The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-01-14
TALKING
IT Over
BY JOE WILLIAMS

LW 4OIShs jail. 19.-All AUTO
IN mobile show is where people
go to sit in Rolls Royces and buy
Fords.
wrote that line long time ago
1T isn't any better now except that
1t is probably more fitting.
Anyhow 1 drifted into the auto
mobile show at the Grand Central
palace Tuesday night and the pic
ture didn't seem complete to me.
Somehow I have developed the feeling
tnat there ought TO be a law against
holding automobile shows unless Henry
Eiqra. Barney Oldheld and Mr.. William
Hickman Pickens are among the exhibits.
l 20 back to the horse and buggy days
Nnen II was gram thrill to ride In a
rubbed tired surrey behind a gray mare,
and I can remember when the automobile
nrst came into prominence. and even to
tt ni Gay II shocks me when l hear people
or Mr. Pickens.
suppose can explain this feeling on
the ground that / first looked upon Ford
as an automobile race driver-and of
course everybody knows the great fame
that Oldheld achieved later in this spe-
cialty. AS for Mr.. Pickens. he Just hap
pened
understand that one of the FIRST cars
Ford ever built-maybe the very frst-is
Btill in existence, and that it is still his
torically, the most famous Of all racing
machines. The old "S99" Some of you
otne; old timers may have heard of it,
=. II was a scrawny-looking, thin bodied
Thing painted red, and looked something
IKE a modern hyweight as to structure.
as remember the story, the car wouldn't
run after Ford built It and he sold it
70 man named Tom Cooper, now de-
ceased. who renamed the contraption the
Unless I am wrong. OIdheld broke into
tne racing game through an attempt to
make TINS car 60 He, was working for
chanicsl difficulties by inserting a rub
, ngr tnne IN The gas tank and blowing
Hi ivglthy INTO the device:
providing wind for the first force-feed
car wns able to 90 as fast as fifty miles
an hour on straightaway course.
n
THIS performance attracted the
Il attention of a young magma
tive young promoter, Carl Fisher,
creator Of the present 5O0-mile
course at Indianapolis, and what
followed will be known as the be-
ginning of the speed era of Amer
lea. Fisher brought the combina-
ton into Detroit for an exhibition.
For some reason Cooper was unavailable
rs the, driver. and SO Oldfeld was pressed
a car up to that time In fact he had
ridden in car only twice before, each
time as wind blowerma circumstance
later day characteristics.
Driving a car for the first time in his
life. Oldheld went five miles in the record
mile, land without cigar" as the
gentleman tells the story in present day
AS a result Of this performance. the
Cooper SpeciaP'-huilt and disavowed bv
P ord cam AZ, famous car II was also
early. sports page favo.ites came into dis
tln:tionMMr. Pickens, the promoter.
good with this eTeao 40 So he
went to Cooper and made a deal. II
die IT.. have -, any money, but I gave him
known Mr.. Pickens for years. one thing
he 9eyer runs out OF is his word, or even
words
WTHEN Mr.. Pickens bought the
w car, he went out on his own.
Oldneld meant nothing to him.
Later they came together and in
due time formed one of the most
interesting sports combinations the
world has ever known-maybe not
the most important, but, I'll repeat,
one of the most interesting.
It's a typical story how they finally got
together. Mr.. Pickens was in Salt Lake
City. local chauffeur was driving the
car. Neither the car nor the chauffeur
was doing any too well. Mr.. Pickens, as
A grave problem confronted him Here
he was in the towns leading hotel and
without anv money. Mr.. Pickens needed
a pair Of shoes 1t was a simple matter
to have them sent to the hotel G. o. D.
Mr.. Pickens ordered six pairs of shoes.
a couple of hours later Mr.. Pickens sent
the shoes back and demanded a refund
and in some miraculous way got it.
Oldheld, amazed at Mr.. Pickens' in
genuity, decided that he would be a good
guy to string along with, being himself
a commercial soldier of fortune. And thus
was launched the Oldfeld-Pickens COM
bination. There isn't much more to the
story. BY this time the Cooper Special
was pretty much of a wreck. What re-
manned of 1t was in a railroad freight
house and the company demanded $140.
II wouldn't give that much dough for
all the automobiles in the world" sneered
Mr. Oldheld. Saying which, Oldheld and
Mr. PickenS went on about their business.
which, extending over a long stretch of
years, must have been exciting and novel,
If not lucrative.
The last heard of Mr. Pickens he had
fled suit in bankruptcy, and Oldfeld was
working as bond salesman, having lost
more than 5000 900 in the market crash.
But hear that Henry Ford is still
thumbing his nose at the wolf.