Remember When?

40 YEARS AGO

APRIL 21, 1983

PLAINS AUTO AGENCY

CHANGES HANDS

Vacura Motors of Plains, a Ford dealer since 1924 and the only remaining new car dealer in Sanders County, changed management last week as John Szafryk, a Dillon native and former Anaconda Ford dealer, took over as general manager.

Szafryk has 20 years of experience in the auto business. He is a Navy veteran and comes to Plains from Idaho.

Clyde Terrell, formerly associated with Larson’s Chevrolet and more recently manager of the Plains Chevron Service Station, has joined Vacura Motors as salesman.

Vacura Motors was started in 1924 when Louis Vacura moved his family from a Camas Prairie homestead to Plains. When he retired at the end of World War II, his son, Wesley, became the owner and operated the company until 1980. At that time a grandson of the founder took over the business. Warren’s ownership of the agency was cut short with his untimely death from cancer.

LOUIS & ANNIE (LINHART) VACURA

From Pioneers and Settlers of Sanders County by Ann Miller

Louis Vacura was born January 15, 1878, in Iowa. Annie Linhart was born November 12, 1888, at Heron Lake, Minnesota.

Louis and Annie were married August 16, 1905 at Bisbee, North Dakota, where their first child of 14 was born: 1] Edith 1906 Perth, ND; 2] Clarence, b: Perth, ND; 3] Edward, 1910; 4] Bodley; 5] Wesley, b: Camas Prairie; 6] Gertrude 1915, she was married to Millar Bryce; 7] Florence; 8] John; 9] Gerald, b: Plains; 10] Albert; 11] Joe; 12] Levina; 13] Ramona; 14] Roxanna; 15] Neale (stillborn).

In 1909 Louis, Annie, Edith and baby Clarence traveled from Perth to Kalispell via the Great Northern Railroad to position themselves for the opening of the Flathead Indian reservation to homesteading. On May 2, 1910, Louis was awarded a homestead of 160 acres on Camas Prairie in Sanders County, near Hot Springs.

In the fall of 1910, the family moved from Kalispell to the homestead. Louis had left the family months before to prepare for the arrival of the family. At that time he drove a team and wagon with the necessary equipment to the home site. Annie boarded the train with the help of Edith with the two younger, Clarence now 2 years and Edward, born at Kalispell, was 6 months of age. The train took them to Somers. There they boarded a boat on Flathead Lake to sail to Dayton, from there a horse-drawn stagecoach took the weary family to Hot Springs where Louis was waiting to meet the family. Loading the family into a team and wagon, the family finally arrived at their new homestead, 8 to 10 miles from Hot Springs.

From 1910 to 1919, the Vacura family farmed and resided on the Camas Prairie homestead, where the family increased and the next five children were born.

The 1918 Sanders County World War I draft card noted the following: Louis Vacura residing in Perma, Montana; 40 years old; farmer owning his land on the Camas Prairie; married; medium height; medium build; light blue colored eyes; light brown hair.

In 1918 Louis opened a garage and machine shop at Plains, known as “Louie’s Garage” until he was awarded the Ford dealership in 1924 and it became Vacura Motors. Louis also acquired the Conoco oil and gas franchise. The Plains dealership was owned and operated by Vacura family members for nearly 60 years and was one of the oldest Ford dealerships to remain in one family. In 1983, the Ford dealership was sold and is now operated as Country Ford.

Louis died October 31, 1963, with burial in the Plains cemetery. Annie died July 23, 1983, with burial in the Plains cemetery also.

Wesley Vacura, who took over his father’s business, was born February 7, 1914 at Perma, Montana the fifth child of 14. The family had lived on the homestead four years by the time Wesley arrived and they remained there another four years before moving to Plains, where his father opened a machine shop and garage. He married Dorothy Vannice, July 12, 1938 in Columbus, Montana. Both graduated from the Plains high school.

Wade Rehbein bought the business from John Szafryk in 2008 and it is now Rehbein Ford and the sole remaining new car dealership in Sanders County.