A means of transportation appears to be a focal point for most people, and it isn’t an exception with Hugh as he has had a share. Shown below are a number of the vehicles that Hugh has owned and operated over the years.
Over the years, Hugh has taken pictures of vehicles, both American as well as some Foreign, and has developed quite an album. The American vehicle picture file exceeds 3500 and the Foreign file exceeds 350. The file currently covers 112 years of automobile manufacturing from 1893 to 2005 with many vehicle examples representing each year.
This is Barbara’s 2001 Toyota Avalon XLS that has taken its place as the “family” vehicle. It is a 3.0 L V6 front wheel drive.In the right background was Hugh’s 1986 Toyota Cressida.
This is Hugh’s 2005 Toyota Prius. It is a 110hp hybrid powered vehicle. The electric motor generates 67hp and is assisted with a 1.5L 4-cyl, 16-valve dual overhead cam gasoline engine. Curb weight is 2890lbs.
This was Hugh’s 1986 Toyota Cressida. It had a 2.8L dual overhead cam straight six cylinder. It is one of the last rear wheel drives made by Toyota.
After 12 years of reliable service, the Cressida was sold.
This is Hugh’s 1960 Chevrolet Corvair. He bought this car new and continues to drive it today. It has a 6-cylinder horizontally opposed 80hp engine.
This was Hugh’s stable of vehicles until the Avalon arrived. The motorcycle was sold a week after Hugh retired. The cars are a 1976 Chev Nova 6cyl 250cu inch automatic. Next is a 1960 Chev Corvair 6cyl automatic horizontally opposed air cooled. Barely seen is the 1986 Toyota Cressida.
This is a 1979 Honda CB650 that Hugh rode for many years until one week following retirement. The bike was as clean as when new after many years of use. This was a very smooth and quiet running four cylinder machine making it a pleasure to ride.Hugh installed a portable AM-FM broadcast radio onto the windshield.
This was Hugh’s last motorcycle.
This is a 1970 Honda CB450. It had a two cylinder engine.This was a nice bike to ride, but wasn’t as smooth as the CB650 with the four cylinder engine.
This is a 1971 Honda SL175. Hugh restored this bike and made it look and run like new. It had a two cylinder engine that was quite smooth. It was also reasonably quiet.Being small, it was not well suited for riding double.
This is an interesting machine. It is a 1951 Argyle motor scooter. It had a two cylinder, 2-1/4 hp two-cycle engine.
It weighed 54 pounds dry.
The scooter had a maximum speed of 35 mph. It was designed to fold up and be carried in the baggage compartment of a light plane, that Hugh did upon occasion. With short exhaust stacks, it was really noisy.
This is Hugh and his 1951 Chevrolet BelAire. Picture was taken at Chanute AFB in Illinois.The car was painted with a satin blue polychromatic enamel. That’s really a metallic blue that appears to be a foot deep. Later, the car was painted the same blue on the bottom, but white on the top.
This was Hugh’s first car that was purchased in pieces. He had to build it up much like a kit. The car was a 1930 Ford Model A. This one had a 1931 engine and frame. Hugh developed and ran water injection in the engine during WWII due to fuel rationing. His mother made the internal upholstery using Idaho Tweed (gunny sack to most).
This is a 1935 Chevrolet Standard purchased by Hugh’s dad in 1935 as the family car. It was a two door sedan having a six cylinder “stove bolt” engine.
In 1946 this became Hugh’s car that he drove for two years until it was damaged in an accident. It was sold and replaced by a 1937 Chevrolet coupe.
This is a soap box car that Hugh built for his boys when they were quite young. It wasn’t too long before they out grew it so the car remained in “good” shape even years afterward. With a steering wheel and brake installed, the car handled quite well. The car was recently given to a young boy across the street from Hugh.
This is an early picture of Terry with the soap box car right after it was constructed.
Hugh Wells 