Paul Lewis and the Fascination
COGM: 2007.44.0015.1
Pictured here is former Greeley resident and inventor Paul Lewis with his car Fascination. The original prototype had an airplane propeller on the backend as seen in this July 3, 1969 advertisement in The Greeley Tribune. Lewis established the company Highway Aircraft Corporation in Sidney, NE in 1971 to get the car into production, but was largely unsuccessful with only five cars being made, one of which was the redesigned prototype.
Greeley Tribune ad in the July 3, 1969 edition. Page 20.
The photograph of Lewis was taken by Greeley photographer Lew Dakan (1907-2000). He had a photography studio that operated in Greeley from 1948 until 1992. Dakan’s subject matter covered a broad range, from still life and portrait photography to event and aerial photography. His interest in aerial photography began when the subject was covered in his civil engineering studies at the University of Colorado. He was named the first qualified aerial photographer in the western United States in 1970 by the Photographers of America. The City of Greeley Museums holds several collections of his work that provide essential historical documentation of Weld County and the Front Range area.
Written by Katie Ross, Curator of Collections