A MEMBERSHIP PUBLICATION OF THE OWLS HEAD TRANSPORTATION MUSEUM

&AXLE StrutSpring/Summer 2013

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THOMAS J. WATSON JR., FOUNDER (1914-1993)JAMES S. ROCKEFELLER JR., FOUNDER

STEVEN LANG, FOUNDER

BOARD OF TRUSTEESJames S. Rockefeller Jr., Chairman

Steven Lang, Vice Chairman Gary C. Dunton, Treasurer

Duncan W. BrownCharles M. Cawley

Kenneth CianchetteRodney D. GrayRobert T. JacobsLester W. Noyes

Francis J. O’Hara

James E. ParkerJohn W. PaysonThomas H. RudderNorman ShanklinFrederick M. Smith IIJohn Ware Sr.Robert E. Warren

Russ Rocknak, Executive Director

EmeritusAlvin S. McNeilly, George Phocas

David B. Thurston, Charles Chiarchiaro

Strut & Axle StaffJenna Lookner, Editor

Contributing EditorsJames S. Rockefeller, Russ Rocknak,

Warren Kincaid

Contributing PhotographersBane Okholm, Russ Rocknak, Jeff Larson

Kat Stuart, Art Director

Contents4 From the Cockpit

DISCOVERY MODE 

By Russ Rocknak

10 View from the Tool BoxLIFE AT THE MUSEUM 

ByWarren Kincaid

14 Departed Friends

15 2013 Events Schedule

16 Pitcairn Sport MailwingThe last surviving PA-7S listed 

on the FAA registry  By Jenna Lookner

20 Clara Bow’s 1929 Rolls-Royce Phantom TourerA glimpse into the history of the 1929 

Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Tourer  

By Jenna Lookner

26 Gypsy WagonsThe story is of a clan of people 

called the Romani 

By James S. Rockefeller Jr.

34 Rearview MirrorPostcard supplied by Steve Lang

ON THE COVER: 1911 Cadillac and 1918 Standard J-1Photograph by Russ Rocknak

Strut & Axle is published four times a year by the OwlsHead Transportation Museum, a nonprofit organiza-tion accredited by the American Association of Muse-ums. Founded in 1974, the Museum’s purpose is tocollect, preserve, demonstrate and exhibit pioneerground and air vehicles and related technology signif-icant to the evolution of transportation and/or the Stateof Maine. The Museum’s core collection includes air-craft, automobiles, engines, motorcycles, bicycles andcarriages dating from the 1890s through the 1930s.Contemporary vehicles are exhibited for comparison.

A subscription to Strut & Axle is a benefit of Mu-seum membership. Membership categories include:Individual $40, Dual $50, Family $60 and Participating$100. For more information on these and other mem-bership categories, as well as the Museum’s currentschedule of events, contact the Museum at PO Box 277,Owls Head, ME 04854. Tel: 207-594-4418. Email:info@ohtm.org. Web: www.owlshead.org

&AXLE Strut

SHIFTING GEARS from first tosecond is always an exciting partof a vehicle’s transition throughthe process of forward move-

ment. Maxing out the revs through launchto a sustained speed, a shift to second gearprovides the ability to build upon the ef-forts the first gear had provided, launchingthe vehicle toward its mission at a greaterspeed and smoother velocity. In this case,first gear is our Director Emeritus CharlesChiarchiaro, providing the tremendous ef-fort put forth of 36 years in the driver’sseat, providing the direction and actionneeded to bring the Museum to where itstands today. The shift to second gear isrepresentative of my position now as yourExecutive Director. It is a very excitingtime here at the Museum as we are expe-riencing a transitional year with newblood, vibrant ideas and goals. Think ofThe Wizard of Oz when the set goes fromblack and white to living color.Visiting the Museum today, you will no-

tice right away an experience that piques ourfive senses—from all outward appearancesincluding signage and messaging to ourability to be prepared to harness the passion

Mode

By Russ Rocknak FROM THE COCKPIT

1916 Sopwith Pup, on the Museum floor.

of our guests through demonstrations ofmost of our collection. The redesignedStrut&Axleyou are holding today also reflectsthis passion in a two-dimensional form. Afun fact—our first outdoor event of thisyear was a washout from a weather stand-point, but that did not stop us from givingdemonstrations of more vehicles in twodays than have been run in the past 10years, including our 1908 Stanley Model KSemi Racer, a very complicated steam car,no less. We wowed our guests and gavethem all a take home experience regardlessof the rain. That is attributable to our staff

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DiscoveryRuss Rocknak on the Museum floor with the 1907 Renault Vanderbilt race car, 1928 Ford/Cragar Racerand the Pitcairn PA-7S Sport Mailwing.

F R O M T H E C O C K P I T

wings, but the aircraft is very innovativefor the time that it was designed and engi-neered to fly. Actually the Taube’s wing de-sign is based on the zanonia tree seed pod,which drifts through the air for great dis-tances. Karl went up to one of the wing tipsand gently raised the trailing edge up.“Check out the steering wheel in the cock-pit and the other wing,” he said. As hemoved the edge up, the wheel spun to theright and the other wing’s edge tippeddown, countering the effort made by Karl.This is all done with an intricate set of con-trol wires external to the plane—simplyamazing. I asked if the plane actually flies,and he smiled proudly.“Yes, as a matter offact we have an air-to-air picture of JSRflying it,” he explained. To me that equatesto pure passion for flight, all pioneering to-ward the best flight possible. Pioneering,indeed, and these stories are endless hereat the Museum.

One of my first missions on board wasto have our Ground Vehicle Conservator,Warren Kincaid, wake up a few of the jew-els of our automotive collection from yearsof slumber. Methodically Warren took onthe task and started bringing the cars oneby one through his shop for an assessment.Soon, Warren began to call me on thewalkie talkies that we use to communicatein the Museum and ask if I would like tosee a particular car run.

Our 1911 Cadillac is among the permanent collection of vehicles that the Museum staff runs and demonstrates on a nearly daily basis.

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1907 Renault Vanderbilt race car oil distribution unit.

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and volunteers’ passion for what they do.Now it is with great pride that I write

my first contribution to the Strut&Axle.With this, our Chairman, James S. Rocke-feller, is now a contributing editor and willcontinue to write for us (see p. 26, GypsyWagons).After six months as your new Executive

Director, I have been in observation anddiscovery mode. I was born and bred a carand airplane guy, and thought I knew a lotabout my passions. I remember my firstwalk around the Museum with our Air-craft Conservator, Karl Erickson, when Iwas a week into this position. Karl was giv-ing me his narrative on all of the planes,and what struck me most was the unique-ness each airplane had in terms of design,materials used and engineering involved,

all striving toward the same goal: flight.We rounded the corner and there was the1916 Sopwith Pup. Next to it was a Sop-with Pup engine on display with thecrankcase plate replaced with a piece ofplexiglass, enabling guests to see the con-necting rods meeting up with the crank-shaft. As it sat there static, it appeared that

the center of the crankshaft was offset justa little to the right, and that was the reasonfor the display. I asked Karl about this andhe said, “Oh, no, to the contrary—actuallythe whole engine spins on an axis with thepropeller.” Karl went over and spun the rotary en-

gine around by its heads, and I watched asthe crank remained stationary while theconnecting rods were helping to spin theengine via the pistons. I was dumb-

founded; I said, “You’re kidding, right?”“Nope, this is the way it works,” Karlreplied. “Wait until you see it run! It actu-ally sprays castor oil all over the place, andthe pilot takes a shower with it every timewe give a demonstration.” Incredulous, Istood there for a minute and tried to en-vision the research and developmentphase of this plane, thinking of the engi-neer who had to make the plea that thiswas the best design, pioneering forwardinto the future.Another aircraft of note is the 1913 Et-

rich Taube replica that was built in JSR’sworkshop for the Museum. Not only is itsshape unique, almost da Vinci in naturewith its organic bird-like shape-shifting

F R O M T H E C O C K P I T

1913 Etrich Taube, being flown by Jim Rockefeller.

Only 9:00 in themorning, and I amgoing to smell thefumes from a 1911 Cadillac.

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F R O M T H E C O C K P I T

Warren give me a tutorial on the Harleyso I could wrap my mind around the req-uisite muscle memory to get the split sec-ond actions required to safely run themotorcycle. My “pre-programmed mo-torcycle riding 101” mental rule bookwent right out the window in order to di-gest the Harley’s riding rule book: This V-Twin is a 3-speed, tank-mounted shiftermotorcycle. The clutch is a rocking footpedal on the left, the rear brake is con-trolled by the right foot pedal, the frontbrake is the lever on the left side of thehandlebar—and on the right there isn’t alever, just the throttle grip that doesn’tspring back to idle when released after ad-vancing. The left hand grip advances thespark when twisted. Got that? Believe me,it sounds like more of a challenge than itreally is. And it is a joy to ride, as this is a

very proud, honest 100 mph+ motorcyclemade in 1932.Along with the daily duties of managing

the Museum, it is imperative that I knoweach and every vehicle, engine and carriagethat is in the collection, and I am well on myway. Discovering the magical engineeringthat was continuously developed anduniquely designed and executed by eachmanufacturer during the pioneer era is awonderful experience. Almost every vehiclehere has its own personality that longs to bediscovered. This discovery is the joy that wecelebrate and will demonstrate here at theMuseum for all generations to enjoy formany years to come. Ladies and gentlemen,start your engines!

Russ Rocknak, Owls Head TransportationMuseum Executive Director

AllenIF.com (800)439-4311 Offices in Camden, Rockland, Belfast and Southwest Harbor.

Proud to Support the Owls HeadTransportation Museum.

An insurance policy should be as unique as the vehicle (and thedriver) it covers. We’ll find the coverage that’s right for the both of you.

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One day Warren’s voice came over theradio. “You want to see the 1911 Cadillacrun?” he asked. I thought to myself, well,this is a good day at the office; it is only9:00 in the morning, and I am going tosmell the fumes from an 1911 Cadillac. I hightailed down to Warren’s shop to

find Warren and a large group of schoolkids circling the car. He was patiently ed-ucating the kids on the automobile, show-ing all of the little intricacies involved withgetting it running. After finishing with thestart-up prep, he headed toward the frontof the car and looked at the crowd.“Ofcourse, this was the last year of a crankstart for Cadillac,” he said. With that hebent down and gave the crank a compres-sion turn, found the sweet spot, and withone quick spin the Cadillac came to life;not only did the car seem to be grinning,but the crowd definitely did. Smiles abound around here, including

mine. There is something special about see-ing what most people term as a static expe-rience—an automobile on display in a

museum—come to life and do what it wasmeant to do: run and move. Everythinghere at the Museum was designed to do justthat—move. How the manufacturersachieved this in this era was a free-for-all ofsorts, lacking any standardization. Eachmanufacturer had their own solution re-garding the power (gasoline, steam or elec-tric) as well as their own solution formaking it run and getting the power to theground—for instance, the Model T with itsthree-pedal setup with none of them beingthe throttle. Or the 1907 Renault Vanderbiltrace car with its dry sump engine and oildistribution unit mounted on the dash-board for the mechanic to handle the lubri-cation efforts while the driver does justthat—drive, and drive hard. This automo-bile tops out at about 90 mph!Another marvel is the 1932 Harley

Davidson Model V. This is the vehicle Ihave chosen to demonstrate during thebusy schedule of summer shows this year.Before the weather had decisivelyrounded the corner toward spring, I had

Another marvel is the 1932 Harley Davidson Model V.

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I’M HONORED AND PLEASED at theinvitation to contribute to Strut&Axle.For those who don’t know, since last

November I have filled the vacant positionof Ground Vehicle Conservator here atOHTM. My thanks to Peter Curtis for look-ing after the collection for the past 10 years;it’s a big job to keep up with the many ve-hicles this Museum has entrusted to its care.Before I go any further, larger thanks go outto the volunteers who show up on Thurs-day night as well as during the week and forspecial events. Doug, Don, Bryan, Ryan,Philip, the Parker family, Wesley, Dick,Charlie, Jeff, Jake, Al, Jason, numerous Bobsand a host of volunteers whom I have metand have yet to meet … you all contributeto a sphere of Museum operations thatmany never see. Some of you have beenbusting your knuckles on these rare andvaluable cars (and motorcycles) for over 20years; some of you are new. We all agreethat it’s both important and fun to keep themission of the Museum alive by explodinggas in a cylinder and seeing what we canmake that do.

LIFE at the Museum

By Warren Kincaid VIEW FROM THE TOOL BOX

(top) Don Aston(middle) Jacob Harper and Al Yattaw(right) Ryan Parker and Peter Brown

n (left) Norm Shanklin and Warren Kincaid

10

in progress. A balance between activityand display can be had in every room ofthe Museum. The main display lures uswith promise. The events deliver thatpromise. The shops and volunteers are thehub that allows it to happen. I’m thinkingthat the public would like to see that hubturn, and the shop has the potential tomeet this goal. I notice that the shopdoors have hinges; I’d like to makesure the shop looks good and opensthem. Already we have marched a large

part of the rolling stock through the

shop to get the vehicles ready for the sum-mer season. The Museum’s annual Shine &Dine is behind us, and the collection is look-ing good thanks to the dedicated volunteers

k (top) Warren Kincaid, Ethan Yankura in 1928 Ford/Cragar Racer with crowd

Philip Reinhardt and Don Aston,starting the 1938 Indian Junior Scout l

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Because this is my first submission toStrut&Axle, I’d like to put forth my phi-losophy about where the ground vehiclerestoration workshop fits into the largerpicture of “life at the Museum.” We, bydefinition, are a running and active mu-seum. A large volume of the lifeblood atthe Museum is our ambition to run ourvehicles, explain, educate and entertain,taking a fair amount of risk with the col-

lection in doing so. When I first visited theMuseum many years ago I was captivatedby that careful but cavalier attitude of thefounders and first volunteers. Here thekeys weren’t just in the ignition, they werein the “run” position! Today, the various departments of the

Museum operate in the same way. Mygoal is to step the Volunteer Workshop upto that level. The workshop is an integralpart of the whole, and should be a placeas interesting to the public as the maindisplay. I’d like to achieve a clean, orderly,but obviously active workshop. I have noreservations about visitors seeing a work

I’d like to achieve aclean, orderly, butobviously activeworkshop.

V I E W F R O M T H E T O O L B O X

(1) Doug Conway(2 )Charlie Huntington(3) Peter Parker (left)(4) Cheryl Parker

Strut&Axle

1

2

3

4

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2013EVENTSJULy 6-7 Fabulous '50s & Sensational '60s Car Meet Featuring more than 400 classic autos from the autoindustry’s most stylish decades.

JULy 20-21 Trucks, Tractors & Commercial Vehicles Show More than 250 antique pick-ups, delivery vans, tractortrailers, military vehicles, engines and more.

AUGUST 3-4 Wings & Wheels Spectacular & Aerobatic AirshowFocusing on all things with wings and wheels.Featuring a world-class aerobatic airshow guaranteed to impress.

AUGUST 17 36th Annual New England Auto Auction Up to 200 antique, classic and special interest vehicles go up for bid. Preview week August 12-16.

AUGUST 31- SEPTEMBER 1 Vintage Motorcycle MeetA much anticipated annual gathering of antique andclassic motorcycles, including both domestic andforeign examples.

SEPTEMBER 21-22 Earth Movers & Shakers An earth-moving gathering of large constructionvehicles complete with demonstrations. This funfamily event is historically a crowd pleaser.

OCTOBER 5-6Foreign Auto Festival With Jaguar as our 2013 featured marque, this is ourannual salute to vintage foreign marques hailing fromthe world over. This gathering of exquisite vehicles is agreat finale to the show season.

NOVEMBER 2-3 Great Fall Auction & Flea Market (New Date)

Fundraising auction featuring a diverse assortment ofitems, including travel packages, antiques, collectiblesand gift certificates galore!

Antique Aeroplane Show at designatedFestivals & Car Showsweather permitting

post workshop activity on Facebook aswell, so that our fans from near and farcan be tuned in to what’s happening inthe shop. Not all is “spit and polish” as itappears out in the main display. All thosevehicles rely on oil, grease and gasolineto make those explosions, and the partsmust mesh and do their job on time. TheVolunteer Workshop is not much differ-ent. At the core my thought is this: It’s aninteresting process to watch.

Warren Kincaid, Owls Head TransportationMuseum Ground Vehicle Conservator

V I E W F R O M T H E T O O L B O X

The Parker family (Ryan, Peter and Cheryl).

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who turned out to help. There are plans inthe works to operate some vehicles that youmay not have seen in running order formany years. I plan to outline specific projects in fu-

ture editions of Strut&Axle. We havethings in the works, but it will be a process.For those of you who can’t get to the Mu-seum often, this can be a small windowinto the workings of our shop. I also try to

Bob Kinghorn and Jim Westervelt working on the 1940 Ford “ Woodie” Station Wagon.

Andrew Spaulding

Dorothy “Dot” Rankine

Grace Conway

Kenneth “Smitty” Smith

Linwood “Pete” Smith

David Trask

David Dillion

Carrol Church

Irene Dentino

Anne “Nancy” Hiatt

Howard Brown

John Goodrich

Phillip Bibber

Dave Mauro

In memoryof thosefriends whohave recentlyleft us.. .

17

WHEN PITCAIRN PA-7S SportMailwing, NC13158, arrivedat Owls Head Transportation

Museum in October, it quickly became afavorite among museum staff, visitors andvolunteers. The aircraft boasts a remark-able history and is the single surviving ex-ample of a PA-7S on the Federal AviationAssociation registry. The sleek 250 horsepower plane, which

weighs a mere 2,134 pounds empty, is nowon display as part of OHTM’s permanentcollection.

According to an April 1984 report inSport Aviationmagazine, NC13158 was ac-quired by Stephen Pitcairn—son of Na-tional Aviation Hall of Fame memberHarold F. Pitcairn—in 1979. The aircraftwas originally manufactured in June 1930and sold in 1932 to John Haddock of theWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania-based coalcompany Horizon Coal. The original list price for the aircraft

was $9,500, but the Horizon Coal Com-pany purchased the plane for a reducedsum $6,700 due to financial strain brought

16

SPORT MAILWINGPITCAIRNMUSEUM

ACQUIRES listed on FAA registry By Jenna LooknerThe last surviving PA-7S

The rare Pitcairn PA-7S Sport Mailwing was donated to theOwls Head Transportation Museum by the estate of

Stephen Pitcairn following his death in 2008.

interstate highway system.” After departingVero Beach he stopped to refuel in OrmondBeach and resumed flight, reporting thatwithin two hours “the engine stuttered andstarted missing several beats every four or fiveminutes.” Pitcairn reported that he began toscour “farmers’ fields and airports as [he]passed over so [he] would have an emergencyfield to land in if the engine got worse.”The engine trouble did get worse, and

about five minutes out of Walterboro, SouthCarolina the engine quit. Pitcairn wrote thathe was able to revive the engine by pumpingthe throttle, making a 180-degree turn andsafely landing the plane on a relegated Armytraining field in Walterboro. He flew homevia commercial airline, returning to repairthe plane and complete the flight to NewJersey two weeks later. The original restoration of the aircraft

began in 1979 under Pitcairn’s directionand was “quite extensive.” Pitcairn re-ported that he returned to the sky with theNC13158 in July 1983, heading to the EAANational Convention in Oshkosh, Wis-consin, piloting his long-awaited, newlyrestored “dream ship.”According to a logbook for the PA-7S, the

aircraft underwent a full re-covering in 2000. The rare aircraft was donated to Owls

Head Transportation Museum by the es-tate of Stephen Pitcairn following hisdeath in 2008. The acquisition processtook nearly two years and was completedin autumn 2012, according to Owls HeadTransportation Museum Aircraft Conser-vator Karl Erickson.

Jenna Lookner, Owls Head Transportation Museum Director of Public Relations

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on by the Great Depression, according tothe 1984 report that was authored byStephen Pitcairn. The Horizon Company used the aircraft

as a promotional tool, delivering 25-pound trademarked bags of coal to townsthroughout New England as a special ad-vertisement for their company. Thoughthe aircraft was originally designed formail delivery, it was reportedly never usedfor that purpose. According to previously published re-

ports, NC13158 was sold by HorizonCompany and subsequently owned by 13different people in various regions of theUnited States prior to being purchased bySteve Pitcairn in 1979. Pitcairn purchased the plane in Vero

Beach, Florida, and in his eagerness to getthe plane back east—to Trenton-Rob-

binsville Airport in Robbinsville, New Jer-sey—he did a hasty preflight inspection.After a short (albeit successful) test flight,he took off from Vero Beach bound forRobbinsville, “without a radio and a com-pass without fluid.” Pitcairn wrote that his navigation for the

flight was based on “sectional charts and the

Utica Coal Company advertisement picturing coal beingloaded into the Pitcairn, 1932, Utica, NY.

F R O M T H E C O L L E C T I O N

By Jenna Lookner

The first time I perused the col-lection as a potential employee of

the Owls Head Transportation Museum Ifound it difficult to wipe the pervasive, child-like grin from my face. As I walked the Museumfloor admiring row after row of shining specimensof the winged and wheeled variety, my eyes rested ona particular vehicle. A cursory read-through of theplacard gave me a glimpse into the history of the 1929Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby Tourer before me, andthus my interest in that car was effectively piqued.

ClaraBow’s

Rolls-Royce PhantomTourer

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With its cream-colored exterior andlush, quilted red leather interior, the con-vertible 1929 Rolls-Royce PhantomDerby Tourer that originally belonged tosilent film actress Clara Bow has been re-ferred to as a “valentine on wheels.” Thestunning vehicle is now displayed andoperated as part of the Owls Head Trans-portation Museum’s permanent collec-tion, and has been since it was acquired

and donated by Tom Watson Jr., one ofthe founders of the Museum.While the history of the Bow Car may

well end with its conservation in OwlsHead, Maine, were it able to provide a his-tory the vehicle would undoubtedly haveno shortage of riveting tales to tell. From a15-year tenure as Clara Bow’s personal ve-hicle to use on the glimmering movie setsof old Hollywood, the car has made an in-

delible impression on legions of admirers sinceit was manufactured 84 years ago. The chassis of the Bow Rolls-Royce was

produced in Springfield, Massachusetts when,following World War I, American investorsobtained the license to build Rolls-Royce ve-hicles in the United States. Those vehicles,known as Springfield Rolls-Royces, enjoyed asuccessful production run for approximatelya decade, ceasing U.S. production in 1931

22 Strut&Axle 23

Hood ornament from the1929 Rolls-Royce PhantomDerby Tourer.

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when demand for the luxury cars fell asthe Great Depression gripped the country. Delivery of the Springfield-built Rolls-

Royce Silver Ghost began in 1921, fol-lowed by the Phantom in 1927. TheSpringfield plant built approximately 20Derby Tourers—the model of the BowCar—in 1929. The body of the Bow Carwas built by Brewster of Long Island City,New York, one of the specialized compa-nies contracted to build the bodies for theU.S.-built Rolls-Royces. To date, Spring-field is the only location outside of theUnited Kingdom where Rolls-Royce ve-hicles have ever been built. The Rolls-Royce Phantom Derby

Tourer was built as a factory productionmodel, but due to the specialized natureof the vehicle, owners could order theirautomobiles with custom modifications,including changes to paint color and var-ious custom upholstery options. The ve-hicle’s details include mahogany runningboards and pie wedge-shaped doors; thesignature flying lady hood ornament was

imported from England.The Clara Bow Phantom Derby

Tourer, which bears Springfield chassisnumber S-293KR and Brewster Bodynumber 5606, originally retailed for$17,840 during a time when a FordModel A touring car cost around $500.The Clara Bow Car was reportedly the

second-to-last Derby Tourer built; from1921 to 1933 American Rolls-Royce pro-duction totaled 1,700 Silver Ghosts and1,290 Phantom I models. Clara Bow took delivery of her Rolls-

Royce in Beverly Hills on December 15,1930. She was 24 years old. Bow’s affinityfor fast cars was documented, and she wasknown to disappear from the glitz of Hol-lywood in search of open road. She re-

portedly once said, “I can’t get a car thatwill drive fast enough.”Known as the Hollywood “It Girl” of the

late 1920s, Clara Bow’s life began in Brook-lyn, New York in 1905. Born into a familythat struggled with the dueling demons offinancial hardship and domestic violence,the starlet of silent film was discovered afterwinning a beauty contest. She would latergain global recognition for her unconven-tional beauty and ability to express herselfon the silver screen. Her role in the 1927silent film “It,” based on a novelette by Eli-nor Glyn, is largely regarded as her mostsignificant performance. Bow appeared innearly 60 films during her career. Bow’s roles—and her personal affairs—

frequently pushed the envelope, often land-ing her in precarious situations. Known forher candor with the press and affinity foroff-color humor, Bow’s conduct wasfrowned upon in her era. Partially due to herwillingness to embrace a troubled pastopenly, Bow was successful but not alwayssocially popular with her Hollywood peers.A plethora of rumors circulated about heraffairs with various men, including severalfamous actors. At the age of 26 she marriedcowboy actor Rex Bell, and the couple hadtwo sons together. With her heart-shapedface, hourglass figure and thick hair that wasoften dyed an unmistakable shade ofauburn, the uninhibited Bow was largely re-garded as a figurehead of the flapper culture. After “talkie” films took Hollywood by

storm Bow retired from acting, last ap-pearing in the 1933 film “Hoop-La.” Sheand Bell kept the iconic Rolls-Royce

through World War II and gave the vehicleto their family physician in 1945. In 1951cotton machine dealer P.M. Ingram ofCoalinga, California reportedly traded hisModel J Duesenberg for the Bow Car,which was then painted yellow with a redinterior. Allegedly Ingram had initiallypurchased the car from the physician’s es-tate and experienced terrible remorse afterselling the vehicle, catalyzing his desire toreacquire it. In 1960 Ingram sold the carto another Californian, Alton Walker, whowas in 1950 the first chairman of the now-famed Pebble Beach Concours and aRolls-Royce aficionado. Tom Watson ac-quired the vehicle sometime after 1973.Watson gifted the Clara Bow Rolls-Royceto the Owls Head Transportation Mu-seum in 1986. Under the direction of Ground Vehicle

Conservator Warren Kincaid, each vehicle inthe Museum’s collection is receiving an as-sessment. On the sunny afternoon of April10, 2013, Kincaid delighted staff and volun-teers by running the Bow Car on the groundsof the Museum.

Jenna Lookner, Owls Head TransportationMuseum Director of Public RelationsHarvey Geiger contributed to this report.

F R O M T H E C O L L E C T I O N

“I can’t get a car that will drive fast enough.”

— CLARA BOW

LOOKING AT THE MUSEUM’S GYPSY WAGON, walkingaround it, stirs strong emotions. It is the combination of color,the complexity of design, the magic of what might be inside—

like a giant Christmas present on wheels. The story of its birth startseons ago in India. The story is of a clan of people called the Romani.They were considered a low caste, like the untouchables, reputedlymaking a living by singing, dancing, performing magic tricks andparticipating in other endeavors that were considered nefarious for

By James S. Rockefeller Jr.

GypsyWagons

26 27

Reading Wagon 1921, which quickly became known in gypsy circles and was highly praisedfor its design, beauty and ability to go off road over rough ground, thanks to its large wheels.

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One of the first was Antoine Franconi,1738–1836, a patriarch of the circus. Hewas also a wild beast tamer, toreador,horsebreaker and equestrian, in additionto being a circus proprietor. He was thetalk of Paris and in later years, for amuse-ment, built a “voiture nomade” with a din-ing room, bedroom and galley.The horse-drawn living wagon reached

England in the early 1800s as the roadsgrew better and the stagecoach startedentering the scene. Tinkers, fairgroundfolks, racing event people, peddlers, min-ers and forest workers were the first touse them. They were simple vehicles atthe start, called tilt wagons or carts, witha canvas tarp used to cover the goods andto sleep under at night. From the myriadtypes of goods and people that neededto be transported from A to B, and thedifferent wagons to suit their variousneeds, the exotic Gypsy Waggon (spelled

with two “g”s) evolved. Their reign wasroughly that of Queen Victoria, from themiddle 1800s to the early 1900s. Becauseof demand, England became the homeof the foremost builders in the world ofthese painted masterpieces.Dunton & Sons of Reading, England

developed the “Reading Waggon,” whichquickly became known in gypsy circlesand was highly praised for its design,beauty and ability to go off road overrough ground, thanks to its large wheels.Of all the builders, Dunton, perhaps,found its primary niche with the Romanifrom 1874 onward. Reading, a town of19,000, was at the center of SouthernEngland’s commerce and industries de-voted to the carriage trade. During WorldWar I the Dunton Company repairedarmy horse-drawn vehicles as a sideline.But Dunton refused to work on motorvehicles and, as the story goes, come

28 Strut&Axle

those times. They never assimilated intothe general population and, becomingincreasingly oppressed as so many mi-norities are, they formed bands and mi-grated northward into Europe back inthe Middle Ages. Driven to become nomadic, no longer

able to claim a homeland, they took on anew freedom peculiar to their own—thefreedom of the open road. Barriers werethrown in their path wherever they went,for again, with their different ways, theydid not assimilate into the culture. On themove, their children couldn’t go to school,resulting in a state of ignorance producinglittle chance for good employment. On thewhole, they were a destitute lot, the depthof poverty depending on the country theychose in which to scratch out a living.Spain and the Balkans were the worst. Set-tling in Northern Europe, they fared better.Eventually, England and Sweden provedthe best. Until shortly before Roman times

there were no real roads, just paths suit-able for domestic animals to pull crudecontrivances for short distances. A net-work of decent roads took decades to de-velop. When Napoleon came to powerin the early 1800s, he spent twice as much

on building roads as he did on forts andother military infrastructure. By 1810one could travel from Paris to Milan in10 days. England’s roads were terrible incomparison, and much of the transport-ing was done by water. Probably the first users of “living wag-

gons,” as they were called, were circus folkswho built heavy vans for their menageries.

G Y P S Y W A G O N SG Y P S Y W A G O N S

The living wagonreached England inthe early 1800s as theroads grew better.

SPRING / SUMMER 2013 | owlshead.org 31

fants crawl over them.”Gypsy horse knowledge was

renowned. Race horse owners followedthe advice of the gypsies and let their sickhorses graze along the side of hedgerows,where they found plants not found inpastures to help them recover. Grazingfor the Romani horses was a serious con-sideration when deciding on a campsite,as hay was too bulky to carry.If horses were “the servants” of gypsies

from time immemorial, dogs were also apart of the menagerie. The “lurcher” wasfavored. It was a crossbreed between grey-hound and collie, used for protection andas a guard for the wagon when the gypsieswere away. Bantam chickens were also apart of the mix. Small and hardy andstreetwise from birth, they were housedin “pan boxes” on the side of the caravan.The vans would often take off quickly,leaving the bantams to run after their de-parting hay-lined little homes.

In the morning, after putting out thesmall stick fire that cooked their breakfast(cooking was done outside unless theweather was terrible), everything tieddown or put away inside, a horse har-nessed in front and another often teth-ered to the rear of the wagon, chickensin their boxes and the dog trotting on aleash on the side, the group would headout for the next campground. One of thelast tasks was to leave a sign of who hadbeen there. It could be a sod cut at a cor-ner. Sometimes it was a hazel stick,known as a “pitch,” banded to show howmany wagons had been at the campsiteand pointing in the direction of travel.This blazed trail acted like a telegraph orthe Internet of today.There were rest periods at the tops of

hills or at pubs or other places that of-fered a chance to barter, plus a two-hourbreak at midday when the horses wouldhave a chance to graze. In the evening

World War II Mr. Dunton used his leftovergold leaf tissue to roll cigarettes, letting thegold leaf blow away. Today, Dunton Waggonsare prized for museums and private collec-tions. Our Gypsy Wagon at Owls Head is aDunton. The Reading Caravan represents theGolden Age of the Gypsy Wagon and, lookingat its elaborate interior, one can understandwhy it was the most prized belonging of a Ro-mani family—they would pay five gold sov-ereigns as the work progressed. (On the otherhand, the Bristol Wagon & Carriage Works,founded in West England around the 1850s,went on to build everything on wheels fromsteam rollers to later Pullman cars.)

The Vardo, or Gypsy Caravan, was more ahome than a vehicle. A day’s travel would

average around 15 miles from one campsite tothe next. The horse was an integral ingredient.The saying went that “manage a horse well andthe van will look after itself—almost.” Startingoff from the rough ground of the campsite, thehorse had to lunge to get things moving, whichmeant chaos in the interior unless everythingwas well secured. On the road the terrain wasconstantly changing, and a gypsy horse soonlearned not to stop on a hill, as it was hard togain traction starting up again. The favoritehorse was a “cob,” small but sturdy, standingabout 14 hands tall and trained to harness andwork in heavy traffic. For serious hills a secondhorse was harnessed on the side to help pull. Gypsy horses soon became members of

the family. “We have known them so powerfuland willing that they will pull a waggon overhill and dale like a traction engine yet so gen-tle that they will lie on the ground while in-

G Y P S Y W A G O N SG Y P S Y W A G O N S

Funeral ceremony, circa 1947

The Reading or DuntonThis was the most prized. The sidesslope out toward the eaves. In early1900 a sky-lighted roof was added. It isten feet long with a porch at eitherend and with rear wheels 18˝ higherthan the front. The extent ofdecoration reflected the wealth of agypsy family—elaborate inside andout.

The LedgeThis has a very strong frame with aliving area extending over large rearwheels. It is 12 feet high with anarched roof and brass bracketsattaching the carriage to the frame.

The Bow TopThis is based on the Ledge design butlighter, with a wood-frame canvascover. Because it is lighter, it was morestable in high winds. It was paintedgreen to be less noticeable amongtrees. The interior has scrollwork andincludes a stove, table and bed.

The Open LotThis is very similar to the Bow Top, buthas a curtain instead of a door forprivacy.

There are four basicdesigns of the GypsyWagon, also called a Vardo.

30 Strut&Axle

SPRING / SUMMER 2013 | owlshead.org 3332 Strut&Axle

the procedure was reversed. If there wereto be several days’ stay at a pitch, thewomen would make baskets or woodenclothespins or other crafts to sell. The relationship between the Romani

and their horses is entwined in their history.The Gypsy Horse is a result of breedingthat goes back hundreds of years. Gypsybreeders even today continue to improvethe strain that incorporates the blood ofShires, Clydesdales and Fell Ponies, amongothers. In 2005 there were 900 Gypsy Horseslisted in American Gypsy Horse registries.By nature they are gentle, quickly bond withtheir owners and love to play. Yet they arewilling to work all day when asked. Splashedwith black and brown markings, they oftenhave beautiful “feathers” above their feet.

Riding, driving, frolicking in pastures or inthe water, they are a delight to see. It is saidby many Romani that you can’t be a truemember of the clan unless you have a horse.When you look at a gypsy caravan youshould imagine the horse, with its calmstrength, that pulled it. They are inseparable. Carl Benz’s horseless carriage was the

beginning of the end for the horse-drawngypsy caravan. World War I hastened thedecline. Thousands of horses went off towar and never returned. The motorcar’stime had come, replacing the steam trac-tion engine and the horse. For a while folksother than gypsies took up caravanningas a sport. But traffic continued to increase,and horse-drawn vehicles were forced ontoback roads. In 1900 there were 40,000

G Y P S Y W A G O N S

horse-drawn omnibuses and 4,000 tramhorses in London. By 1924 they were allgone. Businesses that depended on thehorse had dried up.When a Romani dies all of his posses-

sions, including his caravan, are burned.There was no future in building new oneseven if a builder could be found. Somegypsies ended up incorporating theirprized possession into a house. The no-madic way of life had come to an end. Today, with our Airstreams and luxu-

rious motor homes, we can travel hun-dreds of miles a day. But the horses aregone, the gold leaf, the iron kettle overthe stick fire. Campsites, by and large, aresterile places, including the parking lot atWalmart. But once a year in England at

the Appleby Fair the old storybook re-opens. Gypsies from all over England andbeyond gather with their remaining cara-vans and hundreds of beautiful horses tocompete in races, bargain, make music,have fun and frolic. So the spark is stillalive, fanned by the pull of freedom onthe open road.

James S. Rockefeller Jr., Chairman

R E F E R E N C E S

The English Gypsy CaravanC. H. Ward-Jackson and Dennis E. Harvey

Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their JourneyIsabel Fonseca (a history of the Gypsies)

Gypsy Horses and the Travelers WayJohn S. Hockensmith

G Y P S Y W A G O N S

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Donate ey@ohtm.org or call (207)594-4418

34 Strut&Axle

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As anyone who has traveled to Main

e by car will attest, the iconic

Route 1 bridge in Wiscasset is both

revered for its view and loathed for

its inevitably heavy seasonal traffic.

It’s not hard to see what motivated

Wiscasset’s motto, “Maine’s Pretties

t Little Village,” and in 1915 the

bustling community was a seaport a

nd a railway interchange. Nowaday

s

the street corner, pictured at left in

this postcard, is occupied by the eve

r

popular Red’s Eats, a must-stop for

many of the travelers passing

through. Note the Stanley Steamer m

aking its way up the hill.

Image courtesy of Steve Lang

Wiscasset, Maine, c. 1915