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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Tri-County People & Events
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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| 1933 Rockne Celebrates 70th
Birthday |
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| Article - 1933 Rockne has Party |
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| Year: 2003 |
| Article by Joan NASH O'Dell |
| Retyped by Elaine Frey |
| Photo by Walt Samson |
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Joyce's Search Tip - November 2008
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Do You Know that you can search just the
articles on the site by using the Articles button in the Partitioned search engine at
the bottom of the Current What's New
Page? |
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70th Auto Birthday Party
On August 2, 2003 an unusual birthday party was held in Horseheads,
NY. It was a party for a car --- a 1933 ROCKNE. About 40 people
attended including a 1941 Buick owned by a friend.
This Rockne is the only one of its kind and year in the Twin
Tiers and perhaps an even wider range.
It has always been owned by residents of Chemung County,
and Joan O’Dell of Horseheads is the third owner. She has had the
car for 23 years and has done much research on the brief life of the Rockne
Motor Co. Actually very little work has ever been needed on the car.
It was painted in 1969 by the 2nd owner.
The Rockne Motor Co. was founded in 1931 after the Studebaker
Erskine had failed. Two engineers from Studebaker broke away and
formed their own company naming it after the famous football coach at Notre
Dame.
The first car rolled off the assembly in late 1931 (’32 Model)
in Detroit and flourished the first year of production. The cost
was about $575.00 which was a bit more than the Fords or Chevrolets.
With the depression deepening in January 1933, sales were down
and in a struggle to survive, the company moved to South Bend, Ind. and
finally ceased manufacturing the car July 1, 1933. Joan’s car was
produced in late April 1933 in South Bend.
Several models were made including a coupe, a convertible and
a panel delivery truck. There were a few changes made between years.
The engine is a peppy flat head 6 cylinder. The dash is
designed like a football. The emblem is known as the “Flying R”.
A Rockne automobile appeared in the movie, “The Gipper” starring
Ronald Regan in 1940. When a memorial affair was held in South Bend
in the late 1980’s for Knute Rockne and the issuing of the Knute Rockne
postage stamp by the US Postal Service Mr. Reagan appeared in a Rockne
auto. Joan’s car was considered for this appearance but one from
southern Indiana was used because of distance.
Much hope is in store for this nice, old car for at least 70
more years.
Joan NASH O’Dell 2003
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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You are the
visitor since the counter was installed on 10 OCT 2003
Published On Tri-Counties Site On 10/10/2003
By Joyce M. Tice
Email: JoyceTice@aol.com
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