JAMES HALES Photograph courtesy of James Hales John Burroughs, left, the assistant director of the Rogers Historical Museum, and volunteer James Hales stand in
front the reproduction of the 1947 Newt Hailey Ford showroom. There were numerous activities scheduled for Saturday, May 16, for downtown Rogers. When I woke up and saw that it was raining, I felt so badly for all of the many people who worked so hard for this day. However, the rain soon stopped and I ventured downtown to see what was going on. I was amazed to see that everything was proceeding as normal. The Heartbeat of the Ozarks Annual Charity Car Show was in progress. First Street was lined with numerous and varied autos of every description, and downtown merchants and many vendors were open and selling their wares. The streets were full of curious people admiring the beautiful autos and participating in the activities. The Rogers Historical Museum had the opening of the Rogers Autobiography, a review of the history of automobiles in Rogers starting with the first car to arrive and continuing to the end of the 1960s. One of the outstanding features of the exhibit was a car show provided by the Natural State Model “A” Club. In front of the museum, the Model “A” Club featured many beautiful and unique Model A Fords, including many cars, a panel truck and a flatbed truck, all from the 1920s. John Burroughs contacted Robert and Betty Lovelace, officers of the club, who put him in contact with Gene Newman, president of the club. They were eager to participate in the opening of the auto exhibit and provided the antique car show and many items to the museum for the exhibit. (Note: the Lovelaces are the parents of Robin Burns, the wife of Raymond Burns, the chief executive officer of our Chamber of Commerce.) The primary focus of the auto exhibit in the museum was a recreation of the 1947 Newt Hailey Ford showroom with its striking curved glass front. This duplication of the showroom was the idea of assistant director John Burroughs and was built over a period of several months by John and myself. An outstanding part of the opening was the attendance of Newt Hailey’s daughter, Jo Belle Hailey Hopper, from Springfield, Mo. Jo Belle shared with the museum many photos and historical artifacts from the Hailey Ford dealership from the 1940s and 1950s. She brought her children and grandchildren to attend the opening and very graciously provided several hours of memories and stories about growing up in Rogers. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a complete model A Ford engine all cleaned up and painted and mounted on a stand. Many visitors delighted in giving the crank a few turns to see what it was like to start the early autos. Gene Newman, owner of Gene’s Auto Repair in Garfield, did a tremendous amount of volunteer work to provide the engine and set it up for display. Gene specializes in restoring antique autos.
Even though the rain stopped and it looked rainy all day, the opening of the auto exhibit was one of the best ever with almost 300 people attending. I brought my 9-year-old granddaughter, Ashley Hales, to the museum and was surprised that she was interested in everything. We enjoyed the visit to the museum, and then bought hot dogs from the booth set up by Ken Croft of Wesner’s Grill. As we munched our lunch, we wandered around admiring all of the beautiful cars on First Street and talking to people that we knew. It was lots of fun and Ashley soon found her favorite car. It was a 1958 BMW with three wheels, one door, seated two people and was about the size of an easy chair. I studied the little car and thought to myself that if our president has his way, we will all be driving something like that.