Grandpa’s Race Car

doclehman — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:20:57 +0000

Note: Click on thumbnails to enlarge!

(NOTE: This article originally appeared on the BANGAGONG! website on March 24, 2011)

When my paternal grandparents, W. Bert & Mable (Berg) Lehman were married in 1913, one of the first things Grandpa Lehman did was buy a 1912 Ford T Roadster from the newly opened C.S. Snyder Ford dealership in Orrville, OH. The salesman was Wilbert Geiger. It was among the first several cars the dealership sold. Bert was a school teacher when they got married but his love of all things mechanical got the best of him and within a year he took a job at the Ford dealership in Massillon.

During the ensuing years Bert’s love of automobiles grew and he became particularly interested in Chevrolets and soon made contact with the Chevrolet Motor Company in Flint, MI. In 1915 he became the first Chevrolet dealer in Wayne County, OH and opened a dealership and garage in Mt. Eaton, OH. His first customer was an uncle, John Lehman.

Bert’s friendship with John F. Moser, a car salesman in Kidron, OH, took on a business relationship during 1919 when the Race & Kosler Blacksmith Shop in Dalton, OH was torn down and a new structure built. Bert and Moser leased the building and opened the Dalton Garage, a full service Chevrolet dealership. They sold Chevy cars and Gertenslager buggies, as well as accessories and the first visible gas pumps. The Dalton Garage also boasted the first electric sign in Dalton.

In August 1921 Bert and Moser sold the Dalton Garage to William R. and Fred Baumgartner. For the next year Bert remained on as supervisor of the repair department and owned the accessories part of the business. He stayed until June 29, 1922 when he opened a new dealership and garage in Mt. Eaton, W. Bert Lehman Chevrolet.

Frank Reichenbach came from a fairly wealthy family (the family was in the horse business for a couple generations) and had eventually aquired a Chevrolet dealership in Orrville, OH. He constructed a new building at 249 West Market Street in Orrville and went about hiring the best mechanics and salesmen in the area. He went to Bert with zeal and made him a good deal.

Bert would head up the service department and still keep his dealership in Mt. Eaton, which would be overseen by his brother in law, Earl Younker. Eventually Bert sold the Mt. Eaton business to Younker on September 30, 1924 and Bert remained at Reichenbach and added salesman to his list of duties.

: While the rest of the family celebrated Labor Day with picnics & reunions, Grandpa went racing!

In one particular month Bert sold 25 cars and trucks, a notable achievement considering salesmen back then could only solicit business in a restricted area of the community. Each salesman had his own territory and Bert’s was the Sonnenberg-Kidron area.

Since the early teens Bert had a growing interest in auto racing and circa 1912 he started attending various auto racing events including the famous or ‘infamous’ wooden board race tracks that were anywhere from 1/2 mile to one mile plus in length. Bert often attended major events at tracks in Uniontown, PA, Altoona, PA, Akron, OH, Indianapolis, IN and many other venues. His favorite driver was Ralph DePalma, one of the first national superstar racers.

Right around 1920 Bert decided to build his own custom designed speedster (shown at top). The chassis was from a 1919 490 Chevrolet Touring Car which originally cost $490.00 new. W. Bert built and installed a 171 c.i. engine with rebored 3/4″ valves in place of the original 1 1/2 ones. It also featured a FB 3 port head with a larger intake and carburetor. He designed special brackets, which Ohio Drilling welded for him, and installed oversized headlights. He used solid corrugated steel disc wheels with 30″ x 3 1/2″ tires. He also installed a set of racing gears (4:11) and moved the front axle ahead of the radiator for better handling. With the front wheels balanced it could attain speeds of around 85 MPH.

He ordered a special body from a company in Chicago that cost $150 and featured a hood and radiator shell with rumble seats.

W. Bert hotlapped the car once at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster, OH prior to a horse race and eventually sold it in 1926. It ended up in the hands of Frank Reichenbach who hired Carl ‘Shorty’ Drexler to drive it at various race tracks after having Bert rebuilt and add some special features to get it in racing condition.

On Labor Day 1926 the car, which was rebuilt and conditioned by W. Bert at the Reichenbach garage, won the biggest dirt track race of the year at the speedway in Cadiz, OH. The track, a 1/2 mile dirt track, featured a 150-lap main event that W. Bert’s car, driven by Driscoll, won. The Orrville, OH newspaper ran the story on the front page and credited W. Bert’s expertise and Drexler’s driving ability with a successful race. It was the only race car in the field that did not run out of gas or overheat.

Eventually Bert would go on to the Jackson Pontiac dealership in Wooster

and the Weirich Chevrolet dealership in West Lebanon, OH as the depression hit. He eventually worked at the Hercules Company in Canton, OH as a machinest where he retired. Throughout the 1930′s & 1940′s and right into the 1960′s Bert loved attending races throughout the region and on trips to California.

Carl ‘Shorty’ Drexler passed away in 1959 at age 57 from cancer after a long and storied racing career throughout Ohio and surrounding regions. W. Bert Lehman passed away in 1973 ay age 80 from a heart attack.

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Grandpa’s Race Car