New Britian Herald
June 16, 2012
WWI-era ambulance, driven by city men during Great War, featured at
Klingberg auto show
Saturday, June 16, 2012 11:23 PM EDT
BY SUSAN CORICA
STAFF WRITER
NEW BRITAIN
One of the stars of the 20th annual Klingberg Vintage Motorcar Festival
Saturday was a newcomer to the classic auto show circuit ??” a
newly restored World War I ambulance with a connection to one of New
Britain’s prominent families.
Parker & Gwen Ackley with George King III
Ambulance 255 is a 1916 Model T Ford that was adapted for use rescuing the wounded on the battlefields of France in what was then known as the Great War.
George King III of North Franklin, an expert in repairing Model T engines
and transmissions, recently finished the complete restoration of the
ambulance with the help of Matt Malley, Bristol resident and president
of the Plymouth Historical Society.
King, dressed in a WWI soldier’s uniform, was at the event, showing
historical footage of the ambulance drivers on a laptop set up in the
back of the vehicle. The drivers were American college students who
volunteered to help out in France before the U.S. entered the war, he
explained.
“There were six drivers from New Britain, which is a very high number for a town of this size,” he said.
One of them was Robert C. Vance, whose family were benefactors to many institutions in town and who ran the New Britain Herald for many years. Vance himself was an editor at the newspaper in the 1950s.
Vance left Yale University to volunteer and became a sergeant in the U.S. Army when the U.S. finally entered the war.
“He was a driver in Section 14,” said King. “On the video we actually have footage of the ambulances from Section 14 leaving headquarters in Paris and going to war. It shows every ambulance so he has to be driving one of them.”
Since Ambulance 255 had its modern debut just a few months ago, it has been in great demand, King said.
“We did our first Memorial Day in Lebanon,” he said, “then the parade in Plymouth, then in Washington D.C. we were in the National Memorial Day Parade. The next day we were at Arlington National Cemetery to pay our respects to Corp. Frank W. Buckles, who died in 2011. He was the last World War I veteran in the United States and he was an ambulance driver.”
The Klingberg show had a number of other rare and unusual vehicles on display.
Frank Bernstein of Glastonbury was there to show off his 1924 Franklin, made in Syracuse, N.Y., in dark green with a chrome lion hood ornament.
“Franklin started in business in 1901 or ’02, the cars were wood and aluminum, light weight, air cooled, and expensive at the time. They appealed to doctors and lawyers,” Bernstein said. “They went out of business in 1934, now there are 3,500 of them left in the world.”
He said he was came across it 15 years ago, already mostly restored, and found it appealing.
It’s very reliable, Bernstein added. “I drove it up to Syracuse. Every year the Franklin Club has a reunion there, and I made it back, no problem.”
Frank and Patricia Wismer of Stratford were there with their 1921 Brewster Model 91 Series, a dark green beauty with brass trim, red spoke wheels, and a bagpiper adorning the hood. The steering wheel has a hand mechanism for controlling both the spark and the throttle.
Patricia & Frank Wismer with their 1921 Brewster
It was manufactured in Long Island City, NY, by a carriage maker that only ever produced 437 of these cars, said Patricia Wismer, who, with her husband, was in vintage 1920s costume.
“We spoke to some friends of ours who were in the car dealership business and we said we’d like to have a car that’s really unique. They just found this Brewster so we took a look at it and decided to purchase it,” she said.
Frank Wismer researched this particular car and found that at one time it was owned by the stepmother of Gore Vidal and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
Then there was The Dictator, an imposing black 1937 Studebaker, owned by Ron and Joan Liska of Middletown.
The name was meant to refer to the “dictated standard” that all other makers would imitate, according to the Liskas, but in the age of Hitler and Mussolini the name Dictator became such a liability it was dropped after 1937. After that the model was known as The Commander.
Ron Liska acquired the car 31 years ago from someone who found it in a garage in West Haven.
A photo in the car window showed a very rusted, neglected antique. “It had its problems, Liska chuckled, “but it’s got all original seat covers, door panels, floor covering, head liner. We have a lot of enjoyment out of this car, we’re pretty proud of it.”
“It’s very reliable,” he added. “We’ve driven it to Stowe, Vt., at least five, six times, never had a problem. You could drive this car right now to California.”
Joan Liska corrected her husband by pointing out they did have a problem with the car once.
“The first date when he took me out in this we had a flat tire, and he had to actually put to the original spare from 1937 to finish our date,” she said.
Susan Corica can be reached at (860) 584-0501 ext. 7259 or scorica@bristolpress.com.
