NIRG’s June 1
Garage Tour: Kids in a Candy Store!
By Don Drews
On a gorgeous Sunday morning in June, the Northern Illinois
Regional Group gathered at the Duzell’s house for a delightful drive and a visit
to two car collections. Billed as a
“garage tour”, it was better than a trip to
To begin, the rallying point at Lloyd’s garage was a taste of the great things to come. Club members admired the gleaming, almost-finished 37 Ford pickup sitting in the center of his shop. The floor was clean enough to eat off of, and there were welders, buffers and all manner of neat tools all around. To say this author had a serious case of shop envy would be putting it mildly.
Once the headcount was taken and driving instructions passed out, we headed out to see Jack Bowser’s collection of cars, petroliana and automobilia. Since a Bowser family ancestor invented the gas pump, he had some pretty nice stuff, including a Cobra, 41 Cadillac, Auburn roadster and a hand-made street rod roadster with a V-16 Auburn engine. His “garage” was a beautiful, fully finished play room the size of a basketball court. All the V-8ers were buzzing around like kids in a candy store, while Jack and his wife were warm and gracious hosts.
Then it was on to the Manz Museum of Motoring Memories. In this private, converted stable (again, this is a “garage”?) were about a dozen fabulous automotive specimens, including a very early Rolls, a 1954 Kaiser-Darrin Roadster, a 39 Lincoln Zephyr with a flathead V-12 and a gullwing Mercedes. And that doesn’t include the player calliope! We all had ear-to-ear grins on our faces as we pored over all the goodies.
The event wrapped up with a family style lunch at a restaurant that was only open for our party. The weather couldn’t have been better, and our V-8’s looked great stretched out in a line on the open road. What a treat—you shoulda been there!
Participating members were: Lloyd & Gladys Duzell (35 Tudor), Ken & Carolyn Bounds (36 Roadster), Ron & Arlene Blum (40 Fordor), Len & Irene Vinyard (39 Convertible), Joe & Nell Kozmic (37 Coupe), Earl & Gene Heintz (63 Galaxie), Dan Pudelek (53 Victoria), Stan Stack (53 Tudor), George & Betty Cech (36 Phaeton), John Judge (51 Victoria), Dave Benck (36 Coupe), Tom & Judy Buscaglia (51 Tudor), Frank Madrigali (51 Pickup), Ernie Herzog (53 Coupe), Colin Sprau (Custom 47 Ford), Bob Palladino (69 Cougar), and Joe Serritella (50 Olds). Paul & Joanne Linzer, Joe Novak, Charlie Kaiser, Neil McManus, and Don Drews also participated, driving modern cars. We had a couple of former members as guests who brought interesting cars as well: Mark Dombeck drove his 61 Catalina, and Dave Kuffel put the top down on his 47 Ford Sportsman.