GOLDTHWAITE Mills County TX–The first automobile registered in Mills County, a 1906 Cadillac, will be the feature of Open House at the Mills County Historical Museum, Saturday, May 22, 2010, Robbie Kerby, museum board president, announced today.

From 1 to 4 pm, the public is invited to attend the Open House to view this fine antique vehicle and to meet the current owners. Refreshments will be served. This will be a coming home event for the Museum, Kerby commented. The car is on loan from Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hall of Midland, TX.

The 1906 Cadillac was bought new in Brownwood, TX by a medical doctor who used it for a year or two. He then sold it to JH Saylor, a pioneer Goldthwaite businessman who built the Saylor Hotel with running water. The car was a wood body, touring car with two seats when new.

Prominent antique car hobbyist HB Carroll of Abilene discovered the car in 1949 in JH Saylor’s tumbled down barn, in fact, the barn had fallen down on top of the car. The back seat had been replaced with a homemade box. Probably, Saylor had put the box on the car so he could use it in his business. Keeping the box on the back, Carroll restored the car.

Years later, he acquired the blueprints for a 1906 Cadillac Runabout body style. He then replaced the homemade box with a Runabout style box.

Throughout the southwest, the late Mr. Carroll was well known as an antique automobile enthusiast, restorer, and promoter of the antique automobile hobby. He was among the first in Texas to restore antique cars and started many clubs in the state where fellow enthusiasts could get together to exchange information and resources about restoration and a lot of lifelong friendships were made. Robert B. McDaniel of Abilene, TX, who arranged for the car to be loaned to the Museum, was a close friend of Carroll’s for over 55 years. Carroll started taking McDaniel to car shows, sales and swap meets when he was 14 years old. They met in Carroll’s Abilene mechanic shop when McDaniel went in to inquire about an antique car show in Ft Worth.

McDaniel and Carroll were among those who met in Austin (in the fifties) to start the use of an Antique Auto special license plate, and it’s still used by the state of Texas for antique cars.

Over the course of his lifetime, Carroll owned many antique cars but the ’06 Cadillac was always his favorite, earning many coveted trophies at antique automobile shows. He was always proud to show how smooth it ran, PUT-APUT-PUT.

Carroll owned an automobile repair shop in Abilene TX for many years. He died in Midland, TX at 98 years of age. Upon Carroll’s death in May 2007, his son in law and daughter, Jim and Sandra Hall of Midland, TX inherited the vehicle. Mr. and Mrs. Jim Hall are proud to loan the car to the Mills County Historical Museum.