Saturday we
were supposed to begin getting the remnants of Hurricane Isaac. There was severe weather coming in all around
us. We left for the Family Diner and the
cruise there at 4PM….no rain yet. The
weatherguessers were saying 70% chance of rain….not for us?! Ron has a theory that we have a ‘cone of
dryness’ around us most of the time that keeps up from getting the rain where
we are. After we parked and ate the rain
was going around us in the North and South!
Really weird. This cruise is new
to us and they had about 12 cars for the evening and I think the attendance was
hurt by the forecasted rain storms….that didn’t materialize for us. Stuart brought out his Cobra and Frank was
driving his old school, Suburban. A
couple VW’s and a nice blue ’32 Ford Highboy parked in the lot too. The cruise is like the one a couple years ago
at Foster’s. No music to have to talk
over and move away from….just talking about things and enjoying each other’s
company. And with Carl’s Ice Cream so
close there is really nothing else the cruise needs! If it gets bigger then lighting may be an
issue….maybe not? We cruised home on dry
pavement to the sounds of War’s song, Low Rider, assaulting my ears….too cool!
Sunday and
the weatherguessers said 70% rain most anytime of the day! But when we got up the driveway was dry so
off we went! We met some friends at WAWA
so we had a little convoy going to Colonial Beach, VA and the 4th
annual picnic at Jim Still’s 1954 Ford Museum.
We were not able to attend last year’s event but the preceding two years
were a hoot, and this year was no exception!
Ron’s ‘Cone of Dryness’ came into play most of the day again….bad
weather all around us but it was like the parting of the Red Sea as the storm
cells moved away from us.
The main
draw of this event is the games JV and Jim dream up. This year the lifter toss, the piston throw,
pushrod drop, flywheel spin, nut pileup are all fun…. but…. the blind driving
contest is the best. Think about it; you
begin at the start line and idle about 100 feet to the finish line….blindfolded! It sounds easy but it really isn’t. You can watch the video and see how some did
with this deal….especially the guy on the bike!
When you balance on something most of us need a real good visual cue to
stay upright. So on the bike you were
judging time and distance AND balance! I
would not try that. And check out Jim
when he used his ’54 Ford golf cart, he was going so fast I didn’t think he
could stop till he got to the Chesapeake Bay!
The Princess didn’t want to make her debut driving the truck at this
event which was probably a good decision given her penchant of running over the
cones with her car. With the big steel
bumpers on the truck she could just mow down anything in her way! Most people had a go at the blind driving and
seemed to enjoy it.
The event is
held at Jim Still’s 1954 Ford Museum….you have to walk around and take in all
the artifacts of that bygone time. The
wall murals, the gas pumps, the engines and all the little memorabilia that is
everywhere….you just have to spend some time thinking about what you are
seeing. Jim has 15 or so Fords restored
with another 30 to do! The club always
feeds everyone well and just asks for a donation to keep the event going. It was a hot day and those that didn’t know Ron’s ‘Cone of Dryness’ was in Colonial Beach
that day probably stayed away because of the rain. The rain was literally all around us again
but we were dry. About 3PM after the
awards were given out for the games most of the out-of-towners started to
leave. It started to sprinkle, just a little,
hardly getting the ground wet, not enough to use the wipers on the truck. As we left, Ron’s Cone of Dryness followed us
all the way back home….whew
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMpNgxcXsBo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMpNgxcXsBo
Monday,
Labor Day 2012, we assembled at the WAWA around 5AM to cruise 35 miles to
Clifton, VA and the 13th Annual Clifton car show that is managed by
Custom Cruisers of Northern Virginia and co-hosted by the Lions Club. This event raises a lot of dollars for their charities
and they usually have 250-300 vehicles. This
year they had 182 entrants, no doubt due to the weather.
We belonged
to the club years ago and had worked the show a couple times but never
participated in it. It was always
conflicting with another show we would support….but this year our calendar
cleared up and so off to Clifton we would cruise. As soon as Fred arrived at the WAWA, so did
the rain! Since the vehicles were wet,
we decided to go ahead and make the run north. It had been so long since I traveled ‘up there’
I asked Fred to lead us through the back roads of Prince William County. It
rained lightly off and on almost all the way to the event, in the dark, in the
fog. But we finally arrived at 6AM which
is when Steve said we needed to be there to get a good parking spot. It was good advice because not many other
people were there when we arrived….except Steve. As we came down the hill into Clifton the
rain stopped, Ron must have turned on the Cone of Dryness again! And we didn’t have any more rain all day….in
fact the sun came out and it was a great car show day after all. The weatherguessers had said another 70%
chance of precipitation day….not here!
The Cone of Dryness had failed us in Stafford but was in play all day in
Clifton!
This show
has a very diverse group of vehicles that attend and the rock climber/desert
runner was a cool thing to see. The
owner was very enthusiastic about his sport too. The black Ford Model A sedan with the two,
two barrel carbs was period correct and the neat thing about it was that it was
built in Canada! They used the Robertson
screws, they have a square recess instead of the common one used in the USA….I
didn’t know that. When we lived in St. John’s,
Newfoundland in the mid 50’s I remember my day bought a set of screwdrivers
that were for square headed fasteners….cool connection. Paul’s yellow ’32 5w coupe is always easy to
look at and its sound has the proper attitude!
This event also brings out some very nice vehicles….too nice to adequately
judge fairly. This may be why the club
has gone to a participant judging process….it really is easier for the club and
most of the time it’s the only fair way to go.
I also liked
the red ’71 Ford Torino with the Boss 429 transplanted into it! The candy red way low Merc with enough bling
bling to be seen from the space station was just too kool. But my favorite was the orange ’65 Cobra Daytona;
it was the best example of that car I have seen.
http://rides.webshots.com/album/583341230Hnkgtu
http://rides.webshots.com/album/583341230Hnkgtu
The Custom
Cruisers work like a Swiss watch and the show just clicked off as planned. Jim was also cruising throughout the crowd in
a golf cart to make sure everything was unfolding the way they wanted. Like other mature car clubs in the area they
make a difficult and complicated event look easy! They gave $25 Sunoco gas gift cards for the
top 20 awards….a nice deal. They also
had some specialty trophies like best back seat and Ladies choice?
As this
event usually does, it got very crowded as the day wound down, see the
pictures. It took me a long time to get
a clear shot of some of the vehicles, the people just wouldn’t move on….grin And Fred & Ron enjoyed the show under the
shade of a Crape Myrtle in the church’s front yard….no doubt getting some relief
from the sun. Yes….sun….the Cone of
Dryness was at work again….I was getting phone calls from Stafford telling me
how much rain they were getting and the sun was shining where we were! And so ended a very busy weekend for us…. But we found out that a good friend’s Mom
passed away Sunday….it seems that the longer in the tooth I get the more visits
we are making to say our last good buys to someone. But Mom’s are special….I remember my Mom’s
passing a couple years ago….they are so special.
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