Walt Meyer Auto Museum?

[Ivan Saxton]

I was given a copy of the most admirable catalogue for the auction of Alex Kennedy Miller's collection in Vermont by an associate of the auction company.   I am sure there was a Henderson car in that auction, which indicates that AKM had a high opinion of it.   In 1980 , after Auburn,  I visited Ernie and Ruth Toth;  before I travelled to Springfield  Vermont to accompany Morris and Libby Burrows on the Glidden in their 1914 Mercer 35-O roadster.  Morris' opinion of AKM was the square root of minus one, and there was no way he would assist or encourage me to visit him.  To use our bush metaphor, if you shook hands with him you might need to count your fingers.  By contrast, Stutz people like Paul Freehill and Ernie Toth seemed to have reasonable regard and working relationship with him.   Ernie advised taking a container of icecream if I had the opportunity to visit him, because he was very partial to that.    AK was obviously a very knowledgible and versatile person.  Imagine repairing fuselage damage  of a downed aeroplane during the war to fly it home in winter by patching the hole(s)? with canvass and water.  I am eccentric enough myself that I would have enjoyed meeting him; but I never had the chance.      In relation to your car with a Rochester Duesenberg engine,  I had a problem with rust pitting of the water pump shaft of my Roamer, even though the car has only ever done 14,000 miles.    You lose the timing when you have to do anything about that.   I rebuild that with a Metco  grindable stainless steel sprayed metal coating.   I have explained this in technical posts in the past.  There is also a problem with the stub water connection into the cylinder block.  It is very thin wall thickness,  and you cannot see how it is made and fitted.   It is threaded on a slight taper.  I machined a new one out of a free- machining grade bar stock, which has sulphur content.    To cheat the taper fit of the thread I cut it parallel the correct pitch, then shaved it to correct taper  by running it in the lathe and tapering the thread with a thread file , hand-held, with cutting lube. 

[twin6]

I don't know if this is the one Bob recalls in or near Ridgefield, CT years ago, but this is what Miller's Henderson looked like the year after the auction, on display at Bennington, VT.  I believe it was the first of all the cars auctioned off, to be up and running and back on the road.

[Dawn Myers Klock]

On 3/3/2012 at 5:08 PM, doug satterlee said:

greetings:

the bridgewater auto museum was started just after the second world war by walt myers, howard fenton, frank mumbalo and a few others. the idea was not to present cars in brand new like condition but instead to just save those that hadn't been scrapped during the war effort. cars were found in barns, garages, wood lots and where ever they could be found. walt would take them in and try to make them "look good" so people would be able to see them. the cars were not restored as we think of it. there was a case touring that had sat behind a barn here in bridgewater. when walt got the car there were rust holes in the splash aprons and other areas. his solution was to take cardboard and cover the back side of the holes, then fill the holes with plaster of paris. it was easy to work with and at a distance who would know. of course you didn't want to get the car wet. if parts were missing that would make the car look incomplete walt wasn't above making the part out of wood and painting it to look right. the admission to the museum was one dollar, 96 cents to walt and 4 cents to the state. the admission was good for the whole season. as you can see walt wasn't in it for the money. he loved to talk with folks and talk he could do. no matter how many times i went to the museum there was always something that i hadn't seen before. walt never had much money so cars had to be cheap if walt was to buy them. he told me of a car that he went to look at that was rope driven. it was all there but the folks wanted $50 for it and walt felt that was to much so he passed on it. there were many cars in the museum that were stored there by their owners. when walt became ill and couldn't run the museum any more his wife ran it one summer and she raised the price to $2 and walt was furious over that. when walt died the cars were sold and went all over the place. there was no auction only private cash sales. the building is still standing and is now a bar. i can't really recall your car but you would have to realize that the cars were packed in as tight as they could be. in some parts of the building the cars were two and three deep behind chicken wire so visibility wasn't always the best. there are those who would criticize the way that the museum was run and the cars maintained but the fact is that walt was saving these cars at a time when most were just junking them or letting them rot down in the back somewhere. i'm sure that if it hadn't been for walt and guys like him folks like you and i wouldn't have the cars that they we love today. i hope this gives you a little idea of where your car spent part of its life. doug

My dad was Walter Myers and Doug has posted exactly how the museum came into existence and my dad’s feelings towards old cars.  The only thing that I would correct is that I ran the business for the summer before his death.  ( and I was the one who raised the admission price😂) I ran it for the one summer when I was off from college. My dad had hoped that I would take over the business. 

[Dawn Myers Klock]

Just came across this discussion, I am the daughter of Walter Myers who owned the Auto Museum in Bridgewater, NY.  I worked many summers with my dad at the museum.  I am enjoying all of the pics of the cars that he had.  Love seeing what had happened to them.  The Mora was one of my favorites.  My dad died on February 9, 1989. His collection was then sold .