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Show Page 8 The Ogden Valley News Volume XXVIII Issue XIII August 1, 2021 All for the Love of a Car…. By Shanna Francis The other day, Becky Wood of Huntsville sent in a picture of a classic 1929 Ford Model A Phaeton parked at the Huntsville church house parking lot. Owner Mike Bachman says he drives one of his different classic cars to church each Sunday, which led to an interesting conversation about his lifelong hobby, interest, passion, love affair with classic cars, which he has spent, I’m sure, many hours meticulously restoring throughout the years. You see, Bachman, of Ogden Canyon, loves cars and has, he says, for as long as he can remember. He says that even at a very young age, he could pretty much name the make and year of just about any car. This passion for great cars has continued throughout his life. Bachman says that when he was young, his dad seemed to always have a jeep or something he was working on. Mike would hang out with him, helping where he could, and handing him tools. When he was 12, he was able to bring home his own car—an old Chevy Business Coupe. Not old enough to drive, the neighbor he bought it from wouldn’t let him drive it, so he pushed it all the way home! While his dad gave him a few pointers here and there, he pretty much told Mike to do what he needed to do to get it fixed up and running. He’s been doing just that ever since with one car after another. Today, Bachman says he has sold off many of his classic cars—the number owned at one time peaking around 30. Today, he is down to around 15 or 16. When asked which has been his favorite, he responded, “Which ever one I happen to be driving! Cars are like kids; you love them all.” However, Mike does seem especially partial to his 1954 Chevy Corvette. He says that when he was eight years old, for his birthday, his mom bought him a model kit of a 1953/1954 Corvette. After putting it together, he told his mom that some day he would own one. “She just looked at me and said, ‘uh-huh, sure.’ As young as I was, I don’t think she believed me. But I’ve always been goal oriented.” Mike tells the story this way. “It took me a while, but I was able to get it [the model car] together, not without a few fingerprints and glue on the windshield. But I got it together; I still have it. From that day forward, I wanted a ‘53/’54 Corvette. “In the early 1980s, I was driving down Main Street, and I saw a 1954 vet on a flatbed traveling in the opposite direction. I immediately flipped a U-turn and followed the guy home. I asked him if he wanted to sell it. He said no, he was going to restore it himself. “Fast forward to 1990. I saw the same guy at a car show, and I asked him how the vet was doing. He said that he got it done [finished restoring it], but he and his wife had divorced, and she got the car in the divorce settlement. I asked him where she was, and he said he didn’t’ know…. “I asked around and couldn’t find where she’d gone, so I hired a private investigator and he found her in a small town…. I finally was able to speak to her. She said that she had sold it to a guy a few months earlier, but he hadn’t paid her for it yet. I told her we had to go talk to him and see what he was going to do. I made arrangement for her to come back home, and we went over to see him. He [said he] was sorry that he hadn’t paid her yet; he was having trouble coming up with the money…. I told her that if he hadn’t come up with the money in four months, he wasn’t going to come up with the money, so she sold it to me. “When I got the car home and started looking it over, I saw that the restoration had not been done very well…. I started disassembling the car that day and within two years, I had it back together…. It’s funny how little things can turn into a lifelong quest!” In 1957, when Mike was seven, the kid across the street was 16. “H bought a Model A Coupe and painted flames on the front. I thought that was the coolest thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted a model A from that day on! “I was at the hospital years later visiting someone. As I got in the elevator, there was a guy there and I said to him, ‘I Mike’s recreation of Martin’s Model A. know you. What is your name?’ He said his name was Martin. I told him, ‘I used to live across the street from you, and you had a model A Ford! You’ve ruined my life; ever since I saw that car of yours with the flames, I could think of noth- Above is Martin in his old ing else until I had Model A. one.’ Martin later sent Mike a copy of himself in this old car. If you’d like to learn more about Mike and his classic cars, visit his Facebook page. DWR Asking Utahns to Report Otter Sightings In an effort to learn more about where river otters are located throughout Utah that the species may be better managed, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is asking the public to report any otter sightings. Northern river otters are native to Utah, but their numbers have never been very abundant. Unregulated trapping by early settlers—which resulted in overharvesting—as well as changes to their habitat due to increased development caused otter populations to decline. In 1899, the Utah State Fish and Game Commission (as the Utah Wildlife Board was formerly called) classified the otter as a rare species, and the state legislature protected them from harvest that same year. Since then, there has been no legal harvest of river otters in the state of Utah. In 1989, the DWR began efforts to bolster the state’s river otter populations, and 67 otters were relocated primarily from Alaska and released along the Green River in eastern Utah from 1989-1992. Since then, river otters have spread throughout eastern Utah in the Green and Colorado River systems. During the 2000s, river otters were also released and reintroduced into the Strawberry, Escalante and Provo rivers. Due to their secretive nature, wide ranges, and low densities, otter populations are difficult to monitor and there is not a population estimate, currently. As the name suggests, river otters are primarily found in rivers, reservoirs, and lakes, and mainly eat fish. However, they have also been known to prey on small mammals, birds, crayfish, and insects. “River otters are important because they are an indicator of how healthy the aquatic environment is around Utah,” DWR Non-game Mammals Coordinator Kim Hersey said. “They have a low tol- erance for polluted water and require an abundant prey population. Knowing where they are located around the state is vital to helping us manage this species. Anglers and other river recreationists are on the water a lot and can help us understand the distribution of otters throughout the state by reporting any sightings.” To report a sighting of a river otter, email a photo or video of either the animal or signs of the animal, including tracks or feces, as well as a specific location to <utahotters@gmail.com> How To Tell If It’s an Otter & Not Another River Mammal - Otters are easily mistaken for other wildlife that are common in rivers and lakes throughout Utah, including minks, beavers, and muskrats. “Although there are many differences between the species—and it is easy to tell them apart out of water—when you just see a brown, furry face swimming, it can be quite easy to misidentify the species,” Hersey said. River otters are distinguished from beavers and muskrats by several characteristics: • Longer and leaner • More agile • Fast swimmers • Have long, round tails covered in fur Like otters, minks are members of the weasel family and have a similar body shape. The biggest difference between the species is the size. A mink is small and is similar in size to a domestic ferret, while an otter is considerably larger—over 2 feet long and around 20 pounds. Additionally, otters have rounded noses, while mink’s faces are much pointier. “The data from these sightings will help us update the state river otter management plan,” Hersey said. “Before we can plan for the future, we need a good idea of the current status of otters in the state. Based on these reported sightings, we will follow up with targeted surveys to gather additional information on otter populations. It will also help us identify areas without otters that may be candidates for future transplant populations.” Note: Photos courtesy of Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Happy Pioneer Day! |