eBay

Excellent condition or better.

In this issue

The Biggest Test-Drive in History

What Cars Did for Skiing

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Viroqua, Wisconsin

FORD TIMES comes to you through the courtesy of your dealer who hopes thus to add to your

motoring pleasure and to suggest that his service will also add to the enjoyment of your car.

Front cover-On the cover painting by

V. Douglas Snow, a group of skiers

are seen engaged in ski talk inside the

lodge at Alta, Utah. This little-publi-

cized ski area, located just an hour

from Salt Lake City, is reputed to have

the finest powder snow in the world.

For the story of Alta, turn to page 19.

When requesting a change of address, be sure to send us (1) your name and address as shown

above, (2) the corrections and (3) the name and address of the dealer supplying your sub-

scription. Mail to FORD TIMES, Ford Motor Company, The American Road, Dearborn, Michigan.

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JANUARY 1961

Ford Times

2 The Birth of a Centennial

5 River of Rich Return

VOL. 53 NO. 1

BURGESS H. SCOTT

F. WENDEROTH SAUNDERS

10 Ford A-1 Reconditioning Program

12 The Biggest Test-Drive in History

19 Skier's Dream

CRISTIE FREED

23 New England on the Prairie

ROBERT MARTIN HODESH

GEORGE L. PETERSON

GILBERT BYRON

27 The Town that Fooled the British

32 Lake Mohave

CARLOS ELMER

38 Winter Magic in the Badlands

40 How to Enjoy Life under the Sen

GRANT HEILMAN

JOSEPH A. CAIN

42 What Cars Did for Skiing

NANCY KENNEDY

51 The Frustrations of Fort Massachusetts

52 Recreation Unlimited

BURGESS H. SCOTT

RAY M. THOMPSON

57 Favorite Recipes of Famous Taverns

Glove Compartment-16; Shells that Grow on Trees-26;

Old Houses of Huguenot Street-37; Custom Conversions-48;

Questions and Answers on the Warranty-60; Letters-62;

The Ford 1961 Almanac-64.

This sign will be a welcome from Ford dealers of

the Southland inviting you to drop in and say

hello as you tour historical battlefields and shrines

of 1861-65 during the coming four and one-third

years of the national Civil War Centennial.

Ford Motor Co., The American Road, Dearborn, Mich.

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painting by Jack Lewis

THE REGION of Chesapeake Bay it is often hard to

distinguish between the land and the water, a fact that gives

the impression of dreamy towns and dreamy people. Whether

this is true or not, the people can be anything but dreamy, as

they proved during the War of 1812 when they devastated

the British with a trick so clever you could almost mistake

them for Yankees.

The story of St. Michaels, Maryland, is a story of this

land-and-water region. It is a story of yachts, canoes, oysters,

ducks, swimming-whatever fun the water can give you.

The painting above is the boatyard at Knapp's Narrows. Other

paintings by Jack Lewis accompany the story on St. Michaels

by Gilbert Byron, page 27.

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engraving from Bettman Archive

CIVIL WAR BACKGROUND SERIES NO. 3 **⭑

"STAR OF THE WEST” INCIDENT

THE BIRTH OF A CENTENNIAL

BY BURGESS H. SCOTT

With the new year of 1961 the Centennial of the

War Between the States, the Civil War, or the

Confederate War, begins. The Centennial ob-

servances are the result of four or five years of

hard work by the central Civil War Centennial

Commission, and by the individual commissions

of forty or so states directly or indirectly concerned.

In its March, April, and May issues, FORD TIMES

will present special sections covering many of the

events to be staged in 1961, along with pertinent

historical background material. This year marks

ending in 1965.

the first of five years of intensive commemoration,

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OR nearly a week last Sep- days of the town's history. It was

a civic holiday such as Flora had

never known, not even during its

tember, the town of Flora,

Illinois, was the happiest com-

munity in the U.S.A. The reason

was simple: every car-owner in

town had a brand-new Ford.

This was the place in southern

Illinois to which Ford Motor

Company sent 1300 of its 1961

passenger cars and 200 of its 1961

trucks and said to the townspeople,

"Here. Drive around for a while.

Have fun."

The Florans took their $3,000,000

worth of new vehicles and they did

drive and they did have fun, and

centennial a few years back,

When the civic holiday came to

For five days

this town carried on

a half-million-mile

love affair with Ford

in so doing they proved something the biggest

about people and cars.

If the arrival of a new car in the

family is always the signal for a

new lease on joy, you must multi-

ply it by 1500 to get an idea of

what Flora was like in those five

test

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by Cristie Freed

paintings by V. Douglas Snow

ITH THE FIRST THRILL of freezing weather and the usual

"three feet of snow in the mountains," a small excited

rush of the nation's skiing devotees surges into Salt Lake City

and then heads for Alta, Utah, just an hour's drive away.

There the ski addict can revel in the finest powder snow in

the world, matched only by that found in Switzerland.

This is no extravagant claim foisted by some advertiser to

laud Alta as the ski mecca of the West. It is fact. Few by few,

the nation's top skiers have discovered it for themselves because

Alta is still small, and has never been commercialized as a

"skier's paradise" nationally. It's always been there, but until

recent years not even the people of Salt Lake City recognized

its enormous ski potential. Lodge facilities are limited, pres-

ently, but this is not a real disadvantage. The visitor can find

Alta, Utah-

Skier's Dream

with the finest powder snow this side of Switzerland

plenty of hotel and motel accommodations in Salt Lake City,

with daily bus transportation to and from Alta, and the drive

to Alta is through canyon scenery at its most glorious.

A dead-end canyon in the shape of a V, Alta is so narrow

that a sturdy pair of lungs can shout across it. The right arm, or

south side of the V, is where the excellent skiing is to be found.

Here the single-chair Collins lift and the new double-chair

Wildcat lift hoist the skier far out of sight up the sheer moun-

tain, so tall that the sun has set over the south side by about

3:30 p.m. of a winter afternoon. This results in snow that is

seldom or never in a slush condition.

At the top of the Collins lift, at 9,300 feet, is an eating

shelter which can seat about one hundred people at a time.

Above left: You can see Salt Lake City and distant mountains beyond.

Below left: One of the many cabins near Alta owned by ski families.

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New England on the Prairie

IF YOU'RE ABROAD IN MINNESOTA AND YEARN TO SEE A NEW

ENGLAND TOWN, YOU CAN FIND YOUR DESIRE IN NEW LONDON.

by George L. Peterson

paintings by George Runge

THEN SINCLAIR LEWIS moved back to Minnesota in the

1940's, he was delighted to find, here in his home state,

several places which reminded him of his beloved New England.

Not far from Sauk Centre, model for his famous novel, "Main

Street," the Nobel prize winner came upon New London. He

described it as "sitting among its ponds like a Cape Cod.

village."

New London is on U.S. 71, a north-south road that bisects

Minnesota. Here the road rises from the prairie into lovely

hills. But water gives New London its extra charm. A dam

the middle fork of the Crow River to create a series of

ponds studded with little islands. Old-fashioned houses, well

tended yards, and a sense of orderliness prevail.

backs

The spires of the four churches seem to push upward through

the treetops, and are reflected in the waters of the ponds. The

churches appear to have surrounded the town with their

comfort and symbolism.

New London is noted for its pride and co-operation in

matters of civic advancement. Once the town with its one

thousand population had no hospital. Young Dr. Jack Guy,

besieged by patients in his old-fashioned quarters, yearned for

better facilities. The Commercial Club learned of his needs

and asked him how much money he required. Business men,

Above left: Trinity Church, on New London's quiet Birch Street.

Below left: The town began with a mill here on the Crow River.

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This is Lake Mohave at

Davis Dam, not so famous

as Hoover Dam, its big

brother upstream, but still

a highly impressive sight.

LAKE MOHAVE

Weekenders from Los Angeles,

test drivers, and cross-country travelers

enjoy a multitude of water sports in the

deep blue waters of man-made

Lake

Mohave

story and photographs by CARLOS ELMER

Four miles north of Davis

Dam on the Arizona side of

Lake Mohave is Katherine

Landing, one of the major

sports centers of the area.

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WINTER MACH

IN THE BADLANDS

dosed, lus die leade

and made can be found in Wall, right miles

wth of the park's was on, and there are plenty d

acomadation in using Rapid City, fifty-five miles d

Wall on US

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Cannon Mountain Ski Area, on U.S. Highway 3 in Franconia

New Hampshire, was a noted White Mountain summer resort a

century ago when guests came in by narrow gauge railway. A

hardy breed of "ridge runners" skied the old logging roads in

go at the hills. For information about the area write New Hamp-

the thirties, but today the whole family pops out of the car for a

Hampshire. Photograph by Eric M. Sanford.

shire Recreation Division, State House Annex, Concord, New

what Cars

by Nancy Kennedy

did for Skiing

TF EVER there was a success story about fun and the out-of-

I doors, it can be told about the way automobiles and

skiing have grown up together. The pictures on these pages

of ski lodges, East and West, are a mere sampling indicating

how the love of skiing has spread to every part of the nation-

even into the South. (Next month, Midwest skiing will be

represented with a story on Michigan ski lodges.)

Today three million Americans slide down the slopes. In

the early thirties there were only a few hundred. The skiing

pioneers of the United States were then concentrated in the

New England states, with a handful in Michigan and Min-

nesota, and a sprinkling of dedicated daredevils in the High

El Pocono Ranch Resort, twenty-five miles south of Scranton, is

seven miles off U.S. Highway 611 at Thornhurst, Pennsylvania,

and is easily reached by car. Sturdy ranch type buildings painted

a cheerful red accommodate guests at this family resort deep in

the heart of the Pocono Mountains. The merry ring of sleigh

bells announces the daily sleigh rides and there is excellent ice

skating and tobogganing in addition to a fine novice and inter-

mediate ski run. Photograph by C. H. Echols, Jr.

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painting by Richard Wagner.

The Inn at Steele Hill

A year-around family resort, which offers excellent skiing and

skating, overnight accommodations and complete

recreation facilities. Lunch and dinner served daily.

Reservations necessary. The Inn is about five miles east of

Winnisquam, off U.S. 3, at Sanbornton, New Hampshire.

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Garmisch, U.S.A.

Patterned by owner Jean. Funk Linder on a Bavarian lodge

in Garmisch, Bavaria, this year-around resort is on

Lake Namakagon, ten and a half miles east of Cable, Wisconsin,

on County Road D. Breakfast and dinner served daily, family style;

dining room open until 8:00 p.m. Overnight accommodations

and excellent recreation facilities. Reservations necessary.

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photograph by Charles Strickland

HIS COLORFUL GROUP of shells grew on trees in southern

Florida as described on page 26. At top is a valuable "set"

of five rare tree snail shells found only on Little Pine Key, while

in the second row are three more common varieties. The

species in

row three is found mainly on Sugarloaf, Big Pine and the Johnson

keys, and at bottom are two "buttons" or baby snails.