2 centurion luxury cars return home to Luverne

LUVERNE, Minn. (KELO)– Two luxury, centurion cars are returning home to Luverne where they were originally manufactured.

The 1909 Luverne Thirty, named for its’ 30 HP, is now on display at the Rock County History Center on Main Street.

The 1915 Luverne Big Brown, presently in Missouri, will arrive in September this year.

“As far as we know, these are the only two cars produced by Luverne Auto Company that are in existence,” said Rock County Historical Society Executive Director, Wendell Buys.

Both luxury Coachbuilt cars were produced by the Luverne Automobile Company (LAC), created by brothers Al and Ed Leicher.

“The brothers were carriage makers before car makers,” Buys said.

The brothers manufactured the Coachbuilt passenger cars, building them mostly out of wood and metal. They sold the luxury cars from 1904 to 1917, producing about 25 to 50 cars each year.

“The Leicher family of Luverne has been searching for these two cars for a long time, ” said Buys.

Two and a half years ago, the historical society got a call that the owners of the ‘Thirty’ were interested in selling it.

“The Leicher family (descendants of the brothers) was the primary donor for the ‘Thirty’,” he said.

“In June, we got a call on the ‘Big Brown.’ The ‘Big Brown’ was a 50 hp. It was built almost like an open van. It came with an extra seat you could place between the front and back seat,” he said.

“A man who owned it had a big car collection and he passed away, so his family wanted to sell it,” said Buys. “It wasn’t hard to come up with the money as the community stepped in and donated funds. They will be bringing ‘Big Brown’ on a trailer back to Luverne next month.”

The amounts to purchase the cars is undisclosed.

LAC eventually discontinued manufacturing the passenger cars as truck production was in demand. LAC gradually shifted truck production into fire truck apparatus production which continued well into the 1960s.

Rock County History Center hours: Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For more history and merger information: Luverne Automobile Company

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