Six Model Ts assembled at the intersection of Central and Tramway at 8:30 Saturday morning for the drive east, via Old Route 66, to Moriarty to visit the Lewis Antique Auto Museum and Jock Finley’s home and garage in Estancia. The tour was a joint event organized initially by the Horseless Carriage Club, many of whose members are also members of the Tin Lizzies. Joining the six Tin Lizzies later that morning at the museum were other members of the Horseless Carriage Club, Model A Club, and even the British Car Club!
Archie Lewis is a legendary collector in the Albuquerque area who’s been amassing cars and toys for 60 years. He’s also a good and long-time friend of many Tin Lizzies club members. Archie moved his huge collection of over 6,000 toy trucks, trains, and tractors and over 500 full-sized cars and trucks from Albuquerque to the east side of the Sandia Mountains over ten years ago to its current location at 905 Route 66 East in Moriarty, NM. This site afforded Archie more space to house and consolidate his collection and also more room in the yard to “spread out”. Among Archie’s collection are a lot of Model T’s and Model A’s in conditions ranging from fully-restored and drivable, to very rusty piles of parts. There’s something for everyone there – from huge trucks to a large number of diminutive Crosleys and about everything in between. As they’re in a desert climate, and much of the rust is just on the surface, there’s no doubt that a lot of the cars in the yard are restorable. Archie had graciously provided coffee and donuts and was happy to answer questions about his collection. We were sorry to leave the museum, but lunch and our next destination (Jock Finley’s house) were also on the tour itinerary that afternoon.
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44Around 11:30, everyone left Archie Lewis’ Museum for the approximate 20 mile drive to Estancia. The group first split up to go to a couple of restaurants for lunch, then proceeded to see the garages of Horseless Carriage Club, and long-time classic car collector, Jock Finley. Jock comes from of family of car collectors and restorers and has an impressive collection of buildings to both house and work on his vehicles. Jock’s collection includes some rare cars that also cover a wide range of years – from a 1916 Oakland to a 1954 Hudson. Some of Jock’s cars have been restored as-needed, while others have been restored to concours condition!
The only mishap on this tour was Dean’s 1926 green and black coupe “Katy”, driven by Bruce Call, which threw a rod on the way back from Jock Finley’s. The coupe had to be left at the Estancia gas station until Dean and Linda could drive back to town, get the pickup truck and trailer, and retrieve the it. That task was accomplished by 8:00 that evening and we hear that Dean was pretty tired when it was all over. Hopefully, the rod repair will be minor and Katy will be on the road again soon.
We sincerely thank Archie Lewis and Jock Finley for so generously showing the Tin Lizzies and other car club members their fantastic collections!
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