Recalling Hot Rods, Trolley Cars and Dollar Coins

When Ed Pettus finished building his bullet-shaped Lockheed Lakester a year ago, he didn't plan to sell it. But, after a whirlwind tour of the car that's a cross between a jet airplane, a Bonneville Salt Flats racer and a 1930s biplane, he changed his mind.

"I do all of these projects and when I'm done, what do I do?" says Ed who with son Eddie Pettus Jr. has Eddie's Rod & Custom in Cedar Rapids.

The Lakester, which I wrote about last July, is built around a wingtip gas tank of a 1950s Lockheed Super Constellation and has a steering yoke from a 1948 airplane. Parts came from 1930s Packards, a 1940 Ford tractor and a 1959 Chevy pickup. It has a turbocharged Toyota engine.

From shows in Cedar Rapids and the Quad Cities, it went to Chicago's World of Wheels, a two-month stay at the Experimental Aircraft Association museum in Oshkosh, Wis., and on display at El Mirage near Long Beach, Calif., where dry lake bed speed runs originated.

"I thought, you know, after that I'm going to take it home and put it in the garage," Ed says.

But, as a fan of the famous Barrett-Jackson vehicle auction in Arizona, Ed inquired about selling the Lakester. Told it was too late, he sent information anyway and was surprised to become a last-minute entry. It went on the block Jan. 21.

But, this auction doesn't allow sellers to set a minimum price - if the high bid is $100, the car sells for $100.

Ed had insured the Lakester for $100,000. Bidding opened at $10,000.

"We were a nervous wreck," he says, referring to his wife, Kathy, and friends in attendance.

Bidding quickly rose, though, to $100,000. Two bidders pushed it to $170,000, the winner from Georgia adding it to his collection.

"We feel so blessed with what we got," Ed says. He'll use the extra funds to retire the mortgage on Ellis Boulevard NW property (home and vacant lot) destroyed by the Floods of 2008.

Unsure about what they can do with the property, Ed, 60, isn't waiting around for another hot rod project. All he says is that it's a unique truck. "Let people wonder."

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Linda Betsinger McCann, a Shell Rock historian working on books about trolley cars sends her thanks. She's received many great comments from Gazette readers after I wrote earlier this week about her particular interest in the Waterloo, Cedar Falls and Northern Railway that came to Cedar Rapids. (She can be reached by emailing linjenka@yahoo.com or by calling (319) 885-6687.

Beverly Schuman of Decorah wrote about catching the trolley at Buzzard's Glory near her father's farm between La Porte City and Brandon.

Larry McGrath of Cedar Rapids called to reminisce about catching a trolley near Coe College and putting pennies on the tracks to watch a trolley flatten them to the size of a quarter.

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Five years after the gold-colored Presidential dollar coins were introduced (I wrote about them), a group of U.S. Senators including Iowa's Tom Harkin are pushing legislation to eliminate paper dollar bills in favor of the coins.

A 2011 study indicated the move could save $5.5 billion over 30 years because paper money must be replaced more frequently. The problem is the American public hasn't bought into the $1 coin idea.

I love ‘em, how they never get crinkled, jingle in my pocket and slide into vending machines. They're so much cooler than paper or plastic.

Comments: (319) 398-8323; dave.rasdal@sourcemedia.net