Auburn Motorfest IV

By Ken Bounds

The Early Ford V-8 Foundation has held three previous Motorfests, but this one was something special.  Yes, there were the interesting driving tours as in Motorfests I-III.  Yes, there was the camaraderie of folks who share the common goal of preserving 1932-1953 Early Ford V-8 history.  But what made Motorfest IV very different was that for the first time, participants actually gathered in a museum designed, built, and owned by the foundation.  On August 26, 2008, the foundation officers and trustees led the large group of members in a toast to the new Phase I building and the key people who had made it happen.

More than 16 years ago Jerry Windle had the vision to create the Early Ford V-8 Foundation for the purpose of preserving V-8 history and in educating the public about these great cars.  Over the years, artifacts gathered by the foundation were housed in three museums across the country; but the goal was always to centralize the collection in the foundation’s own museum.  After an extensive site search, land was acquired in Auburn, Indiana, allowing the foundation museum to be built alongside other auto-related museums in the Dean Kruse museum complex.  One year ago the foundation’s land existed, but the museum building was only architect Bill Fox’s rendition.  Today it is a reality.

On Saturday, August 23, Tom & Madeleine O’Donnell (’40 Mercury), Len & Irene Vinyard (’39 Convertible), and Ken Bounds (’50 Convertible) toured from Northern Illinois, mostly over back roads, to Auburn.  While Tom’s and Lenny’s V-8’s performed flawlessly on the 5-day tour, your author’s ’50 had a nagging fuel delivery problem.  When the electric fuel pump cooperated, all was well.  When it didn’t, a good thrashing got it going again.  Overall, not a big deal.  An unexpected detour on U.S. 6 slowed us down a bit on the way to Auburn, so we elected to take the toll road back when we returned home.  Our thanks go out to Tom O’Donnell for organizing and leading this tour.

After meeting many old friends upon our arrival in Auburn and picking up our tour bags, it was off to take a sneak peak at the new museum.  There we found a tremendous effort underway by foundation volunteers to clean up the interior and to begin to place artifacts that had just begun arriving at the museum in the past few days.  Several members had made a trek to the Chicago area to retrieve the collection that had been housed at the Beller Museum.  Others had the large task of inventorying, cataloging, and storing those items for future display.  Three donated V-8 cars and one tractor had to be cleaned up and detailed.  The foundation’s flathead engines were ready to display.  We tried to pitch in where we could as a crew rebuilt the gas station replica that had come from Beller.

Next came the cruise-in of our (mostly) Flathead Fords at the Auburn town square, followed by a delicious welcome dinner at the Elks Club.  Be sure to ask Lenny how much he paid for a round of drinks!  Foundation officers made everyone feel welcome – we were off to a great start.

Motorfest is all about touring, and on Sunday tour we did.  Our large group of cars was split into two groups for a 70-mile cruise over back roads to Wabash, IN.  There we saw the Wabash County Historical Museum (come on, did you really know that Brenda Webb, better known as Crystal  Gayle, grew up in Wabash?), the Dr. James Ford historic home, the Charley Creek Gardens, and the Honeywell House.  Lunch was a terrific brunch at the Honeywell Center.  After our cars put on a late afternoon show at a lot near the Ford home, we toured back the same roads to Auburn.

Monday was more touring with the group heading north this time to Howe, IN.  I was delighted to have foundation trustee George Walker from Phoenix ride along with me this day.  We visited the interesting and historic water-powered Greenfield Mills flour mill that also serves as Indiana’s smallest electric utility company.  After lunch at the Orland American Legion, we drove to the Great American Clydesdale facility where we were treated to up-close visits with these amazing animals along with their impressive harnesses and parade carriages.  Our final stop of the day was a wine tasting and tour at the Satek Winery in Fremont.  Back in Auburn we had plenty of time for dinner on our own and visiting with fellow foundation members.

Tuesday was a notable day.  It began with a Foundation meeting where we learned the status of the organization, details about the museum and its progress for completion, the future of the foundation, and much more.  There were lively discussions about increasing membership, commitments to ensure that goals are met, and future funding possibilities.  After lunch we all participated in a poker run with a delightful self-guided 60-mile tour over back roads.  We may have missed a turn or two along the way, but we made it through, the scenery was great (especially the covered bridge photo opportunity), we had a fun time, and Lenny even had one of the winning hands.

Late afternoon brought the highlight of Motorfest IV:  the doors to the Early Ford V-8 Foundation Museum were opened to us and we all marveled at the tangible efforts of so many people to make this dream a reality.  Our time there had to be brief since the building is not yet officially open to public occupancy, so we headed over to the nearby Kruse Museum Rotunda for our banquet.  We enjoyed a very nice meal then heard from guest speaker Eldon Hostetler, founder of the Hudson Museum.  After a very special award was presented to Jerry Windle, poker run prizes and “your choice” auction items were presented, and the goodbyes began.  We are indebted to the Motorfest organizers for putting on this meet, and especially to Connie Francis for arranging for so many interesting places to visit and for her skills in keeping everything on track.

Wednesday morning we drove our V-8’s home in the same mild, sunny weather we had enjoyed for the entire trip.  There was plenty of time to think about the fun we had, the places we saw, and the friendships we had made or renewed.  There were also thoughts about the future.  What needs to be done to get the museum open to the public?  How can I help?  When will the grand opening be?  Stay tuned!