Finding a Nugget in Colorado

forney museumIn November, Wendell and I were in Colorado to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter and family. Her son and I prepared the turkey as our Martha is a vegetarian – we baked the stuffing separately, of course! We had a good visit, which included checking out cats at a local animal shelter. Their much beloved cat had recently died. But for Wendell, the big deal was a car museum in Denver he had read about in the Plymouth Bulletin, the Forney Museum. The article was about a 1932 Plymouth PB roadster and its radiator cap which had been stolen; unfortunately accessories are frequently stolen from displayed cars, the article pointed out. Wendell had shown the article to the person issuing our tickets when we reached the museum. She made a copy of it, as they had not seen it. After a thorough tour of the museum, we failed to find that car. We were about to explore a recently restored railroad train, complete with a dining car featuring white tablecloths and fancy place settings, an elaborate sleeper car and a huge steam locomotive which had been restored by the museum. Then a volunteer guide asked if we would like to hear a talk about the train car, because she was bored and things were slow. She mentioned her own cars, which were stored in a museum warehouse, five, as I recall, and that she would get the key and show us through it.

The Plymouth roadster was also there. The warehouse was filled (crammed) with vintage cars, pickups, motorcycles and an old airplane being worked on. Quite a few were owned by local people who needed a place to store their cars. We admired her cars, saw the Plymouth, and much to the joy of our grandson, Mustangs. This remarkable lady even had a drag racer and had drag raced since she was 19. She reminded us of our own VAE friend, Doris Bailey. Martha and I were almost “car’d” out, but the gift shop restored us. As we were leaving, we told our guide we would be sending Vermont maple syrup to her as she took us into the warehouse for a tour that usually required a much larger group.

I realize that this “Softer Side” is a bit car heavy, but the Forney Museum is truly an impressive and interesting place. Look out, Nancy!!!

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