Bulletin Article - May 2007

BACKFIRE!
A rambling, rumbling, exhausting review by Don Wallace
  

While reviving the memories of all the old gas stations in town in the last two issues of the Bulletin, I was left with a few thoughts that I couldn't include because of space limitations, not to mention the limits of my audience attention span.  But I hope that you, too, may now have begun to appreciate the importance of our unique automotive tool collection, and the automobile itself, as it has impacted the history of Haddonfield, its streets, parking lots, business district, Police Department, meter maids, crossing guards, and our lives in general.  We have been absolutely overrun or run over to the point now of prescribing “traffic calming patterns” in our streets, of all things!  I'm sure glad we didn't have such things when I was a kid here.
 
In discussing the vanishing running boards and horn buttons that were on our old cars, I thought we might also reminisce about car and truck BUMPERS.  Especially, the back bumpers which, on the old vehicles, provided great winter sport here in Haddonfield.  Grabbing onto a back bumper while holding onto one's Flexible Flyer sled, and keeping it carefully beneath one's belly with the other hand and/or one's feet was a very important skill, I am told.  If one had to hold onto the bumper with both hands while rounding sharp corners at high rates of speed, or when the packed snow beneath one's runners suddenly disappeared --  and a shower of hot sparks from the scraping of raw steel on bare concrete or asphalt came cascading out from under one's legs -- the impending calamity could be avoided with deft foot-work in those unique back runner configurations.  One would think (correctly) that concrete might provide less resistance, and fewer sparks, than asphalt as the steel actually was scraping over its embedded stones at the surface of the concrete.  It is slipperier, one would think. It's a darn good thing those hearty kids didn't have to contend with these traffic calming intersections on Lincoln Avenue today.

At the Rotary Club’s annual Oyster Supper, I asked John Richardson if he remembered the back-bumper sled rides when the proper snow was packed real hard under foot and tire.  And without hesitation, he recalled that if you couldn't get to the bumper itself to hang on tight, that you would grab the legs of a guy who had a good hold on the bumper and ride along, sometimes three and four deep, just strung out behind the truck or car. Then, even when the driver slowed to take a corner -- for those guys who were all strung out behind -- it was a bit more like crack-the-whip!  Having lost a few boys who were flung into the snow banks, with their weight gone now, you could work your hands up to those curved, continuous rear runners on the Flexible Flyer and hold on better. Cars were also better to hitch onto because they were going somewhere, not making multiple deliveries that most trucks were engaged in. Too many stops!  Well, if you, too, have memories of this treacherous winter sport, please get them to me.
 
One could travel all over Haddonfield behind a Millside Farms milk delivery truck, but avoiding the exhaust-belching tail-pipe was a must. A backfire in the face was never pleasant and became especially relevant when multiple riders, five or six, were participating. Somebody had to get behind that tail-pipe!  How old is someone who needs an explanation of what a backfire was? In that we commemorate the inventor/manufacturer of the Flexible Flyer sled, Samuel L. Allen, in our collections, you should also know that Getzinger's Westmont ACE Hardware now sells a “Flexible Flyer” sled – “Made in China!”

If you look at your Lost Haddonfield on pages 58 and 59, the "Haddonfield Garage" at 117 Kings Highway East (with gas pumps at 9-11 Tanner St.) was a “Regal” dealership.  We didn't include the dealerships or their service garages in our gas station count.  But Haddonfield Chevrolet, McAllen Buick, and Winner Ford, the sole survivor now in Cherry Hill, and Howard Hunt's Hudson Terraplane dealership may also have contributed tools to our amazing collection here. You should see these ingenious problem-solvers that we are preserving for a posterity that will otherwise know only computer solutions.
 
Back in 1996, the first volunteer to respond to my request for help in the Museum Cellars was Larry Alff, who helped us shape up on Monday mornings for four years.  Then he “re-retired” to continue restoring his 1911 Regal and Model T's, and preserving a Corvette.  A story he told me was that when he started working for one station in town, he was assigned to scrub the entire garage floor with gasoline!  His father made him quit that job right then and there!  Good advice. Larry's Mother, Elnora Alff, had also been a loyal volunteer at Greenfield hall for many years.
 
If you can't find your copy of Lost Haddonfield by Kathy Tassini and Doug Rauschenberger, or need another copy as a gift, just come to Greenfield Hall where a dwindling supply is still available at $18.50 (10% off for members) in our Museum Shop.  This would make an excellent welcoming gift for a new neighbor just moving into Haddonfield.