Greg,
I would like to take credit for the designs, but I have to credit Billmeyer & Smalls, the original builder. There is a builder photo of one of the two cars ordered from them by the Eureka & Palisade. I was able to get a high resolution, and large print of the photo. I used it for the design that went on ELSA. The only thing I did not have was the color scheme, so I had to figure out what would look good in the West. I settled on the blue from the sky out here in Nevada, the brown from the mountains, the base car color was derived at because it would look good in the desert. The crimson red was used because, well, it looked good generally. So that is how we arrived at the colors. It was geographically compatible. If someone is dissatisfied with my choice, I urge them to go build their own car, and paint it whatever color suits them. Anyway, I think it came out alright for a guy working without a museum research staff and no grants of any sort.
Also, as mentioned elsewhere, the car is named after my Mother. The Eureka & Palisade originally named their cars after......get this.....Eureka and Palisade the terminal points on the E&P. I chose my mother because when my parents met at the Last Frontier Hotel here in Las Vegas back in the 1940s,, the original car was on display outside at the Last Frontier Village. I figured that was a close enough connection to the E&P. I told Mom, just before she died, that I would name the car after her. It brought a genuine smile to her face before she passed away.
My mother was in show business all her life, either in front of an audience or behind the scenes. She performed with Bob Hope, The Marx Brothers, Spike Jones and many others. In the late 1950s and 60s she was co owner of Del Fi Records . For those old enough to remember she named Ritchie Valens, who recorded his songs for the family label. In fact, as a 10 year old, I remember Ritchie coming over to our home to record such songs as La Bamba, Donna, etc. Naming the car after her was a way for me to keep her name out there in the public..
Dan Markoff
