I'm starting to blog pretty late tonight because after I finshed at Afton Station, Ron M. and I met a group from the Oklahoma Route 66 Association for dinner at the historic Hammett House in Claremore. It's the home of the world's largest portions, as we found out. The pie slices alone can't be consumed by one person in one sitting. Unhealthy eating is alive and well in Oklahoma!
The day at Afton Station was extraordinarily good. We had a steady stream of visitors, numbering 27 by the end of the day. Since the weather was perfect, we sat outside most of the day. Visitors included a lovely couple who are car collectors and foresters in the northwoods of Alberta, Canada, and three gentlemen who are also car collectors and restorers from the south of France. Although only one of them spoke English, the language of old cars got us easily through the visit.
Some folks from Texas stopped by because they'd heard we have an exceptionally well-restored 1958 Packard Hawk. They just happened to be towing their own '58 back from a car show. It was a beauty, too. This one is his.
This one is ours.
There were lots more visitors -- guys coming back from a Spavinaw car show, a lady looking for information about the history of Afton (which she remembers visiting as a girl), some people from Kansas and other more local folks.
Betty came and sat with us for most of the afternoon. Tommy Bassett, who owns the grocery store across the street and is trying to sell it (with all contents of store and the entire white building), drove over on his lawn mower and spun some tales of old Afton. His family has owned the grocery since 1922, but Tommy wants to retire now. It's really crucial to the town that someone buy the store and keep it going. If it goes, there's really not much in town other than Afton Station. Anyone interested? It does a very good business, the upper floor is rentable apartments, and there are a couple of adjoining storefronts in the deal. He wants $100K for the whole thing. Let me know. :-)
Here's the building:
Here's Tommy, the seller:
And I am now officially too tired to continue. I'll be back tomorrow with further excitement.
Ohhh, I wish! We've talked about renovating a place on 66, but right now, it's just talk! Fun to think about, though.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, hold up! A Packard Hawk?! That looks like a Studebaker to me, and Studebaker is the company that did the Hawk. Studebaker and Packard tried to merge, but that didn't work out so well..but I've only studied Studebaker, not Packard, so there may be stuff there that I don't know!
All my best,
Beth
Beth,
ReplyDeletePackard and Studebaker did merge, and the '57 and '58 Packards were made in the Studebaker factory. The merger couldn't help the Packard Motor Car Co., which was already in trouble as a result of producing cars that were too costly for the public taste at that time. The '58 Packard Hawk was indeed made on a Stude Hawk body. Packard added a lot of "luxury extras" to brand it as a Packard. Didn't work out so well. The downfall of Packard was actually more complicated than that, but that's all I have time for now. The resulting car is now pretty rare.
Laurel