-4, are disappearing fast, it seems. OY is still available, as of this morning...Cheers, Kit..." Very cool, Kit--thanks for the info!!
"United We Stand Plates" Now Available in Connecticut
We received an e-mail dated 9/12/2002, entitled: "CT united we stand plates," from Dave Kuehn (a name we're familiar with from our ALPCA membership; dkuehn@anray.com), with the following notice: "...I got the first listing of this from the listserv. I've filled out the from the DMV page. I thought all you other Conn ALPCA members would like to get one of these too!!!..." Attached to Dave's message was a forwarded message from Tom McFeeley (tmcfeeley@rewardsfund.org), addressed to Dave, also dated 9/12/2002, that read as follows: "...David: Thanks so much for your interest in the Connecticut United We Stand license plate. The easiest way to get the plate is to go to here: http://www.ct.gov/dmv/lib/dmv/M-22.pdf But remember - fill out TWO copies and specify "United We Stand" on the OTHER line under "style of plate ordered." Plates will arrive in a couple of months, but they'll be worth the wait...(signed) Thomas J. McFeeley, Rewards for Justice Fund, (203) 354-5128, cell: (203) 249-6005..." Our thanks to David Kuehn for the heads-up on this interesting & patriotic new Connecticut passenger plate option! And here's another link from the "Rewards For Justice" web site that I located, with additional info on the Connecticut plate: http://rewardsfund.org/release.asp?num=16
Lindbergh's VW visits History Center
Our good friend and fellow antique auto enthusiast from New York Roland Metz gave us a heads-up recently on a very interesting--from a historical perspective (especially a Connecticut historical perspective--by way of Minnesota!)--web site feature. It's from the Minnesota Historical Society's online home, and the page is entitled: "Lindbergh's VW visits History Center." 'Oh no, not another VW story!,' I can hear you saying. Yes, I'll admit that it's does concern the 1959 Volkswagen automobile of the famous American aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh, but it's much more than a car story. It talks about the conservation (as an important historical artifact) of the automobile, and the techniques used to accomplish this. It also talks about how Lindbergh used the car in his lifetime, the places he'd been with it, even the dent in the fender his daughter caused (which has also been carefully preserved!). I got a special thrill when the mention was made of the Connecticut registration tag (passenger plate no. 574-239, last registration expired in 1972) that is displayed on the museum-prepared vehicle (Lindbergh having lived in the state!), and it's fully visible in a frontal view of the car in this special web site presentation! The address for "Lindbergh's VW visits History Center" is: http://www.mnhs.org/events/artifacts/VW.html, and don't forget to check out the "story in pictures" link, http://www.mnhs.org/events/artifacts/VWpics.html, for several more interesting images from the Lindbergh Beetle story (the CT plate is visible in several views; Lindbergh's actual registration certificate is also shown!). I think you'll get a kick out of it (and thanks again Mr. Metz for passing this along)!
Connecticut Suspends Motor Vehicle Safety Inspections
Please take note of this rather striking bit of Connecticut bureauocratic-type automobile news, as it appeared recently at both a ctnow.com page: http://www.ctnow.com/scripts/editorial.dll?render=y&eetype=Article&eeid=4608164&ck=&ver=3.0 , evidently first having appeared as a Hartford Courant article (the 5/23/2001 issue), and also at (the top of) the Connecticut DMV web site's own vehicle inspection page (http://dmvct.org/inspdmv.htm). This is rather unexpected, and we're not sure exaclty WHAT to think about it at this point (take a gander for yourself and draw your own conclusions; Charlie Gunn alertly did notice that, as per the DMV page, *antique* automobiles--that is: those 25 years old & older--are *not* exempted).
Guilford Resident & Award-Winning Antique Chrysler Featured in Shore Line Times
What
a surprise to find this cover feature (complete with color
graphic) in the May 2, 2001 issue of the Shore Line Times
newspaper (http://www.sltimes.com/),
Guilford edition.The story, taking up more than half of the
entire front page, was entitled "Driven to perfection:
vintage auto takes award." It was written by Kyle Stock,
staff writer, and the accompanying photo (including additional
photos that appeared on the second half of the story, on page 19
of this S.L. Times issue) by Kim Tyler. The focus of the article
is a magnificent restored 1956 Chrysler New Yorker owned by Mr.
John Cote of Guilford. Below is the text of the article, and
presented at right is a reduced scale image of the article, as it
appeared on the front page of the 5/2/2001 Shore Line Times.
"Driven to perfection: vintage auto takes award" - Most Guilford residents are familiar with the plethora of historical homes which grace the town. But a garage sitting next to Little Meadow Road in North Guilford holds an equally unique piece of history: a restored 1956 Chrysler New Yorker Convertible Coupe, one of just 10 in the world.
Thanks to an extensive and loving restoration by owner John Cote, a 26-year Guilford resident, the car recently won the highest honor an antique car can receive. It defeated 475 other vintage automobiles to win the 2000 Grand National Award at the Antique Automobile Club of America's annual Grand National meeting in July. (Webmaster's Note: The S.L. Times article Speaks the Truth! We looked back at the official coverage of the AACA 2000 Annual Grand National Meet, as published in the November-December 2000 issue of AACA's magazine "Antique Automobile"--pages 29-36 of that issue--and sure enough, there on page 34, under Class 27-B, there is listed "John R. Cote" of "Guilford, CT," with "FIRST" for his 1956 Chrysler!!)
The prize follows a string of similar accolades, including an AACA Senior Award, an AACA First Junior Award, a Bronze Lion Class Winner Award at the 2000 Meadow Brook Hall Concours d'Elegance, Most Outstanding Chrysler Award at the 2000 Connecticut Concours d'Elegance, and the AACA's National Walter P. Chrysler Award.
Like many automobiles of the era, the New Yorker is a couch on wheels, almost 19 feet long and 7 feet wide. It is a hulking metallic swell of curves and fins, an opulence of chrome, with eight thundering cylinders to pound under the hood in a throaty gas-guzzling roar.
But what sets Cote's New Yorker apart, other than the rarity of the make and model, is the little things.
The 354 cubic inch engine is a "Hemi," one of the most efficient engines ever made, noted for hemispherical cylinders which produce better combustion. Eventually the "Hemi" became too costly to produce and Chrysler turned to a cheaper alternative. As was the case with the 16 and 2/3rds-RPM record player mounted under the dash, and the "Chryslermatic" clock set in the steering wheel, a unique timepiece which winds as the car is driven.
The car is a living relic, created a year after Kerouac published "On the Road," a time when drive-in movies were everywhere and Americans drove cross-country in style.
Chrysler Manhattan Company ordered the car, one of 921 '56 convertible New Yorkers, for radio and television personality Robert Q. Lewis. Five years later in 1961, Cote's father saw the car advertised in the New York Times classifieds. He bought the car for $1000 and adopted it into the family's fleet for general use.
Cote's mother drove the car to work until 1971, when Cote left for college. His father sold him the New Yorker for $1, and Cote headed off to Albany College of Pharmacy in style.
While in school, Cote met his future wife, Lynne. Cote ushered around his future bride in the car and the couple eventually honeymooned in the car, a short affair consisting of a drive from Albany to Pittsburgh where Cote was due for his first day of graduate school.
Cote retired from his pharmacist job in 1993 and two years later began a cosmetic restoration of the car.
"We were having the garage rebuilt and the car needed to go somewhere anyway, so it was really an opportune time," Cote explained.
He dropped the New Yorker off at Final Finish in Branford for a paint-job, a general tune-up, and other superficial improvements. However, Cote's simple intentions quickly turned into a costly and time-consuming project when the mechanics at Final Finish noted the rarity of the car.
"Eventually, I said, 'If we're going to do it we're going to do it right'," he explained.
Cote's sense of "right" became a restorative obsession. Sparing no expense, Cote and company completely stripped the car, and rebuilt it from the ground up. In addition to labor, the project took an extensive amount of research. Cote pored over old books and magazines and traveled around the country to study other New Yorkers to determine what was authentic for an almost extinct, 40-year-old car.
In the name of perfection, he bought an additional New Yorker for parts, and spent years tracking down rare and unique components from dealers, junkyards, and other Chrysler owners. He even went so far as to replicate assembly line stamps of approval on the engine and reproduce an exact number and logo on the fan belts.
Four years and more than $100,000 later the project was finished, the New Yorker looked as if it just rolled off the lot, shining in Desert Rose and Cloud White paint.
Shortly after, Cote began showing the car, towing it around the country to various AACA events. In every competition five judges go over the automobile with a fine-toothed comb, each one assigned to a certain aspect of the car. Starting with a score of 400, the judges dock points for inattention to detail and sloppy or inauthentic restoration.
By winning the AACA's first junior and senior national awards in 1999, Cote's New Yorker qualified for the 2000 Annual Grand National Finals in Montoursville, Pennsylvania. The New Yorker swept the field, scoring over 390 and became one of three automobiles to ever win two national titles.
"It's gone way beyond all of our expectations," Cote explained.
With his success, his garage is getting ever more crowded. He now owns a 1957 Chrysler 300C, a 1961 Chrysler Newport Station Wagon, and a 1956 Chrysler 300B.
But Cote says the New Yorker still is and will always be his favorite.
"It's really been a labor of love, because it was in the family for so long," Cote said. "I don't drive it much anymore, but I take it around the block now and again and every once in a while I go out on Route 80, just to see what she's got left."
Drivers Class for national meets
by John P. Myer, President
(This
article is the front Cover Story for AACA's "The Rummage
Box" newsletter, Holiday 2000 edition; it was received
in the mail 12/6/2000; The Rummage Box is the official
publication of the Regions Committee of the Antique Automobile
Club of America, John M. Hart, editor, 203 Lackawanna Avenue,
Olyphant, PA 18447, 570-383-6465, DPI22@worldnet.att.net)
The Board of Directors at their October, 2000 Board Meeting, approved a Drivers Class to be included at National Meets beginning in 2001. This new Class will be open to all non-modified vehicles 25 years old and older that have not received a First Junior Award.
This new Class is designed to promote the showing and driving of non-modified vehicles. This will be a noncompetitive class that will not be judged, but will be evaluated by a team of AACA Judges as a driver vehicle.
The Club has adopted a plan to increase our membership and this Class should encourage younger persons and others to join our Club and show their non-modified vehicles. Recognition will include an oval AACA tab for mounting to the vehicle, signifying the vehicle as a Driver Participation Vehicle. This oval will be awarded at the Awards Banquet along with a 'Driver' tab. Upon receiving five of these 'Driver' tabs, a mounting board will be awarded to the owner for mounting these tabs.
The Driver Class will be featured at every National Meet except the Eastern National Fall Meet (Hershey). Preregistration is required in order to enter a vehicle in each Meet. A reduced fee for entering this Class will be offered from the usual $17.00 fee. There will be no Driver Class at the Annual Grand National Meet.
The Directors also made a change in the eligibility for Historical Preservation of Original Features (HPOF) vehicles. Beginning in 2001, vehicles in this category that are 35 years old or older may be entered in the HPOF Class to be evaluated by a team of AACA judges. Previously, vehicles had to be 45 years or older.
We believe these changes will encourage more persons to enter and participate at our National Meets in the various locations around the country. A Committee has been working for over a year on this concept, and we believe it will be good for our Club. Please plan to support this new program at the National Meets next year!
