The World's Most Modern Car

I have always been proud that I can spot and identify old cars. The bumpers, the grills, the taillights all help separate a 55 from a 56 or a Dodge from a Plymouth. I thought I knew them all until I came upon Steve Matthew’s newest acquisition at the Foundation for Allen Schools Car Show in May.

Parked alongside the classics was a two tone 1950 Nash Statesman Custom Brougham. The car was so unusual and rare that nearly every visitor first asked “what is it?”

The Nash Motor Company, which merged in 1954 with Hudson to become American Motors, was still an independent car maker when the Statesman was introduced in 1949. Clearly influenced by the streamlined airplanes and locomotives of the day, the Statesman’s design was promoted as “the world’s most modern car.”

Matthews, who works as a director of governmental and public affairs for Atmos Energy, has owned at least 15 classic cars over the past 25 years but the Nash is special he admits.

“The car is unique in so many ways. Aside from the design, the car had many features that weren’t found on other cars of the era.”

These included a unibody design, a one piece curved windshield, a “uniscope” instrument cluster mounted on the steering wheel, a “weather-eye” heating and ventilation system and rear seats that resemble a train club car. The most unusual feature allows the front seats to fold backward turning the car into an overnight camper complete with mosquito netting and mattresses stored in the trunk.
Matthew’s car was first sold in Humboldt, Kansas where the original owner kept it until 1985. It passed through several hands before he purchased it sight unseen from a dealer in North Carolina. It was delivered to Allen with 55,000 original miles.

“I had recently sold my 1951 Cadillac and was looking for a new project,” says Matthews. I was looking for a Packard when I came upon the Nash, which was posted online from a classic car dealer I knew. I had spotted a 1951 Nash in 2005 but didn’t buy it. I waited five years for another one to appear.”

Nash sold about 110,000 Statesman models in 1950 and only 132 Broughams. Matthews is an active member of the Nash Auto Club and believes that his is the only one in existence. Because it is so rare, he finds it hard to place a price on it.

“The car cost about $1,800 in 1950 but today there is nothing to compare it to. I am more interested in the uniqueness of the car than the value.”

Matthew’s cars through the years demonstrate his philosophy that classic cars should be admired in their original condition and not customized. He also avoids the predictable classics such as the 57 Chevy because he wants cars that surprise and delight folks.

Among the cars he has restored since 1985 are 1956, 1958, 1963 and 1964 Chevrolets, two 1941 Cadillac’s, a 1956 and 1961 Chevy pickup, a 1957 Ford, 1954 Buick and a 1957 Pontiac.

If the unusual car looks familiar to baby boomers, they might think back to the old Superman television series. Lois Lane drove a Nash Rambler and Clark Kent drove a Nash-Healey sports car. Nash had a contract with the show and both good guys and bad guys drove the classic cars.
Matthew’s Nash Statesman rides more like a passenger plane than a speeding bullet as it cruises down the street and it is still turning heads at the age of 61, which is more than a few baby boomers can say.

Frozen Food Memories

Chicken nuggets and crinkle fries – that is my daughter’s contribution to the Carroll household. Along with her brother, the two hauled most of their valuable possessions to Lubbock last weekend. What they left in our empty nest was a freezer full of indigestion.

For years the kids have tagged along on trips to the grocery store. A quick trip to Lowe’s wouldn’t even get them off the couch but mention a food run and they are suddenly anxious to spend time with mom or dad. The trip would inevitably lead to the frozen food aisle and the negotiations would begin.
“I need some Hot Pockets for breakfast,” one would say. “I think we are also out of tater tots and these new seasoned extra crispy fries look great.”

Between the frozen pizza rolls and rock hard taquitos, there was always something frozen that we “needed” and for years I enabled that need.

I understand their craving for crinkle cut fries because I once filled my freezer with foods of minimal nutritional value. Banquet Pot Pies were a staple in my 1970’s college diet because they were cheap, smelled good when cooking and tasted – well – lousy but that wasn’t the point. Along with Kraft’s Macaroni and Cheese, a frugal college student could spend $10 a week on groceries
The irony of college eating was that I complained about dorm cafeteria food until I started eating pot pies several nights a week. Fancy eating in college was the 4-course TV dinner, a childhood favorite of mine as well.

“Go pick out frozen dinners for everyone,” my mother would say. I knew everyone’s preference – fried chicken for my mother and brother and Swiss steak for dad. Turkey dinners were my favorite even though I always burned my mouth on that boiling cranberry cobbler.

Just days before the kids shipped off to college, we announced that the kids must start clearing out the freezer and that night’s dinner would be a good start. It was a meal fit for a five year-old as we prepared a giant baking sheet of southern chicken patties, crispy fries, tater tots, corn dogs, fish sticks and chicken nuggets.

The smell of that baking smorgasbord was hard to describe but the meal was tolerable with a good dose of ketchup and honey. We never got back to the freezer food and the kids headed off to college leaving us with half opened corn dog boxes and hot pockets and just one Steak umm.
I freely admit that we miss the kids but it feels good to take back control of the meals (and the freezer). We tossed the kid’s frozen foods into the garbage tonight and cooked a nice steak on the grill. I would imagine our half empty freezer now being filled with frozen vegetables and Lean Cuisine meals. Still, somewhere underneath it all you might find a Hungry Man turkey dinner and one Steak Umm just in case of emergency.

When Do We Get To Relax?

For the first time in 14 years I will not be attending an Allen ISD meet the teacher night. I will not be anxious about my kid’s first day and I will not be standing in line at Office Depot on that first night. Instead I will stress over my kids driving to Lubbock and I will be hoping they checked the oil along the way.

With our daughter heading to Texas Tech for the first time and our son returning to Lubbock, the Carroll’s have entered new territory. Parents of college-age kids are now nodding their heads in agreement. I am no longer stressed about the teachers or the locker combination. I’m too busy stressing over things that are completely out of my control.

As Allen ISD’s public information director, I often speak with parents who are concerned about their children and school. How will my child find her way to class? Should I join them in the cafeteria on the first day? Do you have reserved parking spaces for kids at the high school (a favorite of mine)?
Every question is a good one because it’s our job as parents to be a little stressed and watch out for our own kids. Speaking with parents about school is easier now that my wife Ann and I have run the gamut from kindergarten to graduation. It’s not that simple with college.

The problem with sending kids to college out of town is that there is no one to call. I considered calling the Texas Tech public information office to see if the dorm room is carpeted but it just seemed a little trivial. Maybe I should ask if they have reserved parking spaces on campus for my kids – that would get a good laugh.

We dutifully purchased how to succeed in college books for each of the kids in the hopes that they would be better prepared. I doubt that either kid read them. In fact, my daughter packed her “how to” book this week admitting she hadn’t seen it since Christmas.

As parents we may not be ready but the kids are. Their advice book is now called Facebook and they are both better prepared to face college than I ever was both academically and socially.
Part of the credit must go to the Allen schools and a lot of great teachers. Along the way they pushed and challenged my kids in ways that no nagging parent could. Just watch a lazy ninth grader pop out of bed at 6:15 am for band practice and you see things more clearly.

When my kids were in fourth grade I worried about them being bullied for lunch money in middle school. It never happened. When they were in eighth grade I had a hard time imagining them succeeding in that big high school but they did. When they were in tenth grade I couldn’t imagine their rooms ever being clean again and they weren’t – at least until they left for college.

I asked a more experienced friend “when will I stop worrying about the kids and just relax?”
“Relax?,” he said. “Wait till they come home again looking for a job. Wait till you have planned a wedding. Wait till you’re expecting to be a grandparent. Should I continue?”

I think I’ll drop an email to that Texas Tech public information guy in the morning.

I-35 Attractions & Distractions Part 2

We began our tour of driving distractions along I-35 last week and pulled over in Italy, Texas for a kolache. This week we continue through Waco, home of the Dr. Pepper, Texas Rangers and Texas Sports Hall of Fame Museums as well as Health Camp Burgers and Shakes.

The Dr. Pepper Museum at Exit 335 is self-explanatory. It outlines the history of the world’s oldest major soft drink manufacturer from 1885 to the present. No one knows where the name Dr. Pepper came from but customers called out “pour me another Waco” in the early days.

Baseball enthusiasts would be disappointed to find the Texas Rangers Museum makes no mention of the 2011 World Series but the Texas Sports Hall of Fame does. Notable names in the Hall include: Bob Lilly, Babe Didrikson, Johnny Rutherford, and Sheryl Swoops. (Exit 335)

Just south of Waco at Exit 333 is the famous traffic circle and two long-time burger joints. The unusually named Health Camp burger stand opened in 1949 and still dispenses burgers, shakes and fries with a heavy dose of nostalgia for Baylor alums. Across the parking lot is the Elite Café which opened in downtown Waco in 1919. It moved to the busy traffic circle south of town in 1941 and has since been modernized. In 1941, it was the first Waco restaurant to be air conditioned which made it extremely popular with the locals. Elvis Presley made stops at both during his tours of Texas. Either burger joint is a great alternative to the standard highway fare along I-35. (333)

Sitting on the southern edge of Belton is the Bell County Exposition Center. The center resembles a nuclear missile silo with its silver dome but residents of Bell County know it as the home of the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame and numerous failed sports franchises. The Texas Bullets of the Professional Indoor Football League held on for ten years. Then the CenTex Barracudas came to town with the Indoor Football League and the Central Texas Stampede of the Western Professional Hockey League. (292)

The glowing eye on signs for Inner Space Cavern calls to motorists for miles before they reach Georgetown. The cave was discovered by workers with the Texas Highway Department in 1963 when I-35 was built. The cavern is like a prehistoric sinkhole that could be 90-100million years old which makes it older than the Czech Stop and Health Club. (259)

A modest building at Exit 220 in Buda says Anti Monkey Butt Corporation. A detailed description of the ailment that motorcyclists and bicyclists often suffer from is not needed here but their website says Anti Monkey Butt products will cure it. Just Google it. (220)

Long before the outlet malls took over, there was Ralph the Swimming Pig and Aquarena Springs in San Marcos. Land around the natural springs was developed in the 1920’s but the property hit its stride in the 1950s and 1960s when an amusement park was added. The Aquarena Springs website describes glass bottom boats, humans playing Tic-Tac-Toe against chickens and Ralph’s famous swine dive. At its peak 250,000 visitors stopped but hard times came and Texas State University purchased the whole property in1996. Today the amusements are gone but the glass bottom boats remain along with natural exhibits. By the way, the film Piranha was filmed there in 1978. (206)

There are so many more distractions along I-35 yet to be discovered. Send your favorites to flipside@tx.rr.com. In the meantime, happy motoring.

As The (Rotary) Wheel Turns

Across the country and around the world travelers will find small metal signs tacked to buildings and billboards that represent service club such as Kiwanis, Lions Club and Rotary. If you are not a member of a service club, it’s easy to ignore the signs that are often dented and faded. For many years, however, traveling businessmen and tourists have sought them out to locate meetings and connect with club members far and wide.

Each service club has its unique traditions and goals but they are all more similar than different. Millions of people around the world meet regularly in service clubs for fellowship and the desire to help others. They tackle problems such as eradicating polio or providing clean drinking water or conquering the causes of blindness. They also eat a lot of food, tell a lot of bad jokes and generally have a lot of fun.

One of Allen’s oldest service groups is the Allen Noon Rotary Club, which was chartered in 1978. Allen’s first club was the Jaycees who were formed in 1968. In fact, many of the early Rotary Club members were also part of the Allen Jaycees.

A fellow who called himself Orville Fudpucker was responsible for bringing Rotary to Allen. Orville, whose real name was Terry Dobbins, was chairman of the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) board in Plano and made it his personal goal to start up an Allen club. His Plano club sponsored the new Allen group and Orville attended almost every Allen meeting that first year.

He made contact with Charlie Claytor, an Allen homebuilder and Carl Gilliland, an insurance agent. Charlie’s son Mike was the club’s first president and Carl fell in as president-elect. In all, twenty-five members made up the charter group including familiar names such as ET Boon, Don Rodenbaugh, Newton Buckley, Mike Long, Don Brazeal, John Horn and John Pierce.

The club first met in the old one story cafeteria which sat on McDermott behind the old red brick school on Belmont. Both buildings were razed for construction of the new First Baptist Church in the late 1990’s.

Our lunches were catered by Tinos in Plano, according to Carl Gilliland “but we had to drive down to Plano and pick them up each week. Tino Trujillo was a big supporter of the Rotary Club and deserves some credit for helping us get on our feet financially.”

“We really had no clue what Rotary was when it started. We just listened to Terry (Dobbins) and started recruiting members,” said another charter member Buddy Camper.

Like most service clubs, the Rotary meeting space moved as the club grew and its needs changed. They first moved to St. Jude’s Catholic Church, then the First United Methodist Church, then the Allen City Hall courts building and Chase Oaks Golf Course. Today the club meets each Wednesday at noon at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel in Allen.

Each hour long meeting includes an informative program of about 30 minutes on almost any topic of interest to club members.

The club’s first program chairman, ET Boon, admitted that good programs in the early days were hard to come by. “We pulled in every elected official in the city and county and then brought in police and fire chiefs, football coaches and school administrators.”

One of the more memorable ones, according to Boon, was Billy Clayton, who was speaker of the house in Texas and running for governor. Several days later our Rotary speaker was indicted (but later acquitted) on bribery charges.

Charter members Carl Gilliland and Newton Buckley have remained with the Allen Noon Rotary Club for 33 years.

As Allen has grown, so have the number of service clubs. Our community now benefits from a morning and noon Rotary Club, a noon and evening Lions Club and a noon Kiwanis Club.
Despite the growth, the goal of Allen’s service clubs remains the same; to benefit the community and groan at corny jokes. Some things never change.

I-35 Attractions and Distractions Part One

Pulling out of my Allen driveway several weeks ago I found myself dreading the 300 mile drive (race) to San Antonio along I-35.

It’s difficult to say how many trips I’ve taken down I-35 but each time I seem to notice something strange or different. On this particular trip I finally took time to jot down just a few of the I-35 sights that fellow road warriors have passed by for years. The list is referenced by the mile markers that count down the distance to the highway’s end in Laredo.

Once I see the Dallas Zoo’s giraffe sculpture I know that Dallas traffic is behind me and the long haul begins. The statue is the tallest in Texas at 67.6’ and was built in 1997. It is no coincidence that the giraffe is 5” taller than Sam Houston’s monument which opened three years earlier. (425)
If your house stayed cool this past month, you can thank the folks at Owens-Corning and the massive plant in Waxahachie that produces fiberglass insulation. The company best known for its Pink Panther mascot, was founded in 1938 when Corning Glass and Owens Illinois joined forces to create glass fiber. (403)

Approaching exit 387 travelers spot one of the weirdest sights along the trip – Bruco the 240’ giant caterpillar. Bruco (Italian for caterpillar) is the headquarters for the Monolithic Dome Institute. The Institute was created by David South in 1975 to study alternatives for building construction. His company builds 100 monolithic domes each year which have been used for gymnasiums, churches and private homes across the United States and 52 countries. The Institute’s property on I-35 also includes 25 smaller dome home rental units. (387)

The exit also features an abandoned restaurant shaped like the Starship Enterprise. The place was called the Starship Pegasus Restaurant and featured roadside food, entertainment and photo opportunities with aliens all under, what else, a monolithic dome. (387)

Just far enough from Allen for a stretch break is Carl’s Corner. Originally owned by Carl Cornelius, the “town” became a favorite stop for truckers in the late 1980’s. Carl and his friend Willie Nelson co-founded a bio-fuel business in 2004 and turned the Carl’s Corner Truck Stop into Willie’s Place. The truck stop operated as a Willie Nelson museum, saloon, theater and headquarters for BioWillie fuel. Apparently the enterprise never made a profit and Willie’s Place declared bankruptcy. Travel Centers of America bought it at auction and have converted it into a modern Petro Truck Stop. The museum and theater are gone but the classic Carl’s Corner sign still invites travelers to stop in. (374)

The best way to ruin lunch in Waco is to stop for gas in West; the “Kolache Capital of Texas.” The Little Czech Bakery at the Czech Stop cranks out 200-600 kolaches a day and moves a fair amount of peanut brittle as well for 24 hours a day. My favorite Czech Stop memory was standing in line outside in the late November cold with Allen Eagle and Plano East football fans. Both teams had won big football playoff games earlier in Waco and fans needed some comfort food for the ride home. (353)

With almost 200 miles to go and so many more distractions, we will need to stop for some kolaches and continue our tour along I-35 in next week’s column.

Seventies Schlock For Sale

I passed a garage sale recently and one item caught my eye. It was a water bed frame and headboard. The sign said best offer and it was late in the day. I’m guessing that the husband will dutifully haul the massive frame back into the garage where it will sit for another decade.

Sixties memorabilia always catches my eye but I still find it hard to get nostalgic for seventies stuff. I don’t look for it and I often cringe when I see it being slightly embarrassed that I owned many of the tacky objects. Many others do not share that opinion and openly sell their seventies stuff on E-Bay. Here are just a few examples of seventies memorabilia that you too can own by visiting www.ebay.com.

What better way to make a seventies statement than in an American Motors Pacer. I found a 1977 hatchback with 99K in poor condition listed at only $550. It would make a great conversation piece even if it doesn’t run.
Music is important so bid on the new Sears Underdash 8-Track player. It is listed at $199 and has never been used says the owner. You will also need to stock up on music so consider the lot of twenty-four 8-track tapes and leatherette case that are listed at $7.85. Tapes include Foghat, BTO, Mountain and The Eagles.

If disco music is more your style, check out the DecoGlam vintage platform shoes (size 8) for $20. The red shoes will match the vinyl high waisted disco pants for $19.99 and the polyester atomic print disco shirt also for $19.99. An outlet on Long Island is selling vintage mood rings for $4.50 to complete the ensemble.

Decorating the hot tub room with seventies stuff is easy with Ebay. A six-pack of unopened Billy Beer is going for $17 and a 1979 Skylab Protective Helmet is $8.99 today. Go all the way and bid on an original Bell Telephone phone booth starting at $999. Shipping is not included. Calls are only ten cents.

Friends will be impressed or confused when you display your Dallas Tornado soccer pennant ($9.95) and even your kids will be amazed that you spent $225,000 on an original Roger Staubach rookie football card. Amazement may not be the first reaction you get from your wife however.
Speaking of collectible cards, you can re-buy your Jaws movie trading card collection (volume 1) from 1975 for only $1.99. A similar set of 1977 Star Wars trading cards start at $36.99. An original copy of the Saturday Night Fever lp in good condition is about $15 and an autographed photo of John Travolta from the movie Grease will set you back $199.

My favorite seventies item was a “Hard Side King Size Water Bed and Frame” with headboard, mirror and a black light. The heated bed is only $300 but the listing states that the owner will only deliver it within 20 miles of Billings, Montana.

How much will it cost to recreate the seventies in your house? Figure it out on a vintage Texas Instruments 2500 Calculator. The unit, which cost about $135 in 1972, has dropped in value to $99 in 2011.