As I mentioned on Saturday, we went to the Forney Museum of Transportation in Denver expressly to see Amelia Earhart's car, and we weren't disappointed! She drove a 1923 Kissel Speedster 45 "Gold Bug" -- apparently with great gusto, much to the dismay of her passengers, but not at all surprising when you think about it. She took it cross country from Los Angeles to Boston with her mom in 1924, which was no mean feat when you consider that the US was still decades away from having any kind of interstate system. Heck, other than in reasonably sized cities there were hardly any paved roads at all in the 1920s, so driving from one side of the continent to the other was an adventure. Which, of course, Ms. Earhart was always down for. I'm sure it took months.
What a great car. It's quite large, even though it only seats two, although there are a couple of small seats that extend outside the chassis on either side for extra passengers, and with no seat belts. Can you imagine? You'd be holding on for dear life, especially with daredevil Amelia at the wheel!
I cannot express how big a fan I am of Amelia Earhart. It's something that goes way back to childhood for me. We really enjoyed getting the opportunity to see her historic, Wisconsin-made automobile, even if only for a few minutes.
Um, no. I don't care who's driving, I m not going to ride in this weird little extra seat that has no seat belt!
1 comment:
What a car!
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