The website is not haunted or anything like that, but...

Did you know that the voice of Billy Durant can be heard from within the walls of this website?
Did you know that one time Durant Employee Russell "Rocky" Howland looks over the Forum?

So the questions really is, do you know how to find them ?????


Rick

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1929 Model 60 Sport Roadster

Hi Rick........

Yep I do know how to find them.

Actually found Rocky by accident, along with Lance & the Mayor !

I won't give away the secret just yet.......

See Ya'all in Lurray......Frank ---

Do You own a car built by Durant? 14 Durant & Star cars & a Durant Dort buggy

Whatever are you guys talking about???
Maybe it's just too hot in CA and toooo cold in PA. I don't hear any voices coming from this website but then I don't have any speakers hooked up either,,,,,,

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1923 Star C touring, 1927 Star M coupe

I'm with you Don .. think they have been in the giggle juice or something. Perhaps Durant exhaust fumes

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Now finding Rocky is very easy, he looks over us all, but I admit that getting Billy to talk is a bigger challenge.

But here is a clue,

when Billy speaks, it's always of Special Interest.


Rick

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1929 Model 60 Sport Roadster

No these fellows have not been in the giggle juice, or watching too much SB XL111 pregame show!

I too heard "Willie Doorant" talking, saw a picture of Lance getting a certificate in New Jersey and also Rocky Howland. You fellows will have to go to the most interesting parts of our web pages! Sometimes a little difficult to get Willie to speak, but I found him in two different spots!!!
Warmer up here in sunny Ontario today. +2 degrees Celcius - thats about 36 deg F for you other folks.
Happy Super Bowl day.

Gord

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 Frontenac

Must be warmer down your way, Gord. Still minus up here and I shovelled snow as well .... again sigh. Now I watch the snow roll back down the pile as I try to toss it up. Global warming .... whats that ?
Calling for minus all week in the Citizen today.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

well, it must be a pennsylvania thing because i , too, have heard billy doorant speak in the strange ghostly metallic voice....he told me to invest in General Motors....i don't think he has heard the latest news where he is.....
oh well, you cannot trust a ghost anytime.
oh, and he said say hello to you, normie....and he hopes the snow is not too deep for ya.!!....regards, gary k

I have seen Rocky and heard Durant to bad he has a cold

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1926 star coupster

I also know where they are on the website, as well as on my computer since I took the original photograph.

Those that dont know what we are talking about be creative, and maybe you will find out.

charlie

Do You own a car built by Durant? yes

All I heard was a Willie DOO-rant. We been wrong all these years? Never heard it said that way.
Wayne

Ah ha ... Mr Doo..rant. If you don't have a gramaphone you can't hear me. Hummm like saying you didn't reply to the letter I forgot to mail you. Or I cut the buttons off the shirt and put them in the pocket to save postage costs. ha ha

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Congratulations, some of you have heard the voice of Billy Doorant, the ghost of the website. Did I make the clues much too easy?

But maybe not, only eight of you have reported hearing Billy's voice and over 200 have viewed this topic. Hmmmmm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1929 Model 60 Sport Roadster

WCD lives! I heard him also.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1928 M-2 Four Door Sedan

I guess we are all

DOO-Rant Tonians

Frank ---

Do You own a car built by Durant? 14 Durant & Star cars & a Durant-Dort buggy

Well I heard him too but figured enough had already heard him that my saying so was extra news already known . hard to undertsand what he is talking about though
Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 Durant model 614 Deluxe rumble seat coupe

He was saying, Ken, get your moose hitched to the coup and go for a moose drive in the snow. You must be old enough to know gramophones and records, he was talking about.
My 1914 wind up Sanora floor model still works fine. Remember "His Masters Voice" on records ? Have one record about 1/2 inch thick, you can only play on an Edison machine.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm
I thought I was the old guy here but I guess you must be.--Probaly older than dirt. I was head waiter at the last supper. Saw you there too. I have the parts for a small table model phonograph but it is not together enough to restore. And I heard the old gramaphones many times-.-we had one at home when I was a kid and listened to it often --I had the job of winding it up when ir started to lag. I developed my muscles by turning the handle on the wringer for my moms laundry ..Do you remember those things?? Mom always called it her 1 Kenny power wringer washer --lol. Was a great item to make kids behave--tell them they would turn the handle --lol
Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 Durant model 614 Deluxe rumble seat coupe

Head waiter at the last supper, I' ve got to remmeber that one.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1929 Model 60 Deluxe Sport Roadster

Rick--
Dont apply for the job--It doesnt pay enough==I only got 30 pieces of silver (all dimes) for waiting on 13 people --Really cheap bunch --and very fussy too.

Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 Durant model 614 Deluxe rumble seat coupe

Rick .. have you never heard that one before ? Or another, "Back when Christ was a Lance Corporal"

We must have been richer than you, Ken, or had electricity. The machine wound the sheets and things around the ringer, like they were glued on. Mum had to pop the thing, with a large bang, to release the pressure then try to get them back out. I recall the lever on the GE for forward, stop, and reverse, on the wringer part. Dad's brother worked selling GE stuff so most of our appliances were GE. If you were real lucky, you could reverse the thing before it jammed. Many a back and forth each wash to get it all through the wringer. This was in the basement near the octopus of a wood / coal furnace. Before you ask, yes I can still hear the coal being delivered as the fellow hand shoveled it on a tin slide into the basement, and the coal dust after settling over everything down there. Coal back side window and wood front side window. Dad and I stacking the wood after. Very little garbage ever left the house, bottles / cans mainly, if they couldn't be reused. Ashes for laneway in the winter or compost pile with the other stuff. And they think recycling is new ... not on your life. Nothing was wasted and if it broke it was fixed somehow.

Water had to be hand bucketed to the two tubs and machine from upstairs. Hot water heated on the stove. Washing machine, through the ringer, to 1st square tub and then clothes hand pumped to get any soap out. Back through the ringer to 2nd tub and more hand pumping for any other soap residue and final wringer into the basket. Basket carried upstairs and out back to put it all on the line. Hopefully the line wouldn't snap, as it did and clothes rewashed. I can recall clothes frozen stiff like cardboard on the back veranda, as she took them off after in the winter. The wash water then had to be carried back upstairs and tossed out back. We were on well back then, which was in the basement. Sump pump ran all spring to stop the basement from flooding. Real boon when we finally joined the city in 1952 after it expanded ,but it was still a few years before any water / sewer pipes ever got up our way and made life so much better. Now, its like the middle of Ottawa, not rural with cows in the back yard of the late 40 early 50's. We all sure had to work hard then. My two have no idea of what life was like. We grew all our own fruits / veggies, then canned / jammed them all. Cold storage shelves of jars and carrots in layers of sand, tomatoes under newspapers all over the basement floor, to keep them from ripening to fast, bags of potatoes. How I hated shucking bushels of peas or cutting yellow / green beans. Groceries, we walked several miles to the closest IGA or to even get our mail. No mail delivery in our area, then. You recall the gold bond stamps you could turn in on those blue dishes. Still have a saucer I think, we use for the cat.

Can recall the floor radio with the dial, that whistled until you were finally able to find the station. Don't think it was a crystal radio, but sure close.

I have a couple of the wood / glass wash boards as well. Several broad axes I picked up car hunting and crocks / jugs. You have a stone pig, I do? Know what that is ? Never used it myself. Also a stone (earthen ware) ink well, you would have used a big feather to dip into it. Used to pick up all sorts of things when out car / junk hunting in abandoned farms etc, flea markets, early 60's. Washstands, pioneer chairs, etc. Got real lucky in Maine shortly after we married, at at roadside junk place. Bought a slop pail for 25 cents, they thought was a flower pot. Was really the jar that went beside the washstand you poured the water into from your bowl, after you washed yourself. Matched the white bowl / pitcher I had (have). Prefer the other set with red flowers all over them.

Ya I'm old'er I guess, and like old things. My pc has wooden keys and you turn the hand crank on the side to change the screen and send mails.
Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm,
Amen, Amen, You brought tears to my Eyes. Yes I was there too for much of that myself...growing up in Northern New England. But I don't feel that old really.. untill you reminded me of many of those things.

Good memories there, but I sure don't miss much of that!! A totally different world today. Where did the time go.

Lance C.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 25 Locomobile JR-8 Brougham, 25 Loco JR-8 Sedan, 26 Loco JR-8 Roadster project, 30 Durant 610 Deluxe Sedan

Lance .. it really wasn't all that long ago, at least in my mind. Just days when I wish I could step back in time for a few hours, every now and then. Now I find the hours wizzing past and before I know it, Sunday is Friday again. I sometimes wonder how I found time to go to work at MetLife before I retired.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Norm
I been thru all that and probably more. We had running water and power but we had to cut our own fire wood. Once we hauled it home we ha d a big buzz saw with an okd car motor to saw into blocks . Then I had to put it down the basement and stack it and split it . That was my summer job and no pay for it either except my room and board. Did that from 12 yrs old till I finally left home .
You GE washer was a newer model than ours . Wow --electric ringer --luxury .
No sump pump here -basement was dirt floor and walls were dedar posts with 2 inch planking
Oh well --enough of these memories.
I was born on mothers day --may 10 1931. think that qualifys me for old age pension --
All you kids be good
Hope to meet a few more of you at some of the activities the club arranges.
Ken

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1930 Durant model 614 Deluxe rumble seat coupe

Lord you are older than dirt. Older than Dorothy by a year. No wonder you are as you are .. another stubborn Taurus. I'm May 3rd but only a child being a war baby. I come by my stubbornness honestly. Taurus, born in England and with German / English blood. Then add the Toone temper going back generations .. look out. ha ha.

I only touched on a few things growing up. I'll bet your past isn't all the different to mine. I left out splitting the wood and a load of things. However they were good times generally.

I'll send you a pic of the wash tub.

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan

Hey Norm and Ken and all you other older-than-dirt crowd:
Mr. Doorant really inspired some chatter here on the forum. I am 62 next month so still young enough to appreciate the heritage of my father (Who bought my 31 Doorant in 1939) and his life experiences growing up. I didn't have a chance to learn it all before he left us here on earth. But dad's buddy (older brother by one year) was asked by my cousin to write down some of his life's remembrances. He did - wrote quite a lot. Then he passed away last fall. To read his writings now is awesome. much of his writings are: "Norman and I" so I am reading about my dad too. Man, is that notebook treasured.

So if you think your family or kids don't know or care - think again. They probably have no idea what you went through. You need to WRITE IT DOWN! I guarantee you they will learn something and maybe you will too. To come from listening to victrolas to communicating around the world instantaneously on a PC - how far we've some and often don't even think of the progress or how much effort it took to get here. So write it down for your heirs. They will treasure it even before you're gone but more after. Mostly they probably don't even know what to ask so just write down the everyday stuff.

My dad was not good at writing. He tried some. I learned a lot by asking him verbally and now my uncle's notebook - WOW! I learned the two brothers while in high school built a Harley from parts found in a junkyard, making it run by filing a needle valve from a nail. How dad, on the Nebraska farm before REC days, built a wind generator using a car generator, glass jar batteries and a 9 foot propeller he carved from planks. Man, I wish I had a chance to ask him all about that and more. SO WRITE IT DOWN - all that stuff you did. You think it isn't appreciated? I guess I appreciate it so much because my Durant is a part of the story. Maybe we think our kids don't understand - they may not because they haven't heard it. May seem corny at the time but when we're gone it's all they'll have - except maybe our cars and if they don't know our story, a car is just an item on the estate list. History is everyday life like it was when you were young. That doesn't get into history books.

Now I'm preaching at myself. Maybe it's because I'm more sentimental than most. Well there's my rant. Will sign off and go pet my Doorant in the gayrodge.
Wayne

Wayne ... I hear you regarding your past. I got into it as a result of a wedding pic taken Dec 1900 in Eng of dad's parents. My sisters son has to do a school project on some of his past and my aunt provided this photo, for it. With MetLife being sold 1998 to MetCan to Mutual to Clarica now SunLife .. (try and follow your ins / pension, and who's got what part ... sigh), I was able to retire 1999. Mutual kept me on another year. It was shortly after that I went online. Mutual raffled off Mets PC's for $50 and if your name was drawn you got a complete pentium PC be it desk or lap top, most 2 yrs old. $50 went to the United Way.

Idle hands, the devils play, so to speak. Who where those people in the photo ? Did my gparents have siblings and parents ? A whole host of questions. Nothing was ever talked about on dad's side of the family and if gparents asked, they changed the subject. I knew on mums side parts of our past. Louis 14th of France had a mistress and she's part of mums side. A relation wrote up the history on that in a letter to her son, early 1900's, which somehow mum had. She copied it out for the 3 of us, I guess my sis has the orig. Mums gparents were Brock of Brocks Fireworks in Eng which opened the Crystal Palace 1890's. (Brock's bangers as the public called them) Gen'l Isaac Brock of Ont fame is related to us, he never married or sired a child. So I knew some of half the family with pic's going back to mid 1850's. Dad's side ????

I now have all but two people in that photo and right side most of Gramma's bro / sis and left side Gramps bro's and his mother. Really cool is Gramps grandmother and her father was a fire and brimstone minister, as it turned out. His portrait still hangs in the church and you sure wouldn't want to meet him on a dark street, the look he's giving. In doing this history I connected with a two distant cousins. One was also doing Toone's and lived right in the midst of our history, with access to bring home church registry's. So presently we are back to 1646. Harder to go further back as they mainly used 1st names before that. The other cousin was a descendent from Gramma's sister and her grandma had written up 27 pages on the Toone / Bradshaw's which had quite a bit about Gramps and how the two families intermixed together. So cool to have that.
However I still knew very little re dad and his 1st wife etc ,nor did my 3 half siblings. I went after his WW2 files and opened pandora's box, so to speak. Our stupid Govmt decided to throw out military records after WW1, unless the man served in WW2. In that case they attached the files to the WW2 file, if not its lost forever. Once they did that they realized the mistake they made in destroying the files. So I had everything military on Dad back to 1922 when he was a Governor General Foot Guard at Rideau Hall. Air Force 1926 / 27 at Borden. I have all his medals and box of odd items, I assumed he traded for during WW2. In the odds and ends was the GGFG hat badge. So its not a traded item, but his. The other items are also his. Those have now taken on a whole new meaning. Also with the files it gives you a history of schooling and where one lived etc. I could followed my family across Ont after we arrived in Glen Williams Dec 1907. That was one big reason for driving to Tim Orr's place to pick up the 32 inside door handles for Dorothy. Glen Williams is 7 miles past Tim's, and as I found out, like stepping back into 1900. Visiting the old school dad went to, now a home. The cemetery my 3 month old aunt is buried in and learning all about the family struggle.

I'm rambling on and on. I know Gramma threw out anything to do with dad's 1st wife but that's another story which has a few more Ont famous men in it, related to my siblings side. Wayne's right, the past to a lot of us is important and interesting. It's become the up and coming thing world wide to uncover one's past. Who cares if they were cut throats or just common people. They were still our past and you can't undo that. Just wish "now" I had asked about the family, paid more attention to dad's war stories, but as a child or youngster you couldn't care less. Now its too late.

Norm

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1932 614 Sedan