In the Summer of 1962 I bought a dark blue 1930 Franklin Model 145 four-door sedan from an older woman who lived a couple of towns away. If I remember correctly, she was the original owner of the car. I paid her $60.00 for the car, including all the original paperwork and some spare parts and another $12.00 to have it towed to our town. I could have paid $125.00 and bought a fixed-up and running 1927 Buick Opera Coupe ... but heck, everybody has a Buick. I wanted something different.

This would have been The Ultimate Band Car. I could put my amplifier, guitar and tons of other stuff in the back and still have room to sit with a friend. Sitting in the back seat with my back against the seat and stretching my legs as far as they would reach, I was not even close to touching the back of the front seat. The space back there was enormous.

Franklins of this vintage had an in-line six cylinder cast aluminum engine and were air cooled. Each cylinder was individually removable. It was a relatively easy car to work on. I believe this car weighed in at around 6,000 pounds, empty. The spokes of the wheels were fabricated from real wood and the overall craftsmanship and attention to detail is truly amazing, especially so by today's (poor) standards of automobile manufacturing.

When it first arrived, my parents suggested I house it behind the garage. As the project went on, I was able to move it into the garage. There it stayed until I was in the Navy, around 1968, and my parents insisted quite strongly that I get it out of the garage, preferably by selling it.

I sold it to a collector from Connecticut for $650.00 cash. I used the money to buy my second car, a 1957 Volkswagen Bug, which replaced the Franklin in my parent's garage, for a while at least.

Here are a few images of the car the day it arrived, out in the street in front of my parent's house in Mahwah, NJ. These were captured from video made from 8mm film. My younger brother's and sister's friends crawled all over the car the moment the tow truck dropped it off. My friends knew better and stayed away so I could play with The Beast, as it became known.

   

Here are a couple of pictures of The Beast in behind my parent's garage. The second picture is of me working on the engine. Note the loose pistons. I have pulled the aluminum cylinders off to take them into the basement to wash them in my mother's laundry sink. Eventually I dismantled the engine and the whole front end of the automobile and was working towards rebuilding it when I went into the Navy. My girfriend Barb helped me work on it, but it never got finished.

   

I spent a lot of time in junkyards all over Northern New Jersey, cutting brush from around old cars, digging through mud, moving large pieces of other ancient automobiles, just to get at a few spare parts. I remember buying parts from one junkyard for 50 cents and a dollar for any part, that is, if I could get to the car and get the part I needed.

I also remember having a lively correspondence with an older gentleman in Van Nuys, California who restored Franklins (and maybe other cars) for a living. He told me on how to use standard, off-the-shelf parts to substitute for Franklin parts that were no longer available. He offered me all sorts of good automobile restoration advice. I forget his name, but he was a very helpful and generous man and I owe him a debt of gratitude for his patience with a 14 year old.

Here's what a restored and refurbished 1930 Franklin 145 looks like today. Beautiful, isn't it?

The above image is not a car I own, it is from the information section of the Franklin Cars website. Check that site out, there are some really great old automobiles there.

Send an email to Glenn.