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Lumby’s First Car

An old car with a crank start is parked on dirt city street. The car is a convertible with running boards. The street is lined with wooden houses and wooden telephone poles.

Basil Hartley Collection

One of the first men to own a car in Lumby was V.L.E (Vernon Leslie Eden) Miller.  He bought a 1918 McLaughlin Buick.

Mr. Miller was a wealthy man who lived in Trinity Valley (about an hour’s drive from Lumby).  Mr. Miller had no intention of ever driving the car.  Instead, he built a special garage on land he owned in Lumby (close to where the Irly Bird Hardware Store is today).

He hired a chauffeur named “Dutchie”.  There were no phones in those days, so when Mr. Miller wanted to go for a ride, he would ask the mail man to tell Dutchie to drive out and pick him up!