Popular Mechanics - USA (2019-04)

@PopularMechanics _ April 2019 7

Way to Go,

Car Companies

ON JANUARY 23, automotive editor Ezra Dyer posted the
story “This Kid Asked Each Car Company to Send Him
a Decal” to PopularMechanics.com about a six-year-old
car-loving boy named Patch Hurty. After finding a Ford
badge on the side of the road early last year, Patch started
a letter-writing campaign: With the help of his mom,
Lindsay Hayes Hurty, he wrote to more than 50 compa-
nies, asking for a spare logo or decal for his collection.
He included a coin from his piggy bank, and a photo of
himself with one of the company’s cars, when he could.
Almost every single company wrote back, sending
swag and letters—and returning his coin.
“The near-uniform response is a happy surprise,”
Dyer wrote. “After all, nobody has a Department for
Letters from Kids Asking for Logos or Badges from the
Factor y Floor.”
Since the story went up, over 20 more car clubs, manu-
facturers, and car enthusiasts have written in with offers
to ta ke Patch on rides, to send him to a car show, or to add
their own contributions to his collection. Ford—whose
badge started what Patch calls “a project of love and
cars”—is even taking him to its design studio.

THE SITE

ABOUT THOSE COVERS

ARCHIVES

NOVEMBER 1922

COVER STORY “How Far Can a

Locomotive Jump?”

by Francis W. Wilson.

According to Wilson, a bridge

engineer for “a certain railway”

told him this story (but refused to

give him a copy of the corrobo-

rating photograph): A locomotive at

the head of a fast freight barreled

downgrade to a bridge whose draw

was open; evidently, the engine

made it across the 28-foot gap

unscathed. Its cars, Wilson reports,

weren’t quite so lucky.

JUNE 1935

COVER STORY “Auto Engine

Drives Motorcycle at High Speed”

The enormous motorcycle gracing

the cover of the June 1935 issue

was “assembled especially for

establishing a world’s record of

more than 300 miles per hour.”

Weighing in at 1,500 pounds, it was

powered by a six-cylinder Plym-

outh automobile engine—with fan

and generator removed. We’d like

to have seen that motorist wear a

slightly more substantial helmet.

Flexit LIGHT

Sixteen LEDs

cased in a thin,

flexible plastic

housing. Made

for tight spaces.

$30; amazon.

com.

THINGS

For our recent Greatest Hits Vol. 2 issue, we

published three vintage covers from PM’s

117-year history. Here, the story behind each.

Patch

with his

Bentley

swag.

OCTOBER 1940

COVER STORY “Adventures

of the Highway Engineers”

The highway engineers of central

California have jobs that range

from clearing dirt off roads after

heavy rains, to snow removal,

to “stand[ing] watch on a gey-

ser

.

.

.

only a few hundred feet from

a busy highway,” to clearing trees

with a Caterpillar tractor (as pic-

tured on the cover).

WE LOVE