(There's no need to read all the following unless you are interested, but it was easy to cut and paste, so here 'tis. The first two paragraphs summarize the exchange.)
When you get your March 2009 Turning Wheels, and many already have, check out the photo and caption in The Co-Operator masthead.
Now figure the odds: There were probably 300 or 400 people at that summer 1961 charity auction referenced (besides myself). One of them was, at the time, eighth-grader and now SDC member Dal Smilies of Helena MONTANA!
Dal's February 26th e-mail to Turning Wheels Editor Ann Turner follows, unedited, as does my reply to Dal. (If anyone on the Forum is a mathematician and wants to tackle computing the odds of this coincidence, have at it. I'm still stunned!) BP
[i]Turning Wheels Editor
Ann Turner - Art Unger
----- Original Message -----
From: dalsmilie@aol.com
To: tweditor@shaw.ca ; ijvik@msn.com
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 5:56 PM
Subject: Email for Bob Palma
I do not see SDC's tech editor's email address on the SDC site. Could you forward this to him? Ann-read it also, got some stuff for you in it.
Bob: I just got my Turning Wheels for March. I was amazed to see the 1961 Edgar County Shrine BBQ auction '40 Merc. I was in attendance at that event and saw the car go; I was in 8th grade I think.
Our 1948 M5 was on the back cover of Turning Wheels in Feb. I bought my first '48 M5 from Dave Clover in Paris who was married to Sara Webb. Dave just died of cancer last year in OH where he lived. That one got me hooked on these and I've had a few more.
Your may remember the Edgar County Sidewalk Sale Days in about 1965 when our Explorer Post sought to raise money by allowing people to take a sledge hammer to an old car donated by a junkyard, the one out by the Cereal Mill. I am very embarrassed to say that the car was a pretty nice '53-'54 Commander. We didn't make much on trashing it and it took me until a few years ago to buy another ('53). I'm also rather sad to say I sold the latest one a couple of years ago.
My first car in Paris was a very nice 1936 Dodge four door sedan that belonged to a little old lady who lived over by the Methodist Church/Zierens Funeral Home. It still exists in Paris but in parts.
Having our M5 on the cover of TW has turned out to be quite interesting. The story about the cover told that it had been a ranch truck from Miles City, MT (we now live in Helena, MT). An SDC member who formerly was the Fire Chief in Miles City called to say he thought the truck used to be used by the Fire Chief in Miles City. There was a Studebaker dealership there.
That got me into calling another SDC member in Miles City suggested by the caller. That led me to another number of a guy who bought this truck in about 1970. He gave me another number of the son of the guy who owned it before that who told me what ranch it was from and that the ranch had bought it used in about 1963-65 from the Hatch Studebaker Dealership in Miles City. He gave me the name of the salesman who sold it to the ranch and that guy is still alive and I have a call in to him to see if he can remember any more about the truck. He is currently at some car races in Las Vegas but I'll call him again when he gets back to his Winter Home.
The TW cover picture has lead to all this "history detective" work and it has been fun. If I get the history traced further back I'll write a little piece for TW about the fun I've had searching.
In MT the DMV will do a report of prior MT owners but my title only goes back to about 1970 where there was a break in title. Of course we have the build sheet from the Stude Museum in South Bend also.
Any way, liked the '40 Merc tidbit from Paris, IL. Plan to take the M5 there this Summer between the international Airstream Rally in Madison, WI and the SD
When you get your March 2009 Turning Wheels, and many already have, check out the photo and caption in The Co-Operator masthead.
Now figure the odds: There were probably 300 or 400 people at that summer 1961 charity auction referenced (besides myself). One of them was, at the time, eighth-grader and now SDC member Dal Smilies of Helena MONTANA!
Dal's February 26th e-mail to Turning Wheels Editor Ann Turner follows, unedited, as does my reply to Dal. (If anyone on the Forum is a mathematician and wants to tackle computing the odds of this coincidence, have at it. I'm still stunned!) BP
[i]Turning Wheels Editor
Ann Turner - Art Unger
----- Original Message -----
From: dalsmilie@aol.com
To: tweditor@shaw.ca ; ijvik@msn.com
Sent: Thursday, February 26, 2009 5:56 PM
Subject: Email for Bob Palma
I do not see SDC's tech editor's email address on the SDC site. Could you forward this to him? Ann-read it also, got some stuff for you in it.
Bob: I just got my Turning Wheels for March. I was amazed to see the 1961 Edgar County Shrine BBQ auction '40 Merc. I was in attendance at that event and saw the car go; I was in 8th grade I think.
Our 1948 M5 was on the back cover of Turning Wheels in Feb. I bought my first '48 M5 from Dave Clover in Paris who was married to Sara Webb. Dave just died of cancer last year in OH where he lived. That one got me hooked on these and I've had a few more.
Your may remember the Edgar County Sidewalk Sale Days in about 1965 when our Explorer Post sought to raise money by allowing people to take a sledge hammer to an old car donated by a junkyard, the one out by the Cereal Mill. I am very embarrassed to say that the car was a pretty nice '53-'54 Commander. We didn't make much on trashing it and it took me until a few years ago to buy another ('53). I'm also rather sad to say I sold the latest one a couple of years ago.
My first car in Paris was a very nice 1936 Dodge four door sedan that belonged to a little old lady who lived over by the Methodist Church/Zierens Funeral Home. It still exists in Paris but in parts.
Having our M5 on the cover of TW has turned out to be quite interesting. The story about the cover told that it had been a ranch truck from Miles City, MT (we now live in Helena, MT). An SDC member who formerly was the Fire Chief in Miles City called to say he thought the truck used to be used by the Fire Chief in Miles City. There was a Studebaker dealership there.
That got me into calling another SDC member in Miles City suggested by the caller. That led me to another number of a guy who bought this truck in about 1970. He gave me another number of the son of the guy who owned it before that who told me what ranch it was from and that the ranch had bought it used in about 1963-65 from the Hatch Studebaker Dealership in Miles City. He gave me the name of the salesman who sold it to the ranch and that guy is still alive and I have a call in to him to see if he can remember any more about the truck. He is currently at some car races in Las Vegas but I'll call him again when he gets back to his Winter Home.
The TW cover picture has lead to all this "history detective" work and it has been fun. If I get the history traced further back I'll write a little piece for TW about the fun I've had searching.
In MT the DMV will do a report of prior MT owners but my title only goes back to about 1970 where there was a break in title. Of course we have the build sheet from the Stude Museum in South Bend also.
Any way, liked the '40 Merc tidbit from Paris, IL. Plan to take the M5 there this Summer between the international Airstream Rally in Madison, WI and the SD
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