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32Ivan%u2019s Servicevan%u2019s! Oh, you%u2019ll definitely want to check out Ivan%u2019s. It%u2019s a real time capsule.%u201d We%u2019d heard similar enthusiastic statements from several people. So, intrigued, John and I set out on a hot July morning for Thorntown to meet Ivan%u2019s son, Floyd. Floyd Fairfield inherited his father%u2019s Marathon station after Ivan passed away in the 1980s. The old garage, once a thriving small-town enterprise, at the corner of Pearl and Main Streets, has been suspended in time ever since.When we arrived, we found a two-story frame building, covered with yellow and white vinyl siding. However, the original windows, with their checked red paint, still hinted to the structure%u2019s true age. An impressive, wooden, cantilevered roof projected over the front door. Above it, an Ivan%u2019sService sign was flanked by a pair of faded Coca-Cola advertising disks. Floyd arrived only a couple of minutes after we did, quickly unlocked the glass-paneled front door, and began telling us about the building%u2019s history. It seems his dad had bought the place from the original owner, who had operated a harness shop. After pointing out some highlights we shouldn%u2019t miss, Floyd said we could stay as long as we liked, and take photographs of whatever interested us. With a, %u201cJust lock the door when you leave,%u201d he left us, and headed over to a nearby restaurant for a late breakfast with friends.Standing alone, we slowly took the place in. It was musty, crowded, and jumbled%u2014but it was a museum of one man%u2019s life, his livelihood, and an era now past. For 35 years Ivan had run his service station until he eventually retired to Florida. But even then, he returned each summer to repair bicycles and lawn mowers, until his death about 25 years ago. That%u2019s when the business closed for good. Over the years, curious townsfolk had occasionally peered through the front windows%u2014captivated by glimpses of what lay just out of reach on the other side. Not us. We%u2019d been lucky. We%u2019d been able to cross the threshold. We were inside.As John and I looked around, we were overwhelmed by a treasure trove of earlyand mid-20th-century car parts%u2014a collection of miscellany of varying vintages and origins. In fact, Ivan%u2019s was so brimming with automobile paraphernalia, so filled with unexpected curiosities and oddities, it was difficult to focus on any one thing. How to proceed?I decided to first concentrate on the structure itself. The main level had a dark, oily-brown, oak floor, with walls painted an institutional green, reminiscent of the 1940s Ivan%u2019s Service%u2014Thorntown, Boone Co. (739.10)