Tag: Kearney Nebraska

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The Best Way to Start the Week: Project Cars, Vintage Parts, and a Little Bit of History

We spent an enjoyable morning at a local shop digging through dust-covered inventory in search of desirable parts. Adding to the ambience of the dig was this neat project in the middle of the shop:

Until recently, this ’52 Dodge Coronet Business Coupe had been in storage for decades. It originally had a 230-ci flathead six, but now it’s about to get a new bowtie in the form of a 327/300 hp Corvette engine. A Mopar with a Chevy engine is controversial to some, but there is no arguing that the result will be tons of fun to cruise around in.

Here are just a few of the parts we came away with. First, a horn button from a 1950 Crestliner, one of the most sought-after Ford steering wheels:

This illustration from the ’50 Crestliner brochure shows the horn button on the “ultramodern” steering wheel against the background of the two-tone Sportman’s Green and black dash (it was also available in Coronation Red Metallic and black):

We also found these and, to be honest, we didn’t know exactly what they were at the time:

The K stands for “Kaiser,” of course, and some online sellers had them listed as horn buttons, but that just didn’t seem right. A little time and research resulted in the realization that they are backup light deletes/covers for a Henry J, and they are exceedingly rare. It is somewhat hard to make out, but the ’53 Henry J in this photo is sporting a pair:

1953 Henry J Corsair Deluxe at 2015 AACA Eastern Regional Fall Meet
Photo credit: CZmarlin — Christopher Ziemnowicz

We also found this 1949-1950 Frazer hood ornament in surprisingly good condition:

This ornament measures 17 inches long and features a knight’s head and an aerodynamic vertical fin, and it was the first official hood ornament for Kaiser-Frazer. The company didn’t make hood ornaments standard until 1951. Because cars were being sold without that extra touch of class gracing the hood, aftermarket companies seized the opportunity to produce hood ornaments specifically targeted to Kaiser-Frazer owners such as this buffalo sold by Gem:

These were made of cheaper materials that didn’t always survive the time and elements, so they are also difficult to find. We really hit the jackpot this week, however, and we walked away with one of those as well:

Sorry, this one is NFS. Both our county and our local school mascot are named for this majestic creature, so into the private collection it goes. Speaking of buffalo, I also found some old brochures that were published by the local Chamber of Commerce in 1922. These pamphlets touted the things Kearney, Nebraska, had to offer in the way of schools and industry, but this town was filled with hot rodders from the very beginning, and so the Chamber also felt compelled to mention that Buffalo County had the fastest dirt track in the state:

A selling point, to be sure.

Advertisement from the June 25, 1925, Kearney Daily Hub
Story from the August 23, 1924, Kearney Daily Hub
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Central Auto Electric Building in Kearney, Nebraska

I was driving past the Central Auto Electric building in Kearney the other day and just had to stop and snap a photo of this ’62 Chevy sitting out front and completing a striking tableau:

This building is just about my favorite in all of Kearney and, thankfully, it remains unmolested with ugly “updates”. It was built in 1946 by Bierman’s Auto Electric, and they moved into this building, their new location, the following year. The business handled GM parts, and this incredible double-sided United Motors Service sign still hangs out front.

Bierman’s didn’t just service GM products per this 1945 advertisement with an emphasis on Studebaker:

Bierman’s advertised their shop as the place to take your car if you wanted “action in your battery, pep in your plugs and power in your engine.” Who doesn’t want those things?

1941 Buick

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Kearney Foundry and Lambert Automobiles

I just discovered that there used to be a dealership for Lambert Automobiles in Kearney, Nebraska:

Kearney Foundry was located at the corner of 18th Street and Central Avenue.  It is a very old building, but still standing.  Notice the street paved with brick . . .

. . .and the architectural detail on the south side of this industrial building from the gilded age:

The Foundry repaired all kinds of machinery, gasoline engines and steam engines.  One 1911 advertisement boasted that their gas engines could do the work of four men on the farm. The notice featuring Lambert automobiles appeared earlier,  in 1908.  The Lambert was notable for its friction drive transmission:

The patented friction transmission had no clutch, u-joints or gears to strip. According to one 1907 story, a simple rotary engine drove a drive shaft at the other end of which was a large aluminum disk.  A fiber-faced wheel was applied at a right angle to transfer power to the axle.  Moving the fiber-faced wheel in or out from the center gave the desired speed or a complete reverse.  Here is a diagram from the patent:

Apparently, one local purchaser of a 20-hp touring car “backed the machine clear over the hill north of town, which is a feat that is not easy with other machines”.   Another story out of Kansas claimed the owner of a Lambert stopped the automobile, weighed down with five passengers, in deepest sand half way up a hill near Palmer, just to see if the car was able to start up again.  The car did start and dug its way up the hill, gaining speed the whole way.   Maybe all of these attempts to test the friction drive is why Lambert issued this advertisement:

Under “Friction Drive” it says, “It is impossible to break or injure it by carelessness or stupidity.”  I don’t know about you, but I know lots of guys that could rise to meet that challenge.

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American Ingenuity

I have been reading a book about Henry Ford called I Invented the Modern Age by Richard Snow.  In it, Snow makes the point that, at the same time that Ford was building his first automobile, there were many men in many garages around the country attempting the same feat and, incredibly, each of those men was operating in a vacuum.  Snow quotes Ford as saying, “I had to work from the ground up – that is, although I knew a number of people were working on horseless carriages, I could not know what they were doing.”

It is a testament to American ingenuity that so many were successful in creating a working automobile, and I recently discovered there was one such man right in my home town.  His name was T. H. Bolte, and he was a machinist and bicycle builder in Kearney, Nebraska.  He completed his automobile in the summer of 1900 after working on it for approximately a year and a half.  With the exception of the engine, he had to create everything, down to the last gear, by hand.  When he started building the automobile, he had never seen one in person.

Bolte’s machine weighed about 650 pounds and used a double gearing, one on each side.  It initially had a 2 hp gasoline engine that could only go 10 mph.  Happily, the local paper published this photo so we know what it looked like:

 

Bolte continued to sell bicycles and began selling automobiles as well.  This is one of his ads:

He later went into the cement business and improved, patented and sold cement mixers.  Bolte was also serving on the city council in 1904 when they passed an ordinance making it illegal to drive any vehicle other than a bicycle or tricycle within the city at a greater rate of speed than 12 mph.  The punishment for violating this ordinance was arrest and fine of not more than $100 or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days!  Every councilman voted in favor of the ordinance except for Bolte who said it “would make lawbreakers of the people.”

Bolte was absolutely correct in voting against it, but another little blurb that was published in 1901 further explains his stance.  His 2 hp engine had given out and he had replaced it with a 4 hp engine capable of making a speed of 15 mph.  Bolte was definitely my kind of guy.