Iola’s batmobile is back. Ryan Maddox has the 1959 Chrysler Saratoga looking awfully pretty for Iola High School’s Grand March before prom this Saturday.
IHS seniors Lucas Maier and Reese Curry have the honor of driving the classic.
The automobile’s name dates back to Iola’s Class of 1981. Maddox’s mother, the late Lynda (Leslie) Maddox, was a senior in high school and the car’s lucky owner. Friends would pile into the sedan’s plush back seats, lean back, roll the windows down, and cruise.
They’d hit the square, honk at everyone they knew, laugh hilariously as they raced through Chinese fire drills. They’d head to the drive-in on Saturday nights, cramming eight eager teenage bodies into a car that made them feel like the world was theirs.
The car, a celebration of tailfins and chrome, was 5,000 pounds of steel and freedom, a “poly head” V8 thrusting them into a future that would put Iola in the rearview mirror. It was christened the Batmobile.
And then it was forgotten. The timing chain went out. Money was short, friends headed their separate ways. The world kept on turning, and the car remained parked.
Until now. After a long road, the Batmobile’s motor is purring again. Last week a group of Lynda’s high school friends gathered in Iola to relive the good times, and to marvel at how fast time flies.
Ryan had reached out, figuring they’d like a chance to drive down memory lane. He didn’t need to ask twice.
THE KEYS to the Batmobile ended up in Lynda’s hands almost by accident. The vehicle belonged to Ross Arbuckle, who in 1916 established a garage — and later a Chrysler and Plymouth dealership — on 222 South St.
Lynda’s father, Harold Leslie, used to own the Amoco garage on West Street. Before that, he worked at the Deep Rock/Kerr McGee service station on the southeast corner of U.S. Hwy 54 and State Street.
Family lore has it that Arbuckle brought the brand-new car to Leslie’s garage for an estimate on a repair. Put off by a high price, he asked Leslie how much he could get for the vehicle. Seeing the opportunity, Leslie made his offer. And with the shake of a hand, that was that.
FAST FORWARD to 2008. The car had been parked on some property east of Iola for 27 years. It had been one of the loves of Lynda’s life. Its sorry state was one of her greatest tribulations. So Lynda mustered up some cash, a lot of courage, and took it to a garage in Fort Scott.
Work on the car was slow and inconsistent. Ryan remembers fits of progress, and then months of silence.
And when Lynda died in 2018 at the age of 54, the car was still in Fort Scott — and in bad shape.
“There were no bumpers, no trim, nothing,” recalled Maddox. “It was a mess.”
Out of devotion to his mother’s memory, Ryan took on the project. Where Lynda was lenient, Ryan was firm — and then some. He whipped the mechanic into shape and made progress after years of silence.
