• Sunday-What'sUP March 10 - 05:49 am

A few weeks ago our Shoebox Memory featured an old car, half buried in snow, from the late 30's or early 40's in Calumet. Last Sunday Carl Kiilunen shared a shot of the whole vehicle, which prompted some excellent detective work by several Cam Watchers. Russ Mester provided a link to the 1935 Oldsmobile Model F Business Coup, and the identity appeared to be settled.

But then, Julie Beck found this old photo in her shoebox... possibly the same auto in a different season in the Copper Country. When you magnify the hub cap and spare cover, it clearly says "BUICK". A few Googles later we find that the 1937 Buick Model 66S Sport Coupe has virtually the same design as the '35 Olds. Now I'm wondering if Carl Kiilunen has a bigger scan of last week's picture which would allow to read its hubcap?

Julie said the man in today's shot is her grandfather John Stevens , Sr., who was 37 at the time (August 1938 on the back of the photo). The boy beside him has actually appeared on the Pasty Cam before: Jack Stevens, after whom the snowmobile trail in Calumet is named:

Good Morning!! Cool picture.

Jack Stevens-what a guy! Well known throughout
the community. Mr. Ski-Doo. My dad bought several Ski-Doos from Superior Service Garage,
snowmobiled with him numerous times, been out his camp. Just a great guy to be around!

i'm not looking at the car so much, but rather the fish. where did they come from?? that's quite a stringer!!

Where did they catch those fish? Is it a trick picture, or are the fish really that big?

Look like Muskie to me..and they do get that big.

By painterontheprarie - IL on Sunday, March 6, 2005 - 09:32 am:

Those are Northern Pike and they do get that big.
Much bigger in fact.

From the Pasty Cam Archives & Barb's Page

I know they are Northern Pike. It is a common trick, which I have done, to take the picture with the fish near the camera and the fisherman some distance away. It makes the fish look big and is a joke among friends.

Gratiot lake was known for it`s trophy pike years ago. When stringers of fish like this were kept every time you went fishing a lake could be and was depleted of it`s fish.This is not a slam against the folks in the picture. We all did it.
Did`nt know any better.With the current practice of catch and release most fisherman practice nowadays many lakes are coming back.Gratiot lake
still holds some big fish. If your looking to fish the copper country try Portage lake. It holds trophy size fish of many species.

Great pictures. Have a few myself with a bunch of pike on a stringer.

3 deer hunters drowned in gratiot lake in the 50s---think one was a menzies from marquette-------also marquette iron rangers defetead the green bay gamblers 6-3 again last evn---3rd game 11am today

A great stringer of Northern Pike I would say. Quite similar to those we would catch up at SCHLATTERS LAKE, beyond Fort Wilkens. That would have been in the 50's before any logging roads went into that area.

I have cought some northerns like that biggest one in the pic, 38 inches and more from near Portage lake. The biggest one I saw was 54 inches. They are a lot of fun on the end of your line. You can't just pull them out of the water, you have to tire them out.

I vote Buick because of the spare wheel in the fender.

Charlie - I sent you a picture of a 39 LaSlle Coupe by e-mail that looks just like the one pictured except for no suicide doors so I agree with Steve of Iowa from Feb 27th Cam Notes that it is a 1935 LaSalle Coupe?

Charlie: I scanned the pic of last Sunday larger, but couldn't see anything to help identify what make of car it is. There could be a shield or emblem of somekind on the hub cap but it is very faint. The pic of the car last Sunday had the spare on the left front fender.
In todays pic the spare is on the right front fender.

My dad Gary Curtin, and his brother welden both owned the same 1937 full size Buick convertible.Dad bought if from the head of his Naval Reserve unit at Tech in the mid 40's, and latter traded in the car at Nelson Brothers in Mason. Uncle Weldy bought it the next day after passing it, in the lot, and brought it home to Lake Linden!
Grandma and Grandpa..thought maybe the car had come home on it's own like a lost dog..

My brothers and I with my 84 year old Dad still fish for Northerns near Parry Sound each Memorial Day weekend. First Northern I caught over 15 pounds took a few years off my life. Best four days I spend each year.

I purchased the viewmaster slides from my sisters resale shop. I would love to give these to their owner. They are of "mother and dad" on the Tahquamenon river in 1955. Dad has a while captains hat on. They appear to be about 50 years old in 1955. Also slides of Dettman's Motel on Lake Huron in St. Ignace. Castle Rock, Pictured Rocks, Caves at pictured rocks from the water, Painted cave. The state ferry at the Straits of Mackinaw (I don't know if the island was a tourist area then). There is a picture of the "Tiger Lady" tour boat with Captain Claude Hansen. If anyone knows of someone making that a vacation Labor Day weekend of 1955. Let me know.

Yes, pike do get that huge. I was out jetskiing once, several miles from shore, and was just idling my machine. A shadow in the water caught my attention, and when I looked down, I could see a huge pike, just below the surface...I swear it had to have been at least three feet long, if not longer. I had never seen a fresh water fish that big before.

More stories to go with the fish picture. Jack (Jr) my dad said Gramp would watch the fish from the surface then write down where he saw them and then later when the wind picked up would take the boat out to "catch them". Then when he would haul them in he would have my dad-Jack Stevens Jr. take them down to Harry Cohodas to trade them for a bag of onions. I call that pretty good bartering since our family has really not been much for fish. Grampa used to be very serious about fishing as it was a way for him to spend time alone or with fishing buddies of his choice. The pike never went to waste that's for sure.

Just watched the movie Haunted Honeymoon with Gene Wilder and Gilda Radner. I couldn't believe my eyes. In the closeing scene they are driving the car that was shown a couple of weeks ago! It happened so quick I wasn't sure what it was. I think we all agree it's a GM of some kind. I'd like to know what it is too!

I'm going to solve this puzzle of the car once and for all, tomorrow. I called George Kingstrom of Parkway Chevrolet, in Calumet, and he's going to look it up in books with the aid of his workers. One thing for sure is that the car is a Buick. He said that that's the only kind of car Jack Stevens ever bought. He was a good customer.

Carl's wife- you are right, Jack bought cars from Parkway and also from Siler's in Hancock. The salesman that Jack Jr. remembers is Jim Baratono who was the owner at one time.

This is not the same car Carl Kiilunen posted last Sunday. His car has the spare on the left front fender, this one has it on the right. I'm inclined to agree this one is a Buick, because of what appears to be those 'trademark' vents/fake exhaust ports in the side of the hood, and on later models, in the side of the front fenders. One could always identify a Buick by those. It's amazing how identical the Olds, Caddy, and Buick were those days. Russ Mester did a good job tracking down the Olds Business Coupe.

I don't believe that there is a trick to that picture-the man's foot is in the shadow. There are some nice northerns there. I've caught hundreds of pike and those fish are not unusual. They get much larger. On the muskie post--a muskie tends to have bars or off coloration, a pike will always have the bean shaped dots. That picture, I'm sure, is WYSIWYG.

Looks straight up to me. Biggest Pike I've caught was 48", caught and released in Portage Canal, shore fishing on a study break while at Tech. I've also pulled in several to rival those guys in the picture out of Torch Lake, shore fishing the lily pads and weed beds.
I've heard divers in the Portage, especially under the bridge come back with stories of even bigger monsters lurking down there-not all of them sturgeon.