The adventure

We left the Tires Plus show and headed for Bruster's....we were way early so we decided to grab a bite at Sams Pizza, across from Bruster's. Jim & Linda joined us and we stayed in the A/C as long as we could! You have to try the fried zucchini at Sam's....I think I could OD on it! We watched the VW's circle to park at Bruster's so we decided to go over and get our 'special' parking place. As soon as we were set up Dom & Patty arrived in their Ford Model T....he has upgraded the T with a GPS....you have to see the pics. Patty keeps the brass polished and Dom keeps the fuel from leaking all over the parking lot....can you say haz-mat clean up? They shared their latest endeavor with the T....an over 1100 mile trip to Indiana to the "Centennial T Party".....Think about it....over 1100 miles in a Model T....as Dom said, "It's an adventure". Please take the time to check out this piece of Americana when it's at a show/cruise with you. The lot filled up with over 60 cars overall. Some like Claude and his blue 34 Chevy coupe came and sat with us for a while then cruised to another place....that's what cruising is about too! A really nice 66-67 orange Nova came in, it sounded reeeeal good. A silver and red 55 Chevy 2dr post was there and a really cool red 54 Ford PU with a blown Ford motor, nice touch! The herd of Mustangs came in and Tony and Pat brought their Mopar's to balance out the deal. Todd brought his '70 Riv and Bill brought his '72 Buick....the two Buicks were some of the rowdiest sounding cars there, what's up with that? Gary got in trouble for drooling on the red Vette that was for sale. Let's see, he has a red Cobra, red 442, the Vette is red....could work! The Princess sat by the cars in our new 'special' parking place and didn't get into any trouble all night....I had to pinch her a couple of times....just to make sure she wasn't asleep! I shot a fun little video clip of Paul leaving, check out the pics. A pleasant end to the day!

A nice day in Stafford

Saturday the 26th and the Princess and I dine at Bob Evans for breakfast so we can make it to the show....then we drove all the way to Tires Plus in Stafford. About 2 miles! We were so early we got to be car # 1 & 2! Ron & Gary and Jim & Maria, of Digital Photique, were setting up for the show. Gary from Tires Plus was getting ready with WFLS and the moon bounce. It's going to be a good day! The cars started to show up and we almost filled up the lot with about 30 cars. The event was free to the participants....Tires plus and Car Quest provided the awards and hot dogs & Pepsi....free....what a concept! We got to see Garys parking brake! Ron brought his red '60 Chevy Betty Boop car....that car is what put cool in the 6o's....I keep looking for Elvis hanging around somewhere when that car is at a show! There was a very clean & green '70 Chevy II that I had not seen before and Jim's 'rotten peach' always has new things to look at....check out the 'Ford' tail lights! And how many car shows can you go to and see two Studebakers there? Paul makes sure that we can! The Princess was whining about a license plate she saw that said 'Parrothead' on it....I tried to explain what it meant but she couldn't get it....so she said she was going to be a bucket head? You had to be there! I hope you feel very sorry for me. We were treated to the infamous DJ duo of Gary & Gary and then Ron and Gary,...huh...too many Gary's, gave out the awards....Ron with the Betty Boop car and Jim & Linda's submarine Vette won special awards....and.... Brent won best of show! I'm glad Brent doesn't attend to many shows with us....it gives the rest of us a chance.... Ron (that makes 3 Garys and 3 Rons now) stopped by with his 28 Dodge and told us that he has his fuel problem cleaned up....hehehe The show was very nice and FUN, it would do much better with more/earlier/better advertising next time. Thanks to Gary from Tires Plus and Car Quest for sponsoring the show for us! Be sure to check out the rest of the pictures.

Black cars rule!

Friday the 25th at VA BBQ....the weather was perfect! What a change.... lower temps and lower humidity! Sylvia brought her new red MB convertible....It looks like a space ship! Way to go Sylvia....and Claude drove his orange '55, nice. I think the nicest '57 Ford I have seen in a long time was there, a black 2 dr post blue oval....this car won one of the trophies that night too! The yellow Willys we have seen at shows this year came in with the orange and black '40 Ford. The driver of the 40 has kindly installed a sign language device to assist other drivers in understanding his opinion on their driving! Nice touch! The black '70 Mustang was very special too. Al brought his black '62 Chevy....I had not noticed the fender well cut-outs before, another 'back in the day' deal. This car is what most stock cars looked like in the early to mid 60's in SoCal! The first time I saw a clutch blow up was in one of these '62 Chevies at Fontana Drag City....it was a red J&M Speed shop car....parts went everywhere....after that you had to run a scatter shield on sticks! Jackie & Patty brought out their '32 5w....a real hot rod! And a really clean yellow '62 Chevy II came in, I like the 66-67 best but these are nice too. The night was very enjoyable, the Princess didn't get into any trouble....both cars started up and we had a nice cruise home....It doesn't get much better than this!

On the road again, part deaux

Friday night at VA BBQ, it was hot....Most of the cruisers were regulars but a few were new to us. The primer brown 4dr Plymouth seedan was fresh, check out the access panel in front of the radiator behind the grille, different. AND it was a 4dr.... what's with the 4 dr deal? When we had the Nash 4 dr no one else had a 4 dr....now they are coming out of the woodwork? What's up with that? Mike made a new grille for his Anglia, it kinda finishes it off in the front! And Jim & Linda showed off their new parts under the hood of their 08 Vette. It's some very nice air brushing, check it out....especially if you have gone to sea in a boat! There was a mauve, did I say that?, Pro Street Chevy pick up that was new and nice. The parking lot quickly filled up and cars were parking in the bank lot across the street! It was hot! Ed & Carol brought their 39 Ford with the new wheels....after much angst, Ed finally got it right! Then during the pig calling contest Marla & the Princess discovered a new admirer....it seems there was a drunk or high derelict giving orders in the parking lot, telling people to leave?....hmmmmm! I guess I'll have to follow the Princess around next week to keep her out of trouble....we'll see? Then we cruised home in the heat....I love that car!

Saturday the 19th and the club went to two different car shows....our good friend Gary Sullivan (red 442) sent me the following;

Some of our crew decided to head up to Stephens City, Virginia for the Clem's Garage 12th Annual Car Show. This year, it was held in conjunction with the city's 250th anniversary. Jim and Maria in their '67 4-4-2, Tony in his '71 SuperBee and Gary in his '72 4-4-2 took a nice drive through the Virginia countryside. They arrived "late" at 9:10am, as they were the 234th, 235th and 236th car registered. All in all, close to 300 cars participated in the show. It was a really nice show, with the mayor of Stephens City and Uncle Sam showing up for the festivities. Our crew met up with friends Buck, Ronnie and Wayne from the Shenandoah area, and Wayne bought himself a beautiful '65 Malibu SS! A good time was had by all, even on a very warm day. Tony and Gary met up with some of the rest of our crew at the Burger King in Orange, VA for the evening's festivities.

The rest of the Stafford Classics road crew left Bob Evans for the show in Louisa. Jim & Linda in their blue Vette, Ron in his 28 Dodge, Dan & Ramona in their 55 Chevy and the Princess in her 33 Ford and our grandson, Gregory & I in the RedRat, left Bob Evans around 8AM and headed to Louisa, Virginia for the Que and Cruz. Ernie and his silver R/T met us at the show. It was advertised as a BBQ competition and car cruise....so we thought that it would be neat to be able to sample different BBQ and have a nice day enjoying the cars and friends..... It was hot....I mean take your breath away hot! I got nervous when we arrived because the road into the deal was gravel! We were directed to park on the grass next to a fine aggregate gravel path, that foot traffic and ATV's traveled on all day. We were also located across from the from the "Judges tent" that was on the other side of the path....complete with the grease and ash barrels....this is important later! We set up camp with all 4 canopies up and screened....but Ron couldn't be next to us because of a large bare dirt spot, so he was about 10' away from the rest of us...he later moved his chair in with us.... The day began unfolding and the heat was getting bad, by noon we had used half of water we brought! So we sat and survived the heat as best as we could....with the dust from the activity on the path getting all over the cars! We found out that we couldn't have any of the BBQ the competitors were cooking because of a health issue? We could only buy the food from the Fire Department stand? We paid $20 entry fee and usually with a fee that high you get some kind of lunch, not here! So we had to hike over the hill from where we were told to park and get lunch....even though there was enough to feed a small army right across the dusty path from us! What's wrong with that picture? We talked with Chuck and Cindy from Mechanicsville, Virginia that came to the deal, their cars are so nice and they are drivers too! We met a guy with a VW powered red MG....just like Dale's! Everyone got door prizes....I got a Lowes xl T-shirt!, Dan & Ramona got a really neat tractor supply hat!, Ron got....suprise, another tool set! and the Princess got a $25 Chilis gift card! and Ramona started whining that the Princess always gets nicer stuff.... A hat OR a gift card, hmmmmmm Then right after noon the ants came out, I guess they know when lunch time is too! Little teeny weeny biting ants.... everywhere! Inside bags, chairs, fans, coolers and crawling all over the Princess and her chair....AND the bug repellent, go figure! They must have seen this movie before! And it was hot! After the cooking competition was over and the BBQ pits were cooled down the competitors began a procession of ash dumping....in the aforementioned drums....across from us....where the wind carried the ashes onto and into our cars....can you say acid rain? The ash floated onto and into the cars, it will take days to clean it out the inside of the cars! The Princess told one of the judges to have the drums moved because of the dust (that's probably why she didn't get a big trophy!), he did....about 12' back from the original location! Thanks a lot! The Princess kept chasing the ants off everything and at 3PM the announcer said the awards were going to be given out at 3:30! So we all packed up our stuff and found out the awards were not being given out right behind us at the announcer stand but rather up over on the other side of the hill. Ramona and I decided to stay and guard the cars and the rest of the group went to the award ceremony! At 4:15PM the awards were given out, after one person fainted at 4PM, waiting so long in the heat! After the person fainted the Princess and Jim & Linda came back to the cars. Ron and Dan stayed and received all the trophies....I did not care who got what but thanks to Ron, that came back with an armload of trophies, we sorted it all out later at BK! The awards.... the awards were...unique! You have to see them on the webshots album! The Princess would not stay in the sun waiting with the ants so she drove out to the entrance and waited for the deal to be over! We all formed up and headed to the cruise in Orange at the Burger King on Rt. 15. On the way to BK Ron did not tell the rest of us that he was running a fuel gauge test....you know, let's see what happens when the needle gets to E....does it mean almost empty or hey you have 15-20 more miles left or does it mean really really empty like in how far can you walk!....grin We also had Jim answer the age old question of how many guys does it take to put gasoline in a 28 Dodge?.... you have to see the pic to find out the answer!

Since we had the above mentioned detour with Ron, Dan & Ramona went on to the cruise in Orange and secured 5 parking spots till we got there. There was a gaggle of Vettes parked near us at BK and soon Paul & Anita came with their cars. Then Gary and Tony arrived from Stevens City and later Bill and his noisy blue Buick cruised in. Chuck and Cindy came with their group to see the deal too! As always the cruise is well attended and with a unique variety of cars. The silver and red VW was really different, I have never seen an open wheeled VW like that. There was a red hi-boy with a GBP styled air cleaner/scoop that was way cool. Paul and then Tony learned about ATM dancing with the local PD! The Princess found a parking block that Dan could use to keep his 55 from rolling down hills....grin Then we found a girl that had funny socks....did I say funny socks? Anyway she matched her 09 Challenger, now is that cool or what? The Princess won a door prize so she picked something that Ron could use....hehehe There was a 32 champagne and red coupe that was very clean and just right and a GT-40 that was much modified? A whole herd of Mopar's that included a very unusual white '65 Dodge of Bo & Karen Sowers. Dan won the car trophy for the night so we headed home. This is the best cruise around, it should not be missed! DJ Ron is usually there but that night someone else was filling in for him....and she was a lot easier to look at than Ron.... The group all decided to run home together but got strung out and disconnected from each other on Rt 20. We need to prevent that from happening again. Ron continued to have trouble with his Dodge after it ran out of gas....he limped home and had someone else from the cruise follow him to Rt 1 in Fredericksburg. We can do better than that as a club, we will institute a 'tail gunner' policy with the last person to be responsible for any that are having trouble. There is more to it than that but generally that is what should happen. And the RedRat just hummed along....

Sunday....Dale and his son, Jim & Maria, Gary & Gary, the Princess and Gregory & I took a trip to Bert's diner in Mechanicsville, Maryland. Some of us had been there in March but we wanted to visit again. As before, Steve & Margret met us at the bottom of the 301 bridge with their red 34 Ford to lead us to Bert's. It is such a pretty drive through the Maryland countryside. When we arrived some Maryland rodders were already there....Roger and his blue Camaro....Alfred & Ginny with the Merc-illac that was a very cool custom that showed off building skills not often seen, please check it out on the webshots album. And then Bert and Margie's red 60 Chevy....yeah THAT Bert! We didn't know we would be treated to meeting THE Bert and his wife Margie. Yes.... the one that the diner is named after! He told us how the diner was built and the evolution of the building process, and that during the building and re-building they never missed serving one meal! He told how the diner was a teamwork effort with his wife and him, and how they had been married for 47 years! He reminded me of Rodney Dangerfield in the way he talked and his whole demeanor....it was a very special time with a local legend! We had a great meal, laughed a lot while Bert reminisced with us.... He told us that there was a 50's license plate from all the states in America and Provence's in Canada, I took a pic of the one from Newfoundland! Then out in the parking lot the event continued till Bert and his wife drove off in their Chevy....It was a really cool time....even though it was still hot! On the way back we were treated to some local cruisers....with real horse power! The Amish were evidently coming back from church and their form of transportation is horse and buggy! It was really neat to see them and I think they liked to see the bright cars....even though we were not plane. Gary got to practice his defensive driving techniques again dodging the horse douvers on the road! The trip back over the bridge again ( I don't like to talk about that) and cruising Virginia through to King George where we met Gregory's mom, our daughter Michelle, and handed him off to her! Our granddaughter, Haley, made some food for us in case we broke down on the way home....it was health food....one of the 7 basic food groups.... cookies, oatmeal cookies, sorry you weren't there Ron, not! But the plate was broke, the cookies all leaked out before we got home....grin Gregory said the RedRat is sure noisy but that's why it has such a great sound system, to be heard over the motor! A great weekend driving them cars 208 miles....what a concept!

How Hot Was It?

Friday night at VA BBQ....what is the deal with all the VW's ? Every week there are more VW powered deals at the cruises? Maybe it's because they are easier on gas....I like them, I used to race one in the late 60's in So Cal. it was a D/A....So I am really partial to them but they seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately.... And tonight a green 61 MGA....now there is an easy car to work on, not! Have you ever synchronized a pair of SU carbs....do you know what is in those large round cylinders with the brass nut on top? And the red Ferrari that I have been taking pictures of for a long time....tonight I looked at it closer....it's a Ferio....a Pontiac Ferio! Now I like the Ferio, in fact I would consider an 88 GT....but this Ferrari has been fooling me for quite a while! And the 60 Ford Starliner was very special, you don't see many of them in this condition. I also got to meet a man that I have see around for 3 years and never actually met him, Tom with the very dark red/maroon 69 pro street Camaro! This car is what pro-street means, check it out whenever he is at a show with you! The rest of the usual suspects were there but as the night developed we learned the real reason we were all there.

Jeremy Pickering....a 24 yr old young man that, while serving his Country, became a victim of the terrorists in Iraq. His Humvee was hit by an IED and Jeremy came home damaged. He is having some difficulty integrating back into our society because of his injuries and he is also experiencing financial difficulties because of it. Most of our warriors that come back from war, integrate into society with little difficulty, but some don't! Jeremy is hitting some rough spots in his civilian life. He has wonderful support from a strong military family but he needs help with a job and transportation. He needs a job that will be sensitive to his needs of visiting the VA hospital in Richmond each week. The job needs to be able to work around his problems that were caused by what he was doing for all of us. We, as a society and community, need to help this young man, we need to fold our arms around him and help....He didn't have conditions when he said yes to Duty....we should not have conditions when he needs help from us! If someone out there wants to help please contact Sue Wilson, 540-786-6109. There was a book raffle and a 50/50 that was dedicated to Jeremy at the VA BBQ cruise that night and over $800 was raised for this American son! This will help in the short term but we need people to step up and do the right thing for Jeremy.

Saturday some of the road crew of Stafford Classics met at Bob Evans for breakfast planning on how to win the club participation trophy at the Ebenezer Baptist Church show....we all agreed....it was a very simple plan but complicated in it's execution....we just had to have a lot of Stafford Classic club members at the show! What a plan! After a breakfast that included fried cornmeal mush....huh....and creepies, we departed for the show! The Princess tried out the new 3:50 trac-loc to make sure both tires spun....they did! I was having trouble seeing out of the coupe when we got close to the show and I drove right past the church. After much consternation and turning we finally arrived at the show.... We unpacked and got set up just about when DJ Ron arrived with his Camaro....you need to be sure to check out the video clips I took of his car. This is the first time we have attended this show and it was very well organized and operated. Everyone was very friendly and helpful....Everyone says that Papa John puts on a good show, now we know! We saw a 1937 purple.... something, I don't know what kind of car it was! Richard with his red PU was there as well as Scottie and his....purple....truck....I can say you were there can't I Scottie? The green 47 Buick was very cool and Billy & Laura's 37 is so fine....you have to look this car over closely when you see it....everywhere you look on it you see detailed craftsmanship. Dan was skulking around taking pictures of the flora and fauna....or else he just couldn't find the restrooms? You have to ask him! It was so very hot that we were really glad when the awards were given out. Many of the Stafford Classics got top trophies and we got the club participation trophy too! I love it when a plan comes together! Dave had his lucky hat on so he won best of show....with his pristine 34 Ford, this is getting to be a habit with Dave, but the car deserves it, if you haven't closely checked it out you owe it to yourself to do so! It was very hot, in fact it was a two Gatorade day! We left to go to Bruster's and I got lost before we got to I95 but thanks to some quick thinking by Dan we got back on track south....we also had about one mile of rain sprinkles! Not enough to be a problem and it dried off before we got to 234 on I95.

We rolled into Bruster's while DJ Ron was unloading his Camaro and there were 7 cars already there, at 4PM! The cars started coming in and filling up the lot. DJ Ron sat with us for a while but moved away....I guess we had been out too long in the heat! Steve and some of the PW Cruisers paid us a visit and parked their cars where we never parked cars!? I think I'll begin parking there, it's kinda cool! Dave brought his 34 Ford so we could see what a real 34 looks like! hehehe Scottie and the purple truck wasn't there, I didn't see him, he could have been there but he wasn't....that's my story and I'm sticking to it! There was a light blue and white Ford XL that had a 4.6 Modular motor....that car was done right....I'm going to find out more about it the next time I see it...it was just a perfect package! There was a purple 30's 4dr sedan that was nice and Tom's 69 Camaro is neat. Ron and the Betty Boop 60 Chevy was there with the 57 Ford and 54 (I think) Olds. Please check out the pictures to get a flavor of the over 80 cars that came through that night....and see what happens to your hair when you talk on a cell phone while smoking a cigarette next to a light pole....it's scary and kinda wild! Ron drew names for the awards and everyone had a great time.... No rain was scheduled so the people came out....what a concept....

Missed opportunity

Saturday....and the four letter "r" word....
We were scheduled to attend an event at Old Dominion Speedway that was supporting Fischer House. I had talked it up for a few weeks, everyone was pumped up to go....The Princess woke up at 4:30 AM, the pea under her mattress was irritating her (like SHE doesn't irritate anything, I didn't say that), and looked outside....she said everything out there was wet, we went back to bed. She woke up at 5:30 and looked outside, everything was still wet outside....at 7 AM it rained like crazy....we slept in. By the time the roads were dry enough to run our cars on it was 10:30....we decided not to go! We should have gone, we should have taken the Princess's Mustang, it doesn't mind if it gets wet underneath....we should have gone for the troops....that is a missed opportunity I'll not forget. We will not miss another like that because of rain!

We decided to do some shopping in Fredericksburg(whoopee, one of my favorite contact sports). On the way back to Stafford we were going to see if anyone was going on the circuit cruise and we got caught in traffic on 95....surprise? Dale called me at 4:15 and said 4 cars were waiting at BB&T so the Princess and I went home and got the hot rods and met everyone at Bruster's at 4:45 to begin the circuit cruise. Dale led the cruise so I could take some pictures but when we got to Highway Garage, about 5 miles, it began to rain! We turned around and returned to Bruster's for the evening. It began raining at Bruster's around 8PM and we ran for home....this rain thing is starting to tick me off....

The Fourth of July in Fredericksburg, VA

Our car club, Stafford Classics, had been asked to put on a 'car thing' by Roberta Gold the director of the Heritage Festival in Fredericksburg, VA. Brent accepted for us and the work began April 8, 2008. I volunteered to lead the effort because the Princess and I feel strongly about providing a positive experience for all the participants of the event as well as all the spectators. And this gave the Princess and I an opportunity to provide exposure to our favorite charity, Wounded Warrior Project. This had to be a melding of personalities as well as display cars. Yes, 'display', cars....this was not going to be another car show. Based on our two years of being participants in this show we felt it would better represent the car community by being a display. A display of cars showing the chronological evolution of the American automobile....so was born the event title. American Automobile Heritage Invitational....whew....that took a lot of extra typing with that long title but it was very descriptive of what the effort should be. We started gathering cars that would work in the display and within a month we had over 40 cars and started registering back up cars. We secured a major sponsor, Virginia Paving, that thought the fit was natural with them....cars and roads....seemed natural to us too! We also had some minor sponsors, Purvis Ford, Crown Trophy, Refinish Solutions and Fredericksburg Distributing Co. All the sponsors helped but Virginia Paving helped the most with money and their presence at the event. They set up a display for, what else, paving! It was very informative and interesting....their display always had someone standing and looking at the brochures and samples and asking questions. It was a natural fit!

The event started inauspiciously when the Princess and I arrived at the lot at 5:30 AM....three abandoned cars and 3 Fredericksburg Police cars were already there! The lot was posted so no cars were to be there but the police said they didn't know how long the postings had been up so they could not tow the abandoned cars! That would really mess up our parking grid. I got a little upset and the police Sgt talked to his Captain....who evidently talked to someone else and the roll backs started showing up to remove the derelict cars! We parked the Princess's 33, set up her canopy, set out the two chests of water and Gatorade for the staff and participants. Then we set up the extra canopy....and then the rest of the event staff started arriving. Since it was gong to be a display instead of a show the biggest thing we had to do was make sure the parking was done to best display the yearly order of the cars. So the event staff consisted of 3 parking directors, Andrew, Tony and Dan....the music/MC/announcer guy, Brent and me, waving my arms around and the Princess laughing and pointing at my socks! Brent, with his wife and sons, ran a SnoCone deal that did very well too. Wounded Warrior Project representatives, Ray and Terry Phillips arrived with their race car and trailer and set it up near the sidewalk. The display cars began arriving, beginning with David and his patriotically painted 2006 Mustang....we had a very diverse collection of cars from Dom's 1915 Ford Model T to Stuart's 2006 GT-40. We had Wyatt's DeLorean complete with the flux capacitor! At 1PM all the participants came up to the mike to receive their commemorative award for bringing their car to the event and for sharing their passion of cars to the general public. Most of the time we just take our cars to 'car shows' where most of the people are 'car people'....at our event most of the people were non-car people that were just curious about the cars or had stories about the cars when they were younger....a good time reminiscing. We gave our premier sponsor, Virginia Paving, an award for stepping up being our premier sponsor. Virginia Paving picked one car that in their opinion represented the spirit of the American automobile heritage and gave the owner a very nice silver heritage cup. They picked Dom's 1915 Ford Model T....This car is what started us on our adventure with the car....it really is representative of our 'car culture'. And Dom has an exceedingly large passion for sharing his car with anyone that has an interest in it, especially kids....of course if Patty wasn't always cleaning and polishing the Ford, nobody would want to get near it! After the awards were given out the event was 'officially' over. Since there was rain coming from the north and west, those that had driven a long way to the event started to leave. Some came from Culpepper, VA....Mechanicsville, VA....Bumpass, VA....Spotsylvania, VA....Annappolis, MD....Ladysmith, VA....Triangle, VA....Manassas, VA....Nokesville, VA....Falls Church, VA....Fredericksburg, VA....and Stafford, VA. Most of us stayed till 3PM but began packing up shortly after that. The event was perfect and we are planning the one for 2009 right now! Please check out the pictures on my webshots website for a better description of the cars and the event....you can also see where the mothership landed on Tony's fender cover....it was a very good day for Wounded Warrior Project, the Heritage Festival and for our club.