|
Duryea Day 2004 —
The Story in Pictures Part 1 of 2 — © Tue Sep 7 2004 |
|
Although the Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles has its own
collection of vintage vehicles, it takes one day every year
to honor all wheeled classicalia.
And that's been occurring for 39 years now on the Saturday of
Labor Day weekend, in beautiful
Boyertown
Community Park.
Last year there was an afternoon sprinkle. Not this
year. 'Twas wonderfully blue upstairs —
with cotton puffs of white.
Duryea Day, which was begun in 1966, is so named in remembrance of
Charles Duryea,
who manufactured automobiles in nearby
Reading,
Pennsylvania,
between the years of 1900 and 1911.
In fact, he, and his test driver daughter
Rhea,
used the road up
Mt. Penn to the Pagoda to test every vehicle they
manufactured. The criteria was: If it could climb
the hill in high gear, it passed; if not, 'twent back to the
shop for adjustments.
| |
It seems that quarter of ten was Chevy Time for entrance to the
Park — we see here two from 1955 —
a red & white convertible, and a blue & white wagon, with a maroon
coupe from the '30's sandwiched in between.
On the right, we see a collection of hit-and-miss engines, owned by
Forrest and Barbara Miller of
Boyertown.
When these peculiar-sounding motors run, they
highly resemble loud popcorn in progress.
The large red one on the right dates from 1914.
To its immediate left, the dark green one,
circa
1920,
is rated at 2½ horsepower, and was used to operate a cement
mixer. Their other uses are
myriad,
and include running buck saws and washing
machines. The general horsepower range is from ½ to 3.
Motorcycles — left to right — the red 1965 Honda Dream, owned
by Barry Amole of
Spring City
— the green 1937
Indian
Chief, and
the white 1967 Harley-Davidson, model FLH, both owned by William
Walker, who is standing on the right side of his Harley. Bearded
Bill, from
Schwenksville,
may look familiar. He was the winner
of the "Best Motorcycle"
Award
at Duryea Day 2003 — with a 1940
Harley-Davidson.
Henry Smith of
Lebanon,
in the blue hat, checks out the interior
of the 413 cubic-inch, 1962 Chrysler 300H, red convertible, owned
by Charlie Valentine of
Stowe.
Zimmers are completely handmade, and come in 4 models: 2-door
coupe, 2-door convertible, 4-door sedan, and a 4-door
convertible. They run 100,000 to 150,000 dollars, plus $2500 for
the steering wheel. Order time is about 3 months, and they'll
paint it in any color you specify.
Next is the 1955 Cadillac convertible, with salmon finish, and a
white top, owned by Bob & Betty Dare of
Royersford.
•••
And playing in deep·left·field is the silver 1937
Packard Super 8, owned by John McCarthy of
Douglassville.
Left to right, waving at the camera, are clowns Tyler Harris of
Pennsville,
New Jersey — who only clowns around on weekends and
evenings — his "day job" is investigative reporter for the
world-at-large; and Sandi Miller, who has been known to sign in
on What's My Line as "Tyler's Gran." The other two
grinners are Tyler's kid-sis, Sabrina; and stroller-pusher
Darlene, who is the mid generation of this foursome. She was
originally from
Boyertown
— but when Tyler decided to migrate to
Jersey, she went along for the ride.
Cars, left to right,
Right to left,
Left to right, starting with the green one behind the tree,
Left to right,
Left to right,
Walter Dekalb of
Pottstown,
in the red cap, says, "I have never
been a huge fan of: brown cars." I don't think most people are.
But, on this car — no matter what angle
you gaze from — it pulls you in.
•••
The back end of this distinctive automobile would be impressive
even if there were no such thing in the world as "color." A 1959
Chevy Impala
derriere —
even if given the ugliest paintjob you could ever come up with
— has got to be the most inspiring (and inspired)
thing that ever came off of the drafting tables of the
Fisher
design factory. So much for tails ...
Take a gander at this interior. Edward Regar only
acquired this gem 6 years ago, but he has known the car from new
— and in its first 39 years (from 1959 to 1998),
it only had 2 owners — making Ed Number Three.
••• But I've heard:
it's what's up front that counts.
"That's true", says Ed, who comes from
Audubon,
Pennsylvania.
At Duryea Day 2004, as is his habit
whenever he "shows" it, he
lifts the bonnet — that is, opens the hood
— which gaurantees that passersby, won't
— without stopping.
••• Ed
elucidates,
"It's the stock engine —
from the factory ... 348 cubic inches, developing 280 horsepower
with the three 2-barrel Rochester carburetors."
Oh, there are little things that
are "after-market" items, such as the louvered chrome air cleaners, and
the yellow ignition wires. But the innards are "the original."
The flight deck is pretty much as you'd expect — all
factory shippings — except for the
speedo and gauges, which appear to have come from
Chicago,
rather than
Detroit
— probably
J.C.Whitney.
••• Note the steering
wheel — a 2-toner. I know someone that loved
that wheel so much, he ordered one to put in his '55 Chevy. He
got a red & white wheel. His interior was red & black.
Did you notice Ed's license plate ?
This winged creature was
indoubitably one of the show stoppers at the 39th Annual Duryea
Day Antique & Classic Car & Truck Show and Flea Market amidst the
towering oak trees in beautiful
Boyertown
Community Park on
Saturday, September 4th, 2004.
Right to left,
Fred Jaffin of
Warrington
picked an idyllic setting in the western
section of the Park to display his taffy-colored 1948 Lincoln
Continental 2-door convertible. (Your photographer
liked this "picture in the park" so much that it is currently his
PC wallpaper.)
|
And then (at quarter after noon) there was lunch.
Left to right, |
Grey 1939 Dodge Panel Truck owned by Greg Myers of
Birdsboro.
Especially attractive are the simple, 10-spoke aluminum wheels
— and very conservative flaming job over the
cowl
and fenders. Notice it also on the rear one.
On the right, a brown 1976 two-door Cadillac, Coupe DeVille, with
landau top, owned by Matt McGonigle of
Norristown.
|
|
|
| This Duryea Day 2004
Story in Pictures (Part 1 of 2)
was last updated and verified as being
accurate information as of
Thursday, August 11th, 2005. |