Lawrence Maese of Amaeseing Rides, in El Dorado
County, brought the 1939 Placerville Hardware Dodge Canapy Express out
to our World Famous Cars and Coffee Folsom, much to everyone’s delight, a
few weeks ago. The Dodge has been in the Fausel family nearly all its
life, and certainly remained in Placerville for its entire existence.
George
Fausel bought the truck brand new in 1939 from Phil Frost, owner of
Dodge Bros dealership on Main Street, Placerville. At the time, George
Fausel owned a grocery store, George’s Food Center, also located on Main
Street, right next to the Hangman’s Tree. (It seems that Raley’s wasn’t
the only grocery store in town back then.) George’s brother, Frank,
made the home deliveries in the truck. There was also another Fausel
brother, Elmer. In 1941, all three brothers enlisted in the armed
services right after Pearl Harbor. All three returned home in 1945. In
1950, the truck was put back into service, at which time, the brothers
would load up shovels, picks and dynamite and go up to the Noon Day Mine
in search of any stray gold they might find.
In
1954, George sold the grocery store and he and his two brothers bought
the Placerville Hardware store from Al Kyburz (yes, that Kyburz). Being a
fan of
Dodge trucks, this same year, George traded the ’39 truck back to Phil
Frost in exchange for a 1955 Dodge. Frost was a sentimental man, as well
as a smart guy, and he kept the ’39 until he passed away. His son, Les
inherited the truck but then sold it back to David Fausel in 1991 for
$1,000. It only had 15,000 miles on the odometer! After making the
purchase, David drove the old work horse back to the Fausel Ranch.
David’s plan was to restore the truck to its original state. He had the
original stock seats re-upholstered and some of the wood paneling
replaced in the roof. After a few failed attempts of getting the truck
painted locally, and having received it back in pieces in boxes, in
1992, David lost interest in the project, and so it sat undercover for
about 20 years.
Enter
Lawrence Maese. He was introduced to David by David’s grandson, Will.
Lawrence is a lover of vintage cars and put this iconic truck back
together bolt by every bolt. There was no manual and scant internet
information to go by. Remarkably, it still only took Lawrence 11 months
to complete the restore. The owner has been driving it around now for a
couple of years.
The
truck boasts a 217 cubic inch straight six (original) motor. And while
there are so many features to love about this ride, I especially liked
the Dodge Ram hood ornament.
This beautiful 1939 Dodge Canapy Express has remained in Placerville its
entire life, and is rather famous itself. So very fitting for another
such famous car (recall Tony Hunt’s Cobra) to the World Famous Cars and
Coffee Folsom. Thank you, Lawrence for bringing it in.
In
addition to interviewing Lawrence, a lot of the credit for this info
goes to Steven Bunker (Fuel Curve) and The Mountain Democrat article
board which was in the bed of the truck.
photos and story by Carol Marcopulos
