I was in Boise, Idaho recently and while walking around the very inviting downtown area came across this parking lot with a wonderful juxtaposition of advertisement vs actual car. I was not familiar with Stearns before this but apparently Stearns was a manufacturer of expensive luxury and performance cars starting in the late 19th century. Eventually it would be folded into the Willys-Overland company and run as a separate entity until it was liquidated in 1929.
The 2015 Porsche 911 Turbo (991 series) parked in front of the sign certainly embodies the values of luxury and performance as well, if nothing else it’s more likely than not one of the most daily-usable extremely high performance cars on the road today.
A lovely period piece, though the way it’s painted the Stearns appears to be Right Hand Drive (I’ve seen that before in some early American autos).
It might very well have been right hand drive, that didn’t really get finalized here in NA until after WW1. Would be very interesting to hear the full story of Stearns.
The popularity of the Ford Model T was a big reason that left hand drive won out over right hand drive. Nice to see that old ad has been restored.
Please stop saying good things about Boise. Already too many transplants! But seriously, I’ve always enjoyed that mural and many others that have popped up around downtown. Makes for a great walk during lunch hour or when we bike down for an evening.
I imagine Missoula, MT is what Boise looked like 20 or so years ago. I like the log cabin motif on the state capitol and the scenery.
Willys buying Stearns makes since, The knew how to crank out “Knight” type engines better than most. (being the largest maker of them).
Porsche guy parks like I do – get as far away from potential future neighbor/door banger car by using adjacent non-parking area. I like corners, poles, concrete barriers and the like as they allow a strategy to avoid the fools who would damage my car. Also best to expose your car to a potential neighbor who would pull in to your left – often there are no passengers in the other car so your left (assuming nose in parking) may never even face a risk. Hospital & airport parking lots are the very most risky.
I like Boise too.
So does that mean not parking within a single spot a requirement of that or more of a byproduct?
If he’s not infringing on another spot, I don’t see the problem. Some of us like to keep our cars relatively scratch and dent free even if a not inconsiderable number of people view theirs as mere transport devices they don’t care enough about to avoid blemishes.
There’s a big difference between this and taking two spaces, the area to the left is unused. If anything this is borderline courteous since whoever parks on the right will appreciate the extra room themselves.
Ah, a kindred spirit. I do exactly the same thing where possible. Once, however, I painstakingly picked out the safest available spot in a hotel lot & went to bed feeling pretty good. Next morning, a tree had dropped a largish branch right on my hood. Somebody’s trying to tell me something.
That’s my strategy as well. Although I’m wary of cars to my left as well, I always strategize whether or not that car is carrying a litter of uncontrolled kids.
F. B. Stearns himself was quite an iconoclast as a manufacturer. See this link to the Hemmings site: http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2011/02/Frank-B–Stearns/3695961.html
The sign is in excellent condition. Someone must maintain it.
As for the car, I think I’ll wait until the ’13s come out.
As much as I love a good “ghost sign” it’s nice to see ones repainted how they were 100 years ago too!