The Wichita Eagle from Wichita, Kansas • 19

Widmtdav Ptmbf 17 1975 31 THE WICHITA EACHE vtr 1956 Fleetwood Pride of 60-Year Cab Veteran driven) go" he said they want the right of way they can have it" Bender said he was once approached by the Cadillac people who wanted to use the car for an advertising promotion and offered him a new one in exchange Bender's deluxe cab service is a full-time operation with many of his fares coming from elderly persons who rely on him for transportation to doctor's offices and the like For the rest he prefers to wait at cab stands rather than prowl the capital's streets for not many customers are inclined to hail passing limousines even if they do have the word taxi printed on them wanted to reserve the old Fleetwood for a drive gave me a 810 tip" he said How does one keep a car running for so especially when it is subjected to the rigors of the taxicab business? First of all said Bender one has to start with a good car of which alas they don't make too many any more The cars in the 1950s were built solid he said The ones they make today are just too tinny Then it's just a matter of minimal but regular care For example Bender changes the oil in the Fleet-wood every week whether it needs it or not The oil changes run 822 a month "The boys at the gas station say I'm wasting my money" he said "But how long have they kept their cars?" As a consequence of all this tender loving care the engine has never needed a major repair and the transmission has had to be replaced only 10 years ago THE SAME SORT OF kindly attention is given to the car's exterior Though he repaints it every five ears or so he never polishes the surface Instead every morning summer and winter he gets up at 4:38 am (he is due at the hotel cab stand at 5 am) and washes it down with cold water-going over it after with a damp rag and then a dry one During the winter he spends a little extra time spraying the undercarriage with a power hose to remove the salt it picks up from the road Though the limousine spends all of its time outdoors its finish looks as good as new Another reason for this is that he assiduously avoids accidents "I drive real gentle and am very carefolandah By MICHAEL KILLLN Chicago Tribune MADISON Wis There' nothing really unusual about 73-year-old Robert Bender's taxicab business here Except that: This is his 59th year in the trade The three cars he uses for cabs are all Cadillac limousines And one of them-a 1956 Fleet-wood-! last count had 867931 miles on it Visitors to Madison are often startled to see one of long gleaming Cadillacs parked in the cab stand opposite the state especially if it's the 1956 Fleetwood which he drives himself But the natives are quite used to it The seemingly indestructible limousine has been a fixture in town ever since Bender bought it from a rich elderly couple in New York 18 years and 827000 miles ago And Bender's been around a while having started in the passenger-carrying business here back in 1916 when he was only 14 HIS FIRST VEHICLE was a 14-passenger horse-drawn bus in which EVEN AT THE CAB STANDS some sure One visitor from Chicago finding one of Bender's Cadillacs first in line at the stand at Madison's airport fidgeted for several minutes and ref used to get in until the driver swore that the visitor would pay no more than for a regular cab "I turned them down because I would have had to give up the he said I'll reconsider it when it gets over a million miles By then it ought to be worth six new Cadillacs" Bender said that though he is very fond of the Fleetwood it is not the favorite car he has owned That honor goes to the 1925 Dodge taxi which he traded in in 1932 Asked why he had given it up he those days you never thought of keepingacarYoualwaysthoughtyou'd get something better Now I know he hauled passengers from the railroad station to the Park Hotel (now Park Motor Inn) on Madison's Capitol Square for 25 cents a head In 1923 he switched to a Model Ford and then when he started up the town's Checker Cab Co in 1925 he moved up to a new Dodge taxicab complete with such luxuries as heater glass passenger-section divider and open-air front seat Hie Checker operation expanded and prospered over the years and by the time Bender retired in 1970 he had gone through quite a number of despite his propensity for hanging on to them as long as possible The 1956 Fleetwood which he had bought for a limousine livery service he ran as an adjunct to his cab operation was still running fine so he decided to take it into retirement with him parking it in his driveway while he settled down to a life of puttering around the house THEN I RAN out of things to do" he said still had good health and I figured there ought to be something for me to do so I got an idea Why not put a meter in the old Cadillac and go back into the cab But others take the limousines in stride including Gov Patrick Lucey and other local dignitaries as well as celebrities from out of town One of more interesting passengers was Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy who had flown to Madison to visit the late President John Kennedy's mentally retarded sister Rosemary who resides nearby "She kept asking me to go faster and faster Bender said Even when I was going 75 1 told her I'd speed up but I didn't though" HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY little CHRISTMAS HE ALSO KEEPS a constant check on the condition of the tires and the amount of air in them as well as on the amount of water in the radiator and fluid in the transmission Too often people forget about their transmission and let the fluid get too low he said You can't afford to do that There are a million hundred thousand parts in there The Fleetwood also gets a thorough tune-up every six months and a valve job at the slightest sign of its needing one By a vote of 22 to 0 the Madison City et Council agreed that it was an excel Charming Mature grand piano wHh musical movement scale) Perfect far collectors dollhouses and music $1695 Mood Ring Chemicals Do Tricks lent idea and happily issued him taxicab licenses for the 1956 Fleet-wood a 1969 model and a 1971 Cadillac limousine he added later having a hell of a lot of he said 682-521 1 toUhcute 2903 Douglas SOME SEEK BENDER out just tor the thrill of riding in a car that has endured for so long He once got a call from London from an Englishwoman who was coming to Madison and The Fleetwood incidentally gets 19 miles to the gallon in city traffic and 21 miles a gallon on the highway By GEORGIA SAUER New York News Writer Macy's has all New York Is your mood ring going to change color to deepest black (mad) or tranquil blue (amused) when you find out what the mood ring really is? The mood ring's stone which changes its colors (supposedly) as you change your feelings has been called everything fro lapis humani to liquid crystal whatever that means the basics for baking said to have a secret component that reflects the spiritual self ever that means Well the truth is i out plus a lot of That secret component is nothing more than a bit of paper To make the mood stone photo paper is glued to the back of any clear object be it plastic glass or crystal The photo paper changes color as the temperature changes The mood ring photo paper uses the same principle as the paper used in the digital thermometers that change color as the temperature rises or falls said James Scott product marketing manager of industrial products at NCR-Encapsular Products in Dayton Ohio where the photo paper is made 'how-to' tricks! Bake and decorate a holiday cake for your family or guest it's a snap with Wilton holiday shaped pans! We've been selling this paper for the mood rings like crazy from 875 a square foot for under 99 square feet to 820 a square foot for 10000 or more square feet he said The paper is glued on the back of anything from quartz crystal to acrylic then bonded with epoxy resin to protect it from moisture and put in a ring setting he said One of New York City's leading wholesalers of semi-precious stones who doesn't want to be named because mthen every jeweler in the city would be after me said he laughs when he reads the ads for this mysterious stone The mood ring stone can be made from a 10-cent piece of platic or glass he said Quartz crystal is probably the most expensive thing it could be made of and that costs no more than 82 per stone usually only a dollar though In the same newspaper there can be advertisements selling the mood ring from 8275 up to 845 someone is making a lot of money on these rings the wholesaler said Of course the setting has a lot to do with the cost of the ring since the stone itself doesn't cost much The stones can be set in anything from gold or sterling silver to plain old metal he said Why just the other day I got an advertisement to wholesalers that said it would sell me 86 rings set in brass for 872 How do you feel about that? Beautiful holiday cakes in every shape imaginable and you'll bake them yourself with complete ease in these holiday shaped cake pans with just one cake mix! Simple easy-to-follow directions! Let the children help it's a holiday surprise for everyone 1 Open Book 2 Snowman 3 Flat Christmas Tree 4 Star 395 695 595 595 595 495 495 495 People Do Read Small Ads YOU DID! 5 Standing Christmas Tree 6 Santa Claus 7 Horseshoe 8 Bell Duo Park in Macys attached covered Garage AAacyArs open late every weeknight until Christmas MSMtMSMSolMMha 4m.