Weeks-Waltz Motors as it looked in its new home in Newcastle in 1948. The business moved four times in the Twin Villages during its 70 years of operation. (Photo courtesy Newcastle Historical Society)
In 1932 two young men borrowed $1000 each to establish a car repair and dealership in Damariscotta, on Church Street, next to the Chapman-Hall House where Bath Savings Bank is now and where Woody Dodge’s blacksmith shop used to be. The men were Walstein Weeks and Clifford Waltz. They called their new business Weeks-Waltz Motors.
This is according to an April 16, 1998 Lincoln County News article I found, written by Judi Finn: (“Waltzes maintain Weeks-Waltz Motors 65-year-old tradition.”) 1932 was not a good year to begin a business. The country was still deep in the Great Depression and would soon become involved in World War II. Both Weeks and Waltz were family men. Walstein Weeks married Vivian and they had a daughter, Priscilla. Clifford Waltz married Harriet Lailer and had a son, Waldo.
Cars were becoming popular. Your car needed gas to run it on the road and someone to repair it when it did not run right. New cars were coming out with improvements and it seemed everyone wanted a new model.
Henry Ford was busy building cars. Ford Motor Co. was started in 1903 and Henry Ford came out with his Model T in 1908. He was interested in building cars cheap enough so everyone could buy one. He came out with his Model A in 1927. It was a great success.
In 1932 he came out with his V-8 and sold over five million of them. Weeks-Waltz became a Ford Motors dealership.
In 1941 Weeks-Waltz Motors bought the Community Garage across the street and moved over to its location on the corner of Main and Water streets in Damariscotta. The showroom was on the street with the areas for mechanical work on the lower level, facing the river. I remember going there even though I was not old enough to drive. My uncle, Merton Bosworth, was one of the mechanics there.
He was there when the great fire of 1943 burned a large section of the village in that area of Damariscotta.
As a temporary location, the business moved down the street to the former Tydol Station near the bridge. In 1944 they bought the site of the Newcastle National Bank across the river in Newcastle. The bank had burned in 1908.
Walstein Weeks’ daughter, Priscilla, graduated from Lincoln Academy in 1943 and went on to attend Colby College. As far as I know, she never worked for her father at the station. Clifford Waltz’s son, Waldo, also attended Lincoln Academy and graduated in the class of 1942. He attended Norwich University in Vermont. He was drafted in World War II and served in the European Theater. He was discharged from the service in 1945 and started working for his father.
As the original owners aged, Waldo Waltz became more and more the person who ran the garage. Waldo married a Lincoln Academy graduate, Shirley Banks, and they had four children, Perry, Denise, Debbie, and Scott. Walstein Weeks died in 1960. Clifford Waltz died in 1978.
Perry graduated from Lincoln Academy in 1966 and came to work at the garage after spending four years in the Navy and two years selling medical supplies. He had married and he and his wife, Kathy, had two sons: Josh and Matt. Neither made plans to join the family business.
Waldo and Perry enjoyed working together according to Judi Finn, in her article. When she interviewed them, they laughed together about the old bank vault: “’We built the building around the vault,’ both Perry and Waldo said in unison, and indeed, the ancient safe is still a focal point of the time-warp office area They pointed out the antique ‘Simply Time Recorder Co,’ time clock, not in use, and a huge clunky cash register, which is still in use.”
In The Lincoln County News for Nov. 22, 2001, Art Mayers reported “Weeks-Waltz Motors to close by first of year.” Citing tough times for a small dealership, Waldo Waltz had decided to retire.
The business had expanded greatly and had been located in several different places. According to Mayers’ article, six people worked there when Finn wrote her article in 1998. Mayers did not estimate on how many people had worked there during its 70 years in business.
Waldo claimed times were changing and that it was hard for the small franchise holders. They would be required to spend $50,000 to purchase a mandatory package to be part of Ford’s grand anniversary celebration. Competition was great between the large automobile companies. Ford wanted larger spaces with room for more inventory. Located in the middle of the village as they were, Weeks-Waltz Motors could not expand.
Also, Waldo Waltz was getting older. Mayers reported Waltz had come in at 7:45 a.m. and stayed until 5:15 p.m. every day for 50 years. He was thinking of how nice it would be not to have to. Perry had moved on and was a certified nursing assistant at Cove’s Edge, Mayers reported.
Through the years they had had many workers but they were down to just a few long-time workers, Rosemary Emerson and her father, Jim Fuller. They could no longer afford to stay open. It was time to go.
Along with the closing of the franchise, Waltz planned to sell the building and land. It would be of prime value with its front on Main Street and its waterside location in the rear.
Waldo Waltz said he wanted to thank his many loyal customers and friends for their support over the years.
(Ed Note: The final location of Weeks Waltz Motors at 75 Main St. was sold to a group of local investors in 2002 and was sold at least twice more thereafter. The garage was subsequently demolished and a condominium development erected in its place.)
