Teche NewsSt. Martinville, LA - Wednesday, July 19, 2006Life/Style C

Stepping inside Lee Roy Thevenet’s Grand Anse work-shop is not unlike going into a car museum. Threegleaming antique automobiles take up most of thespace: two pre-1920 horseless carriages and a 1956Chevy.

Looks are often deceiving though, especially to theinexperienced eye, and it would take an expert to realizethat the first two arereplicas, the last the genuine article.

The Chevy was inherited from an uncle in Little Rock,Ark., in 2003 and scrupulously restored to showroomcondition after years of neglect says Thevenet, whodescribes himself as “semi-retired. I still do a little bit ofwork in metal roofing and patio covers and so forth. Iretired from 30 years in automotive and worked on justabout any kind of car you can imagine. It's always beena big interest to me.”

The replica cars — a Curved Dash OldsmobileRunabout and one of Ford’s earliest models from theNRS series — are the result of a unique and exactinghobby that started in 2004 during a trip with wife Elaineto the Church Point Buggy Festival parade.

“A gentleman from Kaplan was there with a replica[car] that he had built in his home workshop. I thoughtit was an original … I asked him ‘Where did you get yourcar?’ And he started telling me it was a replica and Iasked him ‘Is this a kit?’ And he said ‘No, I built it in myhome workshop.’ It kind of lit a fire under me.”

After doing research on his computer, Thevenet joinedthe Curved Dash Oldsmobile Club of America and con-tacted its president about obtaining drawings of the car,manufactured for seven years beginning in 1901.

“From the blueprints and drawings he sent me, I builtmy little car, then I took measurements off my little car,made a set of plans and we now have two Web sites onthe Internet, one for the curved dash and one for theNRS Fords with free plans available for anybody whowants to download them. And there are several peopleacross the United States building their own off of mine.It’s pretty interesting.”

Remarkable for the craftsmanship and attention todetail involved, thetwo replicas are quaintly sleek convertibles from a timewhen just going down the road was an event unto itselfrequiring a heavy duster, cap and goggles for protectionfrom the dust.

Mass ProductionThe Curved Dash Oldsmobile Runabout was the first

mass-produced automobile in the world, the first usedby the U.S. postal service, and the first project to emergefrom Thevenet’s workshop.

“Mr. Olds had the first assembly line in the UnitedStates. Most people think Ford was the first, but Fordhad the first mechanized assembly line. What Oldswould do was, his workers would push the car from onestation to the next station in assembly. Whereas Ford, itwas on a conveyor belt, or a track.”

Everything on the Curved Dash Oldsmobile — includ-ing its wood body — was made on the site at Thevenet’sshop.

“The only thing I have to job out is when I havesome heavy machine work. Like on the end, I have to jobout some work on the differential on the back … that’sthe only thing that's costly. That, and the upholstery.Brian Theriot of Theriot’s Upholstery did it for me, hedid a fantastic job on both.

“The rear end came off a Kawasaki three-wheeler. Ihad to cut and extend the axle, add a piece of housingto it. The wheels are from Honda dirt bikes. The springscame off a Dodge Chrysler product, re-arched. The frontaxle and everything else was manufactured here in myshop.”

What would have been the rear passenger compart-ment in the original Olds houses the car’s transmission,battery and gas tank. The car’s engine is in front, underthe seat.

“I've got more horsepower in the curved dash Oldsthan the original car. The original had something likefive horsepower. The one I’ve got has a lawnmowerengine, which is about 181⁄2 power. I cannibalized thetransmission out of another riding mower, which ishydrostat, which gives me an automatic transmission,more or less.”

Another unusual feature of the Curved DashOldsmobile, besides the tiller used for steering, are itswire-spoke wheels.

“Mr. Olds, just like Mr. Ford, went through severalwheel manufacturers. And they had good luck and badluck with their wheels.When the Runabout first came out in 1901, it had spokewheels like the bicycle. Those were the wheels they hadback then because they didn’t build any cars in theUnited States before then.”

Thevenet’s Runabout would take a year to complete,and was ready in time for its first official public viewing,at the Church Point Buggy Festival parade. Sandwichedbetween a Mustang carrying the festival queen and ahorse-drawn carriage, Thevenet says that every time theMustang stopped to toss trinkets at the crowd, the horsebehind snorted down his neck.

“That year fortunately they were giving an award forthe oldest antique car and we walked away with theaward. My wife was just tickled to death, and so shesaid, ‘When are you going to build another?’ I said ‘Assoon as we get back home.’”

The next replica to come off of Thevenet’s plan-ning table was an early Ford.

Prior to Henry Ford's breakthrough with the enor-mously popular ModelT, he built cars for nearly every letter in the alphabet.

“The one that I built is one of the three that precededthe T, the NRS series. The same frame is used for thethree vehicles, so I had a choice of three bodies that Icould install on top of that one frame. If I ever decide tobuilt another one, it would probably be one of the othertwo. It’d be less costly for me because I’ve already gottheframe, the wheels, and everything else. So all I have todo is just build another body.”

After researching the cars on the Internet, he took atrip to a Texas car museum displaying an original.

“The owner of the museum allowed me to go behindthe ropes to get what measurements I needed. That, inconjunction with the blueprints I got, and I was able todo what I had to do.”

Though it came onto the market only a few years afterthe Oldsmobile Runabout’s debut, the cream-and-brownFord replica seems light-years ahead of its more formalcompanion, much closer to one’s perception of what anearly automobile looked like.

“I try and get the outside as original-looking ashumanly possible,” Thevenet explains, pointing out thatthe crank is just for show — the car actually has anelectric starter. “The radiator I built myself out of ply-wood covered with brass. The brass comes from S.J.Guidry of Sid’s Radiator.”

But the ornate carriage lamps, bought off eBay andforerunners of today's supercharged headlights, are orig-

inal to the period and make of the car. Asare the wood spokes in its wheels; nearlya century old, they once helped a 1911Model T tool around dusty Texas streets. Andthe minuscule brass hubcaps bearing the Fordlogo, purchased from Lang’s Old Car Parts.

While the Curved Dash Oldsmobile’s ridingmower engine gives it a top speed of 8-10 mph,

the replica Ford’s, which in its former life powered aHonda Big Red three-wheeler, has a possibility of 25.One noteworthy advantage the replica Ford has over theoriginal is that it’s a lot safer.

“The (original) car would remain relatively cool while itwas running. But then after you'd shut it down a lot oftimes it would boil over. Normally as long as the car wasrunning and you were rolling, you had enough air tokeep it cool.”

The most time-consuming part of building a replicacar is the manufacturing of myriad individual parts.

“Everything you see — the fender irons — everythinghad to be built individually. I bought a roller and rolledmy own beads on the thing. This is material that I gotfrom Cajun Specialties that's normallyused in building. Eighteen-inch galvanized. And my wifehelped me and we rolled the beads after we cut themout.”

His is a hobby he believes more people would becomeinvolved with if they only knew about it.

“A lot of people around here like to do things withtheir hands, are retired, and a lot of people are interest-ed in cars … We here in Louisiana, it's almost a partyplace, you know? We have festivals and parades. I can'tthink of a better way to go to a festival than to drive in aparade and be part of it.

“There is a movement in the United States, mainlybecause there’s not enough antique cars — originals —sold, you know? And when they do sell them it’s at sucha price, the average person can't touch it. When you goand spend $50-60,000 on an antique car and you haveto keep it in a building year-round, and the only timeyou’re going to use it is parades and outings, that's toomuch money invested.”

The Curved Dash Oldsmobile cost approximately$2,500 to build; the NRS Ford, about $3,000.

Though the longest distance he’s driven to date was atwo-mile parade route, he hopes to see that change asthe hobby continues to grow in popularity. There areseveral groups around the country who participate regu-larly in 120-mile tours made in their replica cars inmuch the same way that horse and wagon trail rides areheld in this area.

“One thing I’d love to do is inspire enough peoplearound here to get interested in stuff like this where wecould put together something like that. Right now theonly thing we have is auto shows for 1955, ’56Chevys, hot rods, ’32 Fords, all the cars we were raisedup with.

“But these cars came from an era that was way beforeour time. And it’s just fascinating to see how they’rebuilt and put together. Basically the same way they putthem together back in those days.”

Thevenet’s plans for both replica cars are available fordownload from these two websites: groups.yahoo.com/group/CurvedDashOldsmobile/ orgroups.yahoo.com/group/HorselessCarriageReplicas/.

by Kevin ScrantzGraphic Design by Melissa L. Bearb Landry

Replicas recall days of first automobiles

make them like that anymore

don’tTheydo

The Ford NRS replicaduring its early stagesof construction in LeeRoy Thevenet’sGrand Anse work-shop.

Lee Roy Thevenettakes Kevin Scrantzfor a spin in theCurved DashOldsmobile replica.Steering was via atiller rather than awheel and, of course,there was no wind-shield.

You’d haveto look veryclosely totell that thisis not anoriginalModel NRSFord.

The hand crankon the side of theOlds is an exactreplica, but is notfunctional sincethe replica con-tains an 18.5 hplawnmowerengine.

Thevenet sits at the wheel of the Fordwhile details or the slightly olderOldsmobile are visible in the foreground.

The Ford

replica is

powered by a

Honda engine

taken from a

Big Red

three-wheeler

and, under

ideal condi-

tions, car

reach 25

mph.

The headlight on the Ford (aswell as the Olds) was nothingmore than a specially designed

oil lamp.