Hi everyone,

The first car I can remember my dad owning was a totally worn out 1928 Star, and he had a worn out Durant for spare parts.

The second car was a totally worn out 1934 Dodge Brothers 4 door sedan.

luckily my dad was speeding at 30 mph because the knee action suspension did not work and the car never stopped bouncing. The steering was so loose that you were continually turning the steering wheel back and forth the find the wheels. When the sun went behind a cloud it would not start in the winter time. Dad stored the car in the barn with the milk cows in winter to keep it warm, but he used to place a copper boiler on the stove and bring the water to a boil before putting it in the radiator. Then hook a team of horses to it ant tow it. If it did not start we would drain it. Those were the good old days, but I learned to drive that old Dodge and 60 years later I am still driving.

My first vehicle was a 1950 Studebaker half ton. I have never owned a new car in my life and my driver is a 1980 Plymouth Volare. It had less than 50,000 km on it when I bought it. It will likely be the last car I will own, before they take away my driver's license.

I have had an interesting and challenging life. Several years ago I decided to reproduce running board mats for vintage vehicles. I designed and built the only existing equipment to be able to reproduce any mat pattern. I reproduced over 500 sets of mats over a seven year period with customers worldwide. I sold the business six year ago but the person I sold the business to went bankrupt and badly damaged the image of the business.

Kris Arneson has purchased my tools and equipment from the receiver and has asked me to help him reestablish customer confidence. I agreed, and as a starting point I have built a website:
www.runningboardrubber.com to showcase his business.

You will see a picture of a 1935 Chrysler Air Flow owned by Reynolds (Alberta) Museum that I reproduced mat for on the site.

The oldest cars I did floor mats for were a 1903 Curved Dashed Oldsmobile and a 1903 Marr. The Marr is the only car of it's kind in existence, and the owner has won prizes at every show the car was entered in. There is a picture of the Marr floor mat on the Specialty Rubber[/i] page of the website.

Good luck,

Pat

Do You own a car built by Durant? No but my dad owned a 28 Star and had a Durant for parts

Hi Pat, I saw your posting on the AACA Forum, I think. Sad story about the business you worked so hard to build a good reputation for, and two later owners destroyed it. Hopefully the new owner will have luck and keep it going and build the reputation again. Hey does he have the various Durant Motors running board rubber molds? Star, Flint, etc etc?

Do You own a car built by Durant? 1928 Durant Model 65 4 dr

Hi Mike,

Kris does not mold mats. If you have an original pattern for him to look at he can reproduce the pattern. This is the benefit of the equipment I designed and built to reproduce mats. In the seven years I was in business I never had a mat pattern I could not reproduce.

Pat

Do You own a car built by Durant? No but my dad owned a 28 Star and had a Durant for parts