By Virginia Scholtz
Northside News
If you’re a friendly person who likes talking to people — and you have a vintage vehicle — how would you spend your summer days? Al Niehus gets behind the wheel of his 1930 Model A Ford truck and shares the experience with neighbors around the area.
Recently, a woman exiting Kavanaugh’s after a NewBridge senior lunch remarked about the old truck saying she was born in 1934 and had driven the same make of farm truck in her youth.
Niehus, now retired, spent his working years using the skills he learned from his father. He is a maintenance mechanic and worked many years for the University of Wisconsin. Since he was a boy, he’s loved cars. He learned about their care and repair from his father.
And Niehus loves to drive. In the 1960s and early ‘70s he was a stunt driver in “Crash Dick’s Auto Dare Devils.” In summer he traveled the Midwest performing from Kansas to Kentucky and as far south as Missouri. The cars would race around dirt tracks enhanced by curving ramps that were moved to each site by an accompanying semi. Rollovers happened more than once, about thirty by his estimation. The only safety feature of the cars were a roll bar and a lap belt. Niehus says he had “burns” on his abdomen from that lap belt after his car had rolled him.
Now Niehus drives more sedate routes on paved roadways. His Model A likes to chug along at a peppy 40–45 miles per hour. The “oogah-oogah” horn is a little raspy, but still powerful and proud to greet curious onlookers. He lets the “friends he hasn’t met yet” sit behind the wheel for photos, if they like. Kids are especially intrigued by the 94-year-old antique. Niehus bought the truck (in pieces) for $75 from a co-worker who had planned to restore it, but never quite got started. With a bit more money and the help of family and friends, the old machine was given a new life.
Here’s the way the vintage vehicle tells the story (with a little help from Niehus):
I was born a Model A Ford in 1930. My present family adopted me in 1969 after my last family took me apart and left me in a shed. I was scared and lonely in that dark shed. My family bought new and used parts, some paint and a new heart to beat under my hood. I love my new family.
I was lucky enough to carry my new family on their wedding day on Sept. 4, 1971. I love getting out and having the wind blow up my fenders and running boards.
I have two siblings. A 1956 Pontiac Star Chief adopted in 1983 and a L964 Pontiac Catalina adopted in April of this year. My siblings were very healthy when they were adopted.
Jean, nee Kruchten, grew up in Springfield Corners on the family farm. The homestead, near Indian Lake County Park, is still in the family. Watching her mother bake and cook for a family of nine children, Jean knows how to whip up great meals for a crowd.
She graduated from Wisconsin Heights High School and worked as an administrative assistant at Oscar Mayer. She met her future spouse during his stunt-driving days. They married in 1971 and moved to the Northside in 1975 because it was a good neighborhood and close to Oscar Mayer. There they raised three sons.
They now have three grandchildren. They all love the truck; one of them even got to sit behind the wheel while he and Grandpa Al drove around a vacant parking lot. In addition to showing off and sharing the Model A Ford truck, the couple drive home-delivered meals to various folks in the area every Thursday.
Niehus admits that in his younger days he received a speeding ticket or two. Now in his seventies, he expresses some concern for the future. He worries about our changing climate, wars in Europe and the Middle East, and the education of our youth. His advice and his hope are that young people “stay in school and obey the law.”
So, when you see a vintage green and black truck coming down the road, give the driver a wave. He’ll “oogah-oogah” back atcha.
