On the trail of the Duke, and some Dwarf cars

Tuesday, December 3
Today we headed in to Maricopa, about a 45 minute drive from our site. Our main reason for the visit was to see Cheryl's cousin and his wife. Hugh and Penny live in Northern Manitoba and spend their winters in their beautiful home in Maricopa. We saw them two years ago when we were in the area and they showed us some of the sights. This year we asked them to show us some of the local John Wayne locations.

Some of the lovely homes in their neighborhood. Yes, homes on the water in the deserts of Arizona.

John spent a lot of time in the Maricopa area. He and his business partner had a cotton growing operation as well as a cattle feedlot. John didn't manage the day to day operation so he left it to his partner to turn a profit. In fact Wayne told his partner that if he exceeded a cotton production he set that Wayne would buy him a new Cadillac. Turns out John bought him a new Cadillac every year but one f or the time they were in business. Part of the legend has it that John would occasionally stop for breakfast at The Headquarters restaurant in Maricopa and buy a few beers at the Tabletop Tavern in Stanfield. So after a great lunch (thanks Penny!) we all headed out in search of some of these spots.

Headquarters Lounge in Maricopa.

One of John's haunts for breakfast.

Awesome wood interior

Lots of John Wayne memorabilia.

At least one fan!!

The Red River Cattle Feedlot. Thousands of head here. This was part of John Wayne's cattle operations.

The feedlot is not far out of Maricopa, or as some call it....Mari-cow-poo....due to the smell!

We never did find the Tabletop Tavern in Stanfield. The town had seen better days.

The famous 26 Bar Ranch. John actually had several ranches. This one was the center of his cotton operation.

Some of the quarters on the ranch.

The main house where John lived when he was here.

Hugh had also researched and found a great spot to visit, the Dwarf Car Museum. What a great find this was! (Click on this link to read more and get directions.) The owner, Ernie Adams is a magician and craftsman when it comes to building these reduced scale classic cars. He'll gladly show you his current project and share his building techniques. Just don't make him late for their weekly cruise and show in Maricopa! This is definitely a must-see if you're in the area. Admission is free but Ernie will gladly accept donations for his next project!

Some awesome bikes parked out front.

All the Dwarf cars are street legal and have VIN's assigned to each.

A work in progress. Most of these Dwarf cars are powered with old 4-cylinder Toyota engines. 

Each car takes three to five years to build. This one has at least three years left. Almost every part is custom built.

This will be the trunk lid. Everything to scale.

Hood hinges are built from scratch.

The full size handle compared to the custom made scale handle. Impressive.

Some of the built cars.

A fun project.

This one was absolutely mint.

And it was towing a boat. To scale of course.

The first Dwarf racer.

Can you tell the dwarf from the full size???

Look at all the 'stuff' on the walls and shelves. You could spend hours/days here.

This is how they trim 2x4's. Let one end burn down until it's the right length!!

'36 Nash

So much cool stuff in the yard.

Nice project car

After a good look-around we headed back to Maricopa. I think a return visit to the Dwarf Car Museum is likely. There is just so much to see.

We were having a great visit but the sun was going down so time to head back to Arizona City. Hopefully we'll get a chance to cross paths again this year with Hugh and Penny.

......and that was Our View From Here!