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January 2007: Old Car Guys Predict Future
The year 2006 was very significant to the Nelson family. Martha, the third of the four kids, got married. Maybe some of you readers will remember Martha; she attended Hampton School and UT. Since then she has lived away from here, presently, borough of Brooklyn, City of New York, where she teaches music. She found a husband in the big town, a transplanted Canadian named David Aaron. They got married April 18 in Hampton. (I’ve said that this little town gets its claws in you and you; always come back.) Martha wanted to get married on the river bank, but my spouse, Jane, as in Jammin with Jane, suggested the village hall since it was celebrating a birthday. I called to see if it was ok and I was told “I guess it would be ok, nobody has ever done it”. Martha was glad. It was her second marriage and for the first one she had a big deal and spent a bundle of money, and it didn’t work anyway. So, they got some kind of preacher from the internet. It was a good deal because he took the wedding pictures, also.
So, on April 18 the deal was done. David’s parents and sister came from Toronto, Canada for the event. I didn’t know it at the time but the Aarons are “old car guys”, that is they have a strong interest in antique autos. Joan Aaron it turned out writes for a newspaper for antique car buffs ("Old Autos" - www.oldautos.ca) and she wrote an article about the event. What inspired her to do such a thing in a publication about antique cars is the main object of this piece. That will become clear to you as we go on...
The Aaron family flew from Toronto to O’Hare field in Chicago, where they were very interested in the display of a World War II “Wildcat” fighter like the one piloted by war hero, Lt. Commander Edward “Butch” O’Hare, for whom the airport is named. They then boarded a plane taking them to the “tiny city” of Moline. At Quad City airport they were surprised and delighted at the sight of a Velie aircraft, auto, a fire cart, and carriage. To quote Joan Aaron, “we had never heard of Moline until our education was challenged by our daughter-in-law’s parents, 5th generation history of a lovely 1800 population hamlet perched on the silent banks of the 2500 mile Mississippi river’’’
All of this inspired Mrs. Aaron to do some intensive research into the Velie Company and Quad-City auto manufacturing in general. Most of us know that Velie was John Deere’s grandson. They started manufacturing autos in 1908. 1000 Velie autos were sold in the first year. A Velie finished 17th in the 1911 Indianapolis 500 in 1911... 3500 Velies were built every year until 1920 when 9000 cars were built. Then W.L. Velie died of a heart attack at age 62, and his son died 4 months later, also of a heart attack, though rumors persisted that bad hearts were not the cause of the deaths. The company disbanded in 1928. The Velies had built buggies, wagons, trucks, hearses, and airplanes and cars. 217 known Velies exist with 185 owners, 53 different models represented.
When the two older Velies died, another W.L. Velie took over. He believed in the future of aviation. He teamed with Central Aircraft Corp of Davenport to produce the Velie Mono Coupe, a top rated plane. Plans were made to build a 4 passenger plane when the 3rd W.L. Velie died, the company died with him. The Velie family abandoned the mansion on the 7th Street hill. It reopened in 1941 as the Plantation, a gourmet restaurant.
You’ve heard of the Velie, but didja hear about the automobile the Deere Company itself built? John Deere’s other son, Charles teamed up with an employee W.E. Clark to form the Deere Clark Company to build the “Deere” auto. It was a passenger touring car, 25 hp, 5 passenger $ 2000. It hit the street in 1906. In 1907 a water cooled model was marketed with the slogan “designed to satisfy”. But soon the project struck some snags. A strike hurt production. Funding from Deere and Co failed because of Charles Deere’s illness. The company was sued for seventy-five thousand dollars by a Vermont company for failure to deliver promised autos Deere-Clark went bankrupt
We could go farther. There were 20 auto makers in the Quad Cities. How many of these cars remain today? Not many. Even the meticulous Joan Aaron couldn’t locate any.
Now to the main reason for this piece that I promised you. When Martha and David’s wedding was over and we were all outside the village hall talking and snapping pictures, Hampton’s own Sam McKay showed up in his restored 1948 jeep. Mrs. Aaron wrote: “a rarely seen vehicle—it was a perfect symbol confirming our son’s and daughter-in-law’s future.”