This vehicle is an old movie car. Having been driven by Bob Hope, Jimmy Stewart, George Jessel, Vera Miles, Darren McGavin and a host of other movie stars, it was owned by Warner Brothers studios. Movies included were “The Spirit of St Louis”, and “The Story of Mayor Jimmy Walker” in the late 50’s.

The car was sold in 1954 from a widow in Connecticut to the Murchio Museum in Greenwood Lake, New York. There it sat for many years being admired. In 1974 the Murchio Museum was altering inventory and Mrs. Murchio decided to sell the car to a friend of my father. The car left NY and headed to Owl’s Head, Maine. Not the Owl’s Head museum but a private garage where it sat for only a few days. Visiting his friend, my father left from his weekend in Maine with the Chrysler. The odometer read 18,000 miles which I am quite sure is real miles! Because this car was used primarily in movies, every time the doors closed, paint fell off. That was because it was never prepped right for a paint job. It was sprayed for color only.

In 1979 the car finally made it’s way to Vermont where it’s been enjoyed since then. I have put hundreds of miles on it over the years. Five years ago or so, I had the car painted because there wasn’t much paint left on it. There was no real need for restoration because is was sitting in the museum all those years. No rust at all. It may have never been rained on. The body shop that painted it was shocked at the condition and the method of manufacturing. Wood framing in the doors and the shear amount of hand work is impressive. The convertible top and all side curtains are original and in prefect condition. The passenger side has a little golf bag door where you slide your bag into the rumble seat compartment. The windshield lays flat giving a real sporty look. Wood spoke wheels add a very classy look. The chrome work is still very nice. I find that polishing old chrome once a year or so keeps it from rusting away.

The suspension is rather unique. The driver seat is independently sprung for a cushioned ride and the suspension is something to be enjoyed. I have a 1928 Model A as well. Comparing the rides is like comparing a Cadillac to a VW! The instrument panel even has Walter Chrysler stamped on it. All instruments are in working order. The only change I made was to add an electric fuel pump for ease.

The engine remains untouched. It’s called a “red head” engine. The head should be painted red, this one is not by accident. The “red heads” were very desirable. They offered higher compression taking the Chrysler from 60 hp to 75 hp. A nice increase. It also has dual points! A bit unusual for that era. Cruising at 55 today is no problem.

The original price in 1928 was $2700.00. My father bought it for $3000.00 in 1974. Not a bad deal back then. With another season here, perhaps you’ll see it around Lake Champlain.

A small group of us in the VAE fell in love with English cars in our youths. One car, that never sold in volume in this country, was the ROVER P5. In 2011, I made a trip to Scotland to acquire the car shown on the cover. Before I tell about that trip, I want to tell you what is planned for the car. It will end up as a fully equipped rally car with a 13 inch Mac computer in the instrument panel and a PATHFINDER infrared driving light system, just to make sure I can see 700 feet ahead at night.

Modifications for ROVER include a 3.0 liter BMW N55 engine with turbocharger, tuned to achieve 384 horsepower at 5,700 RPM. Power will be transferred to the rear wheels through a 6-speed manual BMW transmission with a “Guibo”, a flex disc, at the output shaft. The drive shaft is from an extended cab FORD F150. An adapter plate, machined by Paul Gosselin of HYDRO PRECISION in Colchester, fits on the front SPICER U-joint yoke and bolts directly to the Guibo.

The back of the drive shaft is connected to the differential with a especially made SPICER 1330 to 1350 U-joint adapter. The differential is a stainless steel and chrome plated FORD 9”, 39/13 ratio. Jaguar inboard brakes are also stainless steel, as are the swing axles. The entire unit, made by Kugel Komponents of La Habra, CA, is being installed in the ROVER unitized body by MARK’S AUTO in Monkton. This is the first time that a Kugel unit has been placed in a unitized body.

The trip to Scotland to buy the car was fraught with missteps, coincidence, and incredible luck. I rode a CONTINENTAL flight from Newark to Edinburgh, where I left my shaving kit in the airport men’s room. After retrieving it from lost and found, I took a train to Berwickshire, where the exit door jammed and wouldn’t let me off. Ten (10) miles further, I got off in a strange place that had no station agent and a phone that required a British credit card. Fortunately, a landscaper working on a yard close by had a brother in Philadelphia. He called out……“What kin I doo fur ya, Yank?”

A cell phone call summoned the antique car dealer and the whole thing turned around. The dealer drove ROVER and I rode in it for the first time. I was treated to lunch at a café in North Berwick. Over lunch, I discovered that a Scottish lady at the ta-ble was good friends with a couple in Essex Center that she has known for 45 years!
“My husband, Lyle, plays in the Berwickshire pipe band. Our American friends come every August so that he and Lyle can play bag-pipes at the Edinburgh Tattoo,” she said. “When we come to Vermont, we stay with them in Essex Center.”

Author’s note: It’s a good thing I didn’t go over there to meet another woman! By noon, 3200 miles away, my cover would have been blown…..
Having had lunch, the dealer and I went out to find a crowd around ROVER, admiring it. A little Scottish boy approached and put his hand on the right-front fender. His father, horrified, yelled: “Dinna touch the car, lad ! Dinna touch the car” !

At that point, I realized that I had to have ROVER.

The St. Albans Fire Chief’s 26 Buick is found!

If you remember, Wheel Tracks had a really nice story about a fire truck from St. Albans, VT that was turned into a ‘Speedster’ back in the February issue. A question was simply asked at the end about the car in the picture that was “the fire chief’s car. “What make and year is the car?”

Well, did that go places! There were a number of calls from folks who claimed the car was a 27 Buick, just like a few of the guesses that had come in earlier.
Then a call came in from this gent pictured to the right, Alden Chapman of South Barre. Alden is the famous VAE member who has a lifetime collection of over 2000 diecast cars. You might remember a short article about his collection in the August 2011 issue of Wheel Tracks. He confirmed the chief’s car was a 26 Buick Roadster and told me a little about it being re-stored some 43 years ago. His last comment was the Buick was stored in a garage and he knew where!

The Buick is owned today by Sue and Greg Sabens and the “garage” was just up the road from Alden’s home. Greg’s Dad, Dell, had purchased it from Charlie Arnholm on August 12th 1965, Charlie was a longtime VAE member and club president in 1961. A meeting was set up and Jim Sears and I went South to find this garage. You can see the garage on the front page with the Buick looking out from the shadows. As it turned out, the gar-age is at the home of Dell’s wife, Helen, who was the person who did all the leather and fabric work for the Buick restoration. The family lost Dell some fifteen years ago, but it was easy for us to know a little about him from seeing his part of the loving restoration on this car. Charlie Arnholm was known for his great abilities with the pin-striping brush and the Buick carries some of his work. Charlie Arnholm was also the second
owner of the Boardman/Teachout Speedster.

Greg told us with pride how his Dad won the Governor’s Award at the 1970 Stowe Car Show and how Governor Davis presented the award to his father, Dell.

Greg and Sue became the new owners in 1998 and he speaks of the many trips he has made to the Stowe Show since then….and some of the repairs he has made on the 86 year-old car. From our conversation, I think he knows a thing or two about how to keep this roadster on the road.

There were over 255,000 Buicks built in 1927 and around 10,000 of them were coupes like this one. Around 12,000 Country Club Coupes were also made. They had 207 cu. inch engines that produced 63 HP and average cost was $1100.00.

In trying to make a 100% connection between this Buick and the St. Albans Fire Department, I asked Greg haw he knew it was the Buick in the fire station picture. The Buick part, we know is correct and the 1927 part is also correct. The positive connection with the fire house was made from the fact that the “St. Albans Fire Department” logo was still on the car’s doors when Dell brought the car home.
There are two remaining mysteries and we would like to hear from you if you have any information……

1. When and who was the Buick sold to when it left the St. Albans FD, and how did it spend it’s time before 1965?
2. Where is the Boardman/Teachout Speedster? Where did it go when Charlie Arnholm sold it?

From a home in the Great Northeast Kingdom To The Champlain Valley…

January 20th, 2013 was a cold and windy day in Greensboro Bend. Hundreds of Snow Rollers were poked up in the white fields around Dave and Dot Maunsell’s home on Cook Hill. Dot had prepared a great lunch while outside at times one could see only a few feet through the swilling snow, only the Champlain Valley folks seems to be amazed at the weather outside.

Four VAEers had made their way to Cook Hill to haul the 1917 Studebaker back to Milton. The car had spent the last 18 years in Dave Maunsell’s garage and driven frequently . Gene Towne of Milton had finally convinced Dave to sell him the car after many months of negotiations. Dave is pictured above on the left and Gene on the right. (unknown to all of us at the time…the two trailer tires you can see are flat! Try to picture some ole-guys taking turns replacing the air with a hand pump…yes you have it.)

A friend had told Dave about the car and in 1995 Dave and Pev Peake drove to Michigan to examine it. The car was mostly original and had very little wear. So Dave bought the car and had it hauled home. He and Gael Boardman put new rod bearings and piston pins into the engine. Gael knew of two sisters who did leather work, and they made a new leather band for the cone clutch. Otherwise, very little has been done to it. The interior leather is in good condition but the top is not useable. Gene said that will be his first priority, to find a shop to replace the top.

It is a fair weather car. It has a 16 gallon gasoline tank, a vacuum tank and takes six quarts of oil. The owner’s manual states the car will use about a quart of oil every 85 miles. It is capable of 50 miles an hour but with two wheel brakes, which are marginal and have never been replaced, 40 MPH is a safer speed today. The speed limits in 1917 were 25MPH on the highway and 10MPH in town.

One unique feature is that the front passenger seat can be flipped to face the rear passengers. Another is that there are two ’jump seats’, with arm rests that can be used and then stored under the rear seats. The front seats are adjustable back and forth along with the clutch and brake pedals. It has a 6 cylinder engine with a monobloc (no remova-ble head) that produces 50HP. The car has a ‘transaxle’ type transmission where it is ‘married to the rear differential. It was sold new for $1075 in 1917.

In 1917, Studebaker was the largest man-ufacturer in the world of horse drawn equipment, wagons, buggies, gigs harness and the like. They got a contract in 1916 to supply the Allied Armies with their extensive horse drawn army equipment including the wooden caissons and wheel used for field artillery. With the end of the war in 1918, the company directors decided that automobiles were their fu-ture and ceased operation of all horse drawn equipment. They built a new mod-ern auto factory in South Bend, Indiana, where they remained until the end of 1964.