The small city of Libby is in western Montana. It’s in a beautiful part of the state and was developed as a logging center more than a century ago. Sadly, it is perhaps best known for being the asbestos capitol of the world. An asbestos mine in the area caused a lot of disease among local people, especially miners, many of whom have developed mesothelioma (a malignant tumor of the surface lining of the lungs) and other serious lung ailments. The link above has more information about the asbestos problem if you’re interested.
The mine has been closed for some time and the town cleaned up. When we drove through it recently, my eye was drawn to this old car sitting atop a pole. As we parked and got out to have a closer look, a woman finishing a cell phone call in a nearby pickup truck asked if we wanted the story behind the car above Libby. We were intrigued and asked her to proceed.
The car had belonged to her father-in-law, named Bart, an avid member of the local car collectors club. The restaurant near where the elevated car resides was one his favorite hangouts. When the end was near, Bart asked that his car be given to the restaurant for display. Adjacent to the restaurant had been a Dairy Queen—that restaurant had been demolished but the steel pole which carried its sign remained. Bart’s car was fixed to the top of the pole, for everyone to enjoy. It is a Nash—but the lady didn’t know much more about it than that. Appears to be a 1957 Nash Ambassador.
So that’s the story of how Bart’s car came to sit atop a pole in Libby, as shared by his daughter-in-law.
You really do need the background story to understand why there might be an old car on a pole here. It seems you arrived at just the right time to hear it.
And it’s sort of a memorial in another way: Nash dropped all of its lines except the Rambler on June 25, 1957, the end of the Nash name as well. Fewer than ten thousand 1957 Nashes were built.