Carlos;


Thanks for posting this dealership however, the dealer im interested in is World Motors on South Sixth Ave, that handled Volkswagen and Porsche cars starting in 1957. WM might have sold other makes as well. The same building is now occupied by Ideal Custom plating at 937 S. Sixth ave.
The car i am the current (since 1981) custodian of a 1960 Porsche Roadster model that was purchased from WM by architect Jim Hockings who traded in a MG. Local Sports car enthusiast/racer Tracy Bird underwrote his insurance policy.
I would very much like to find an old ad and especially a licence plate frame from World Motors.
Thanks again Carlos.
Jeff

Carlos,

I remember a column in the Citizen, many moons ago - perhaps by Don Schellie, that discussed the Paulin Motors sign. I think it was a flat kind of amoeba/pond shape containing the Paulin name but it had a vertical extension with a Sputnik/satellite shaped object on the tippy-top. The satellite was all outlined in neon and was animated. Imagine the sphere of the satellite, bristling with neon outlined spikes (3-d, not flat). Slice the sphere in half vertically. Now (here is where my memory is a bit hazy), have one half rotate in one direction and the other half rotate in the opposite direction and then have the whole kit and caboodle rotate on the sphere's vertical axis. The animation aspect was what the column was about. Apparently the satellite portion of the sign was created locally from a WWII vintage Jeep trans-axle that somebody scrounged from a garage down in Nogales, and the writer was speculating how many miles that axle had been rotating, night and day, day-in, day-out, for lo those many years it was perched atop the Paulin sign. It was a sign my family saw many times.



When my Dad retired from the Army at Ft. Huachuca in 1957, his "graduation" gift to himself was a brand, new 1957 4-door sedan (a Fleetwood?). It had a white roof and a creme-yellow body. It had those rubber tipped Gina Lollabrigitta bullets extending from the front bumper and the gas cap was hidden underneath one of the rear tail light assemblies. You had to depress the red reflector disk in the rear lamp to unlatch it and allow the whole tail light (it had to have weighed several pounds as it was solid chrome) to swing up and out of the way. The car had air conditioning WITHOUT those plastic tubes that used to be placed in the back deck of the back window. The doors weighed half a ton, easily. I still bear the scar on my index finger from when my younger brother slammed the rear door while I was still getting out. All the dash fittings were metal, even the vents for the a/c. Very little plastic at all. I also remember the BIG discussion my Mom had with my Dad when he announced he was getting a Cadillac because it cost around $5,200 which was a full year's salary for him when he retired as a Lt. Col. I guess after WWII and Korea, he was ready to partake of a little of the American Dream. He bought it from Paulin's and religiously took it there to be serviced.



It had twin fins on the front hood that projected up about 6 inches and mayber 4 inches apart. These instantly turned the Caddy into an F-100 Super Sabre jet. While driving home to Sierra Vista after an all day shopping trip to Tucson, I would claim the middle of the huge front bench seat, between my Dad and my Mom. As cars passed us or we passed them, I would line them up in my "sights" and give them a burst of 20mm cannon fire and send those "MiGs" into a flaming death spiral.



On those night drives home my Dad would tune in the same strong signal every time. It was an NBC station from somewhere out in the ether and I think the show was "Monitor". Gene Rayburn was one of the regular hosts but I remember segments with the acerbic, but very funny, Henry Morgan. It also played old radio programs like "Duffy's Tavern", "Fibber McGee & Molly", and maybe "Amos & Andy". I can still remember sitting in the dark in the back seat, smelling the grocery bag of bollilos we got in Nogales and hearing "Hello. Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy's not here...Oh, Hello Duffy." I love radio.



I hope you are able to score a photo of the sign. If I knew how to search the Citizen articles (if they are available to the public), I'd try to find that article for you. Surely some old ads in the papers had to have at least a drawing of the sign.



Alex Cook

Southern Arizona since 1954

I remember a Committee Against Ringing Tucson with Titans (CARTT) that tried to argue against putting the silos all around the city (which made us the center of the bullseye and also subject to fallout no matter what direction the wind was blowing). I also remember talk about how high we were on the list of Soviet ICBM targets for a sleepy little desert town. But the counter argument was that we would have been almost as high because of the B-52s at Davis Monthan. (This reminds me of the roar you would hear whenever the B-52s came back from patrolling off Alaska.)

--- In vanishingtucson@..., "Sean" <oper_12m_sean@> wrote:

Carlos. Thanks for that story, second hand or not it is a good one.
Some of the best stories come from the transport/propellant truck drivers. Fortunately for Tucson and all of us we never had that war with Russia, if we had not much of Tucson would have been left if any.

Sean
--- In vanishingtucson@..., "MisterCopacetic" <mistercopacetic@> wrote:

Hello Sean,

Good question about an interesting aspect of Tucson history. Sorry, but my only story is second-hand, from a retired Airman who drove the truck transporting one of the missiles to it's silo. He described how the truck moved incredibly slowly along the temporarily closed highway. He said he was issued a shotgun with heavy slug ammo. His instructions, if attacked, was to use the shotgun not to defend himself or the missile, but to disable the vehicle with rounds through the radiator and/or engine block.

A native Tucsonan recently remarked how, at the time, most Tucsonans were unaware that the installation of the Titan II missiles around Tucson instantly boosted the Old Pueblo into the top 10 targets for nuclear obliteration in the event of war with the Soviet Union. This was at a time when Tucson was a relatively small town, where many residents still left their doors open, and cars unlocked. I know I did, up through the mid 1980's.

Thanks,

Carlos



--- In vanishingtucson@..., "Sean" wrote:

My name is Sean and I volvolunteer at the Titan Missile Museum, I would
like to get to know if any of you have any pictures or stories of the
Tucson sites. If you were involved with the program or a civilian with a
good story to tell would love to hear from you.

Thanks

Sean

My name is Sean and I volvolunteer at the Titan Missile Museum, I would
like to get to know if any of you have any pictures or stories of the
Tucson sites. If you were involved with the program or a civilian with a
good story to tell would love to hear from you.

Thanks

Sean

Carlos. Thanks for that story, second hand or not it is a good one.
Some of the best stories come from the transport/propellant truck drivers. Fortunately for Tucson and all of us we never had that war with Russia, if we had not much of Tucson would have been left if any.

Sean
--- In vanishingtucson@..., "MisterCopacetic" <mistercopacetic@> wrote:

Hello Sean,

Good question about an interesting aspect of Tucson history. Sorry, but my only story is second-hand, from a retired Airman who drove the truck transporting one of the missiles to it's silo. He described how the truck moved incredibly slowly along the temporarily closed highway. He said he was issued a shotgun with heavy slug ammo. His instructions, if attacked, was to use the shotgun not to defend himself or the missile, but to disable the vehicle with rounds through the radiator and/or engine block.

A native Tucsonan recently remarked how, at the time, most Tucsonans were unaware that the installation of the Titan II missiles around Tucson instantly boosted the Old Pueblo into the top 10 targets for nuclear obliteration in the event of war with the Soviet Union. This was at a time when Tucson was a relatively small town, where many residents still left their doors open, and cars unlocked. I know I did, up through the mid 1980's.

Thanks,

Carlos



--- In vanishingtucson@..., "Sean" wrote:

My name is Sean and I volvolunteer at the Titan Missile Museum, I would
like to get to know if any of you have any pictures or stories of the
Tucson sites. If you were involved with the program or a civilian with a
good story to tell would love to hear from you.

Thanks

Sean

Hello Sean,

Good question about an interesting aspect of Tucson history. Sorry, but my only story is second-hand, from a retired Airman who drove the truck transporting one of the missiles to it's silo. He described how the truck moved incredibly slowly along the temporarily closed highway. He said he was issued a shotgun with heavy slug ammo. His instructions, if attacked, was to use the shotgun not to defend himself or the missile, but to disable the vehicle with rounds through the radiator and/or engine block.

A native Tucsonan recently remarked how, at the time, most Tucsonans were unaware that the installation of the Titan II missiles around Tucson instantly boosted the Old Pueblo into the top 10 targets for nuclear obliteration in the event of war with the Soviet Union. This was at a time when Tucson was a relatively small town, where many residents still left their doors open, and cars unlocked. I know I did, up through the mid 1980's.

Thanks,

Carlos



--- In vanishingtucson@..., "Sean" wrote:

My name is Sean and I volvolunteer at the Titan Missile Museum, I would
like to get to know if any of you have any pictures or stories of the
Tucson sites. If you were involved with the program or a civilian with a
good story to tell would love to hear from you.

Thanks

Sean

My name is Sean and I volvolunteer at the Titan Missile Museum, I would
like to get to know if any of you have any pictures or stories of the
Tucson sites. If you were involved with the program or a civilian with a
good story to tell would love to hear from you.

Thanks

Sean

I was remembering a really nice electric sign that Paulin Motors had in front of their show room at 2121 E. Broadway. Does anyone have a photo of that sign?

I'm really surprised no one has posted about this subject.

CVS will be tearing down the shops to make way for a new store.
While not historically significant this is still a unique little shopping center. I have many memories of shopping there and the many fine meals at the restaurants. I'm trying to remember the name of the
hippy restaurant that closed in the 1990s.

Across the street is a dead shopping center, while I have great memories of it as well ie; The old Defender drug, when I was in elementary school it's lunch & soda counter was still open. Myerson's department store, most recently HomeStyle Galleries, a hobby shop I remember buying model cars and airplanes.
This corner is dead and ugly now and could have used redevelopment.