Uncle Carl and His Cars

Uncle Carl had a series of blue Essex sedans during the time we were on the farm. I think he acquired them second-hand in Fort Dodge and why he favored them I have no idea. I have a vague recollection that when I was quite young he had an open (canvas top) Dodge touring car and I seem to recall getting out of it alongside the east door at my grandmother’s after having arrived from somewhere. It was after dark.

During the time we were on the farm he also bought a second-hand Chevrolet sedan as a second car — again why I don’t know. He and I and Vincent drove to Ames one of the times we attended the agronomy day there, using this car. I drove. On the way back to the farm I was driving along at a moderate speed and a car passed me traveling at a much faster speed. The driver had to cut in maybe because of oncoming traffic and as he did so he clipped the bumper of the Chevrolet. I could hear the click but that was all.

I have sometimes wondered why he took Vincent and me along on these trips to Ames. Was he envisioning a future for the two of us as farmers, possible taking over someday the operation of the Peterson acres? He never said. Vincent of course deserted John Deere for being a farmer, but I guess it was despite uncle Carl than because of him. I recall that when he was discharged from the army he worked for our uncle for awhile but he could not stand the way he farmed and went back to school at ISU and got his degree in agricultural engineering.

After I had left the farm for California, my uncle purchased a small truck to transport grain to market in Gowrie. After all, the horses were all dead by then. It was on one of the trips with the truck hauling shell corn to the elevator in Gowrie that the corncrib burned down. I guess he was informed at the elevator and he drove back at a furious speed. Not that there was anything he could do about it.

He himself was really responsible for the fire. He had been shelling corn and had elected to dispose of some corn husks from the shelling by burning them up. He didn’t adequately ensure that the embers were all out and they were apparently too near the crib. They flared up and the crib caught fire. My mother and the persons in the house (Vivian was on the scene) were unaware that the crib was on fire until the neighbor to the east noticed the blaze and called them. I believe the corn had all been shelled but the two bins upstairs contained oats I believe. I believe he sold them for hog feed.

Early in WWII he bought a new Pontiac (a two-door I think) and it was the only new car he ever bought in my recollection. As a farmer he must have been allotted the purchase of one of the few remaining new autos still remaining at the time. To my knowledge it was the last car he ever owned.

Typically my uncle’s cars were stained and characterized by grease, dirt and debris. On the rare occasions when he wanted to transport some family member (such as my grandmother) somewhere he would clean out the car more or less and cover the seat where the riders would sit with a clean tarpaulin or some such piece of fabric. I can still see my grandmother on such an occasion seated placidly in the front seat of the car alongside him. I think that on at least one occasion I was detailed to clean out the car for such an excursion.

I don’t know how he treated the Pontiac but his Essexes always got secondary treatment to his tractors. For example when he changed the oil in his Farmall he would use it in his Essex.

The large Hart-Parrs which he used for threshing were originally equipped with a magneto to generate the spark for the combustion in the cylinders. When we were on the farm this form of ignition had ceased to be used and instead he used a storage battery and an old Ford coil for the purpose. At the end of each threshing day he would disconnect the battery from the tractor and install it in the circuit of the Essex to have it recharged on his trip back and to his overnight sleep at my grandmother’s.

Uncle Carl was a master at adapting to meet his mechanical problems with such materials as he had at hand. He was great at using wire for making makeshift and often permanent repairs. The wire he used for these purposes was old check wire from early corn-planting methods. I find in a way that I have adopted this technique for fixing things and the use of wire is one of the first solutions I turn to. For example, I like to mow the grass in the lawns as high as I can so I set the mower at the extreme adjustment possible with my current mower (Sears’ lowest-priced hand-pushed model). The design of the mower is somewhat deficient in that the force transmitted along the handle to move the mower will sometimes cause the mower wheels to lift off the ground and the mower will slide or roll on the back of the mower where the roller is. This can be rectified by wiring the handle to the roller attachment, which I have done.

This is not the way that Jean’s machinist father would have attacked the problem.

In a way I think I resemble my uncle Carl in that the means are never overemphasized in pursuit of an end — except perhaps in the case with Uncle Carl and his famous potato planter. I think I may have written about the project elsewhere.