Saturday our
group cruised 16 miles to the Quantico Marine Corps base in Virginia. They were having their first car show in a
lot of years and we wanted to support their efforts. I always like to be on base. Being an Air Force brat I have lived on a few
bases in my early years and I feel comfortable there. There is a complex entry
procedure but when you get over that it is a neat place to spend your day. Their contact person, Joey S., made the
process very smooth. They had a great
food vendor, The Clubs at Quantico, who had done this before! The food was superior, prices were fair and
the service & attitude was impeccable….great job. The Porta potties were
clean and well placed which was much appreciated by all. Some of our group ventured into Quantico Town
and the S & G restaurant for breakfast….a great idea from Ken B. the night
before at VA BBQ and seconded by Ron C.!
The event was used to raise money for the Quantico Auto Hobby Skills
Center…. I spent many hours in various
Air Force base auto shops in my early years beginning at Minot AFB, ND. With what little we pay our Warriors this is
a much needed and deserved perk for them.
The day was
warm but not hot but with a robust breeze all day. We were planning on being able to set up our
canopy on grass or gravel where we could properly secure it but we were parked
on asphalt. If the wind was going to be
a problem we had to be able to secure our canopy so it wouldn’t be flying
around the parking lot, bumping off the cars in the show! So….what to do…. Since we now drive a hot rod with a spare
wheel/tire I decided that would anchor one leg of the canopy. Since I need to be prepared to repair things
that may go awry with the truck I have been carrying a tool bag that weighs
about 648 lbs! That should fix another
leg. Fred and Ron dug out some tool
boxes and other things that took care of another leg and the last one was
secured with Lou’s cooler! We laugh at
wind now….grin!
As we were setting
under the canopy an Air Force C-17 flew over on final approach a couple times….really
cool to see! There were about 170
vehicles at the show….a lot for a new show….
We’ll see how it does next year.
There were many newer vehicles, about 2/3 were built after 1980 and the
judging was done by participant voting for the different categories. We liked the natural yellow ’55 Ford Pickup;
we see this hot rod on the roads a lot….it’s good to drive them cars! And Joe’s orange 66/67 Nova is always a
welcome sight at a show. You have to
check out the pictures to see the many other vehicles that attended. A neat show that we will try to attend again
next year….so should you! We didn’t try
to go to the Family Diner cruise in Fredericksburg after the show because of
the rain that was on the way….it arrived about an hour after we got home.
Sunday we
left Stafford at 6AM and cruised 38 miles and met up with Lou & Arlene in Gainesville,
VA then continued our cruise for 22 more miles to Herndon, VA and the 11th
Annual Herndon Classic Car Show sponsored by the Dulles Area Chapter of
AARP. This is one of the most fun shows
we do all year. When we arrived at 7:23
there were already 15 cars parked! Two
were in “our” parking spots! What to do….? The staff member was trying to make us park
down the street but we really didn’t want to go there. So we decided to park across the street from “our”
parking spaces….I could tell the staff guy was not happy with our decision but
he helped us get lined up like he wanted and left us. I put on events myself and I know the value
of parking people where YOU want them to be….but sometimes you have to
considered letting people park where THEY want to park to keep happy campers. If we hadn’t been able to park where we
wanted it would have made the day much less enjoyable for us. So….where we ended up turned out to be better
than our previous place and it will now be our new parking place for next year….I
think we will be there by 6:30 next time!
The event
has something going on all day along with the vehicle show. The 50’s dancers were a hoot and the
strolling Dominion Singers were great. Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern had ladies from
the NOVA Roller Derby Team dressed in 50’s attire, on roller skates taking food
orders. Then they would bring them back
to where ever you were sitting! Kinda
cool! There were a couple other vendors
and the Dairy Queen was open for business too.
Wiygul Automotive Clinic was the major sponsor.
The quality
of the vehicles is really top notch at this show and since the weather was superb
many very nice cars came out. There was
a nice yellow ’55 Chevy post and a couple ’57 Chevys too. Jason’s orange 50 something Caddie wowed
everyone and the candy red Merc lead sled was present to collect his trophy. I met a man I had not seen since the late 70’s
when I was with Ryland Homes….he was working for one of our plumbing
contractors and I recognized him almost instantly….good connection after all
these years….I’m sure I will see Mike again at another event. His black ‘55/’56 Ford post was nicely done
and….it had a 6 cyl motor! It even had
speed equipment of the period and nice ceramic coated headers….a very nice build! I also liked the green ’34 Ford sedan, the
nicest I’ve seen. Lou & Arlene took
the theme of the show to new heights by dressing like something right out of
Happy Days! And their red ’53 Ford convertible
just added to the scene….
We really
enjoyed the day….good weather….good food….good friends….I love this hobby!
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