Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
MANTI — "Dromophiliac" is not in the dictionary, but it should be, and John Clark's picture should be in the entry. His love of Utah road trips runs deeper than yours, probably.
As a child, his family took numerous road trips, which sparked his interest. As an adult, he wanted to repeat the experience for his own three children, so he bought a 1953 Buick Super. He wanted something somewhat reliable with Utah roots. The Buick is from Murray Buick and still has the old dealer logo. The Clarks have taken it to Capitol Reef and Arches national parks, as well as Evanston, Wyoming, and along the railroad grade at Great Salt Lake into Nevada.
In 2017, Clark bought a 1913 Ford Model T he found on KSL.com.
The Manti man paid $13,000 for the pleasure of driving 35 miles per hour and using primitive technology. He said he finds it interesting to see things that do what we do today, but in a 100-plus-years-ago way.
The T has three pedals, but they are for the brake, reverse and low/high transmission. It has a bulb horn. A crank up front turns to start the engine. The headlights run on acetylene gas — with carbide in the lower part of a tank on the driver's side fender and water up top, which drips into the carbide to create the gas which gets piped to the headlights, that are then lit with a match. What could go wrong?
Clark is a graphic designer and teacher at Snow College by trade, which he uses to advance his love of Utah roads — he designed Utah's Life Elevated skier license plates while he was at the Deseret News.
A friend connected him to the governor's office, and then tourism and DMV officials moved the design along to the Utah Legislature, which approved it. For his work, Clark got bragging rights and some early sample plates. He bought his own "MYDESGN" plate.
He also creates national park-themed posters and post cards, mostly sold at national park's gift shops. All have cars in them, most with back stories that relate to the park pictured, like the 1941 Lincoln in his Mount Rushmore poster because Linocoln's head is on the monument and 1941 is the year it was finished.
His garage is decorated with historic Utah license plates and road signs. Before Utah was putting up road signs, the Automobile Club of Southern California covered southern Utah while the Utah State Auto Association guided motorists in northern Utah. Goodrich and other companies provided mileage guides on advertising signs, which can be seen in the slideshow.
Utah's automotive history is detailed in a book series Clark wrote about automobile history, called "Motor Tales," which he also turned into art projects. They have block-printed covers with illustrations carved out of linoleum blocks.
Clark said he's interested more in the social aspects of automotive history than the cars. He follows the development of highways, who was selling cars early on, and why. He's a self-proclaimed amateur highway historian.
It's the adventure that draws him to the road — not knowing what you might see.
A lot of people are destination travelers, Clark said, learning about a place on the internet and then getting there on an airplane. He prefers the discovery of a road trip, not knowing what you're going to get. He calls it new, exciting and unpredictable, finding things you won't see on Google, because you don't know what to ask — things you never knew were there until you see it yourself.
"Dromophiliac" comes from dromo, the Greek word for road; philiac, meaning having an abnormal appetite or liking; and my own construction. But if it were a word, Clark would be a perfect example.
