Team Lauson by David L. Phelps

Team Lauson was inspired by a variety of events and memories spanning over 50 years.

The skull was on the farmyard when grandfather Phelps bought the homestead in the 1940s. One of Phelps’ earliest memories was the skull and an old bakelite radio on top of a cabinet in the shop, sometimes sporting a cigar and fedora.

Outside the shop on the ground was an old air-cooled gas-engine powered portable water pump that Phelps was viscerally drawn to. He found an old engine of similar vintage and was able to scrounge up parts to get it running.

A copper thief leaned a 10-foot-long pallet against Phelps’ studio in an attempt at Grand Theft. The abandoned pallet yielded rails made of three different types of precious wood; Oak, Maple, and Teak. These rails would prove useful, the Teak became the frame for the Team Lauson car.

Grandfather Lloyd L Phelps Sr. (1911-1994) bought property throughout his life as a farmer. He bought unleveled acreages which could only be dry-farmed. As he was able to, he leveled parcels of land so that it could be irrigated. Eventually, all the property was level and irrigated. An abandoned privy site was uncovered during one of the levelings. In the 1800's it was common to toss all sorts of trash in the hole when a privy had to be relocated. This particular site contained a pristine salt fired Amsterdam gin bottle which his grandparents displayed prominently in their dining room.

Inspired by the Amsterdam gin bottle, Phelps began collecting glass and salt fired bottles from the 1800s. Around the same time he also acquired a set of vintage, regulation Soap Box Derby wheels. A visit to a Day of the Dead show at the International Folk Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico was the catalyst that brought all these disparate memories and experiences together that resulted in Team Lauson.