The WFK Ice House Museum has received a donation of a 1920 Buick Opera Coupe, donated by Carol Macuch and family of Danbury. This recent acquisition is a bit unusual for the museum as most of the vehicles on display are antique Fords.
William M. Kidder, Bill Sr.’s father, tinkered with his Uncle Henry Kidder’s 1905 Buick and developed a love of cars that developed into the family business, Kidder Garage on Main Street, in New London. Not only did they repair cars, they also sold cars. The repair business thrived and became a mainstay of New London from 1911 until 1986.
The remains of the garage were moved, hook, line, and sinker, to the old Shepard Ice House property down the road. The signage, pumps, parts, tools, and smell of crankcase oil will take you back to the Kidder Garage of days gone by.
William F. Kidder, Sr. collected antique Fords, local historical items from the late 1800s to the late 1900s, and examples of Yankee ingenuity. The museum has been “Preserving Local Treasures” since 2005 at the Shepard Ice House property, at 91 Pleasant Street, New London, and despite the name of the museum, it is about far more than just ice.
The museum is open to the public from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9 AM to 4 PM, and Saturdays, from 9 AM to 2 PM. Tours are self-guided, or if you are lucky, one of the volunteers will show you around and share tales from the collection.
Carol Macuch was in search of a place where her father’s meticulously restored 1920 Buick could be enjoyed after he was gone. She stumbled upon the WFK Ice House Museum, a hands-on place where visitors of all ages can learn about these examples of history and, some days, even get a ride in one of the museum’s cars.
Carol gave the following history of the Buick: “My dad, Frank Macuch, was the son of Czechoslovakian immigrants. He joined the Air Force as a mechanic after high school and was stationed around the world until his retirement from the Air Force, when the family moved to Merrimack. He then started his career in the General Services Administration (GSA).
“While working for GSA, he was looking for an antique car to restore and received a tip from a military recruiter that he had seen one for sale in Massachusetts. In the mid-to-late ‘80s, Frank’s determination and patience paid off; the car was in good enough shape to restore.
“In restoring it, he disassembled the entire car, sandblasted the body, and sent the body parts to Henry’s Auto Body in Manchester to be painted. The mechanical pieces he painted himself. As the interior suffered from dry rot, he stripped all the material off the seats, doors, roof, and sides. He kept the old material to use as a pattern when he purchased new fabric.
“He completed the car in the early 1980s and entered it in numerous parades and car shows in which he, or the car, won trophies. The Buick Opera Coupe was a four-passenger coupe. The bench seat allowed two people to sit in the back seat and a fourth person sat on a small swing- out cushion facing the rear passengers.
“A few years before his death, he told his family he preferred the car not be sold, but donated to a museum where others could enjoy it.” Carol concludes, “After a few years of trying to find a good home, we feel very fortunate that the Ice House Museum accepted it into their collection. We could not have found a better home for the Buick, and the museum could not be more grateful.”