Doodlebugging around Hamilton County Fairgrounds overrun by bugs
By MIKE McILHERAN Messenger staff writer
WEBSTER CITY — The Hamilton County Fairgrounds are alive with
bugs. They are everywhere. They are the kind no exterminator can eliminate. The
ground are covered with Doodlebugs.
The two-wheel scooters are everywhere. They have migrated home for the annual
Doodlebug reunion, back to the hometown that made them. An estimated 40,000 of
the scooters were made in the Beam Manufacturing plant in Webster City from
1946-48. This weekend 40-50 of those are expected to return.
Jerold Jones of Webster City is kicking himself.
Jones has several reasons for kicking himself. He began working at the Beam
plant after the company shifted the production back to washers and dryers and
away from the scooters in 1948.
‘‘They found 20 of them brand new in a warehouse. I offered them $100 for all of
them. Instead they sent them to the crusher,’’ he lamented.
Today, each scooter could have brought $3,000 or more each.
‘‘I should have hung onto the one I did have,’’ he said.
Originally, the scooters sold for $69.95 and were manufactured under the
Hiawatha brand sold by Gambles and Gambles-Skogmo. Gambles raised the price to
$189 in ’48.
There was a lot of that sort of moaning going on Friday, the first day of the
two-day reunion. Guys were lamenting selling their early Doodlebugs. More
vendors were setting up tables. Other collectors were displaying parts from the
tailgates of pickups. Everywhere you looked there were Doodlebugs.
One would swear that the Doodlebug came in every color and configuration. There
were purple, yellow and green ones. Some had one tire on the back, others had
two or four. Some had 1 1/2 horsepower motors, others up to five. Some barely
creeped, others flew.
Each time a new person arrived, the predominantly male crowd flocked around the
new arrival.
‘‘It happens every time,’’ said Vern Ratcliff, of Webster City, one of the
event’s organizers. ‘‘They just migrate that way. Everyone is curious about what
the new arrival has brought to show.’’
There is always a following curious to see how the others may have modified a
scooter or how close to original it is. One Doodlebugger was scooting around the
fairgrounds on a totally original scooter, rust and all. Others were heavily
modified. The originals boasted a 1 1/2 horse Briggs and Stratton engine, no
head, tail or brake lights, pull start and only came in red with white trim.
Parts for the Doodlebug are still available but pricey.
‘‘A man in Oregon still manufacturers all the parts. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be
able to keep them going said Marcene Moore, another organizer. Several were
selling those parts to needy ‘‘buggers’’ Friday.
All over the fairground, smoke rose to the heavens as Doodlebuggers tinkered
with their contraptions.
‘‘There is a lot of tuning up that goes on here,’’ said Ratcliff. ‘‘It is part
of the appeal of the reunion. It is more like a family reunion.’’
Ratcliff was very happy to see new family this year.
‘‘There are a lot of new faces here for the first time,’’ he noted. ‘‘Of course
most of the regulars are back too. This event really spread by word of mouth.’’
The event offers parts, shirts, prizes, food and a lot of fun as the ‘‘buggers’’
get a chance to try out each other’s machine. About the time you think you’ve
seen it all. A new bug with an industrial class five horse Briggs flies by and
the crowd gawks once again.
‘‘These guys turn into kids again when they get around these,’’ said Ratcliff.
‘‘A local collector even has license plates proclaiming he is 14 again,’’ he
joked. The event ends tonight.