V8 Views – Pittsburgh Edition

 

V8 – Views

We are getting our share of winter this year.  I can see the grass again after a month of being covered with snow. Based on the news about the storms in the Midwest and Northeast we may not have it all that bad.

As Dave mentioned last month, it won’t be too much longer before we can get these classic Fords back on the road.  The question is, what roads are we going to travel?  Dave is looking for ideas for road trips.  He has already scoped out the Spread Eagle Tavern in Hanoverton, OH for a spring outing.  There is a short bio on the Tavern below.  We would welcome some other inputs on possible trips.

You should have recently received your copy of the V8 club 2022 roster.  Nancy and Dave worked to pull it together after the unfortunate passing of Jim Arnold.  The cover is very attractive and Dave said they were able to do it all at a reduced cost.  After having done such a great job it would be tempting to let them do it again in the future.  But what we really need is for a new Roster Editor to volunteer to take over this important role.  You will get to see your name in the Newsletter every month as one of the benefits.

President’s Message

In a couple of weeks, it will be Spring.  I can hardly wait to drive the old cars again. I have been in the garage doing touch-up work on “Old Blue” – our 1946 Ford Coupe.  It has served us well.  I rebuilt the car in 1982 and we’ve been driving it ever since. 

I’m looking forward to having a regular meeting in March.  Les Kotouch will email you soon with the details.  It is also time to start planning our tours.  There are two ideas we’re looking at so far.  More details later.  If you have some ideas, please email me.  We will try to make it work.

If you are planning to go to the National Meet in Nashville (May 31 to June 4), you should get registered and make your hotel reservation.  This will be a fun time.  I hope we can have a good representation from our regional group.  Some of our members will be driving their old cars to the meet.  Call me if you have any questions.

Hope to see you at the next breakfast (March 3rd) or the March club meeting (TBD).

Dave Collette

collettesr@aol.com  724-368-8226 (H)     724-822-5815 (cell for text)

The Hotrod Lincoln  (by Les Kotouch)

My pappy said, “Son you’re gonna drive me to drinkin’ if you don’t stop drivin’ that hot rod Lincoln”.

I sure you all have heard those lyrics once or twice.  Did you know that there was (and is) a hot rod Lincoln? It was built and owned by a small town rockabilly performer and song writer, Charley Ryan.  Charley wrote and recorded the song in 1955.  Although the song mainly came from the mind of Charley,  it actually contained a smidgeon of reality.  The original version spins the tale of a race between a Mercury and Ford that was barreling up the I-5 Freeway out of San Pedro and being overtaken and passed by a kid in a Lincoln powered Model A.

The real hot rod Lincoln was a 1930 Model A, with a cut down Lincoln Zephyr chassis and a 12 cylinder Lincoln motor.  Charley and his band toured in a 1947 Lincoln Zephyr and one night it was demolished in an accident.  Charley’s father (in 1948) removed the body, shortened the chassis, and created the “Hot Rod Lincoln”. After the song came out in 1955, Charley would park the hot rod outside the places he was performing to attract a crowd. Charley wrote the song which was loosely based on some of his real life adventures, but it was Johnny Bond (a friend of Gene Audrey) who made the recording that went to the top.  I think it would be safe to say, if it wasn’t for the “Hot Rod Lincoln song, old Charley would have been long forgotten.

Although several versions of the song mentioned a V8, the actual car was powered by a L- head V12.  This engine was produced by Ford from 1936 to 1948.  The “Invincible 8”  replaced it in ’49.  The engine wasn’t anything special.  It was described in the day as a “big Ford”.  It started out as a 267 (4.4) and then to a 292.  They tried to punch-out the 292 (4.8 L) to 306 (5 L), but this proved to be a thin-walled disaster.  It ended its run in 1948 as a 292.

I had to condense a much longer and interesting story to fit our newsletter.  Charley died in 2008, but his restored “Hot Rod Lincoln” lives on.

 

Early Ford Day at Brady’sRun Park

The Beaver Valley Model A Club has declared Saturday, September 17, 2022  as Early Ford Day at Brady’s Run Park.  Don Gaffney let us know that they have extended an invitation to all Fords from 1903-1950 to join in the festivities.  They invited us to this event last year but it was in conflict with other activities. If you are interested mark your calendar and we will share more information about this event when it becomes available.

V8’s N’At – The Spread Eagle Tavern.

The following information about the Spread Eagle Tavern is from SpreadEagleTavern.com.

The tavern’s history dates back to the canal boom era of the early 19th Century, an all but forgotten period in time when Hanover was a thriving port on the Sandy & Beaver Canal.

Early Hanover played a particularly key role in the life of the Sandy & Beaver Canal which extended 73½ miles from the Ohio River at Smith’s Ferry to the Ohio & Erie Canal at Bolivar. Situated midway between these two points just west of the big canal tunnel, Hanover was to become a flourishing center of commerce, boasting a peak population in the late 1830’s of 2,000 inhabitants.

It was in this setting that Will Rhodes commissioned the historic Spread Eagle Tavern to be built along Plymouth Street in the year 1837. Said to have been erected by canal artisans that were thrown out of work by the Bank Panic of 1837, the tavern is known still today as one of the area’s finest examples of Federal Period architecture. The three floors, eleven rooms and twelve fireplaces inside indeed were taken directly from the works of the renowned late 18th Century architect Asher Benjamin, whose pattern books depict many of the fine raised-wood window and door casings, fluted column frames and intricately carved mantles that are seen throughout the tavern.

In 1863, the Sandy Valley Order of Free and Accepted Masons was organized on the third floor. And, finally, there’s the folklore of Abraham Lincoln’s stagecoach stop, chronicled in the minds of Hanover’s early residents.

The coming of the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railroad in the early 1850’s signaled the end of the Sandy & Beaver Canal and ultimately the demise of the once bustling village of Hanover.  Today virtually all that remains of this grand and illustrious past is historic Plymouth Street, with its many fine century homes and its once venerable Spread Eagle Tavern, with a cluster of ten national historic trust buildings adjacent to the Historic Spread Eagle Tavern.

Today, more than a century and a half after the tavern was built, and after a twenty-month ground-up restoration, the Spread Eagle is again open for business. Guests are welcome to dine in any one of our seven dining rooms…whether it be the more formal and private setting of the William McKinley room or the more rugged environs of the log “barn room”.

Before or after dinner, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres are available in the Patrick Henry Tavern Room or below in Gaver’s Rathskeller where 12-foot high vaulted brick ceilings and hand-chiseled stone walls will offer our patrons a taste of 19th Century-style revelry and good cheer. And for that road-weary traveler, overnight accommodations (on prearranged basis only) in one of our five guest rooms on the second and third floors will assure a tranquil and sound night’s rest.

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GPRG #48 Officers and Support Personnel

President:  Dave Collette                                        Vice President:  Les Kotouch

Secretary:  Nancy Collette                                     Treasurer:  Dan Taylor

Email News & Announcement Editor:  Les Kotouch

Membership Roster Editor:  Nancy Collette (open for new volunteer)

Webmaster:  Dale Wimer

Newsletter Editor:  Tom Franks   tjf192141@gmail.com           724-504-0685 (cell)