Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030174 SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: ROBERT FREIS STAFF WRITER DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
It's a converted 1946 bus painted green and yellow and trimmed with so much shiny steel that Martel is known within the Family Motor Coach Association as the "Chrome Kid."
Martel, 83, is no kid, but his bus looks good as new despite 545,809 miles and eight cross-country trips.
He's an original member of FMCA, having joined in 1963, and is attending his 27th out of the organization's 30 annual conventions.
Martel left his home in Stony Point, N.Y., last week and drove all night to Virginia.
"The coach is running so beautiful. I just kept going," he said.
For the next couple of days, the Chrome Kid's bus will be parked in a field across from Cassell Coliseum, its rear bonnet flipped open to reveal a gleaming, spotless engine.
The silver wheel rims and lug nuts shine like grandma's best flatware, as if they've never been splattered by mud or any other debris.
"It's hard to believe. This is our first convention, and we're parked next to a legend," said FMCA member Robert Davidson of Vermont.
Even though it's surrounded by gaudy new motor coaches that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Martel attracts a crowd of RV pilgrims who gaze at his rig with rapt admiration.
"Talk about a hot rod, now that's something there," Frank Molnar of Morgantown, W.Va., said as he examined the engine.
"This is a delight," another patron said. "It's pleasing to see."
"Oh boy, I can't get away from the drivers at truck stops," Martel said, rubbing his leathery hands over cropped white hair. "I open the back, and forget about it. They come piling out of the cabs, asking me questions."
The Marmon-Herrington bus first caught Martel's eye about 40 years ago, when it passed his house twice daily on a municipal transit route.
He bought it in 1956 for $1,300, without tires. Those he added, along with beds, a bathroom and a kitchenette.
Martel, like his father, was a millwright. His mechanically fluent mind and his persistent tinkering have kept the bus rolling and shining.
"Last week, I put a new transmission in there. Next day, I drove down here. I can pull any hill they got," he said.
"Keep good oil in it, you don't have no worry. For anything that turns, I got spare parts I carry along."
Perhaps the bus absorbs resiliency and strength through Martel's grip on its large steering wheel.
He fought with Patton in Europe during World War II, earning five bronze stars and a purple heart as a machine-gun squad leader.
His wife of 54 years died in 1981, and he won't drive cross-country anymore. "It's too lonesome," he said.
Last year, he underwent a heart bypass operation and missed the FMCA's Florida winter gathering for the first time in 36 years.
"You think it wasn't rough, sitting in my house looking at all the snow falling? But I'm kicking. Getting back in the groove again."
The Chrome Kid's bus bears FMCA number 440, which also is impressive to his fellow members, whose serial numbers run as high as six digits.
FMCA allows members to bequeath their serial numbers to succeeding generations of RV'ers. However, your number expires with you if your kids don't take the wheel.
Martel says he has nieces and nephews who aren't interested in the wayward lifestyle that "fits me like a glove."
"They're all interested in other things."
Even so, his bus will keep rolling. "I get offers for it almost everywhere I go. I got this guy on Long Island hanging his tongue out. But I won't give him an offer."
There's a transportation museum in Maine that has a better chance of getting the bus. Martel likes the museum's proposal to keep it spruced up and to use it on the street occasionally in parades.
Until then, there are FMCA conventions to attend and high-level discussions about gear ratios, belt housings and angle drives to be conducted.
"It's just as clean as a whistle," Martel said. "No dirt, no corrosion - no nothing."
Michael Stowe contributed some information for this story.
by CNB