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Old 10-31-2017, 11:19 AM   #1
wingski
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Default first Ford dealer in Oregon

You guys just made me remember something. When I was very young, my Dad’s best friend was an old fellow he called “Bolt”. Bolt had been the very first model T dealer in Oregon. Now that I think about it, I’ll bet he met Henry Ford. If only I had been a little older, I could have asked Bolt about his life and experiences.

I think I remember hearing them say that that first dealership was in Salem, Oregon which makes sense because it is the state capital. I’ve tried to figure out how old Bolt was when I last saw him, and I think he was close to 80. That means he was born in the 1860’s or early 70’s. My god, what stories he could tell. I’m so sorry that I was too young to comprehend a lot of what Bolt and Dad talked about.

One time, the three of us went for a walk because Bolt wanted to show Dad where the old still of his was. Dad had to carry me a lot because I was so little, so I remember seeing things from a great height because I was on his shoulders as we walked down a deserted railroad track. I remember seeing and asking about an old treadle railroad cart sitting on a piece of side track. Dad put me down on the wood floor of the cart and him and Bolt pushed and pulled the thing out onto the main track. Then, they both got on and started moving the lever up and down to get the thing moving. I don’t know how far we went in that thing, but it was one of the most exciting things that had happened in my life so far. Watching and listening to the sound of the two men pushing down and lifting up the handles on that big wooden lever while a big curved piece of metal with teeth engaged and released a round gear that had a rod attached to it and made the whole thing move was amazing to me. I had laid on the floor and watched my Granmother’s foot as she rocked it back and forth on her treadle sewing machine, but the leather belt connecting the treadle to the actual sewing machine disappeared up under the machine, and I couldn’t see what it did. Watching that railroad hand cart do it’s job was the first time I was able to see how machinery worked, and I was able to understand why and how it was moving. That was the day that I fell in love with mechanical things. I can’t even come close to explaining what an important event that was in my life. It was the beginning of my love for all things mechanical, and I feel so fortunate that you guys have brought back another memory that is priceless.

But hold on, that’s not the end of this story. After awhile, Bolt told Dad that we were there. I can’t remember if there was a brake on that thing, but we stopped and walked a little way into the forest. There among the trees was an old wooden shack with one side open and I could see an enormous metal tank with all kinds of curly copper tubing coming out of the top and down onto the ground. That might have been the first time I saw copper, and I loved that wonderful color. It was a little green where it touched the ground but for the most part it still was bright. Dad and Bolt tried to explain how the thing worked by showing me where the fire had been built under the tank, and I could still see all the charcoal on the ground. However, the distillation process was still way beyound my understanding, and I couldn’t understand what the whole apparatus was for.

I remember how upset my Mom was when I started babbling about Bolt’s still when we got back. She didn’t think it was proper for my Dad to have allowed me to see something like that. The whole thing confused me for years until I was able to understand what I had seen and how Mom felt about bootleg booze.

I hope you guys don’t mind me telling these stories, but I feel so fortunate that I have these memories and know they’re going to die with me unless I share them. One of these times, I’ll tell you about the first time I was accused of lying because I told Mom and Dad about seeing the gigantic flying wing that was so high you couldn’t hear the propellers.

Mike
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Old 10-31-2017, 11:46 AM   #2
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Cool story thanks
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Old 10-31-2017, 11:52 AM   #3
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Wonderful story! I loved it. It amazing how much and in what detail we can remember things going back 60+ years but can't remember what we went into the kitchen for....lol.
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Old 10-31-2017, 12:42 PM   #4
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Default Re: first Ford dealer in Oregon

Good story. Did you ever see Bolt's shop/garage ?
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Old 10-31-2017, 12:50 PM   #5
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Wonderful story! I loved it. It amazing how much and in what detail we can remember things going back 60+ years but can't remember what we went into the kitchen for....lol.
Today, I went to the galley for Pancakes & Coffee
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Old 10-31-2017, 01:06 PM   #6
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Thanks for sharing Mike. Jeff
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Old 10-31-2017, 01:43 PM   #7
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Good story. Did you ever see Bolt's shop/garage ?
If I remember correctly, Bolt was sort of a hermit. He lived by himself in a log cabin with no shop or garage. Dad and him did a lot of hunting together, and I think they'd know each other since Dad had moved to Oregon in the mid-thirties.

I've got another story. One day, I think it was in the summer of 1947, I was lying on my back looking at clouds. Something was different up there because a silver thing was leaving at least two long thin streaks like clouds behind it as it moved across the sky. I couldn't hear anything at first, but after really listening, I could detect a slight humming sound. However, that sound was so slight that it was hard to hear even if you were really listening. My three year old ears hadn't been exposed to all the crap that came later so I could hear it. I squinted and could make out four engines on each wing, but there was no fuselage or tail. I’d only seen a few airplanes, but I knew they were supposed to have a tail. I also realized that this thing was higher than anything I’d ever seen before. I just laid there until it disappeared to the South.

I went running into the little shack that we lived in and told my Mom. She just laughed and went back to taking care of my six month old sister. That was OK because when Dad got home, I’d tell him about what I had seen, and he’d appreciate it.

I could hardly wait, and when Dad got home all covered in lime dust and cement (he was a cement finisher) I pounced on him telling all about the thing in the air. Mom and Dad had quite a chuckle about their little boy’s imagination. They didn’t believe me and it broke my heart. I didn’t know how to tell a lie let alone something as fantastic as that. Hell, I couldn’t even read yet, we didn’t have a T.V., and I’d never been to a movie that I remembered. It was all radio and what I saw was a little bit out there even for Buck Rodgers or Flash Gordon. I went to bed in tears that evening because my folks didn’t believe me. How could they not trust me to be telling the truth?

Much later, I think it was 1958 or ’59 the Flying Wing was declassified and pictures of it were shown in the news. I told Mom and Dad that was what I had seen, but they didn’t remember that summer day in 1947. That didn’t help one little bit, and I’ve always allowed someone lee-way when they say that they’ve seen a UFO.

Mike
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Old 10-31-2017, 02:35 PM   #8
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Default Re: first Ford dealer in Oregon

Well, that certainly was a UFO that fine day wasn't it.
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Old 10-31-2017, 03:42 PM   #9
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Well, that certainly was a UFO that fine day wasn't it.
Oh boy, was it ever. It's amazing how clearly I remember seeing that thing. It's almost like it happened yesterday, and my god it happened 70 years ago.
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Old 10-31-2017, 04:36 PM   #10
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I imagine you guys have companies offering the same service as some here that sell a kit for people to record their life's experiences so their younger folk will know them better even it they are so much later that they never met. It's after hearing stories like that that I realise I have lots of things rattling around in here that would amaze my children and grandchildren to say nothing of the generation after them.
The way technology changes so rapidly these days, it is difficult to know what format to use so it can still be read in a few decades time. Maybe written on paper the OLD way might be better than any new fangled digital techno stuff. Strange!
My wife and I recently compiled some of our early family photos into a book and gave the kids one each and one for each grand child. They loved it and we loved watching them look at them for the first time in years. There were laughs all round. I'm sure I can find a few old photos from my childhood to go with my stories too. Hmmmm. Might start with a recording of my voice, then transcribe it.
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Old 10-31-2017, 06:26 PM   #11
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There were several versions ...


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49

1. Four engines

2. Six engines

3. Eight engines

And piston engine ones also...


Eight engine version ...
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...YB49-6_300.jpg

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Old 10-31-2017, 06:58 PM   #12
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Default Re: first Ford dealer in Oregon

Those stories are great and are worth sharing. It is easy to record these stories now with your phone, so you should do it. What might be particularly meaningful is the story of the flying wing and how adults don't often put much stock in what kids have to say. Your grandchildren or others might really enjoy that to realize that you are not all that different from them.

One often wonders where these things get imprinted in your mind? I have wondered about my love of old cars, but a friend of my dad's had an old Buick, from the teens or early 20s that was still his daily driver and this was in the mid 1950s. We went to visit him and I never forgot that car. I must have been 5 or 6. Whether it is true or not, I tie my love of old cars back to that day.
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Old 10-31-2017, 07:28 PM   #13
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My first post here and with that hello to all of you. I am soon to be an owner of a 1930 model a sport or business coupe. My dad and mother passed in the last two years and I'm the only child interested in the car, but I'm really really really interested in it .


The story of the flying wing and your parents not believing you made me think of something I had to share with you. My son who is now nineteen and in college was in daycare. My wife found a little toy in his pocket when they got home that wasn't his. We knew everything he had as we have been very involved with our kids. The toy was in the shape of a large capsule and had a steel ball inside and it would always stand up because the ball would use gravity to force it to. It also had the shape of a man painted or decal on it. I guess my little fellow was around three at the time.

I asked him where he got it and he said it was just in his pocket. I went through the whole "things just don't magically appear in your pocket". I kept asking and I could tell he was frantically trying to come up with a way that it was in his pocket. He started crying and it ended with me saying " when you get to daycare you will tell everyone you took something that wasn't yours", wife agreed.

Wife calls me later and says " when we got to daycare I took him in and we told one of the ladies that our son had something he needed to tell everyone". The lady says " I need to tell you something first, I put a toy in his pocket on Friday and since I didn't have more for the other kids I didn't say anything".

I almost cried when my wife told me that because I understood what he was going through when I didn't believe him, almost cry now typing it.

I still have the little toy. The lady loved our son like he was hers.
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Old 10-31-2017, 08:30 PM   #14
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DON'T know the date of our Valliant, Oklahoma Ford Dealership??? It belonged to Chiefs' school Buddy, Bill Ogan & Chief worked part time there. Built from LARGE River Rocks & the building still exists.
In '45 & '46, Chief ran a Conoco Fillin' Station across the street, I wuz his "GOPHER" & braved the Busy Highway 70 traffic, to go there & pick up parts for him. YES, we had a CHARGE ACCOUNT there!
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Old 10-31-2017, 08:46 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by History View Post
My first post here and with that hello to all of you. I am soon to be an owner of a 1930 model a sport or business coupe. My dad and mother passed in the last two years and I'm the only child interested in the car, but I'm really really really interested in it .


The story of the flying wing and your parents not believing you made me think of something I had to share with you. My son who is now nineteen and in college was in daycare. My wife found a little toy in his pocket when they got home that wasn't his. We knew everything he had as we have been very involved with our kids. The toy was in the shape of a large capsule and had a steel ball inside and it would always stand up because the ball would use gravity to force it to. It also had the shape of a man painted or decal on it. I guess my little fellow was around three at the time.

I asked him where he got it and he said it was just in his pocket. I went through the whole "things just don't magically appear in your pocket". I kept asking and I could tell he was frantically trying to come up with a way that it was in his pocket. He started crying and it ended with me saying " when you get to daycare you will tell everyone you took something that wasn't yours", wife agreed.

Wife calls me later and says " when we got to daycare I took him in and we told one of the ladies that our son had something he needed to tell everyone". The lady says " I need to tell you something first, I put a toy in his pocket on Friday and since I didn't have more for the other kids I didn't say anything".

I almost cried when my wife told me that because I understood what he was going through when I didn't believe him, almost cry now typing it.

I still have the little toy. The lady loved our son like he was hers.
Betcha your son remembers it too!
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Old 10-31-2017, 09:45 PM   #16
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History, My Dad was one of the workers on the Flying Wing project and he described the devastation to all the employees working on it when word came down to destroy all the parts & pieces!
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Old 11-01-2017, 08:16 AM   #17
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History; Welcome to the barn.
Wingski (Mike); another great story about the flying object. I recall a similar incident when I was about 8. Never seen anything move that fast in the sky. Still to this day.
When our car club goes on tours, quite often the topic of conversation turns to the Avro Arrow. A Canadian aviation marvel that got scrapped. And all blue prints and prototypes destroyed. Maybe that is what I'd seen as a child?
BTW, do a search on the Avro Arrow. A proto type was recently found in a lake in Northern Ontario.
Jeff
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