Another Tacky Roadside Attention-getter

Driving near the Snowshoe ski resort in West Virginia last week we came across this attention-getter. Obviously we had to stop. (Please excuse the lens flare; I really needed a lens hood for the shot.) I think I had seen a photo of this before, but it still got my attention. The barn is next to this business,

which has its own share of attention-getters. I'm not sure if it is still open; we were there after business hours anyway. There's a lot of old stuff around, including the old-fashioned gasoline pumps. But it was the car with the (you-gotta-love-it-tacky) added wind-up key that really got my attention.

A local photographer told me it was a 1941 Bantam automobile. I don't think I had ever heard of that brand, so it was off to Google to learn about it. The car and the company that built it had its roots in the American Austin, which was manufactured from 1929 until 1935. The American Austin was a domestic version of the Austin 7, which was sold in Britain at the time. When American Austin production ended, the plant was sold to the Bantam manufacturer, which built cars based on the Austin from 1937 through 1941. Only about 6,000 of these cars were ever built, which makes me think that the little car in the picture might actually be valuable.

Again, the tacky roadside displays got me to stop and take pictures. I might even have bought something if the store had been open.