Saturday we decided to visit the Mopar
show at Chrysler of Culpeper, near Culpeper, VA. Tony and his crew put on a well run
event. The owner of the dealership, Wade
Schick, hosts the yearly event to showcase….what else….Mopars! This show is usually heavily attended by very
nice late model types and the muscle cars of the 60’s & 70’s but what the
early years may lack in numbers they make up in awesomeness! The other thing is that since Mopar absorbed
Jeep and AMC years ago, you get to see some strange stable mates at Mopar
events now….the silver ’73 AMX Javelin is a good example.
There were over 70 cars in
attendance including the sea foam green ’40 DeSoto that was just perfect and
the grey ’47 Plymouth which was a rare piece too. My favorite was the brown/tan ’41 Plymouth
Pickup. I have never seen one in any
condition and the workmanship done to put this truck back on the road was
impeccable. The detail is so cool….take
your time looking at the pictures of it.
The Princess passed out our flyers for the Over the River cruise in
November and the Toys For Tots in December while I captured images of all the
vehicles and the event in general.
We left the Mopar show in Culpeper
and cruised to Manassas and the weekly cruise at Burger King by the
airport. The Bull Run Street Rods manage
the event which entails them sitting in chairs at the corner of the entrance
near their hot rods and waving to the cruisers as they come into the lot or as
they leave! No music….no 50/50….no
trophies…. Just good food, good
restrooms, good friends and a never ending display of special vehicles. People cruise in, park….visit then cruise out
on their way to somewhere else. That’s
how cruisin is done! Oh yeah….they have
ice cream there too….
Of the 80-90 vehicles that cruised
in I think the rowdiest was the black ’31 Plymouth with the mega cube Hemi….a
car just on the edge of streetability. I
don’t normally notice the Vipers but there was a gun metal grey one with black
stripes that caught my attention while I roamed around. One of the neat cars I had seen before but
didn’t really look at it closely was the brown ’71 Ford Torino/500 Halo….yeah a
“Halo”. They were built for only two
months, Feb & March, of 1971….a very rare find. Thankfully the owner accommodated all my
questions then showed me all the documentation he had accumulated….a neat guy
with a neat car! Here is more about him
and his car; http://www.vernparker.com/home/2013/5/17/1971-ford-torino-halo.html
Dan & Ramona joined us with
their ’55 and we all had lunch at BK.
Later Dan passed out flyers for our events then we all had ice cream
before we cruised home just as the sun began to set. Yes we saw deer on the country roads we
use….yup!
Sunday we decided to attend the
sixth annual Hayfield HS event in Alexandria, VA. The event is in the shopping center next to
the HS and is managed by the auto shop teacher and his students. There are a couple restaurants close by and
Giant food allows us to use the restrooms inside. This show is open to all kinds of vehicles
but not many late models attend. There
were a couple newer ones but most were 60’s-70’s muscle cars or older hot rods. I really liked the Lt. Green ’32 highboy
tub….driven by a lady!
The event is on asphalt which
usually isn’t a problem….but Sunday the temps got up to about 458 degrees! I thought Al Gore fixed this? I had sweat dripping off me in places that I
can’t talk about and the Princess was doing a slow, sweaty burn under the
umbrella…. The sun’s thermonuclear
radiation was beaming directly at us and when we tried to escape the direct
assault….it would bounce off the parking lot and assail what was left of our
pitiful selves. I think my feet were
sticking in the asphalt as I walked around….
I knew we couldn’t endure the heat very much longer! When I
got back to the truck from taking pictures of the 80+ vehicles I found the
Princess sitting under her umbrella, chugging down water, glaring at me with
that “Princesses do NOT like to sweat like this” look. I knew it was time to leave!
We left about 1PM and decided to
cruise some of the areas in NoVa I had worked in years ago….so much has
changed. We worked our way to Rt. 29 and
cruised it to Opal. A friend had shared
with us that there was a restaurant in Opal called Barbeque Country, near the
truck stop, that served the best BBQ around!
Truck stops are not usually our first choice in cuisine but after
surviving being nearly incinerated by the sun earlier we must have thought we
were bulletproof….we decided to give it a try.
We had been driving by this place for 30+ years, never stopping because
of the way it “looked”. Not real inviting. And it was a truck stop….what is wrong with
that picture? So we pulled up our sweaty
big peoples pants and trudged into the bowels of the “best BBQ around”
restaurant.
The place is clean, open and
inviting inside. The décor is what you
would expect at a truck stop, functional, simple and clean like an old time
diner. The staff was friendly and
helpful. When you order your food they
take out your choice of meat from the oven and chop it up in front of you like
the best Japanese steak house would….chop chop chop. The portions are large and the taste is very
enjoyable as are the prices! The
Princess gives Barbeque Country four stars!
Whatever that means?
So we were about finished when a
couple we knew came in….and said Hi Chuck & Linda! It was Bill & Linda….a couple fellow
sojourners on the hot rod runs we do.
They were going home from PA and saw our truck in the parking lot. Bill thought we might be broken down so they
stopped to check. Bill was sitting with
us at the cruise last week when Doug mentioned the restaurant and he had not
stopped either….because it looked uninviting!
So we all moved to an area where we could talk and Bill & Linda
could try the food. After about an hour
and a half of talking and laughing we said our goodbyes and went on our separate
ways. Is this a neat hobby or what….yup….
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