On the road again: Cowell semis return to local parades

By Audrey Posten, Times-Register

Monona Hay Days parade-goers witnessed the return of Jim Cowell’s famous scale-model semis and jeep on Saturday—the first time the miniatures have been on the road in over 15 years.

Getting the vehicles back to parade form has been “quite the trip” for mechanic Danny Torkelson, of Farmersburg, who started work just last month.

The idea came about after a visit to Fall-der-All at the Froelich 1890s Museum Village site, where Cowell donated the semis in 2009.

“I never realized the old Jim Cowell trucks were there, but I remembered them from when I was a kid. I always wanted to drive one,” Torkelson shared. “I knew quite a few people on the Froelich Foundation and simply asked them, ‘Would you care if I got them running again?’ It went from there.”

Cowell’s semis, patterned after a Ford grain truck, were a staple in area parades for decades. A prolific welder, the McGregor man completed the half-scale version in 1971. By 1981, he’d also created  one-fourth and one-eighth scale models of the semi along with a half-scale jeep.

“It’s something I always wanted to do,” said Cowell in a 1978 article in Farm Show magazine, provided by the McGregor Public Library.

The trucks were made of parts salvaged from old cars, trucks and other sources, according to Cowell. The “mini,” for example, included an engine and first transmission from a jeep and second transmission from a Chevy truck. The frame, along with the front and rear axles, come from a 1-10 GMC.

“I figure I’ve got approximately 2,000 hours of labor and $3,000 in parts and materials invested in the rig,” Cowell said at the time. “It took me about a year to build it.”

Cowell and his semis—with driving assistance from family and friends—were in dozens of parades each year. But declining health eventually forced Cowell, who passed away in 2014, to discontinue. The last parade mention was in 2006.

“That is when he contacted the Froelich Foundation, donated them and they took a long rest,” said Denise Schutte, executive director and curator of the Froelich Foundation and Museum. “The Cowell collection has been displayed indoors for all these years. Seasonally, guided tours of the 1890s Froelich village museum site include the Jim Cowell collection, which is one of seven buildings in these family-friendly tours. The kids especially enjoy getting into the small-scale semis and jeep as they pretend to drive them.”

Schutte said the collection ties in well with Froelich’s history. John Froelich’s gasoline-powered tractor, which was able to propel both directions, became the forerunner of the John Deere tractors and allowed farmers to produce more grains than they could use on their farms to feed livestock. 

“It then became important to find transportation to get the grains to market, first by way of trains and later by way of semis. So, Jim’s semis share the agriculture story of transporting the grain to market,” she explained.

Torkelson said his efforts are all about Cowell and the Froelich Foundation.

“I want to get the name back out there,” he stated.

“But to say I didn’t do this at least 25 percent selfish is a lie, because I still just wanted to really drive them,” he joked.

Torkelson worked on the larger semi first. It attracted quite a bit of attention.

“The day I pulled the big one out, I had it on the trailer going up the road, and people were waving at me, pulling over and taking pictures,” he recalled.

It was running in about two hours.

“I had to fix the fuel system because it had a lot of varnish in the tank, and then it had no spark. It cranked right away, but didn’t have any spark, so I fiddled with it and finally it took off running. Once it took off, it runs great. Then it was just a matter of tires,” he said. 

Smitty’s Oil and Tire in Monona helped with that part, as did Meyer’s Auto Service. Additional assistance has come from T & K Cahoon - NAPA Auto Parts, R&R Auto and Fisk Farm & Home, also of Monona.

“That was a big thing with the Froelich Foundation. Their big concern was ‘What’s it going to cost?’ I said, ‘My labor is free. I want to see these things back on the road. As I need things, we’ll deal with it.’ Generosity has just been overflowing,” Torkelson said. “It’s been a community project.”

According to Torkelson, the hardest vehicle to get running was the jeep. 

“I thought that was going to be the easy one because it had most recently been restored. But I don’t know if he had touched much of the mechanical stuff,” he shared. “The easiest was the quarter scale. I simply got fuel to go through it, hooked a battery to it, and it took off.”

The job required some late nights into early mornings, especially to get the two smaller vehicles ready for a Memorial Day weekend test run at Froelich.

“It’s totally worth it to me, just the fact they are going to get back out there,” Torkelson said.

At the Monona Hay Days parade, Torkelson’s children, Veda and Wyatt, drove the smaller vehicles, while his nephew piloted the half-scale semi. Torkelson held the role Cowell once had, watching over the miniatures in case something happened.

Speaking last week outside Meyer’s Auto Service, he felt the family was ready for the debut.

“We did our little test run in Froelich, teaching them how to work it. And they’ve driven them around here a bunch as I got them running,” Torkelson said. “And, believe it or not, I have gotten into the quarter scale and driven it—sitting in the cab. It’s very uncomfortable and I can’t stay in there very long, but it’s been a good time.”

He’s excited the kids are getting to live his childhood dream.

“They might look back on it someday and say, ‘Yeah, I got to drive that,’” he reflected.

Looking ahead, Torkelson said the Cowell semis will be in Marquette’s July 2 Independence Day parade as well as Garnavillo’s parade on July 4. 

“Those are the big ones they were always at. My eventual goal is to get them into some further off parades,” he noted.