08/25/2026
Full heart post comin’ up! ❤️ It was 1894 when Grandpa Lyons started fixing and selling bicycles in downtown Grand Forks. Soon he added motorcycles and by the early 1900’s he was selling cars… mostly the Franklin Motor Car.. with its air-cooled engine.. and became one of their authorized distributors. (We have a theory why he chose the Franklin but that’s a future post). Many of the sales were recorded in a sales journal which is still in our possession. A few years back we were contacted by Rod Bertzyk of Hatton, ND. Rod is the owner of a beautiful 1925 Franklin Boattail Sport Runabout. He had heard about the old sales journal and was wondering if, by chance, had the car come from the Lyons dealership? He knew the name of the original owner and had the serial numbers and guess what? It did! Recently I asked Rod if he would like to share any of the car’s history and he graciously agreed. Thank you Rod!On July 10, 1925, Lyons sold the above mentioned Franklin to Ole Fluto of Hatton, ND for $2,850. Mr. Fluto passed away a few years later and the car was sold at auction to Jim Tucker. During this time, 12 year old Clayton Ahrlin would walk by every day, on his way to school, and admire the car. It was his dream car and in 1939 he was able to buy it from Mr. Tucker. Clayton used it daily for over a year but ended up selling it in 1941 as he secured a teaching job out of state. 14 years later Clayton, and his son Jim, (Jim Ahrlin would later become Rod Bertzyk’s high school science teacher and would talk of and draw renderings of his rare air-cooled car) located the car in a pasture by Hatton…neglected, cut up into a pickup, rotting in the dirt. They bought it for $10 and began a 20 year restoration process replacing all the wood and recreating the missing boattail back end and folding top. They participated in many parades and enjoyed it throughout the years. Clayton passed in 2003, and with his son living 5 hours away, the car was put in storage.
It was 1984 when a young Rod Bertzyk first saw and drove the Franklin, when his dad brought him out to the Ahrlin farm. He fell in love with it and was taken aback that such a beautiful car would exist in a barn and not a museum! Over the years he kept in touch with the Ahrlins.. eventually offering them better storage in 2016. When they offered to sell the car to Rod he accepted! Rod, and his wife Amy, put it back on the road with a new paint job for its 100th anniversary. And just like Ole Fluto did in 1925, they are cruising the streets of Hatton and surrounding towns enjoying all the attention, awards and trophies and will continue to show at random car shows and parades!
Photos courtesy of Rod Bertzyk.
