Preface,
Part I: The Beginning.
The truck's history as
accurately as I can figure it.
1. THE DIRECT HISTORY
The oldest direct records I have of this vehicle are from 1983, when it was discovered in a field.Debbie Christopherson, Larry's wife, described the discovery to me:
The Van as Lee B---- first saw it. That lovely greenery surrounding it is Toxicodendron diversilobum, otherwise known as poison oak. "Lee B---- [One of Larry's oldest friends from his 1950s Stockton teenagehood] was driving outside Aptos when he saw the van through a thicket off the road. He told Larry, who came and checked it out. It was sitting with it's tires imbedded in the ground, surrounded by a a dense hedge of poison oak.
" The old woman who owned the property the van was stuck in said he could have it for free if he could remove it. he came back later with four new tires and with a little work got it home."
The Old Man, As I used to call my Dad, checking out the Van in the site of it's discovery. He's wearing a Corner Pocket t-shirt, which is the name of the bar he owned at the time. I'm not sure if he got it home by driving it or having it towed, but at the end of October 1983 he had the engine replaced with a rebuilt Stovebolt Six, along with a new clutch, shocks, and a generator, so I suppose it's not important.
So he gets it home and cleans the vehicle off. You can see to the right a small animated GIF (reconstructed from two old photos) of him washing the car for the first time. I don't have any explanation for those Euro-shorts he's wearing. I knew the man all my life and every time he was dressed for potential hot and wet conditions he'd wear cutoffs (or nothing, which is another story). when Karen and I first saw these pictures a few days ago we laughed ourselves sick.
When he was finished it went from this...
...to this!
(That's Debbie C. on the fender). You can see the beast originally came with a single round outside rearview mirror and no turn signals. you can also see that it was GM Jet Black with Arabian Ivory upper trim, like I originally thought. He painted it grey with a white roof sometime after these photos were taken, and over the course of sixteen years it weathered to it's current condition.
2. THE INDIRECT HISTORY
This gets a bit murkier, as there's no info about the previous owners of the Panel Van before 1983 besides the markings on the vehicle before it was repainted.
As far as I can tell, it was owned by Economy Cleaners, which was located in Clovis, California. (you can see it in the close-up photo of Mr. Euro-shorts above) Here are Photoshop-enhanced closeups of the strip along the sides below the sign panel, showing what appears to be "632 CLOVIS AVE. CLOVIS CALIF."
This is a reconstruction of what I think the van looked like during it's period of service in Clovis.
NOTE: I just got off the phone with the fine folks at the Clovis Public Library. I called this morning (7-6-99) to get some idea if Economy Cleaners was still in business and if they had any old newspaper ads they could copy and forward on. I called to follow up and they had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. There is apparently no record of an Economy Cleaners operating in Clovis from 1955-1960. Foo. Well, I'll try later with a later date search.
3. BETTER INDIRECT HISTORY
4 February 2004 One fine fall day back in 2002 I took a day off work and drove to Clovis, CA. Ostensably, I went there to check out an old truck parts yard there, but I also wanted to see what 632 Clovis Avenue looked like. It wasn't there anymore. No such address existed.I inquired next door at Linenbach Auto Parts, located at 604 Clovis Avenue, and the owner not only recalled Economy Cleaners, but also knew the owners. They retired in the early 70s and moved to the Santa Cruz area. The building that housed the dry cleaners was torn down about 20 years ago.
The 1957 Fresno Yellow Pages listing for Economy Cleaners. Later that afternooon, I checked with the folks at the Clovis Public Library, and they were just a clueless as person as they were over the phone three years previous. They did, however, direct me to the huge Fresno Main Library (about 10 miles away). Old Yellow Pages kept in the Reference section there yielded the listings for Economy Cleaners. The 1957 Edition listed a "C. L. Roberts" as the owner; In the 1966 book "Brenda Boswell" is proprietor. The last listing for Economy Cleaners is in the 1971 book, which shows the owners as "Wally and Brenda Boswell."
Who knows why they closed the dry cleaners? Perhaps the did indeed retire and move away. Not having the facts, I choose to make them up. I can imagine Brenda, having met and married Wally, perhaps in a wonderful Autumn romance. In the aging but sturdy delivery truck from her former dry cleaning business the happy couple head west on Highway 152 to thier happy retirement home on the Monterey Bay.
