With the recent addition of Bill Trier's fire truck to our Venice, AACA, it brought back some wonderful childhood memories of a small, red fire engine that I rode when in my growing up in a bustling industrial town called Bristol, Connecticut and America's oldest existing amusement park.

That little truck was a Crosley, I'm not sure which year it was built, but it was brought into the park in 1950 and appeared to me to be an obvious conversion from a small wheelbase truck to one extended as I remember a chain drive off from the original rear axle location to one further back to lengthen the wheelbase. It was given the name of "Little Chief Compounce" named after an American Indian chief, roughly translated later to Compounce.

I believe several of the Crosley fire engines were built primarily for amusement parks and I have seen one for sale on the eBay Internet auction site as recent as a year ago. When you are young, even a Crosley loomed large!

A short history of Lake Compounce itself which was a small natural lake originally occupied by the Tunxis Indian tribe, a small sect from the Mattatuck tribe. In the 1600's, the chief was Nesaheagun, also known as Jona Compoune or John A Compound. Somewhere in time, the Lake took a variation of Compound's name and still exists as an amusement park owned by the Kennywood Company. The beginnings of what we modern folk term an "amusement park" started in the mid 1800's as a picnic retreat with the addition of a few basic "rides" in the 1850's and it never stopped growing.

Back to my youth, the 50's and the memories of one particular Crosley. My parents would take my two brothers and myself to Lake Compounce several times during the summer months (they frequented the large beer hall) as it was open seasonally from May through early October. The Crosley, which could seat 10 or 12 "little folk" as well as any accompanying big folk was added to the section known as Kiddie Land and you could ride for a 10¢ ticket halfway around the waterway and return...All the while, the driver operated the bell and sirens creating excitement in this 12 year olds life. You were given one of those plastic Chief's hat to make you look like a real fireman. I remember going probably all of 10 miles per hour through the woods, the picnic area and along side the rail line which featured steam trains that once operated on the grounds of a famous actor, William Gillette at what's known as Gillette Castle, presently a State Park. During the thrill ride, one could observe the three Chris-Craft speedboats plying the lake with thrill.

For the 79th time The AAA Glidden Tour was held again in 2011 as one of the great exhibitions of automotive history. The Glidden Tour began as a way to demonstrate the reliability of "Horseless Carriages". From 1902 to 1913 they competed in reliability competitions to prove they where a reliable alternative to the horse. It worked and the automobile changed history. (Fewer horses!)

In 1946 it was revived as a tour for antique automobiles and continues as an annual event. Sponsored again as in the early tours by AAA, this year was the 66th AAA Revival Glidden Tour and all stock vehicles produced prior to WWII were eligible. It was hosted by the Queen City Region of the AACA in Cumberland, Maryland. It included 265 automobiles and trucks, of which 32 were Early Ford V8's. This is the largest number of Early Ford V8 vehicles I've ever seen on a major tour, what a treat for a Ford V8 guy.

The cars and trucks gathered at the Rocky Gap Resort, near Cumberland, Maryland. From there we spent 5 days touring a course of 540 miles in the mountains of western Maryland, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

The 265 pre WWII vehicles came from all over the U.S. (26 States) The tour included 101 Model A Fords, 32 Ford V8's, 8 Model T's, many cars by Buick , Chevrolet, Chrysler, Cadillac, Packard, Dodge, Pontiac, Desoto, Studebaker, Plymouth, Marmon, Auburn, Franklin, Oldsmobile, a Peerless, a Viele, a Locomobile, a Reo, a Oakland (a 1931 flathead V8), a Cord, a Willys, a Paige, an International, a DeVaux and a Stevens Duryea. What a parade; all driving daily (Rain or Shine) over back roads through the country sharing the joy of antique car ownership while seeing the sites of the area. The oldest was a 1911 and there were several 12's & 13's, but the stars in my eyes were the 32 V8 Fords.

Without an official daily starting time, we all took our time to enjoy the scenery, the cars, the people and the rest stops. It's kind of a "Twilight Zone" experience with old cars in front and in back and at every interesting place on the route. It makes a parking lot Antique Car Show seem like a static display. With 30 years of automobile production all using the same roads, but not always in the same direction, the view was always awesome.

The host Region of AACA (The Queen City Region) had a tremendous participation of members and friends who guided us to parking at each stop and offered support for any need. Imagine 265 cars 70 to 100 years old squeezed into parking spaces, bumper to bumper.

We did a timed hill climb, rode a train up the Potomac River Tough, crossed a low water toll bridge, saw the Flight 93 Memorial, the Q Creek Mine, visited an active antique plane airport, saw Swallow Falls where Ford Firestone & Burroughs camped (With re-enactors), and visited the Oakland Transportation Museum. We toured on the "National Road" (US 40, first paved Federal road), visited Falling Waters (A Frank Lloyd Wright designed home on a waterfall), a Corvette collection and took a steam train ride. We all ate too much, but had fun with our antique cars and met lots of really nice people and renewed friendships from previous tours.

All AACA members with pre-WWII vehicles are invited to join the fun of touring with the AACA and the VMCCA who host the tour in a different location each year. If you play a musical instrument, bring it and join the Glidden Band in entertaining us one evening.   In 2012 the VMCCA will host the Glidden Tour in Brenham, Texas October 21-26 for "The Great Texas Trail Drive".

Filled with excitement and anticipation, you hurry down the stairs and into the living room. Colorful packages trimmed with ribbon await you under the beautifully decorated Christmas tree. Like a lion on the hunt, you snatch a gift from the pile and feverishly tear off the paper to find the very RC car you had been begging your parents for all year. Raising your new trophy toward the sky, you shout with joy!

What child wouldn't want an RC car for Christmas? In a world driven by technology, it's difficult to imagine little boys and girls without at least one battery operated toy in their arsenal. Interestingly enough, battery operated toys have been around far longer than you might think. In fact, one of the earliest battery operated toy automobiles was released before the end of the 19th century.

In 1899, the Knapp Electric Novelty Company (New York City) released its first battery operated toy automobile, which was 10 inches long and made of pressed steel. At $3.50 ($90.49 in today's currency, factoring in inflation), they were relatively expensive and geared toward children of more affluent families. As a relatively small company, Knapp left the distribution of their product to Carlisle and Finch Co., which had made a name for themselves selling the world's first electric toy trains in 1896.

While an ad from 1899 labeled the toy as "safe, practical [and] durable," Knapp's toy seems rather dangerous for a child by today's standards. It was powered by a wet cell battery concealed underneath the "seat," which was activated by water and allowed the car to run for up to an hour. In 1903, Knapp improved their design by incorporating safer dry cell batteries.

Another safety issue was that the car's motor and gears were completely exposed. This, however, was to serve an educational function, as the toys were marketed as the "most amusing and instructive articles ever invented." In effect, the idea was that little boys would gain mechanical knowledge as they watched how the gears propelled their vehicle forward.   

Are you interested in collecting toy cars? Whether you fancy diecasts, wind-ups or battery operated models, the library has a nice collection of reference books covering the subject-matter, as well a small collection of period advertisements. We also have an extensive collection of Antique Toy World Magazine, covering 1972 through the present. Here at the library, there's something for everyone!

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