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An antique car owned by an automobile enthusiast in Connecticut sits in front of the home of its original owner in Saco in this 2017 photo. COURTESY PHOTO
SACO — A special car is coming up from Connecticut to Saco Main Street’s classic car show this year.
This is the ninth year the local economic development group has hosted the car show, which will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Cars will line up along the sides of Main Street, and there will be a disk jockey playing music. Main Street will remain open to traffic.
Last year’s “perfect weather” brought more than 150 participants, with car enthusiasts from Maine as well as New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, said Saco Main Street Executive Director Rob Biggs.
Though it’s difficult to predict the weather and attendance, there is one car owner that has committed his car.
A silver 1940 LaSalle Special, 52 Series Convertible Coupe, owned by Larry Tribble of Suffield, Connecticut, will be shipped up for the show and put on display in a special exhibit area next to Gorham Bike and Ski and across the street from Saco and Biddeford Savings Institution.
“It’s returning home again,” said Kelley Archer, chairwoman of the Saco Historic Preservation Commission.
The car was originally purchased in 1940 by Alton Seavey of Saco as a gift for his wife, Lenora. Alton died six months after purchasing the car, and the car was a prized possession of his wife for the next 27 years. In the summer of 1966, at the age of 82, she decided she could no longer drive, and sold the car with less than 19,000 miles, according to a history of the car written by Larry Phillips.
The car changed hands a few times and then was purchased in 2008 by Tribble with less than 32,000 miles, according to Phillips.
According to Phillips, Tribble has been committed to keeping the car in top shape, and drives it less than 100 miles a year.
“The car is in pristine condition,” said Archer.
Last year, Tribble asked Phillips to research the original owner of the car. Phillips contacted the Dyer Library in Saco and about the same time research was being conducted on the Seaveys, the Seaveys’ former home at 90 Temple St. had just been placed on the Maine Preservation’s List of Most Engangered Places.
The Seavey’s former home at 90 Temple St. has sat vacant after sustaining damage in a 2012 fire and was acquired in 2016 by the city in lieu of unpaid taxes. The three story home was built in 1890 and designed by prominent architect Josiah Littlefield, said Archer. The home is an example of Queen Anne style architecture and National Register of Historic Places documents from 1977 describe the home as “elaborate without being pretentious.”
Developer Frank Carr would like to restore the Seavey home and transform it into veterans housing. A local campaign has been started to raise $400,000 for the home’s restoration.
Tribble asked Phillips to trailer the car up to Saco last fall, and a picture of the car was taken in front of the former Seavey home.
Archer said since the story of car has been publicized in media outlets, there has been interest in the car and the home from all over the world.
In order to help raise more awareness of the Seavey home and it’s potential restoration, Tribble has committed to having the car trailered up to Saco again, this time for the car show. He has also donated t-shirts that will be on sale at the car show and at Saco Scoop.
Plans for a garden party at the lawn of the Temple Street home have been postponed due to weather, but Archer said fundraising will continue with an event in the future that will include music from the early 1900s played on a Victrola, period refreshments and a blacksmith.
The Seavey family were well-known members of the community. A.B. Seavey owned property downtown and in Old Orchard Beach, and sold music musical instruments and sewing machines and penny farthing bicycles, or the bicycles with the big wheel in front.  His son, Alton, worked with him in the music shop until A.B. Seavey’s death.
Archer has done much research on the home, and has compiled an impressive archive of information on the home, including hand written architectural specs and a listing of items sold at an estate auction. Archer said the family was very affluent, and traveled a lot, and there were many interesting things listed.
For more information on efforts to preserve the Seavey home and other historic buildings in Saco, go online to the “Preserving Historic Saco” Facebook page.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].

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