I've never been in Kansas, toto.

November 2, 2006 8:39 PM

What was Scott City, Kansas like in 1962?

Or any part of the deeply rural mid-west, really. I'm an old car anorak, and one of my grubby piles of parts started life as an exotic, relatively expensive and highly desirable (among people who typically find such things interesting, anyway) imported sports car whose first owner lived in Scott City, Kansas. This has always fascinated me, and I'm curious what the town was like and what if any effect such an alluring object might have had.

The original owner was still alive eight years ago, but was uninterested in communicating about the car...oh, well. In any case, maybe someone can help me color in the line drawings I have in my head when I imagine the time.

posted by maxwelton to society & culture (2 comments total)

Scott City.net
Town webpage

Maybe someone at one of those pages can help, if no-one here can. Probably the local library or historical society has pictures of the town, maybe even of the car's owner, at that time. It's a very small town, only 3800 people today. They also seem to have an annual car show, so probably someone in town would be interested to talk to you about the car, and may even have known the original owner.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:22 PM on November 2, 2006

Thanks, LobsterMitten. I had been to those pages in the distant past, indeed, the first one was last updated ten years ago. I think I'll email the mayor and see if he knows anyone who'd be interested in chatting.

From my understanding of the mid-west, I wouldn't be surprised if Scott City had more people in 1962 than it does now.
posted by maxwelton at 12:19 AM on November 3, 2006