The small town of Aplington, Iowa had no street addresses at the time he was in business. Not even a P.O. Box number was needed as everyone knew everyone else. About the only thing they ever put on advertising material was the phone number of 83. There was an operator, known as "Central", who plugged in calls. Even the phone number was probably not needed as the operator had memorized most all customers.
D.U. (Dave/David) Harken began as a Mitchell dealer in 1915, but by 1917 he had a Hudson-Essex dealership. Several drawers of cancelled checks from 1917 through the 1930's and two daily business ledgers from 1915 to 1918 are held dearly by a collector.
“I remember one of those summer afternoons, just west of the tent in the city park, a man drove up with a nearly new "Essex" car. It was a 1925 two-door black sedan. On its black surface there were many scripture verses printed in white, and on the front visor were the word's "Gospel Car". A man by the name of Tom Olson stepped out of it. He was a Gospel tract writer and also did evangelistic work. I recall him conversing with brother Smith and handing him a few keys, saying, "This is your car. You can use it for God better than I." This car then took the place of the Ford touring car that Mr. Smith had owned.”
Boy Who Stole Auto at Aplington Goes Back to Eldora
The new Essex six automobile, still carrying the dealer's number, stolen from Harken Bros. garage here Thursday night, was recovered late last night at Parkersburg in possession of Glenn Deyo, of that place, a youth who has served a term in the boys' industrial school. He was placed under arrest by the night watchman and will be returned to Eldora. Deyo had kept the car hidden during the day, but at night drove it about town. When the battery "burned out" he took one from another car, it was learned. The car is owned by Fred Lindeman.
-- Waterloo Evening Courier
-- April 3,1926
Business for Harken
On September 6, 1928, the Ackley World Journal [Ackley, Iowa] reported on page 8 that B. Ostercamp, Frank, Grace and
Otto Renken, had bought Essex cars
from Harken Bros. that past week. (Interesting that they would report auto purchases in the paper,eh?)
It's also rumored that a 1929 photo exists showing an Essex parked between two large mounds of snow in front of the frame building then used by Harken Brothers, having Hudson and other brand names painted on the front.
Mr. Blair made the comment, "You can hardly call it the Gospel Ford, you could better call it the Gospel Car." Mr. Blair was no doubt suggesting that the Gospel Ford could relate to a man instead of telling that the car was used in the spreading of the gospel, and truly the gospel was spread by its use. Mr. Smith has said "I would drive the wheels off my car to see a soul saved." This was truly the character of his life, he lived it for others. Now he had a new car to drive and it already had on its visor the words "Gospel Car". Soon he painted the old Ford touring car and sold it. For a number of years he came back to the Aplington Hudson-Essex dealer, Dave Harken, and traded for a new Essex. "Times were surely different then." Mr. Smith writes in his diary "Monday, December 16, 1929 - Traded cars, got a new Essex. Paid $195.00. Had 14,800 miles on old one."
One piece of memorabilia that has survived is a fountain pen in a stand which has the following inscription:
"Hudson Motor Car Company Award to Harken Brothers in May 1935." Harken sold the business in 1951 or 1952 to John Cuvelier. It became an AMC dealership either under the Cuvelier name, but was purchased by Maurice Uhlenhopp who sold it to John Hippen. The business was known by various names over the years as noted above, dependent on partnerships and family dynamics. Harken's grandson recalls going to Hudson-Jones in Des Moines, Iowa (see below) to pick up new cars.
GospelHall.org has an interesting story that gives us a glimpse on how useful vehicles were in sharing the gospel. Following are two exerpts from the website:
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