He started the Wood Hydraulic Hoist and Body Company in Minneapolis, and the business took off making him a wealthy man rather quickly: he was a millionaire by 1920. Not only did Garfield have a group of happy investors, he had the foundation for a company. He pulled the tip lever and “ voila” the laughing investors were dumped onto the roadway. So they all got into the truck tray and challenged young Garfield to tip them out. The investors must have been in a “boys will be boys” mood because they insisted that just seeing the truck tray tip was not enough to convince them. With the tipper installed on the truck Garfield invited potential investors to see it demonstrated.
The truck he was loaned was none other than the same one he’d witnessed being tipped by muscle power. Garfield had the sense to patent his ideas and then managed to persuade a coal company to lend him a truck so he could demonstrate his hydraulic tipper device. (Picture courtesy Wood Hydraulic Hoist and Body Company). First model Wood Hydraulic Hoist and Body Company tip truck kit. Garfield got into the “How can I make a coal truck easy to unload” and sure enough after a while he had a “eureka” moment and his mind created a hydraulic tipper truck solution. Modern day psychologists will affirm that a human mind will keep on working on the solution to that problem even when a person is asleep. There’s an old saying that tells us “If you say to yourself ‘ How can I‘ your mind starts working on a solution”. It was dirty, dusty hard labor and the laborers were not particularly happy that the tipping of the truck bed had to be powered by human muscles. Back then the tipping device used to unload was manually operated and required physical strength. It was quite by chance in 1911 that he got into conversation with two workers who were unloading a couple of tons of coal from a truck. These were the Wild West years in the wake of the Civil War and Garfield was raised in that time before the character and creativity sapping entertainment industries were established: days when young people learned to make their own entertainment by doing creative things, whose minds were not stifled by passive living.Īs he matured Garfield married a lady named Murlen and tried to set up a profitable business repairing machines and vehicles. If you are the eldest of thirteen children then you will likely be given responsibilities at an early age. He grew up the elder brother to a dozen siblings and learned early to be inventive and self reliant, and also to be responsible. Included in the sale is the trailer seen in the pictures.The story of the Gar Wood mahogany runabout speed boats begins, oddly enough, with ferry boat racing on Lake Osakis in Minnesota and coal dump trucks.īorn in 1880 Garfield Arthur Wood was the eldest son of a ferry operator on Lake Osakis, in Minnesota. We are trying to preserve the history Jim Street has created with this boat. We also had the super charger rebuilt and the engine gone through. In the more recent years the boat has had the bottom refastened, interior redone and a new wiring harness installed. This is the boat seen in the iconic "Beach Photo" staged with the Golden Sahara and was the featured attraction at the 2nd annual Bakersfield Motor and Boat Show in 1959 alongside the Golden Sahara II. The Interior featured an array of added instruments, a port-side dash and a Batmobile-style twin-grip yoke steering control. The hull modifications included painting the hull sides and iconic fin gloss black, blonde-stained covering boards, eight Buick porthole ventilators and quad exhaust tips. Soon after, a blower was installed to make the boat even faster.
#EARLY WOOD RUNABOUT INSTALL#
This enabled him to install a Henry Meyer-built Cadillac V-8. Since even the top-option Cadillac V-8 was not powerful enough for Street, he ordered the boat without an engine. BR-21-010 custom from Chris-Craft through his local dealer. Prior to Street’s passing in 2017, he was known as the only original Cobra owner left, having purchased the boat new in 1955 at the age of 21. This boat is believed to come about as a collaboration between Jim Street and his friend, George Barris. This 1955 Chris-Craft 21’ Black Cobra is perhaps the first-and-only true vintage Hot Rod boat in the classic-boating hobby.
0 kommentar(er)
