The second floor exhibit room at the Edinboro Area Historical Society’s Doucette House Museum is presently home to a classic car “cruise in”…..in miniature.
Dick Walker (left) and Ray Baney (right) discuss the good old days when every August and September the newest automobile models bearing distinguishing design characteristics were introduced to the public.
The collection of nearly twenty exquisitely crafted scale-model cars and trucks, on loan from Ray Baney, help emphasize the transition in vehicle design from the 1938 Buick convertible to today.
The exhibit also features photographs and Buick promotional material from the personal collection of Dick Walker and the Walker Brothers dealership, a business which possibly is the 2nd oldest dealership in the United States to be retained by one family. Jinx Walker began selling Buicks in Edinboro in 1916 as a sub-dealership for Arbuckles’ in Erie.
Besides cars and trucks, the dealership sold appliances and gasoline. While no cars were available during World War II (the Buick assembly plant was making tanks to support the war effort), the dealership managed to survive.
On August 8, 1961, a fire completely destroyed the dealership’s building which was located between Zindel’s Hardware (now the Green Eyed Lady Antique Store) and the Crossroads Diner. Almost a year later, in July 1962, the dealership opened its new facility at its current location on Route 99 north of Edinboro.
This scale model of a 1938 Buick convertible is one of the many models on display at the Edinboro Area Historical Society's new exhibit commemorating Walker Brothers' 100th year as a Buick dealership.
The Edinboro Area Historical Society is located at 126 Water Street and up the hill from the end of West Normal Street. The Doucette House Museum is open through December 13th Tuesday and Saturday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to noon. For more information about the Society, visit www.edinborohistory.org.