COLUMNIST HARRY WHITELEY: My $15 automobile
It was in 1934 that I bought a Model T Ford Roadster. Yep, that’s right, and it ran. I bought it from Jay Lynch who was running Northern Auto Company in Rogers City.
Jay was Mike Lynch’s grandfather and Brian’s great-grandfather. Jay’s dealership was on Third Street in an area that is now a service station. Some years later Jerry Lynch, Mike’s father put up the present building now known as “Mike Lynch Ford.”
I was a 15-year-old high school student when I made this costly purchase of a Model T. I gave Jay $5 down and he let me take the car if I promised to pay the balance within two weeks. I drove home the happiest kid in town but that’s as far as I got. My dad said, “You don’t move this car until you have Insurance.” I finally got the insurance but it was $25—ten dollars more than the car.
I thought black was a morbid color for a young car owner so I went out and bought a can of silver paint and made that Tin Lizzie sparkle.
I paid the balance as promised and kept the receipts. In the ensuing years I kept saying to myself “I’ll remember where I put them.” A couple of years ago I told young Brian that I would give them to him as I knew he would want them. I also knew he wouldn’t believe what I
When we moved here I put everything in boxes thinking after we got settled I could go through them and see what was there. In about the third box I opened I found the receipts. There they were after 65 years, a little crispy but still intact.
Brian, they are yours or your Dad’s but you’ll have to come and get them. If I still had the Model T I would deliver them but I gave up driving last June.
(Harry Whiteley is a former publisher of the Presque Isle County Advance)