Folks Of Interest Frank LLoyd Wright Cherokee red Lincoln

I heard a segment on the radio about Wright going to a Lincoln Dealer and telling the salesman he wanted the Lincoln on the floor, but he wanted the top cut off and he wanted it painted Cherokee Red. He wanted 2 of them, and he wasn't going to pay for them.

((Mr. Wright purchased two 1940 Lincoln Continentals, number 2 and number 5 off the line.
He gave number 2 to one of his daughters, who promptly smacked it up beyond all recognition.
Number 5 he "remodeled" the way you have seen him remodel buildings.))


I came across the following while searching for pictures of the cars.

by Earl Nisbet
It was early in 1951 when I first came to Taliesin, in Spring Green, and the first apprentices I got to know were Bill
and Barbara Morrison. They, having lived inTiburon, and I coming from the peninsula, the three of us were interested
in cars. We had much to talk about; Bill found out that I had overhauled engines, transmissions and automobile rearends,
as well as tuned engines before arriving at
Taliesin. In his talks with Wes Peters he mentioned
my automobile background and immediately Wes
put me in charge of Mr. and Mrs. Wrights vehicles.​

I had a field day checking the fluids, topping
off when necessary, and running the engines
so they were always ready to take Mr. or Mrs. Wright
where they wanted to go. Once in awhile I was
asked to take the cars into Madison for special service,
which was a nice change for me on those
few occasions. In the fall, all the vehicles were ready
for the caravan trip to the desert, and off we went.
We had only been at Taliesin West a couple
of weeks when, after gassing Mr. Wrights re-designed
Cherokee Red Lincoln, and since I didnt
have much to do that particular day, I decided to
wax the car as it seemed so dull.​

I didnt know it at
the time, but Mr. Wright wanted his Cherokee Red cars to have a satin finish, especially in the desert.
When I got finished with the polishing job, it shone like hell. Later I learned that when Mr. Wright saw it, he
went into a rage. Wes came looking for me, and when he found out that I had done it on my own, he told Mr.
Wright, that it was an accident as I had not known that he didnt want his cars waxed.
I was glad not to have been in Mr. Wrights sights that day, but he did give me funny looks after that for
awhile.
​

​

A Taliesin Reflection
Earl Nisbet was apprenticed at Taliesin in 1951-1952. He is on the board of directors of Taliesin Fellows,
Northern California. He lives and works in Aptos, CA.
5​

 

FLR was a great archietect. He was also a jerk. He skipped out on his debts, cheated a lot of folks and was rude n crude to everyone. He ran his "school" like a raging dictator. Most history books don't let that side out. Great builder, but a lousy family man, friend and boss. Gary

 

FLW & wife in a Hot-Shot
Red Lincoln.......

 

My wifes father was a student of Wrights at Talesin..He flew the family Howard DGA into a nearby strip many times..He went on to design the 50s modern Civic center in Wichita, and many others around that area..there are many family stories of Wright and crew...

 

Now that i think about it...
Frank Llyod Wright is to architects as George Barris is to customizers...

 

that's a neat story, so flw wanted his lincoln to be hamb friendly!
we spent two nights at the pennfield house last summer!

 

Seems like all of his cars were Cherokee red.

Another story tells of his Caravan of cars travelling to AZ from Wisconsin for Christmas. Packard, Dusenberg, The Lincoln and a bunch of other Red cars. In the desert, storms came up and some family needed picked up at the airport. They never came back, so another car set out, then another and so on.

The desert river washes outside Phoenix captured 15 cars. All had to be dug out by hand. This was in 1940 and Wright was 73ish at the time.
No one was hurt in the floods, and the Mom And Dad they set out for had
spent the night sittting on the top of the rear seat, all of the presents had swept away.

 

That pic must have been taken after the wax job. Good find!

 

Here is a link i found on Frank LLoyd Wright cars

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...right+cars&start=100&gbv=2&ndsp=20&hl=en&sa=N

 

There is also an excellent link in the link above of FLW cars concerning FLW and Harley Earl.

 

Kustom Dude, those are great shots!

 

Thanks for the find!

 

He had a bunch of Crosley's.
Wright's cars during his lifetime included a Packard Speedster, an L29 Cord, a Lincoln Continental, and English AC roadster, A a Jaguar, a Bentley, a Riley, a Mercedes gull-wing, a fleet of American Bantams, and Crosleys (Mr. Wright is pictured here in his wife Olgivanna's Crosley Hotshot in the Crosley Hotshot at Taliesin East in this photograph taken in 1952-1953).

The picture is linked above in Bold Venture's post

 

I was also gonna say that. Happens to alot of power broker types.

 

Can anybody recommend a good book about the man? I'm looking more for a biography/history, rather than focusing just on the buildings he designed.

 

[quote}He went on to design the 50s modern Civic center in Wichita, and many others around that area..[/quote]

Sorry pal, John Hickman was the architect of the Century II Civic Center here in Wichita, and the ONLY Frank Lloyd Wright building west of the Mississippi is the Allen-Lambe House here in east Wichita on Roosevelt Street.

 

the women by T.C. Boyle. its actually a novel about flw's life as told from the poa of his Japanese apprentice. it also lists the 10 or so bio's that he used as refrence for the novel

 

He totalled that one and robbed us HAMBers of a nice old panel truck in the process:

 

I am laughing so hard I can't see

 

There is an FLW building in Belvidere Il. that we used to play on as kids. The Petit Chapel in the Belvidere Cemertary at the end of Webster st. At the othe end, there is a Blackhawk war era house that supposedly is haunted. Interesting situation.

 

Really? I think you missed a few in your research:
http://gocalifornia.about.com/cs/sanfrancisco/a/flw_sf.htm

Not to mention Taliesin West itself which is in AZ!!
http://www.franklloydwright.org/Home.html

And also, all of his cars were probably the Cherokee Red because that was his signature color. I actually have a 1950 Studebaker truck that is red color Studebaker called Cherokee Red. Never thought about it until now, but wondering if there is any connection. Hmm, I'll have to check into that.

FLW's gigantic ego probably didn't mesh well with Lowey's equally gigantic ego, so I am doubting there is any connection, but maybe.

 

Sounds like Oscar Wilde who, when stopped by customs and asked if he had anything to declare said "I have nothing to declare except my genius."

 

looks they both were into Lincolns too:

http://www.allposters.co.il/-sp/Ind...n-Continental-Dream-Car-Posters_i3789177_.htm

 

Sorry pal, John Hickman was the architect of the Century II Civic Center here in Wichita, and the ONLY Frank Lloyd Wright building west of the Mississippi is the Allen-Lambe House here in east Wichita on Roosevelt Street.[/QUOTE]
That's if you ignore Taliesin West.

 

Hey Speedtool, pal, John Hickman is my wifes father, read the post again

 

Read "the Fellowship" hands down the best actual factual book you will find on his life and the running of his school/practice

 

That's if you ignore Taliesin West.[/quote]


That's if you ignore a lot of FLW buildings...

Being in the field myself... it's amazing how much everyone brings up FLW when they find out what I do... He was no Barris for architecture... he was a true inovator and visionary... which unfortunantly got greatly clouded by his last wife, Olgevanna, and her following of the mystic, Grudjef (spelling on both names might be slightly off)... Cheroke Red would be Wright's signature color as stated earlier...

Another interesting fact about Wright was his early and perhaps innovative penchant for utilizing what we would call "car ports" on his Usonian homes... he saw a garage essentially as a waste of interior space and a spot for the gathering of clutter...

everyone knows of his Falling Water and Gugenheim Museum, but to truely understand his genious, one should look at his later Usonian homes.. purity of design at it's best...

Ever see the gas station he designed?

http://www.geocities.com/soho/1469/flwgas.html

 

Lots of flw buildings west of the Mississippi.Most of them are.

 

I wasn't ignoring any. I was mentioning Taliesin West.

 

I have very little respect for the man took money never paid it back was a real ass in my opinion .I have been in a few of his homes had a hard time over looking his personal past to enjoy the structures .My 2 cents