For years, a Batavia man has made it his mission to restore a piece of the city's history, but he needs help.

Dick McClurg has been trying to restore the Thomas Rocket Car for five years.


What You Need To Know

  • A Batavia man has been trying to restore the Thomas Rocket Car for five years

  • It was designed by a GM Institute of Technology graduate student in 1938 with the goal of pitching it to be massed produced

  • Dick McClurg is a few thousand dollars short of the goal, but a GoFundMe has been started 

  • He plans on making it a tourist attraction for the city

It is named after Batavia native Charles Thomas, who built it in 1938.

Thomas designed it as a student at the GM Institute of Technology Graduate Program with the goal of pitching it to carmakers to have the car mass-produced, but that didn't pan out.

McClurg says the car was unique for its time because of features like four-wheel independent suspension, hidden hinges, a padded dash board, and a rear-view camera.

"I wish I could have met the man to begin with. I call him the Jules Verne of Genesee County. Everything he thought concerning the car, here, were ideas that were far in the future, like driving it on 3 wheels perfectly balanced," said McClurg.

The project is a few thousand dollars shy of the funds it needs to finish the restoration.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to reach that goal.

"We could put the rubber around the perimeter of the glass, and get the glass installed and then its water tight, then from there, wire up the motor, get the brakes on it, the headlights and the wiring and that's about it. It's ready to roll out of here," McClurg explained.

When the car is finally restored, he is teaming up the Batavia Chamber of Commerce to make it a tourist attraction for the city. 

"This particular vehicle right here is a testament to the ideas to a man who was full of ideas that came from Genesee County. It's kind of a memorial to him. It's a piece of history, a piece of Batavia of history that needs to be preserved," said McClurg.