They’re all livin’ devil may care: Vegas vacation, part 1

That Heather, she’s a good wife. For my recent 30th birthday, she took me to Las Vegas. It was just the getouttatown vacation we needed, and unsurprisingly, I came across a few old car-related items I thought worth sharing. For instance, while checking out Hoover Dam, we spotted this Ford panel truck from Sin City Hot Rods crossing the dam.

Then out at the Grand Canyon, we saw this photograph in a display discussing the history of the canyon. The car’s obviously a Model T a Metz 22 Speedster, loaded up for a lengthy trip, which makes sense: Few towns are anywhere near the canyon, and big cities are at least a couple hours away. Good thing he chocked the wheels.

UPDATE (8.April 2009): See the comments below for a link to the story behind the photo, taken on a 1914 trip to the bottom of the canyon and written by O.K. Parker. An excerpt:

There was a sheer wall at this point, making a clean drop of over two thousand feet, and the ledge projected so that we could run the car out to the extreme point, and make a photographic record of the Metz on the Canyon rim at El Tovar Point.

It took a lot of grit to drive the car right towards that fearful plunge, but Mr. Wing, who handled the wheel, had every confidence in the car and its control, and did not put on the breaks until the front wheels were right at the very edge of the precipice.

I confess that it made me shudder with apprehension, as I watched him, so cool and confident, driving where one little slip would mean a plunge of two thousand feet into the gorge below; and when he finally said, “that will do, let’s chuck block her,” I was only too glad to slip a good sized rock in front of the rear wheel, so we could leave the car and size up the situation for a photograph.

Back in Vegas, we toured the Neon Museum, which focuses mostly on preserving neon signs from the old casinos, but which also had this sign from Pat Clark Pontiac. I didn’t find out exactly where the Pontiac dealership was located, but according to Pat Clark’s website, the mega used car dealership is currently located at 2575 East Sahara Avenue. Tromping through the Neon Museum, I came to appreciate how they’re preserving a common archaeological and cultural history in much the same way that we’re trying to do so in our lost dealerships series. The difference, of course, is that the museum is preserving the actual artifacts of a limited geographical area, while we’re more focused on the facts and the ephemera of a more broadly based subject, but the intentions are the same.

And in the airport, we came across this strangely outfitted 1956 Thunderbird. Why display a Thunderbird in an airport? As it turns out, George and Peg Crockett, who founded Alamo Airport, the predecessor to the current McCarran Airport, used a Thunderbird as a crash wagon for their Alamo Airways – essentially a first responder to airport accidents and incidents, fitted with emergency lights, a radio and a couple pressure tanks (presumably for fire retardent?).

It seems the Crocketts employed the car as a crash wagon through 1968, when Howard Hughes bought Alamo Airways. The information on the displays indicates this Thunderbird is not the same car used at the airport, but a close reproduction.

Peg and George Crockett with their crash wagon Thunderbird, circa 1959

George Crockett in the crash wagon Thunderbird, circa 1962

And as you can tell from the title of this post, I saw much more in Vegas, so check back tomorrow for part 2.