Returned to Running Order, Historic Vehicle Earns Youth Judges' Favor

Penn College students' work on a 1916 Scripps-Booth Model D, a one-of-a-kind vehicle that had not been roadworthy for many years, was awarded third-place by a group of young judges at last weekend's Elegance at Hershey concours event. Owned by the William E. Swigart Jr. Automobile Museum in Huntingdon, the car was originally built to the specifications of Eleonora Randolph Sears, the great-granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson and a popular tennis star of the 1910s. Sears paid $17,500 for the privilege of a vehicle with the elegance, quality and ride of a Rolls-Royce; the smallness of a Model T and the grille of a Mercedes Benz. Four students in the college's automotive restoration technology major – Ryan J. Bollinger, of Mount Joy; Ian M. Bachleda, of Schaefferstown; Ryan J. Haslett, of Warren; and Eugene J. Toner, of Quakertown – restored the car to driveability. Their painstaking process included electrical diagnosis and repair, a thorough cleaning of the oilpan, inspection of the engine for corrosion, creation of new gaskets and laborious hand-greasing before its ultimately successful road test.