If you’ve ever seen the movie “Back to the Future,” you know why 1955 is significant. Writers used that particular year as part of 
the setting to illustrate small-town American life at the time. If we were able to hop in a time machine like Michael J. Fox and land in 1955 in small-town Connecticut, we’d discover the installation of an Overhead Door Corp. garage door opener at a lakeside home. When we decided we’d had enough of the 50s and wanted to come back to present day, believe it or not, that opener would still be working!
After recently purchasing a lakeside home built in 1955 in Columbia, Conn., homeowner Michael Matthews promptly began the renovation work that comes with buying and restoring an old home. That’s when he found a still working, 1955-era Overhead Door Model E Ultronic Door Opener in his garage.
“I love old machinery so when I saw this old opener I was just fascinated,” Matthews said. “The fact that it was still working was even better.”
Made of steel and weighing close to 50 pounds, the Model E Ultronic was an AC, chain-drive opener that, at the time, was state-of-the-art for its operational capabilities. It featured both a chain drive and a belt drive to ensure long-term durability.
While the opener still works just as well as the day it was installed, Matthews said it makes too much noise for its location, directly beneath the master bedroom.
“We’re renovating the entire house, but I thought it would be a shame to just throw it away,” Matthews said. “That’s when I called Overhead Door to see if they would want it for a showroom.”
Overhead Door Co. of Hartford was glad to oblige and even made a trade with Matthews for the functioning antique opener. They installed Overhead’s new Destiny 1200 in Matthews’ home for free.
Reposted from Professional Door Dealer Magazine