 Hey everybody, welcome to Friday PM. It's Luigi Scarcelli here. We're going to be doing something a little different this weekend. Instead of being in the live in the studio, I'm up here in Bar Harbor, Maine to see the great scenery around me. We're going to be talking to Skip at the Tool Barn. He's a great guy. It's world famous. We're going to be talking to the folks at the Seal Cove Auto Museum. And we're also going to hear some music from Buck Edwards, a great musician. That's back in Portland at Copper Smith. But stick with us. It's going to be a great show. We're happy to have you here. Thanks again. We are very happy to be here at the Seal Cove Auto Museum. Yes. With Ethan Yancurro. Yeah, you're here. Good to see it. Wow. Great to see it. So I was here for a birthday party before. I've blown away. I didn't even notice existed. Seal Cove and it's got cars from everywhere. We're going to be taking a look at a lot of these cars in a minute or two. But we want to kind of learn a little bit more about the history of the place, how it was started, and you seem to be the guy that knows everything about it. I know a few things. Okay. Okay. So where, when did this, you said it 60 years ago? So this 2023 is our 60th anniversary. We were incorporated by our founder, Richard C. Payton Jr. 1960 degree. It was founded as a private foundation. And he was one of those indiscriminate collectors. We really had a focus for them a channel. It was automobiles, the motorcycles, cash registers, big trolleys, cigar store, Indians. There was a little bit of everything in here. It was quite a quite an operation for many years. And he passed away in 2007. There was a decision to be made. I kind of look at it as the story of two museums. There was the museum where Richard could go out and then after his passing, a decision had to be made. And his wishes were that a large number of the automobiles and engines and ephemeral would be sold to create an endowment to help support the collection that you see in the museum today. So he had established this while he was living. And then the museum reformulated and became its own entity and have been doing so since 2008. Okay. And so originally this was, it was a full museum of a lot of things, not just auto, automobile. And so what you're saying is that he sold some of it just to be able to add a really good like markup, I assume. It was actually through an auction at Bonham's, here in the state of Maine. I was always lucky enough to actually be a part of the auction. I had never seen the collection in its entirety as Richard had assembled it. Yeah. But I've seen it, that auction and that that's remained here, but he traded cars. It was a lot of money. So just to delve back to this gentleman, like what year was he born and what was his story a little bit? Oh, the year he was born, I would have heard to say, but he was looked at. But he, yeah, he was a lifelong collector. In fact, what is now a storage facility down the street in about a half a mile, was originally his sob dealership because we're the first, if not the first dealer in sob automobiles in the state of Maine. And they were pretty popular for a long time. You don't see as many sobs anymore, but one time in the 80s and 90s, that was the kind of the hot new car. So he starts it out, it's kind of evolved now. Let's talk a little bit about kind of like what are some of the signature cars? Do you guys focus on cars of different generations? Is it? So the focus of the museum is what's referred to as the brass era of the automobile. And that's roughly 1895 to 1917. And it's really indicating the name itself kind of tells you what what you'll be looking at. But there was a transition in 1916, 1917, where the headlamps and the trim and the horns had been brass. And then they transitioned with a nipple. So you'll often see brass and nipple combined when you're talking about a certain period of odd. But by and large, what you see here in the museum is pre 1917, there are a few examples that deviate from that. The Model A right behind us, one example that falls outside that category. We really like to look at the foundation of the automobile. And more importantly, that's the majority of the vehicles of the museum are American built in the northeast and in the wing. And so a couple of questions on that. Number one, are you guys still acquiring automobiles? Like, yes, we actually in 2022, the museum made the commitment to actually start an endowment fund toward acquisitions. That was that that's that endowment. Okay. And well, we started our own fund. Okay, something that we we took on ourselves. And we felt it was important to be able to acquire vehicles. We actually took in a vehicle on loan this morning 1906 Wayne, which is a beautiful little two place runabout two cylinder horizontally opposed 1906. So you'll see many vehicles are on loan for individuals around the collection. And that was what I was going to ask you was that you're, you know, obviously, not that you wouldn't want to own all these, but a lot of them are on loan from collectors that they like to have just like a museum of art would have a lot of times. Okay, interesting. And we're just kind of in the general viewpoint of cars of that era where these to have a car in those days was very unique, wasn't it? I mean, this was not something everybody had. That's right. And that one of the exhibitions that are limited, we'll see takes a look at a period on mountain driving history that was known as the automobiles. And in the early years of the 20th century, there was actually a ban of automobiles on the island, right? A couple of towns and villages that would allow them. But it was actually something that if you go digging through newspapers across the country, find stories about this, this war, but a small island in Maine was having against the opera. Then that was people that were against this progress or what it was doing, or maybe it was probably had more to do with the roads, maybe the carbon. That was part of it. There was a there was a large influence with the carriage trails and the Canadian National Park, you know, two big things. Presumed and automobiles were big disruptions in the early 20th century. So, I mean, in those days, they probably, I mean, as we all know from like Walden and things, there was environmentalists in those days who probably saw cars as very polluting because they didn't like them. I mean, you could just see what a car would do, especially in those days, probably churn and smoke out everywhere, other than the electric cars that they seem to have in those days. But they probably noise pollution just to the quality of life. They're like, yeah. So that was an auto wars. Is that something that people can look up? So it's probably somewhere on. If it is, and like I said, it's part of the installation installation here this year. So I think we'll be able to see that story along with several others. And so speaking of which, you had a couple of things that you told me about that were coming up the vacation land installations and things just so that we can explain to the viewers who probably will come down here, like what's going on with all of that. Okay. So as part of our 60th anniversary celebration, we decided rather than one large exhibition, we wanted to take a sort of a retrospective look at some of the work that has been presented at the museum before. Auto Wars has each of the exhibitions that we've presented with one exception that have been full-blown, wide installations, and we paired them down and ordered the museum. So you get a little taste of previous exhibitions. Auto Wars is one of them. Another is engines of change, which is the celebration of Centennial of the Nightingale Amendment, which was the ones right to vote. That exhibition was launched in 2020, which coincided with the Centennial of the Nightingale Amendment. But unfortunately, it also coincided with the outbreak of COVID-19. I remember. It was something that might not have gotten as much exposure as it otherwise would have. But it's a great look at how the art of the other, you know, drags transportation played a part in assisting women in spreading the word and getting the vote and earning. We also have art in advertising, which is a look at the early advertising work that went along with the board of their vehicles and the artists who created it. And the final component is the new element is becoming vacation land. In the coming year for 2024, that will become amusing of wide installation. And that will really look at the role that the automobile played in transforming the landscape of Maine and how we became vacation women from the Maine publicity bureau, the Grand Hotels, and then the advent of a motel. As people began traveling on their own in their vehicles rather than before I have any train or stewardship. So it really will dive into how this this landscape of Maine was changed, but also facilitated in becoming more accessible through the use of personal transportation. Well, it's interesting in a couple of ways. I mean, that's kind of like where other parts of the country, maybe the railways, that was integral. And then, you know, but this Maine was really expansive due to I mean, there probably was some train type of things, but but that's not exactly that's what created that was and so was it does it coincide really historically, you know, bit by bit with, you know, automobiles became more affordable, you know, you know, et cetera, et cetera. Prior to the 20th century, most visitors who arrived in Maine, they did come by train. They came by steamship. And we have all of these wonderful stories. The depot, which a lot of people see as it looks like a station wagon and depot and station wagon, those two terms are are integral to each other and they park and back to that period where when you arrived at whatever your destination was by train, that was the depot and the hack was taxing. So the depot hack would take you from the train station to your hotel or whatever your final destination was. And that's became kind of like a prototype to the station wagon. And then the station wagon was took that idea of derivation. Yeah. Instead of the train depot, you have the train station. Right. Right. And that's I mean, it does seem as though if you looked at more of the well to do people that were able to come here in the early, early days, they probably didn't have the big families. You know, the working class folks maybe had the bigger families. How do how do people get here? And that became the onset and were the highways and the new roads, was that all coming along at the same time? That was a big part of it. The foundation of the main publicity girl was hand in hand with the main association and I will spoil the story. Yeah, exactly. But the way they intertwined is it's really fascinating how it was that were the roads in Maine were were really miserable at the moment of the century and there weren't a whole lot of them. So as roads improved, as cars became more affordable and more available, there's there's it's I don't look at it as a chicken or an egg. I look at it as a circle. As one big there are points around this circle that you couldn't have the circle unless they all existed all came together. So if you could tell the audience how how they the dates they can come here, the days or week, how to get here, I was going to say how to get here, but you kind of got to figure it out on your own. I don't know if you could tell them that much. It's not as difficult to get here. Right. It's making out to be short. But you can find directions to the museum on our website, the website, sealcovottomuseum.org. Right here. We are open seven days a week from 10 a.m. 5 p.m. from May 1st until October 31st. Throughout the season we have cars and coffee events on Saturdays. Find all of this information on our website and on our Facebook page. This weekend we have our goodies of wagons, cars, and coffee. So that gives me a chance to break out the Depot Act and talk a little bit about that. Right. So we have our big Carbacue is the name of the event. We'll have three bands, food trucks, part show. It's a great event, fun for the whole family. Definitely something that people will want to miss. So August 5th, 2023, check that out. Like you said, it's August 5th, August 23. And then aren't you doing also the driving the cars around on Tuesday to sell that in the new state? On Mondays, we have Mondays. And between 1 and 2.30 we'd like to pick times 11 and 2 or nice when we have a nice audience at the museum. When it's not raining outside. When it's not raining, I'll take something from the collection that runs. It was raining yesterday, which was a Monday and they actually did the demonstration in the auto workshop. So we're not 100% weather permitting, but we if it's something that we want to drive around, that the weather's good. And that's Mondays. We're going to take a look around and see some more with the Seal Cove Auto Museum. So stick with us. Thanks. So I was wondering, Ethan, do all of the the automobiles here actually run or unfortunately not? But a good number of them do. If you look around you'll see some lights sticking out from underneath the 1914 Stanley Mountain Wagon. There's definitely just a Stanley steam car. It's great to see something under steam operating. But we do have a good number of cars that that actually run. And you probably have something that stands out as like your most unique piece. I think when I was here before, there are some some cars that not only I mean automatically are they really unique. Their history is really unique. And I remember there was one or two of those. And we actually do have a few vehicles that are the definition of we need. They are the only one in the world. And I can think two of those right now that are in running condition. And I always tell people if you ask me what my favorite car is, so it's a little bit like having multiple children and it's the one that you're you're my favorite today. Oh no really he's not my favorite. But it depends on what you're working with and what you're doing research on that everything here is fascinating in its own way. Whether it's historically, mechanically, there's there's something behind just about everything. And that was there any one car that was also I think it was mostly said about women's suffrage. A lot of them they were really tied to that historically. We actually have a vehicle. It's it's a it's a 1916 Saxon that is a representation of a car that was driven by two women, not just across the country, but around the four corners of the country. I think they drove over 10,000 miles, Alice and Nell were their names. And we have a representative Saxon that's painted up to look like their car. It has the stenciling on the doors that show the city of the major cities that they visited. And it's also a great piece in that we can let kids and families get in the car and has their pictures taken with supervision. So it gives people a little bit of a sense, even if it's only for a few moments, what was like to be in one of these cars, let alone for 10,000 miles. And I think the one other question with that for all of the kind of the under the hood junkies out there. Do you guys have guys that fix these here? We do. I mentioned our volunteers. We also have a senior mechanic on staff who is wonderful. He's a he's a great teacher. Okay. Not just a not just a mechanic, but he does a wonderful work and volunteers in shepherding them through the process of working on these vehicles. So it's as much a learning environment as it is a mechanical and shod. Excellent, excellent. Well, I want to thank you very much, Ethan, for taking the time out. We'll be right back after this. One thing stands out as a completely unique experience. Cold 45 malt liquor. Hey, everybody, we're back here at Friday PM. I'm here with Skip, who is the proprietor of the toolbar. Super well known. Hulls Cove. It's been here forever. Any tool you want to find, you can find it here with Skip at the toolbar. This place is great. We're going to be showing some photos and video that we took walking around. I know you're also in Liberty. Yep. Yep. So when did you first kind of establish the tool barn? Well, let me see. We opened the Charles Ford Wood Company in West Charles Ford in 1970. Then about 1974, I bought Liberty tool. And then 1983, I bought this place here West Charles Ford. Okay. 83. 83. So you live here full time in Hulls Cove and you like to live it on the island? Oh, yeah. And so what happens with the other tool barn? Did somebody else run that, too, or that's? Well, in Charles Ford, I ran Charles Ford, and then we opened Liberty in 1974. Then we had helpers down here. So it's been a great business. I'm excited. It's been a fourth year. That's wild. Yeah, I mean, it's shocking how fast time goes by, right? And it's so were you always somebody that loved tools? I mean, what was your upbringing a little bit? Well, I used to be an English teacher. Okay. And I think writing books is my thing. So like what if a buyer or a seller wants to come here to kind of take a look at all the tools? Yeah. Like what do you specialize in certain things or? Of everything. Yeah. Of course, we like woodworking tools. So maybe especially as woodworking tools, special project planes, if you look at me, you see all the planes in the window of the barn. That's part simple. And of course, hasn't it been up here yet? Yep. Yeah, we checked out upstairs. And is some, is it to the point where some people just like, almost like it's a museum in a sense upstairs? I mean, do people vote just to see a lot of stuff? They will. Yeah. Maybe 5% or I think you're hanging on the rules. Yeah. Well, we like our customers who want to use the tool. Sure. And then just for other folks that want to know more about when they can come here, is there, it's, it's, it's open sometimes by appointment? Well, I would say seven days a week, but call ahead during the week. Yes. I'll make sure I'm here. Unless I have to go to the doctor or something, I need seven days a week. You'll come in and open it up and let people take a look around. I'll tell them what to do. Sure. You'll know. See you around, kid. Next time you overeat, take what the guys who overeat for a living take. Alka Seltzer. Here with Skip Brack. And Skip not only has the toolbar, which is like a main establishment. Everybody knows it. And it's also Liberty Tools. Yeah, Liberty Tools. And, but you're also a well-known publisher and writer, written a lot of books over the years. Some of them are about tools, but I think some also are some interesting things that you have some knowledge about like seismology, radiation, things like that. But did you want to talk about some of these tool books that were pretty interesting? Well, let me see. I think my favorite publication of my best, one of my best-selling books is this, a Noron Vigil Reconsidered Molochrum and the Wolling Ought I Asked Were. That's about the Native Americans who lived here. And then French came and the English came and that's what I think. And that's a lot of history in this book. That's super cool. That's just my favorite. Yeah. And if you, if you want to turn the book right to the camera guy, he'll, the front of it, there you go, get a nice shot of it. And so I'm curious about this. Does this, again, is this specialized in your knowledge of tools in the sense that you were talking about what the Native Americans were using for the more, you know, quote-unquote primitive tools to build things? Well, and the interesting thing is, is we're, we're, you know, tribes and things like that. Did they necessarily need as many tools? Because when you're traveling around and you're kind of living off the land, maybe you're less dependent on tools because of the. Well, every community had the specialized tools they needed, what the course of many of them relate to the fishery of the maritime, you know. Just stuff that kept them going. And where a lot of the Native Americans were they, when you say in the maritime where a lot of them trying to always be close to the water, because that's where the fishing was. And it's interesting now, even in modern days, like real estate is always more expensive by the water. I feel like that's just something that's been like that since the beginning, because that's, if you're near the water, it's where, where, you know, at fish and, and, you know, and it's easier to get to irrigating things with the water from it. For example, on Mount Desert Island in several places, you know, French and then the English in the 1750s, maybe some French settlement before that. Okay. And then the Rockefeller came and made the park and it became the playground for the wealthy. And it seemed like it got more relaxed of a place. But now in the past few years, it's become very hoity-toity again. And the time of, I think a lot of people, we talked to the Auto Museum during COVID, I think a lot of people decided they wanted to be, to getting to vacations where they could drive. You know, less people were going to Hawaii or Europe. So they came more to places like Maine and it got very popular here. And it's still pretty popular. And then there's a handbook of iron works. That looks very cool. And this is something that people would be very interested in. They're blacksmiths. That's cool. Glossary, famous metallurgy, iterns. And then this was steel and toolmaking strategies. So this is a lot of history books that are definitely good for the tool buffs. I think I especially could describe the history of toolmaking. History of toolmaking in all of civilization or specifically a lot in America. Wow. Yeah. That is interesting to see how tools have evolved. Yeah. Kind of learn how all of history existed through the existence of tools. Yeah. Archaeology almost in that too. And then this last one here, or you got two more, I think. Yeah. That's very cool. And you can see some of these, a lot of them in the toolbar itself. Yeah. That's very cool. And you can find again on Amazon. Yeah. All of them. And then this last one here was a registry of Maine toolmakers. Yeah. Oh, he was working in 1855 in a trouble. And how did you find, yeah, how, and this was extensive research to see all the toolmakers. And he said in Maine specifically, that's, it's a great history to show. Yep. All of the people from way back when, yeah. That's been my specialty. Your specialty. Well, if you get out to the toolbar and you've got to say hi to Skip and Judy, check this place out this summer. Judith as well. Thank you so much, Skip. It's good to see you, sir. And I'll be back here, but we'll be right back after this break. Thanks a lot. Hello, everybody, Buck T. Edwards here. Great to be talking to you on this fine morning. We've got some wonderful music coming out. I've spent the last six months doing a new album. I got 15 new songs and you're going to hear some of them today. I hope you'll check them out. I'll be playing around Southern Maine all summer. You can go to www.BuckEdwards.com to see my schedule and I hope you enjoy the music and I hope you'll come out and see me this summer. Thank you all and here we go. Hello, everybody. My name is Buck. Thanks for sticking around. I've been working the last six months in a brand new album and we just finished recording this one yesterday. I hope you like it. A little summer song called Summer Looks Good on You. That does look good on you. You can see we've got a beautiful film crew here tonight. Like I said in a brand new album, we're going to try out a few new tunes. I hope you enjoy them. And if you do listen to music somewhere, the name is Buck T. Edwards. And anywhere you stream music, you'll find about 10 albums. Saturday night, drank and bourbon whiskey and it jumps up on the bar. Takes the world and turns it upside down. She'd settle down, be at your town, be in change in her way. I'd be crazy till the end of my day. Hopping jokes at the bar with a sweet scene. I started back to my apartment. But you ain't gone. And that's why Buck always ends his shows by 1130. Danger excites me, but I can't fully enjoy it when I smell like fear and body odor. So I prepare myself with a manly scent of Old Spice Danger Zone. Because even if something bad does happen to a danger zone man, he won't smell like something bad happened. Because the secret is... And when you smell like Old Spice Danger Zone, trust me, you'll smell like you have nothing to worry about. You smell like you look amazing. Amazing and no. Introducing Old Spice Danger Zone with All Day Odor Protection. Caught in jeep. Can't one after 45. But you did. They say she smiled, but you pulled the hammer back. Guns were filling up back. Man, she loved the cactus and the tumbleweed. And a privilege and a pleasure. We got one more for you here, little rock and roll tune. And it's a song about you. About me. Here we go. I wrote a song about you. But you put me. This is it. The 1970 455 cube V8 engine standard. Order it with the new W25 package and you get it all. Fiberglass hood with air grabbing scoops. Brow-wide wheels. Bucket seats. Burst shifter. Dural exhaust. It'd be nice if you had a 442. Escape from the ordinary. It's our show folks. I want to thank Skip at the Tool Barn. As well as Buck Edwards and the folks at the Seal Cove Auto Museum. Have a great weekend. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next week.