Our first encounter with a Fascination came in the early 1970's on a Sunday morning drive on West Colfax in Denver, CO. There in the Vern Hagestad Volkswagen dealership sat a black and gold "car" that appeared to be an airplane with no wings. An immediate U-turn allowed us to have a close inspection through the window. At that time, I said, "I would give anything to have that car" having no idea that sometime in the future we would own 3 of them.

     The Fascination reappeared in our lives again in the late 80's when a close friend during our weekly Sunday morning breakfast said, "I bought a 3-wheeled car last night". He said that he had purchased the car at an auction of unpaid storage items. He drove us to the auction site and there it was sitting on a trailer, the same gold and black "car" that we had seen at Vern Hagestad's. It appeared that its length was a problem in the storage area because they sawed the long tails off the rear quarter panels apparently to make room for the vehicle. The tails were still with the car. The Plexiglas windshield had cracked. The car was basically intact except for these two items.

     Our friend put the car in storage in north Denver. Several years later, he succumbed to cancer. Near the end, he and I came to an agreement for us to purchase the car.

     At this point, I became VERY fascinated with the Fascination. This meant many long distance phone calls and trips to various locations throughout Colorado and Nebraska tracking down people who had "firsthand knowledge" of the car and had worked at the factory. I learned that the black and gold prototype was built in Denver. It started out as a vehicle with airplane props propelling it on the rear. The car was being demonstrated at Bandimere Speedway when the prop failed and the idea of propelling the car with an airplane propeller was abandoned. Several lawsuits resulted from this failure. A trip to the state archives revealed some information as we reviewed the lawsuits. A pancake-type Volkswagen power plant was installed to replace the propeller. This required a complete revamping of the rear of the car, which was completed at a company near South Santa Fe in Denver. There were many stories about the car from various people we interviewed.

     The vehicle somehow ended up in Nebraska. It was sold on the courthouse steps in Holdrege to settle some sort of a lawsuit, the details of which are unknown. It next appeared in the Holdrege/Axtel area. A body shop man in Kearney related how he took his wrecker to a farm to "repossess" the vehicle. When he arrived, he found the vehicle completely covered under hay in a barn. He took the vehicle to his shop in Kearney where it was put in storage. The details of where it went from his body shop are unknown.

     On another trip to a small town in northeastern Colorado, the local chief of police told the story about the car sitting in a building on Main Street. Again, details of why it was stored in that building are unknown.

     We failed to tell you that the man behind the Fascination was Paul M. Lewis, the man behind the Airomobile in the 1930's. Mr. Lewis completed one Airomobile, which is on display at the National Automobile Museum (Harrah's) in Reno, Nevada. This vehicle has one wheel at the rear and two wheels in the front, a 3­-wheeled configuration. The Airomobile was comparable in size to the Volkswagen Beetle.

     In the late 1960's, Mr. Lewis started Highway Aircraft Corporation with plans to build the Fascination. An agreement was reached with the Egging Manufacturing Company of Gurley, Nebraska, a manufacturer of tractor cabs. As often happens, disagreement between Egging Manufacturing and Paul Lewis meant that the Highway Aircraft Corporation then obtained a large building at the Army Depot near Sidney. At this Sidney plant, three vehicles were built. The bodies were fabricated by a fiberglass company in Lincoln and shipped to Sidney.

     Two vehicles were completed and a third vehicle was near completion at the Sidney plant when the stockholders had a meeting and Paul Lewis was removed. At this point, there were several people involved in an attempt to re-establish the corporation. As you can imagine there were many lawsuits and stockholders lost large sums of money. Following the closing of the plant, the man building the bodies in Lincoln built what would become the fifth car.

     Renault power plants were shipped via Pan Am Airways from the factory in France. There seems to be several stories on how many were shipped. Some say nine, some say 50. There is no rhyme nor reason for the power plants used. The Denver car used Volkswagen; Sidney cars 2, 3 and 4 used Renault. Car 5 (built in Lincoln) used a V6 Chevy engine mounted on a Toranado transmission, which had been moved from the front to the rear.

     The first car built in Sidney was displayed in the early 70's at Stapleton International Airport where the company attempted to sell stock and dealerships. A Denver TV station ran a story on the vehicle. An advertisement movie was made to solicit dealers and several models 16 inches long were made.

     Cars 4 and 5 have a varied appearance, as the front windshield is a '63 Corvette turned upside down to meet Federal safety standards. The owner of one of these cars calls its appearance the Dolphin car.

     Car No. 4 was displayed at the Los Angeles New Car Show in an attempt to get orders.

     Several years ago, we learned that Car No. 5 was available for sale in Oklahoma and we purchased the car.

     A good friend in Lincoln, Nebraska, who passed away at a young age, owned Car No. 2 (the first car built in Sidney) and we acquired that vehicle at his estate auction. We plan to show the car nationwide. It has been invited to the Amelia Island Concourse de' Elegance in Jacksonville, Florida in March 2005, the Concourse in Oklahoma City, and we plan to show it in a Los Angeles show in June.  Additional scheduled engagements include:  the Keels and Wheels Concours de’Elegance (Houston, TX)  April 2005;  Father’s Day Car Classic (Thousand Oaks, CA)  June 2005; AACA Western National (Denver, CO) July 2005; MeadowBrook Concours De’Elegance (Troy, MI), August 2005, Oklahoma City, OK Concours De’Elegance, September 2005; AACA Car Show (Hershey, PA) October 2005; and the Lake Mirror Classic Concours De’Elegance, Lakeland, FL, October 2005.

     The Airomobile is widely recognized and only one was produced. The Fascination is scarcely known. Car No. 2 has been in storage for 25 years and we hope by showing it at shows around the country to educate the public that Paul Lewis built more than just the Airomobile.

     Several articles about the Fascination have appeared in the following magazines: