Midwest Horse Fair Weekend

There are not too many equine events in America that rival the Midwest Horse Fair. The event starts today and runs through the weekend in Madison at the Alliant Energy Center. The event attracts over 50,000 spectators over the course of the weekend. If it has anything to do with a horse, it's there. Take a day to hit the fair. It’s quite the experience.



The Mustang Marathon is another one of the available options in our WCC lineup. This Mustang single horse marathon is FEI in weight and width. Weight is 350 lbs. It is priced at $7,995 including shafts. It performs as great as it looks.



Our Trap Sleigh project is in pieces. The body is really solid other than a couple of cracked panels that are being replaced. As you can see we have the lions share of the body stripped. We have some areas that will go into hard coat sealer and we should have the body in primer early next week.



The front seat sections that flip upward have been removed and stripped as well. This is the left side seat. They are in nice solid condition. Bob has the dings and nicks filled with polyester and this part is ready for primer.



This is the other side. It has been pretty much stripped and as you can see has some very nice detail. The louvered panels really add a lot of dimension to the vehicle. The rounded top of that side panel was a fairly typical detail on Traps such as this.



All of the wood parts needed for upholstery have been stripped and are ready for primer. As I mentioned the other day our plan is getting all the parts that are upholstered in paint first. That way we will be working on upholstery as the rest of the project moves along.



The runners are coming along nicely. They are just about completely stripped. The other side of the dash still has paint on that needs to be removed. By the end of the day on Monday I would think that should be ready for primer too.

While you are traveling to and from the Horse Fair stop by our showroom. We are a little over a half an hour from the Horse Fair site. Sounds like it will be a lovely weekend in Wisconsin.

Have a great weekend!

Ciao!
T

The Season Is Upon Us

If you have not had the chance lately take a look at our website. We have just completed a pretty serious redux and I’m quite pleased with it. We are adding some new features that we will be expanded as time goes by. We have included a new video page with some of our favorites. You can find that on the main menu. Speaking of video Tim Maloy has another new one out called Montage. Kind of a collage of 2009 competition in slow motion. Very cool and I have attached it below for your viewing pleasure.

Driving Montage from Tim Maloy on Vimeo.

Now that I have you all fired up about the 2010 driving season you will need a new vehicle too. We are in the process of building up our WCC inventory so keep watch for new arrivals. We are putting together a container as we speak and at this point we are focusing on the WCC Mustang lineup.



We are a few months out on receipt of our container but we will be bringing in some new inventory a little sooner than that. Shown above is the Mustang M200 Compact Wagonette. Coming in at 440 pounds this vehicle works well for both singles and pairs. Shown with pneumatic tires it’s also available with solid rubber tires. It sells complete with your choice of pole or shafts for $7,995. Equipped with both for and additional $550 and set up with two sets of wheels for an additional $1,200. This carriage is an ideal combination training, pleasure and marathon carriage.



As the week progresses I post more photos of the WCC Marathon carriages. Meanwhile back the ranch we are just in the process of diving into the Trap Sleigh restoration. The seats have been removed and we are in the early process of removing all the metal parts for blasting.



Our schedule is pretty tight on this project. We have a little less than six weeks to pull this project from here to the finished restoration. Part of the plan is beginning with the seats so we can get at the upholstery while the guys at the shop are still working on the rest. The seats have been pulled out, cushions removed and paint stripping will begin tomorrow.



This is the rein rail and the arm rests removed form the body. These parts will be plated and so they are going to be shipped off this week.



In the trim shop Ryanne is going ahead pulling together what she can so she is ready to upholster as soon as parts are ready. The existing fabric was a green wool broadcloth which we will be matching both in fabric and color. She has sewn up enough piping and webbing to trim out all the seat cushions.

Other than that a pretty uneventful weekend. Worked around home on Saturday and picked up a load of hay on Sunday. What a great way to spend a sunny Sunday afternoon. Loading hay. woohoo.

Have a great Monday!

Ciao!
T

Slow Boil Just A Simmering Away

The atmosphere in little ol’ Columbus is running at a slow boil. I like that. A steady slow boil. It is such a change of pace from where we have been. From ice cold to boiling over the pot and spilling all over the place. For years our little town was a political hot potato. Fighting, name calling, kicking people out of office, and just a whole lot of negative energy being spent unproductively. Of course the television stations in Madison just loved the ruckus. Always knew there was something happening at City Hall when the satellite truck was parked out front. Of course there are always unhappy people in any community. Always finding something wrong with whatever is going on at any given time. But Columbus is changing for the better.



It strikes me that City Hall has a vision. Very little positive can happen without a vision for the future. I can’t say as I have really felt that way until now. Projects are moving forward. People are communicating effectively and harmony is much more prevalent. Speaking of projects our City Council approved a resolution last night to support a major downtown redevelopment concept proposed by the CDA. This is a huge step in the right direction for the betterment of the entire City. Hat’s off to the CDA, Council and City Administration for taking this project forward. With all this forward thought I decided to share a photo of the downtown from sometime in the 40’s I would guess. What a great image.



So what’s on deck? We are starting in on this nice little Trap Sleigh. This unique and elegant cutter was practical, functional and attractive all at the same time. If you look at the above photo it shows this nice sporty two person sleigh.



From the rear it has a nice deck lid but if you look closely there are some joints in the back deck.



Here we see the essence of a Trap. There are Trap carriages and Trap sleighs all though I’ve seen much more of the carriage variety over the years. This sleigh has very attractive lines and here we see how it all functions. Both sides of the body swing upward to create an opening to the rear seat. The rear deck folds up as well to create that rear seat.



This is what the sleigh looks like in its four passenger variation. The term Trap is derived from your inability to exit from the rear seat once you are seated. Basically you are trapped until someone up front lets you out.



Some very nice details to this piece. All of which will be recreated as we complete the restoration. We will be following this project pretty closely over the next few weeks so I hope you enjoy the process.

Check out our website. We have given it a new look and I will be adding some interesting features over the next month or two. We have also added a new domain www.freycarriage.com. The old www.colonialcarriage.com still works and will for some time to come. Changing the name of a business is a long process. Things are slow boiling at Frey Carriage Company too as spring comes in early.

Have a great Wednesday!

Ciao!
T

Columbus First National Bank

How in the world did I end up liking history? Is that something that just comes with age or what? Maybe it’s a connection with something tangible. I’m not sure but when I was a kid history was the most dreaded class of the entire day. Could not stand it and could see little point in studying things of the past. Of course in High School I could see no point in studying about much of anything for that matter so go figure.



This is a historic shot of the First National Bank Building in Downtown Columbus. I’m really not prepared to write anything of substance about this today but I really need to pull together all the loose ends I have about this building. It has an interesting history both as a bank and in the afterlife since. I’m thinking it’s been close to twenty years since it has been a bank. It is currently vacant but something cool is going to happen here in 2010 one way or another. There are a couple of new things waiting in the wings for this old building and either way it will be fun.



We restored this sleigh last year for a client in Pennsylvania. It was a local treasure from a prominent family in their area and we were proud to bring it back to life.



Like most projects it starts with reducing it to a heap. Everything comes apart. The wood runners were solid but if you look closely you can see the upper dash support is broken. That particular break needed to be addressed before we installed the new dash.



The outer skin of the body was in really sad condition. We ended up replacing the majority of it using the original for patterns. Here we have the body in hard coat sealer awaiting the first sanding.



The sleigh turned out beautifully. The original colors were black and maroon which we matched. The patterns of the original mohair upholstery were matched in the new upholstery as well.



A cream stripe really set it off. There were remnants of original striping still in place which we duplicated. The sleigh was delivered just in time for Christmas and it spent the winter in their home next to the fireplace.

Was 80 degrees in Wisconsin yesterday and more of the same today. It is surprisingly dry though for this time of year. It sounds as though there may be a little rain on the way for tomorrow which will be nice. It will be the first official warm rain of the season. That should put the grass into overdrive.

Have a great Weekend!

Ciao!
T

So What’s New?

Well quite a bit I guess. There is a lot of energy developing in little ol’ Columbus on a number of fronts. First is the renewing interest in the historic downtown. Like many small towns the heart of Columbus has been battered and bruised. Many people including ourselves have committed ourselves to the preservation and redevelopment of the downtown. The City as a whole along with City Government and the CDA appear to be on the cusp of a substantial downtown redevelopment project that would be a big step in the right direction. That is really exciting.



Carriages and driving are another big topic in Columbus. Over the years the Columbus Carriage Classic has been a signature carriage event for our community. Since that time a winter sleigh rally has been developed and coming on Memorial Day weekend a carriage driving clinic. Numerous clinics will be hosted at the newly formed Midwest Equestrian Center in Columbus. You can find more information at www.midwestequestriancenter.com.



There are some new arrivals here as well. The very top photo is a replica of a Brewster Dos a Dos Phaeton built by Frey Carriage Company. It was shown successfully for one season and is now a trade on another new vehicle. It’s in like new condition and sells complete with shafts and lamps for $7,995. The photo above is an Extension Top Surrey in recently restored condition. It is a very solid carriage, looks beautiful and is all ready to drive. It sells complete with pole, shafts and lamps for $2,995.



This Spider Phaeton is as beautiful a vehicle of it’s type that I have seen. It epitomizes the elegance and beauty of a traditional Spider Phaeton. It was built by Flandrau & Company of New York, NY. It is wearing an older restoration that could be turned out or also could be a good candidate for complete restoration. The lamps are modern reproduction. It sells complete with shafts, splinter bar, no pole but includes the lamps at $27,500.



Here we have a very nice original Extension Top Surrey. It is rock solid with beautiful original leather upholstery in excellent condition. It could use a new top as you can see but that is something that the professionals at Frey carriage Company can restore. The dash and fenders are all original. A nice carriage with shafts and original electric lamps for $1,795.



And lastly this very early and rare single horse Chaise. Perfectly restored with full leather top and upholstery. Body slung on leather. This rare carriage would make for an excellent investment for your carriage collection. It sells complete as shown for $13,995.



One more interesting Columbus tidbit. I am just fascinated by the Badger Motor Car Company. This business was formed late in 1909 and folded by the end of 1912. In those three years it set out to manufacture automobiles and that they did. Unfortunately they could not survive the long haul but the short history of the company is a who’s who of local Columbus lore. In celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the production of their first vehicle I have developed a commemorative logo that we are using on T shirts and other clothing items. We will have these items available at the showroom along with a growing history of the Badger Motor Car Company.

Have a great Thursday!

Ciao!
T

Another Dandy Day

It’s a great day to be outside taking some pictures. But before I get to that I attended the Community Development Association meeting last night. Lots of positive things happening in Columbus these days. My friend Steve Sobiek our Economic Development Director has been a busy guy. Steve’s position is both Economic and Energy Sustainability and he certainly has been putting Columbus on the map as a leader in green energy.



The media likes anything green these days so Steve has been a popular fellow. This month he is featured in Wisconsin Builder magazine showing off the groundbreaking projects that he has in the works. In other CDA news Columbus was just awarded an LED Street Light grant. This grant will make Columbus one of the first cities in America to convert its street lights over to LED. This is just a couple of the projects he has in the hopper. Steve is one person making a big difference.



We thought it would be a good day to pull the Show Gig out for some pictures. It is nearing the finish line and turning out just lovely. It is black and maroon with a gold stripe and tan wool broadcloth upholstery. A rich combination.



The body is traditionally built with the rear chamfer on the back deck and louvers on the body side panels.



The two tone black and maroon body make for a nice subtle contrast with the fine gold stripe.



The wheels feature roller bearing hubs with solid brass caps.



Looks great from any angle. At this point the only thing we are waiting for are the lamps. A nice pair of black and brass rectangular lamps with polished nickel interiors. The one thing left to set off this great carriage.

Get out and enjoy the weather. Sounds like it’s going to be cooling down again this weekend. Have a great Tuesday!

Ciao!
T

Summer Has Arrived!

Was yesterday nice or what? At least in our little part of Wisconsin it was. Two weeks ago we had a foot of snow on the ground and snow banks everyplace. For all practical purposes it’s gone. Few little chucks of ice here and there but it has disappeared in a big hurry. It was pushing 60 degrees yesterday afternoon. Same for today. After a typical Wisconsin winter an early warm up in March is most welcome.



We are getting a lot of great new (antique, but new to us) vehicles in these days. One of them is this single horse Chaise which is pronounced “shay”. This is a pretty early vehicle. Maybe pushing a couple of hundred years old. They were made in Europe as well as in the early American states. This type of carriage was built before steel springs where commonplace so the body is suspended on leather.



This particular carriage was restored in Europe a few years back. It is beautifully done in traditional high gloss brush paint. The top and the upholstery are all done in genuine leather. These vehicles are a popular collector carriages because of the early construction. This one is ready to go and priced at $13,995.



Out at the shop Bob has been working on an early Country Sleigh. It came to us pretty much intact but as we were taking it apart the wood was marginal in more areas than not. We ended up replacing most of the wood on the body which in the long run was easier.



It’s a pretty simple body and chassis. An early and probably locally built form of transportation. We ended up replacing the dash as well. Here it is in first coat primer.



The runners are fairly heavy construction. I think the bottom runners are probably 1½” square which is pretty chunky compared to some of the light cutters. This was more than likely a farm sleigh and was heavy duty enough to handle any kind of work you could throw at it. As of this week it’s getting pretty close to being ready for paint.

Have a great Monday!

Ciao!
T

New Name, New Vision, New Image

We have been Colonial Carriage Works for a long time. I’ve been rather so-so with that name for just about as long. After all I was twenty years younger when I came up with that. I guess I thought it was cool at the time. There were a lot of things that I thought were cool twenty years ago that I’m not so sure about anymore. The biggest difficulty in building a business around a name like that is the lack of brand identity. It might be OK for a shop but not for a product. It’s been an issue for a long time not to mention that there is really nothing Colonial about us.



So we are at the point where we are making a big change. It’s been passively in the works for several years but we are stepping up and making the move. We are officially Frey Carriage Company. We have grand plans for the future beyond a name change and I look forward to bringing them all to life. Some will happen fast and some things will evolve over time but the new image and vision will be great fun to develop. Above is our new logo concept. I think it’s very close to the finished product. I initially set out to create something a bit more contemporary. As time passed and things came together it just seemed to loose that “classic” feel that I was also after. I like the simplicity and clean elegance this conveys.



All of the carriages that we produce will carry the FREY tag. It has been our brand for a couple of years now but making the full commitment will streamline our overall image. We are fully investing ourselves into our future with new products the likes of pleasure carts like the Sprint lineup, to all new marathon carriages, to hand built traditional coaches. I feel strongly there is a place in America for a contemporary world class coach builder. We hope you enjoy watching our evolution. The last twenty years of creating this business has been a great life experience. I’m looking forward to another great twenty years holding the lines of Frey Carriage Company.



We have been very busy working on several project back at the shop. The Show Gig project continues to grow ever closer to completion. The body will be painted in black and maroon. The black base coat and first coats of clear have been shot at this point.



After that cured we wet sand the entire body to prepare for the maroon. This shot was taken just after that process. We are now masking out all of the areas that will remain black. The maroon will be sprayed, the black will be un-masked and the entire body will be coated again in high solids clear. After a few stripes it will be ready to place in the chassis.



The chassis has been painted, striped, trimmed and ready to roll. The wheels are also ready to install. The maroon color looks nice in contrast with the black trim and gold stripes.

Back at the ranch we are beginning to see the early signs of spring. Still lots of snow on the ground but it’s in the 30’s today and 40’s later in the week. The sun is out and it all feels great.

Have a great Wednesday!

Ciao!
T

The All New Sprint

I love the sun this time of year. You can begin to feel the warmth that will soon be melting the big snow. Although it's still only February you can begin to feel that spring is not all that far off. On these bright sunny days I just want to be out soaking it up. A great February feeling.



So it was way back in January that I posted this shot of the new Sprint frame. Well we’ve been busting tail ever since on a number of different fronts and below are the first shots of the finished product.



We’ve been building the Sprint for about five years now and it was time for a little update. I think we accomplished a lot with the new design. It’s really stylish, stronger and a little bit lighter to boot.



Like always the seat is easy to adjust with the pull of a lever. The balance is also adjustable at the axle and the height can be adjusted at the main frame.



The finish is powder coat over our steel frame. This cart is wearing the optional red wheels which are a new feature this go round.



The shafts are removable for storage or transportation. That tends to be one of the first questions we are asked about this carriage.



We have Sprints in production as we speak. We have a couple available for immediate delivery and will have many more ready to roll in March. You will find it to be a great cart for training and pleasure driving. There are numerous options available and I’m happy to tell you all about it.

Just polished off a tasty breakfast. Cheryl whipped up an egg scramble with some aged cheddar then smothered in her famous black bean salsa with our favorite a fresh cilantro garnish. We are finding that we like cilantro with just about everything. Top it off with a good strong cup (or 10) of coffee and I am set to run.

Have a great Friday!

Ciao!
T