8/14/2010:
Owning a car has long been part of the American dream, but during the market crashes and failings of the Great Depression, the car market also took a dive.
But America was still the land of opportunity, and the Depression was rife with personal ingenuity. Arvid Evenson, the son of one-time mayor of Halliday, ND, was proof of this. On this date in 1936, the Halliday Promoter cautioned people not to be alarmed if they heard a washing machine motor "chunking along the street"; it was a new type of automobile that Arvid had designed.
They reported, "More power to you, Arvid-who knows but that some day we may have a genius in our midst who will rival even Henry Ford."
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources:
Halliday Promoter, August 14, 1936, p1
Crawford's History, Vol. 2