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Show " 'Wj-WW'' 8pw - - 1 '"jp" ff fid 1 . I I - y V L- i r nimnimiiwfjiLuii iiiuiaimn umi hm i lan-m""'1 " 'Thumper' a 1951 Ford appeared in 'Bride of Shortcreek' filmed in St. George. Patrol car has interesting r q history plus a new name Davis County Sheriff's Search and Rescue recently held a contest to find a name for their 1951 Ford patrol car. The car, donated to the organization by Sheriff Brant L. Johnson, was seen this past summer sum-mer in parades around Davis County. Coun-ty. The vehicle generated much interest in-terest from the crowds. The name "Thumper" was adopted by the group and was submitted sub-mitted by former vice commander Don DeVoe. Mr. DeVoe won a winch anchor for having the winning win-ning entry. He later donated the prize to the National Search and Rescue organization, of which he is commander. The 1951 Ford was originally powder blue and purchased in 1980 by Sheriff Johnson, the car's third owner. The sheriff located the car in San Diego after searching for a year to find Fords of 1948-50 vintage. vin-tage. He has always had a keen interest in old cars and had it repainted re-painted to closely resemble patrol cars of that year. The original motor is still in place. Top speed for the car is around 80-90 mph and 1951 was the first year Ford built automatic transmissions. trans-missions. The cost of the car in its day was about $850 and its estimated esti-mated value today is $3500 to $3800. The car was donated to the Search and Rescue because the sheriff found it required too much time, attention and care. He felt there would be many people in the organization who would enjoy taking tak-ing care of it and he would still have use of it in parades, etc. He is still able to enjoy it. "I haven't really given it up, it's just changed locations." loca-tions." "Thumper has an interesting history. his-tory. It was once used in a movie called ' ' Bride of Shortcreek" made in St. George. Vintage patrol cars are very rare and Sheriff Johnson got a call from the movie's producer produc-er who offered him $2,000 for one month's rental. "Thumper" led a procession of police cars in the movie, and as some of the actors scratched the hood of the vehicle with their belt buckles, the production produc-tion crew paid to have the car repainted. re-painted. One humorous disadvantage of the car is that it vapor-locks when it gets too hot. The sheriff has been in many a parade where the car has had to be pushed by a strategically placed patrol car. The problem results re-sults from a common occurrence in flathead V-8 Fords of its day, the fuel evaporates before reaching the gas tank! Spectators, often older people who are aware of the problem, prob-lem, would offer to get dry ice to put on the fuel pump, one solution to the problem. In this way, the car was something to be proud, of and embarrassed by at the same time! |