Loren and Marlys Mifek talk old cars

On the east side of Clear Lake is the home of Loren and Marlys Mifek, two people who like eye-opening lawn ornaments. When regular decoration wasn’t enough, they decided to park a truck in their yard–a 1932 Ford pickup.

 

Loren and Marlys are hard-working people with an eye for yardage flair. Said Loren, “We’ve only had that truck there for a couple of years.” The truck is propped up on some jacks, said Loren, “I propped it up on some jacks, the tires used to spin but I have power cords attached so they don’t anymore.” There were white Christmas lights hung up around the outer frame of the vehicle, “I got the cord leading out here buried, I installed holders to keep the lights in place. The headlights themselves don’t light up but the [fuel] pump next to the vehicle does.” 

 

Marlys said, “We have over 100 feet of lights strung up around the truck on a timer. Sometimes people will stop and take pictures standing next to it; we don’t mind.” These two go-getters have been doing all the work on their yard themselves. They picked an old vehicle because they like old cars, the style and the classic styles of them. They were able to get their truck set up and presentable after a few days. 

 

The Mifeks’ lawn is peppered with vintage gas station fuel pumps bearing ancient advertisements for Shell Oil, Conoco Phillips and Sinclair, “I have a thing for collecting old gas pumps, I’ve always just liked them.” They trailered the truck here from Windom a few years back, said Loren, “We couldn’t drive it here, it had to be on a trailer. We parked it back in the garage almost a full year before we brought it out here.”

 

The Pioneer has included previous stories about two other vintage vehicles used to decorate lawns. One is a Ford F-100 on the property of James Priebe along the Wilton Bridge Road. The other is a 1925 Model TT Ford Nathan Lund has placed on his property a few miles south of Waseca on State Highway 13. Both Priebe and Lund mentioned having received numerous offers for the vehicles parked in their yards. The Mifeks, on the other hand, have not had any potential buyers express an interest in their 1932 Ford. Said Marlys, “Yes, sometimes people will stop and ask questions or snap a photo, but we’ve never received an offer.”

 

Landscaping near the pickup includes hydrangeas, mums, day lilies and corn flowers. Also nearby are a vintage cupola from a barn and an antique plow.