IML: My Conversation With Dutch Stenovich

["Eric" <gearhead@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi All,
  I recently purchased my 1964 Imperial Crown Coupe here in Portland, 
Oregon. The car had been owned and used in Denver before it's move here. On 
the trunk lid is a metal dealer's plaque showing Dutch Stenovich Motors, 
Elko, Nevada. The car came with the original window sticker also showing the 
shipping address of Stenovich Motors. A little curiosity struck me and I 
decided to do some websurfing for this company, and Elko in general. I found 
a few bits and pieces of info; that Bing Crosby became an honorary mayor of 
Elko in 1948 with many humorous anecdotes 
http://www.elkorose.com/crosby.html and 
http://www.rabbitbrush.com/hickson/MayorCrosby.html , that Dutch Stenovich 
Motors was originally a Willy's Jeep dealer and then AMC products after AMC 
bought out Willy's, and a photo of the 1st Inaugural Ball with Dutch and 
Marianne Stenovich amongst other attendees 
http://www.museum-elko.us/vewebsite/exhibit2/e20057b.htm . The dealership 
appeared to have been sold in the 80's. With a little more searching, I came 
across a listing for Dutch Stenovich and I thought, why not call it and see 
who answers. After a couple of attempts, I reached Mr. Stenovich today, and 
thought I would share my conversation today with him and his wife.
  My intent was not so much to find info on my car which, of course, he 
couldn't recall in particular, but to inquire a little into his business and 
social history in Elko. I was greatly surprized to find that I could even 
contact him as his Willy's dealership dated back to the 1940's. In his mid 
80's now, Mr. Stenovich was a joy to speak with for the few minutes I spent 
with him on the phone. He recollected for me that he started his Willy's 
dealership on August 15, 1949, after working for a Ford agency. He couldn't 
quite recall when he took on the Chrysler product line but mentioned that 
Chrysler was a good company to work with. His agency also sold International 
Harvester, and provided AAA roadside service for the area for a period of 
time. "The trouble with that (AAA) was that someone would call you at 2am 
for a jump start, so you'd get out of bed, get to where they were only to 
have the neighbor tell you that they got a jump already and all you got was 
a cold evening."  Such were the days before cell phones.
  I asked Mr. Stenovich about my findings of Bing Crosby's association with 
the town. He explained that Bing was thought of as a local townsperson for 
the few years he had a ranch there, and that he was treated like any other 
neighbor, with a 'Hey Bing, how's it going?' manor. He also explained how 
Bing kind of started a popularity for Elko amongst his friends, that Jimmy 
Stewart and a couple of other celebreties also bought ranches in the area. 
As well, Elko is on the route east (before the days of I-80) and Dutch ran 
down a list of big bands that stopped and performed one night stands there 
through the years, and that he saw them all there. We discussed how Bing was 
apart from the Las Vegas bunch, and he said that Bing was a first class, 
friendly fellow.
  When I mentioned the photo of him and his wife pictured at the 1st 
inaugural ball in 1959, his wife added, 'oh yes, that was a fabulous evening 
and we all then went to a resort out in the desert for a week. It was a 
great time.", almost as if it happened last week. Dutch really enjoyed 
talking about old times, and was very humorous in his recollections. He 
invited me to come down sometime to see the great museum they have in Elko 
and learn a little of this small town's history. He then made the claim that 
he has had the best life anyone could possibly have. He certainly sounds 
like a guy who's lived a good life.
   This finished my conversation with Dutch Stenovich. Sometime in the 
future, I may ready my '64 Crown Coupe for the few hundred mile trip there. 
My apologies for the limited Imperial content, but I thought this might 
inspire others to investigate their car's history. Does anyone else have a 
Dutch Stenovich Motors Imperial by chance?

Eric
Portland, Oregon 



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