Lowell, AZ Revisited

No this isn’t the finishing up the last trips notes, nope we just returned from there today 6/23.

We had stayed the weekend in Bisbee again with a couple friends and Lowell is 2 minutes away and so we wanted to show them the cool little town.

This time it was a bit earlier on a Sunday morning and the breakfast cafe was crowded and one other thing was different the Harley Repair shop was open.

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We got to meet the owner Jim (real first named – last name omitted).  As I alluded to in my earlier posts, Jim is a avid supporter of one of the largest motorcycle social events in the world – Sturgis, South Dakota.  On this particular Sunday Jim had his shop open and was working on the brakes of his old Chevy pick up.

One of Jim's many vehicles.  He mentioned that we owns nearly all of the motor cycles and cars you see there.

One of Jim’s many vehicles. He mentioned that we owns nearly all of the motor cycles and cars you see there.

Most of the cars and vehicles belong to Jim. He has a pretty large collection of cars – like a 1969 Mustang Shelby, Studebaker pickup, Hudson, 67 Corvette to name a few (Oh and this Caddy!!).

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He has collected all of the Indian and Harley motorcycles you can see on display and parked along the street and I’d say they out number the cars at lest three to one.

This Indian racer has been well restored.

This Indian racer has been well restored.

I didn’t get him on camera, hadn’t expected to run into to him on a Sunday morning and didn’t want to impose.   As I stated, Jim was setting up to do a brake job on the Chevy pickup pictured above.  As we approached we were greeted by two dogs, one named Blondie, the other dogs name I didn’t catch but both were older but cutie dogs.  Jim was hauling out a Honda scooter with a for sale sign on it when we walked up followed by the two dogs.  Next to the Chevy pick up was a 2004 Harley which he had just picked up from a when a family friend who’s patriarch had recently passed and the family offered the bike at a far price.  The dogs belonged the same fellow and Jim adopted them (he had just lost his 12 year old dog).

Jim admits he has collected a lot of interesting pieces and let us know he has a Chrysler with an original Hemi coming in and a flat head Ford V8 engine, but needs a Ford to put it in, and a few more goodies.  He laughed saying that he’s running out of friends with space to store thing.  Being a fellow car lover, I offered to bring some things back to Tucson with me to help out….we both laughed….pretty sure that’s not going to happen.

Although Lowell is a legitimate Arizona city it has pretty much been left on it’s own.  It has been slated to be torn down -(more on that later on).  Jim explained that “they” pretty much let him and a couple others carry on business and Jim use most of the building for storing and displaying his treasures.

There is an effort to save the town of Lowell, AZ and make it a historic area.  Look for more from me on that.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

lowell az

Road Tripping – Cars – Lowell, Az – The Lost Blog Posts

Let’s talk about the staging. Most of these are original, but staged (well staged) with some period correct signs, gas pumps and vehicles. Let’s check out.