Roger’s Remembrances

The all-time winner in cars is of course Lizzie, the 1914 Model T. It was our family car until1929 when Dad bought a new Model A. Dad constructed a shed for Lizzie on the back of our regular garage, and Lizzie was placed up on blocks in that shed for a year until Bob became old enough to drive. Dad also fixed the driveway so that we could come into the back yard via the back alley. (The shacks and caves of earlier years had long since been dismantled.) In my sophomore year of high school Bob got himself another old car, and I inherited Lizzie.

Bob and his friend, (2)Dick Partridge, had a knack for “trading up” for another old car and putting it into reasonable driving shape. (On one occasion I did loan Bob $50 to help get one of them.) So besides Lizzie there was always another vehicle of sorts in the back yard at 506. I don’t believe that Bob ever put a name to any of these. I can’t recall the procession with exactness, but there were about four or five of these cars, including a Cord roadster, an Auburn roadster, a Chevy roadster, a Model A roadster (with a “rumble” seat), and a Model A touring. May have been another one some place in there.

. . . . . . 2 In the early ’60s when I was on an L.T.& T. business trip to Plattsmouth, I stopped for gas and ran across Dick also buying some gas. He was the same old “Fat Partridge”, with a few more wrinkles. We had a good short visit about who was where doing what.

The Cord was a real boat! You could hardly feel the bump coming off Ninth street into the alley. It had an air pump under the seat (powered by the motor) and a long hose for inflating the tires.

Then there was the Auburn, having the “racer” tail. Its wheels were kept on by screwing on the hub cap — which was alright until the threads became stripped, which happened to the left front wheel. Bob took it some place to work on the problem. So when I found the Auburn in the back yard when I came home from school one afternoon, I assumed he had fixed the problem; and I took it for a little drive.

About five blocks away when I was turning left off Plum street — whump! the left front wheel came off! I jacked it up and put the wheel back on and headed back to 506. The same thing happened when I was making a left turn onto Elm street. Coming south down Plum — slowly of course — it happened again. I can still see that front wheel rolling on down Plum street. Fortunately, there were no on-coming cars.

When I pulled into the back yard from the alley, there was Bob with a big grin spread across his face asking, “Well, how many times did it come off?”! I said, “Only three times”. Soon after that Bob traded the Auburn for something else.

The Model A touring was a pretty decent car. Bob had worked on the engine. I redid the top, got good side curtains, and installed a gas heater. It was dependable transportation to, from, and at K-State. I named it “Priscilla”. One of my last acts in Hutchinson before leaving for Chicago in 1941 was to sell Priscilla for (I think) $50. I hope the new owner had as much fun as I did with her.

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