Montana Automotive Archaeology

I enjoyed another visit to charming Virginia City, Montana, this past fall, and my sister made good on her promise to show me the Charlie Bovey collection of vintage auto parts in the Village Pump building.

This collection is not open to the public, as it’s in the process of being preserved, but the kind folks at the Montana Heritage Commission may admit visitors on an individual basis upon special request. It seems that Mr. Bovey amassed quite a collection of veteran Ford parts, with other bits turning up here and there. Please forgive the flash, as it was quite dark inside…

The only "complete" vehicle inside is this Model T coupe.

It's a mite tight in there…

And on the "floor" of the Model T, an ironic vintage tin sign.

Everywhere you look, auto parts…

Radiators, anyone?

Up to the rafters…

Where the wood meets the road.

There can't be too many of these gasket displays still around…

Not Genuine Ford gaskets, but nonetheless…

Pre-"Prison Made," but still hailing from Deer Lodge

Perhaps they're still good, being NOS and all.

I wonder if anything remains of the J.W. Walters Garage in Dillon?

A few decades newer than the bulk of the building's contents!

This massive Enco sign is another neat bit of petroliana.

Folks did all kinds of creative things with Model T bits back in the day.

And we had an interesting time trying to determine what this unusual smokestack-appearing thing is, bearing the legend “Andrew R. Kiefer.”

Note the John Deere-badged wagon.

A quick Google search turns up the fact that an Andrew Robert Kiefer was a German-born Civil War veteran who was the mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1898-1900, and died in 1904. Could he be the same man who is memorialized on this item?

Daniel did a bit of searching and came up with the following suggestion: a horse-drawn fire wagon!

Could this explain the mystery item?

We welcome any and all suggestions, and we’ll pass them along to the MHC.