Hot rod show wows visitors

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February 13, 2017 - 12:00 AM

The Car Barn Museum wowed visitors for the winter meeting of the Allen County Historical Society on Sunday.
Steve Bulk said he takes care of the barn in the absence of  the owner, Don Nichols. 
“Anytime we are here, people can come look at them,” Bulk said of the car collection. “He likes people to come look at them.”
Nichols is a former English teacher and jury consultant. His passion for collecting classic cars began in 1958, Bulk said. Nichols bought his first classic car, a 1935 Chevrolet, when he was a senior at Iola High School. Fifty-nine years later, The Car Barn sits full of classic cars ranging from a 1922 Model A to a 1997 Chevrolet Corvette. But that is not all that the barn houses. Nichols’s displays include antique record albums, stamps, toy soldiers, books, baseballs, footballs, paintings, wine and jukeboxes.
Renee Debler, Bulk’s daughter, said one of the baseballs is signed by legendary player Babe Ruth. The barn houses a picture signed by Pete Rose and memorabilia signed by Larry Johnson. 
First-time visitor, Ron Nelson, Bonner Springs, said he was surprised to find a photo of his sister-in-law’s dating back to either 1953 or 1954 in the barn. The photo featured the Prairie Dell 4-H club. But it’s the classic cars, Nelson  said, that impressed him the most.
“Just one word to describe it,” he said, “Wow. You just cannot have a favorite.”
But Rhett Allee, Iola, and his two sons, Zach, 11, and Thomas, 7, said they came to see their favorite, a 1970 convertible Dodge Challenger, a car, according to Bulk, that houses a 426 Hemi with two 4-barrel carburetors.
“Everything is new in it, including all of the interior,” Bulk said.
Bulk said he knows a little bit about all of the cars, including that in the 1938 Cadillac Lasalle is the same motor used in tanks. 
“The motor went bad and Don just happened to find an original, in the crate, spare motor for a tank,” Bulk said.
In regards to the 1936 Chevrolet Street Rod with a 350 modern motor, he said it also has heat and air and leather interior.
“It’s all been redone,” Bulk said. “It’s got new suspension under it. It runs nicely.”  
Bulk said he also knows how much Nichols loves his cars. He said in 1983 Nichols bought a 1959 Chevy Corvette and had it restored. A friend wanted to buy it and he finally talked Nichols into selling it.
“We shipped it down to Texas,” Bulk said. “The guy had a mechanic look at it. The mechanic said how nice the car was and Don ended up buying it back. He decided he did not want to get rid of it.”
People know, according to Bulk, that Nichols collects cars, and so they contact Nichols and if he sees something he likes, he buys it.
 “It’s different,” Bulk said. “A lot of collectors collect one thing but Donny collects a variety. It’s not all a certain model or certain brand, it’s a little bit of everything.”
That “little bit of everything,” according to Bulk, includes a 1950 Mercury that Nichols had  restored, and a Starsky and Hutch type vehicle.
“It’s similar, I think the Starsky and Hutch car was a 1972 or 1973 and this is a 1976 Gran Torino. The movie Clint Eastwood’s ‘Gran Torino,’ it’s similar to the one he had in it,” Bulk said.
Sometimes Bulk drives the classic cars.
“Most of the time I drive them to Chanute and back,” Bulk said. “The older ones I don’t because I do not trust them out on the highway as much.”
One day, according to Bulk, he drove the 1956 Thunderbird but had to pull over because he thought it was out of fuel. He said he took the air cleaner off and primed the carburetor and it started spraying gas.
“I couldn’t believe it was spraying out of the carburetor as high as it was,” he said. 
Bulk  is a car enthusiast and owns a classic vehicle of his own,  a 1972  short wide bed Chevrolet  pickup. 
“It used to be the city of Humboldt’s work truck,” Bulk said. “I bought it in 1983 and put a different motor and transmission and stuff in it and new bedsides. I just haven’t got it painted again yet.”
Bulk said anytime he or Debler are at the barn visitors are welcome and groups can make appointments for tours.
The irony of the Car Barn Museum, according to Debler, is that Nichols currently drives a small SUV.

THE ALLEN County Historical Society Inc., will  host a wreath laying ceremony at the statue of Maj. Gen. Frederick Funston on Sunday.The historical society offers free guided tours for the main Allen County Historical Museum, The Major General Frederick Funston Museum and Boyhood Home Museum and the Old Allen County Jail Museum.

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