VCCA Home Forums GENERAL DISCUSSION Meets, Tours & Events My Six Cylinder Tour Journal… Richmond VA, 2015

It's my favourite time of the year again!! We leave tomorrow for Richmond Virginia with the Eastern Six Cylinder Gang. For the ride to Richmond, I'll be tugging along my 1950 convertible. It's going to be a long drive there, as Jane & Abby will not be joining us this year. I spent today washing up the '50, and getting it loaded up on the trailer. The truck was washed yesterday, and rained on last night.



My departure time will be 5:30am, in order to be at Paul & Maggie's place by 6:30am. Once again, Paul is testing my wake up abilities with an even earlier start! His itinerary is much the same as last time, except the early morning stop at the duty free liquor store! What he doesn't know is that I've worked overnights all week, so 530am will feel more like PM!! Ask me how this plan turns out at 4pm! lol!

I've heard rumour that Paul thinks his '53 is faster than my '50. Hopefully we'll be testing that out at Richmond International Speedway this week. In the meantime, I'll be testing my drafting techniques with the truck on the way to Richmond. I might bump draft him too...

Anyway, fasten your belts, and read along for another VCCA adventure. I'm wifeless and childless for the week, which means more journal and more pictures for all of you guys. Fun will be had, beer will be drank, and questions will be answered (What language will Paul's Garmin be speaking this year? How many U-turns are there from here to Richmond? And who is that masked man riding with me on the tour days??)

Enjoy the ride...

Brewster

Looking forward to seeing you there! While you may be wifeless & childless, we'll be the carless couple...

Nooo! I thought you had it worked out!

Dale,
Just stop by Franklin's place in West by God and pick out one. Might not run the whole tour but I am sure he would appreciate you trying to fix it before you brought it back.

Don't worry.....I'm keeping a list of what you'll owe me when you get back! Enjoy your childless and wifeless week! I'll get Abby to save all her poopy diapers for your return.

Ewww... The gift I was going to pick out for you just got substantially smaller!

I'm going to start today's entry with a mention to all of my American friends on this, the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on your country. Every year the Six Cylinder Tour seems to fall on this date, and it is an honour to tour through your country and see the national pride and remembrances displayed everywhere with the American flags at half mast. A reminder of the price that others pay so that we can enjoy the freedoms earned through their sacrifices.


Once again, I had trouble sleeping before departure day. This year may have had a lot to do with my week of overnight work until Thursday morning. I'm sure I'll catch up on the sleep soon enough! It was no trouble getting up at 5:00am, and being on the road at 5:30. My cat left me a furball on the shirt I was going to wear. That may be a sign of good luck...or it may be a curse.

It was smooth sailing to Burlington on the 407 to meet Paul & Maggie at 6:30am. Our next stop was at the Duty Free shop at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie. This is where decisions were made that affected the outcome of our drive, both good and bad. We are driving down to Richmond with George & Carole Worron, and Les & Bev Gajdacs in their modern cars. Les & Bev had a parcel to pick up in Niagara Falls, and left us with the plan to meet at the hotel in Harrisburg PA. I had the choice of going with them, or sticking with the Rozon's & Worron's. I chose the later, mainly because I didn't want to miss out on any of the entertainment provided by Paul's Garmin... and I figured my trailer might come in handy if Paul had trouble with the new radiator that was just installed on Thursday. That was the good decision. The bad one was when we all sat down and had a coffee & snack instead of getting across the border! When we got there it was empty, and we came out to this!



We were about half an hour waiting, then got separated in different lines. I ended up getting shooed into your country by a border guard that didn't want me near her car with the truck and trailer. Another 10 minutes, and the gang caught up to me.

Everything was going fine for another hour through New York and then into Pennsylvania... until Paul suddenly pulled over with a dead car! Uh Oh!! He popped the hood, and there was smoke from an electrical short. Paul grabbed his battery shut-off and turned it... and it came off melted, right in his hand!! I grabbed the wrenches from my box really quick and we got it disconnected. We had no idea what was wrong! Paul suggested I get the battery from my '50 and plug it in. Yeah, right... and then we'd have 2 cooked batteries! Next we discussed putting the '53 on the trailer... and how heavy it was. Long story short, I got my battery! We plugged it in and the car didn't burn up. We checked it with the ohm meter, and it looked fine. Great... Paul stole my battery. He told me it was good that he brought this "parts car" with him, instead of sending it with Les!



After about half an hour, we were away again. Our lunch stop was also a gas stop, and there were a couple of locals out checking out the cars. Paul asked where we could get a battery, and one guy suggested we drop his name to get the "trucker's discount" at a NAPA 10 miles away. That turned out good. We found it and they had one 6 volt battery left. I asked Paul to put it in my car, but he didn't...



It was back on the road, headed for Harrisburg. The drive was really mountainous. I had trouble keeping up to Paul on the up hills, and staying behind him on the downhill's. A shout-out to the @#$% that passed us on the shoulder of a curved downhill grade at 70mph... the only idiot we saw all day!

One of the huge benefits of enjoying our club, cars and tours in this day & age is the power of the internet. Tonight I had the opportunity to put this incredible resource to use.

For those of you that use Facebook, check out the VCCA Facebook page, moderated by John Brayton. Check it out here! I met a fellow VCCA member named Kerry Glenn on this page, and became "Facebook Friends" with him. Kerry owns a "survivor" 1953 Belair 4door sedan. We chatted on FB last week, and I suggested that he come meet us for dinner, and we check out each other's cars. Paul really wanted to compare '53's as well. Kerry and I spent today texting estimated arrival times back and forth to each other, and we ended up arriving at the same spot within 10 minutes of each other! Us from 436 miles north west in Canada, and him from 32 miles south east in Columbia PA. All thanks to the power of the internet!





Kerry's car was full of all original features and blemishes. It would really do well in the HPOCF class. He had a glovebox full of all of the original documents, brochures, coupons, etc that came with his exact car.

We went to dinner at the pub beside our hotel, and had a really nice evening with Kerry and his son, Nate. When Kerry was looking at Paul's car he noticed Paul's "custom" wheel disks, and mentioned that he had a few good original '53 ones if Paul was interested. I think our route is taking us towards Columbia in the morning! We had a great evening, and it was really nice to finally meet you in person, Kerry! Hopefully you can get to one of our meets or tours in the near future!

We always welcome our neighbors to the North. Sounds like your car trouble was easily fixed. Our drive was great today. Bill and Kay in their 49 and me in my trusty 40. We stopped overnight in Romney, W. VA at the site of a previous tour. Our cars are running good and the traffic has been light. We pick up Dave and Cheryl tomorrow morning here in Romney in their 47. We have been cruizing between 60 and 65.
See you all in Richmond.

dtm
ps. I am depressed that Abby will not be coming along. She is one of my favorite nieces.

As always, it's a real pleasure to get to surreptitiously attend events via Brewster's travel journal.

But I am really confused here - when you came to the Central Meet, the excuse for trailering the '50 convertible was that you just had to have a modern vehicle so that Abby could have a car seat. (Jeeze, these over-protective young folks - but I won't go into how my generation grew up doing road trips just standing on the front seat between mom and dad, and we did just fine. Or how you owe it to Abby to have that authentic, living-on-the-edge '50's experience. Sigh....)

So anyway, here you are, all alone, no Abby or wife - doing the bachelor 6 Cylinder Tour, and the opportunity to cruise hundreds of miles - and you TRAILER the '50!!!! Thus getting worse gas mileage, and missing the opportunity to have the wind blowing through your hair. OK, well, blowing on your hat.

I thought we had agreed that trailers are for cars that don't run?

And just FYI, I looked it up (old car manuals on line). The curb weight of the '53 Belair 4 door is 3,380 lbs. and the curb weight of the '50 convert is 3,510 lbs. So the convert is actually the heavier car. It's mostly that extra X member frame, and the top equipment.

Guru, Can you believe Ken was 6 and Neal was 4 when we took our first trip in our '31 Coupe. Neal was on Lois' lap and Ken in the middle.

We drove the first day to Washington, PA. There my in-laws picked up the boys. The next day we drove on to Hershey. Three days later we reversed the trip.

When they got a little older they traveled in the Rumble Seat all over the country.

How did they ever survive? That is probably why they like old cars today.

Well Don... it's twofold. 1.) I'm spoiled now, and 2). I just don't trust my convertible as far as I can push it.... and back onto the trailer is just about how far that is! If my '51 was on the road, I certainly would have driven it. Besides, it looks like a good thing that we brought trailer the way Paul's car has behaved so far!

P.S. The internet really blows at this hotel! If the posts stop coming, I'll update it all when I get home. Not sure how long I'm going to wait on it!

Day two started with breakfast at 8:00am. I went out to the truck to drop off my suitcase. I'm not happy with the breakfast they served...



I tried it anyway. It was cat food. I will definatly be checking "somewhat satisfied" on my comment card.

Found the rest of the gang inside. They got waffles. I had one too... it was much better. Our plan for the day was to head down the interstate and meet Kerry at North York, where Paul and Kerry would complete a blackmarket/out of the trunk hubcap deal. Then, as a group, we were all to head for Richmond via the secondary roads. Simple plan, right? Phase one worked out. Kerry brought the stuff. Paul sampled his wares (10 of them) and picked out 4. He says if I wash them he'll put them on the car tomorrow. I didn't get a picture, as I was busy going through my regular struggle to buy gas in this country! Two times through the lineup! Sheesh!

Kerry sent this photo of our band of hubcap dealers. That's Paul Rozon (1931roadster on Chat), myself, Les Gajdacs, and George Worron...



Anyway... we pulled out of the gas station, and two of us (Rozon's & I) made it through the light. The entrance to the Interstate was the first right, but was around a curve and there was nowhere for us to pull off and wait... We pulled over around the curve after the Interstate (remember, we planned not to take it?!) and waited... and waited! Apparently Worron's and Gadjacs thought we went up onto the Interstate, so off they went... and we never saw them again! (Until tonight...you were worried?!) Paul U-turned and went back to the gas station to see if they came back, but joined me again in 15 minutes, and we were on our own.

The ride was really nice. There is beautiful country down here! Lot's of Southern Plantation looking farms and rolling hills with tree cover.



Then we got into rain... lots of it! It poured! A couple of times I had the rear wheels spinning under acceleration as they hydro-planed in the water. I was glad I had the truck and trailer though.



We stopped for lunch (somewhere... I haven't checked a map since we started!) Paul loaded up his trusty Garmin in English, and we headed out with 3 hours to go!



Five hours later, We arrived! We were 3 hours after Worron's and Gadjacs who took the Interstate the whole way. There are 15 or so cars here, as some of the folks are at the NASCAR race. (It's a good thing I wasn't your ride there, right Toolman?!) I unloaded the trailer and settled in.

Back at home, Daddy isn't around to read good night stories, so she's teaching herself! I'm having some withdrawal symptoms from my girls... but don't tell them I said so!

Ha - spoiled with modern conveniences, combined with a lack of faith in the trusty old Stovebolt, eh? Truth be told, I have been known to trailer a perfectly good '53 convertible to events when they are that far away, I totally get it. But it was more fun to give you a hard time!

Strong Recommendation: figure out what is wrong with Paul's '53 that caused it to eat the battery. Maybe a bad regulator over-cooking it? You have plenty of knowledgeable help and tools available, so now is the perfect time to figure it out and fix it, so it doesn't leave you stranded at the worst possible time and place on the way home next week.

Lenny would like you to bring him some of that cat food you had for breakfast.

We're going to have someone look at it. Paul thinks it was the battery. It was one of those Optimax batteries. He said it was old. The dash gauge wasn't showing an overcharge...

Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. Leaving Ohio about 9 AM. Plan to make it there for the opening banquet. Shouldn't be a problem since we're driving the '85 Vette...

Day One... Lots of contenders for the Hard Luck Trophy. Staples just arrived from Canada, minus their motorhome which lost a fuel pump just before the border.

Carter's contend as well... we'll see if that Vette makes it. A couple of years ago I would have put my money on the '48 first...

Have to ask this ...... what are you folks using, between vehicles, to make contact with one another ?

Breakdowns???

Mainly my middle finger, Bob!!!

We don't really have anything with us to communicate. I have my cell phone so I can communicate with my wife at home... but that's not doing these other old folks any good! We had a conversation after our little mix up and how they all have walkie talkies that they should have brought. I guess the solution we have is that we all know where we have to be, so it's everyone for themselves if we get separated.

Once the actual tour starts, there isn't really a need for communication between cars, as we all have Mapquest directions and there are 60 cars out there. If we get separated we just follow the next car. What's difficult is when I'm by myself I have no one to read the maps. This year I have some riding mates.

And not our '50... yet! There's still time!

Bruce .... seems to me walkie talkies and cells are as important to the tour as clean underwear. :dance:

Sunday Morning... Not much happened today, as it is mainly arrival day with a welcome banquet at 7pm.

I headed for breakfast with the Canadian Gang at our hotel's banquet room. We have $45 a night rooms, and are certainly getting what we paid for as far as the complimentary breakfast goes. They could have skimped a little more by not paying to freeze the butter for my muffin

After breakfast I helped Barry & Pat get their trailer parked, and then hung out in the lot chatting to folks as they arrived. Caught up with Andy Jurski, and checked out his family's new '54. I spent some time getting pics of the arrivals...





Gene's former ride...

Lunch was at the diner attached to the hotel. Great food, better service, huge portions, and small price. She even gave me a Senior's Discount! After dinner I got the bucket out and got my pit crew to wash the convertible down. Just as they finished, it started raining! It really poured! Such is life!

Dinner was a pizza, salad, and ice cream social. We were entertained at our table by the always entertaining John Palmer. The after dinner talk was about a cross country Model T Ford tour driven by Billy McGuire in 2009. He shared his pictures, experiences, and funny stories in great slide show. You can view their club's tour at http://oceantoocean.ning.com

Can't say that we really want to be contenders for the Hard Luck Trophy 2 years in a row! I chalk this one up to "I should have started the engine rebuild a lot sooner...". I'm definitely in contention for the Poor Planning Award. :-)

Man, it was an early morning! We were at breakfast t 6:45am, then to the drivers meeting at 7:45, and leaving the lot at 8:00am. The mornings in the lot are always the best feeling. The dew and mist on the cars, warming them up and anticipating the sites and locations of the day. The hotel lot is always a morning vintage Chevy traffic jam, and we get to see the cars that have come out of their trailers for the first time...







Our first stop was the Virginia State Capitol Building... Home to the Confederacy's Government during the Civil War, and Designed by Thomas Jefferson. Most later US Capital Buildings were modelled after the architectural styles of this building.

Our next stop was down at the canal for a quick boat tour along the restored canal and flood control area. We also ate lunch on the boats. An interesting cruise, with stories of Richmond during the Civil War and Industrial Revolution...

After the cruise, it was onto a tour of the Tredegar Iron Works Museum and Civil War Museum. Tredegar built cannons and other iron parts for the Southern Armies and Navy. The buildings survived the burning of Richmond by the retreating Confederates 1865, and continued to produce for the US until 1957. I kind of stopped taking inside pictures, and took more outside...









I pulled the '50 up front for a picture, and ran into Doug Archer and his '50 Belair again...





Finally, it was off to tour the presidential home of Jefferson Davies. It was an interesting tour of the original home filled with about 30% of the furniture original to the home. We were not allowed to take pictures there.

After the tour was complete, the Canadian Gang went for dinner at the Golden Corral. We have no idea where it was, as we trusted both Paul's and Les's Garmen's to get us there. We drove forever. Les's Garmen kept wanting us to turn around. I think it's watching his waist. None of us were... it was buffet, and we killed it!

Stay tuned tomorrow for today's write up... There was car trouble today, and I'm in no mood to type! Off to bed...

Just hope the trouble was not with that '39. If so I would have to refund Bill his money.

That 1939 sedan seems to run just fine. I guess that the previous owner must have put the car together with a high degree of knowledge and skill.

dtm

I wanted to take a second and introduce my riding mates for the week. Les and Bev Gadjacs are tagging along with me for the week. Les owns a beautiful 1961 Impala 4dr sedan, so he was not eligible to drive it on the 6 cylinder tour. Not a problem...I've now got a couple navigator's and they have a ride! Bev has been a great sport, as I re-style her hair every day in the back seat...



Tuesday Morning... once again we started with a 6:30am wake up. Drivers meeting at 8:00am, and an 8:15 departure. It was the day I was looking forward to the most this entire trip, and it ended up being a bit of a disappointment.

Our first stop was Richmond International Speedway. I was really looking forward to a tour of the facility, and maybe even a drive around the track. Instead, we parked on the infield, and were "escorted" to the pit area, and watched as we aimlessly wandered around.

The drive under the "Tunnel Turn"...



Infield parking...



Turn 4...



We had to provide our own entertainment, so a footrace ensued. Andrew Jurski is going to have to take a couple rounds of wedge out of his rear if he plans on beating me!!



It was cool to see all of the messages written for the various drivers on their pit walls. Jeff Gordon was by far the most popular as he finishes up his retirement tour...



I found it really disappointing that after all of the work that Franklin Gage put into getting this tour organized, he was really left disappointed by the effort put forth by the raceway to make us feel welcome. Other tracks this group has been to have provided lifetime memories and experiences, and it was really too bad that Richmond International Speedway did not feel like making that effort.

No problem... we'll take our show to someone a little more accommodating! The County Water Treatment Plant was all too happy to have us visit, and gave us a fantastic tour! We learned how the Richmond area handles it's water & waste before it is sent back into Chesapeake Bay. They even provided a lift to take a group photo of the cars. This is half of our complete group...



...and here is the other half!



After the tour there, we headed 10 miles or so to dinner in a nearby park. Along the way we had to wait for the road to be paved in front of us...





Then it was on to the Dobbs House, a restored house that at one time was the headquarters for General Lee during the Civil War.





After that, we headed for Baskin Robins and some well deserved ice cream. Here's where it all went wrong!



As I was backing out of my parking spot, there were a couple of people standing there pointing to the puddle under my car. A quick look under the hood revealed a water pump that was dribbling all over. We thought we could make it back to the hotel... the race was on!!

After hitting every red light in Richmond, we pulled into the hotel... with the temp gauge reading barely over half. All of a sudden there were no shortage of spare parts or help After reviewing the 5 different pumps that were offered, we settled on the brand new one offered by Dave Groff from Ohio. Andy Jurski did the installation, and we soon had it fixed and ready to roll... except that the brakes were not working well We had a few lessons about brake adjustment and hub greasing, then we cleaned up as it was getting late. The car was not braking straight, or quickly. We decided not to use it Wednesday. I will say, break downs on these tours are generally easy fixes with all of the knowledge and help available. A huge thank you to Andy Jurski, and Dave Groff for their help, and George Worron for his advice during the evening.

Are you traveling in a caravan or are you just getting in line for photos?

Jim... the line up was between stops about 5 miles apart. The construction company had the road closed for 15 minutes while they laid some fresh topping. It was then that we all piled up there. If it was open, we would have all gone through in much smaller groups.

Have they announced where the 2016 Tour will be held?

Unfortunately, we currently do not have a host for 2016. The hosts for 2017 and 2018 have been decided, but 2016 remains a unique problem. I believe the issue stems from the fact that the tour falls very close to the Anniversary Meet in Lake Tahoe. By the sounds of things, many of the Six Cylinder Tour participants are planning on making the trek out there, at the expense of the Six Cylinder Tour. If we need to cancel it for one year, it will return for 2017. It was announced that 2017 would be hosted by Chuck and Joyce Gibson in Southern New Jersey.

If anyone is able to step up to the plate and host 2016's tour, please contact myself, David Minor, or Chuck Gibson and we will pass that along through the proper channels.

I don't want my journal veering off thread if next year's predicament is going to generate a discussion. If anyone has any replies or discussion about this, please start a new thread up in the Regional Events section where it will get the proper attention.


***Edit*** We have now found hosts for 2016!! Thank you, Mike McFarland, Andy Jurski and Verle Weatherwax for stepping up and offering to host us in Port Huron Michigan!

Well, I'm sitting at home in my living room finishing my journal. The past two nights have been filled with car repairs and then car packing and loading for the long drive home. My memory gets fuzzy if I don't do this all at once on the right day, so hopefully I get all my facts straight with this! Now where were we?...

Wednesday morning... We decided to leave the '50 convertible at the hotel for the day. I suggested to Les & Bev that they take the opportunity to do some back seat hopping, as that was going to be my plan. They thought it would be easier on themselves to bring the modern car, as it was the day with the most milage and the air conditioning would be nice. That wasn't going to stop me though!

I rode with them over to the first stop. We went to the home of Reggie & Cindy Nash. With a name like that, you can assume he wasn't collecting Chevrolets! Franklin knows them from the AAAC club, and they offered to open their doors to a tour of their unique Nash collection, and a few other makes as well. Their property backs right onto the James River, and the drive in was spectacular! Reggie gave us a short tour and description of all of his cars.

The back yard where we all parked. The river runs behind the ridge at the back of the photo...



Reggie's 1941 Nash convertible. The walls of both of his garages were covered in unique automobilia as well.



1940 Nash custom bodied by de Sakhnoffsky... read more about it here! If I had to take a Non-Chevy home, this would be it!





He also had a couple Nash-Healy's, the one on the left bodied by Pininfarina.



The Jones family leaving the Nash's. That's Steve & Theresa in the blue '53 followed by Sid & Shirley in the red '53...

Our next stop was an 80 mile jog to The Museum of the Confederacy in Appomattox Va. I rode this leg with Barry & Pat Staples in their 1951 Belair Hardtop. What a beautiful running, clean car! Barry & Pat are always great company as well.



At the museum we were met by Randy Keil and his beautiful 1936 sedan. Randy would be joining us for the rest of the week. It is his first time on the Six Cylinder Tour.



At the museum we were hosted for lunch before we hopped over to the Appomattox National Park, where General Lee surrendered his Confederate Army near the end of the Civil War.

Franklin had a unique idea for this leg of the tour. Admission is $10 per car, or if you have a National Parks Pass you could take 3 guests in for free. At the museum we were encouraged to mingle with those that had a park pass, and hitch a ride for the 2 miles over to the park so that everyone got in for free. Franklin told me afterwards that he killed two birds with one stone there... satisfied his quest to get people meeting new people... and covered off the fact that he's "thrifty" and didn't want people spending money!

I took a ride to the park with Doug & Bea Archer in their 1950 Belair Hardtop. It was neat to sit in it and see how my convertible should look. I've clearly got a lot of work to do!



The museum was a tidy restored town, inhabited by people in character from 1865. We listened to a Union soldier speak of his experiences during the war. I spent a lot of time socializing with the VCCA folk as well... and managed to squirm my way into two more rides for the rest of the day!

My ride back to the museum was in Dave & Bennie Cavagnaro's 1962 Impala. Dave brought it, as his 1940 recuperates from a breakdown back home. Lots of room in that back seat!



Once we got to the museum I switched over to Chuck & Joyce Gibson's 1951 Powerglide equipped Sport Coupe.





We were starting the 80 mile drive back home, and stopped for gas about 30 miles along the way. When we were done filling, Chuck told me it was my turn to drive! Didn't have to ask me twice! What a nice driving car. It has 37 000 miles on it, and is super-smooth. The New Jersey crew all tour along together, and are hooked up by radio as they tour. It was fun listening in on their banter as we drove. We never did figure out where "Lollitta" went!! After the drive back to Richmond, we stopped for dinner at The Olive Garden. It was a nice dinner with both Jones' families, Cavagnaro's, Ken & Shirley Farley, Gibson's, Staples, and myself. All the while it was getting dark outside.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Chuck offered to check the front brakes on my 1950. Very soon a huge crowd of onlookers and support personnel arrived!



We found that the bearing seal on the right front had let go, and grease was all over the front brake. Also the brakes were badly out of adjustment. I think I need an older mechanic back home! The guy I use does my '51 all of the time, and it has Bendix brakes. I guess he hasn't worked on Huck's before. I had a great group of people around to show me how to adjust them anyway. Thanks to everyone that offered help and encouragement. It was a late night out in the lot, so I headed to bed without journal writing.

Thursday Morning... I got up at 6:30, ate a quick breakfast, then headed to the parking lot to wash Andrew Jurski's greasy fingerprints off of my car! While I was washing it up, a young guy that works at a street rod shop down the street stopped in to look at our cars on his way to work. He's planning on doing a factory restoration of his '49 coupe when he's financially able to. I gave him a brochure for the club, and really hope he signs on, or checks out our awesome website!



The '50 was raring to go, after having sat out the previous day. Our first stop was 25 miles away at The Shirley Plantation. Here, we toured a true Southern Plantation... the oldest active Plantation in America. It is owned by the eleventh generation of the Hill/Carter family, and is actively farmed and lived in to this day. Just the drive up the tree lined driveway was worth the trip!



The plantation backs onto the James River, and has been a stop for travellers on the river since it was built in 1738. The pineapple on the roof was the symbol for hospitality to travellers at the time. If you had a social standing equal to or greater than the residents, you were able to stay there during your travels. None of us was invited. I think that if it were my place, the first thing I would do is throw up a 30 car garage, knock that pineapple off the roof and replace it with a giant thistle, and then get those tourists off my lawn!!! That's just me though!




Ron & Laurie Candage's 1930 Sport Coupe...


Next, we hit the beautiful highways of Virginia for a trip to Williamsburg and Yorktown. The roads in this state are beautifully paved out in the country, and were a real joy to drive. At one point we were being tailed by Dave Minor and Carl Apsley Jr. in Carl's 1950 Fleetline, and Nick & Barbra Matlaga in their 1937 coupe...



Our lunch stop was at the home shop of VCCA members, Jim & Donna Elliott. Jim own's a few Corvairs, Corvettes, a 1974 Caprice convertible, Camaro's, and numerous off-brands... including an award winning 1904 Cadillac.

Our next stop was over to Yorktown Battlefield National Park. It was a beautiful drive in, and an interesting history lesson.



We were given a talk by the Park Ranger about how the American Patriots (or ungrateful traitors...depending which side you stood on! ) and French Forces defeated the British at Yorktown. It was interesting to stand on the very ground and see what the soldiers saw as far as the lay of the land goes.



Pat Staples manned (womaned?) a cannon for the Yankee side. We'll hang her for treason later...



When we wrapped up at Yorktown, it was a long trek back to the hotel to get cleaned up for the final banquet. Some of the cars were already loaded at the hotel when we got in. The last day is always the saddest, as the good times wrap up!

Dinner was a nice buffet of turkey and beef, then the speeches and awards were handed out. My friend Andy Jurski was very deserving to win the John Hudson award for the tour participant that gives mechanical help to others in their time of need. Although I wasn't proud to be the one that provided Andy with the clunker to work on, it was great to see the award go to someone so deserving. Andy even went out by himself to replace the coolant in the car while I was eating dinner later that evening.

An equally honourable mention goes to Dave Groff who provided me with a brand new water pump and some coolant for Andy to work with. He would accept no payment... only the promise that I'll pay it forward sometime in the future. Thanks, Dave!

The Spirit Award went to Steve Jones who was also out late fixing cars and having an all around great time! I don't think I saw their '53 without the top down, and huge smiles plastered across their faces once all week!

The longest distance driven award went to Fred & Nadine Filipiak, who drove their 1950 Fleetline all of the way from Lisle Illinois.

A huge THANKS! goes out to Franklin Gage who did all of the planning, organizing, and flying by the seat of his pants, to pull off a fabulous week! Everyone had a great time, and your efforts are appreciated, Franklin!

After dinner I went out to load up the car, and put gas in the truck for the long drive back to Canada. I paused to snap a picture in front of the diner that is attached to the hotel. We ate here a few times during our stay... great food, great service, amazing portions, and a VCCA discount to boot!



Dave & Cheryl Groff were at the gas station prepping their '47 for the drive back to Ohio...



Bill & Diann Kohley's 1939, Bob & Kathy Spallone's 1950 sedan, ready for the ride home...

Once again, Bruce, a fantastic job of putting together a Journal!!! Well done! It takes a lot of time to do this - assemble and organize the photos, compose the riveting text, et cetera. I feel like I was practically there.

Chuck Gibson is great for letting folks enjoy driving his cars at events, and it's always a thrill to jump behind the wheel of a "new" vintage Chevy that you haven't experienced before. And a free water pump replacement, too (naturally, this came from a typical kind-hearted Ohioan).

I always found that riding in the back seat of other people's cars at such events is at least as enjoyable as being in your own car.

Alas, now, Abby and Jane have to put up with you being back....

Friday morning was another early start. There is never any sleeping in on these vacations!! A 6:30am breakfast, followed by a bit of packing and all of the final good-byes from those that had not left. Paul & Maggie's plan was to take two days to drive home on the back roads. George & Carole wanted to start earlier and hit the Interstates. Barry & Pat were leaving a little later, as they still had to load the car. That left Les & Bev & I to hit the highways together. The drive home was uneventful, and long. We made a couple fuel stops and a lunch stop, and hit the Buffalo/Fort Erie border at 5:45pm.



The border guard asked me more questions than usual, and made me show the ownership for the convertible, which was in the glove box on the trailer. I satisfied all of her curiosities, and made it through. I could have really bored her to death and had her check under the hood as well!!

I texted Jane and asked her not to put Abby to bed. My arrival in Bolton was at 8:00 pm. I hugged Abby a good one! It was a long week away from her & Jane!

After putting my #1 baby to bed, I went out and tucked in my other baby...



The truck also performed well for me this week. My stats looked like this...

2096.8kms travelled, and 379.5L of fuel used, for an 18.1L per 100km's.

1302.8 miles travelled, 100.2 gallons of fuel used for a 13mpg haul...

This was my first tug through real mountainous territory, and the truck performed well. I held it to no more that 3000 rpm's on the big hills, and chugged up at my own speeds. What I lacked on the uphills, I more than made up for on the down hills!

The grass didn't cut itself while I was gone... They manage to put up with me!

We had Nana here for the week, so I came home from work to a clean house and dinner cooked for me every night! The chances of Bruce cooking for me are slim to none.

But I am happy to have the resident diaper changer home again!

Thanks for getting us to the tour, traveling on the tour, and makeing a safe trip home. Now we can get a good nights sleep.

You get Kraft Dinner served any time you want...

I should add the Greasy finger prints from me on Bruce's car was a fact he would not let me go grab my fender covers that were down in my trailer in the other parking lot ;). And actually I didn't even have to touch the fenders it was all the "on lookers"

A GREAT journal. Had the feeling of being there, smelling the exhaust and enjoying the sounds of the noisy trannys.

Thanks, Bruce.

Visit the Shirley Plantation's Facebook site for a few pics of our visit...

https://www.facebook.com/ShirleyPlantation/posts/1132852213409810

Was the '30 Coupe from Columbus, Ohio the only Early Six Cylinder Chevrolet in attendance?

Nope... Steve & Gerrie Dalphonse had their '32 there, and there were a couple of '36's and '37's. The tour was not really made for the early cars this year. One of the short days was City driving in Richmond, and there were a couple of long days. Over 200 miles on one of them! For some of us there was a commute through the Appalachian Mountains to get there as well.

I think next year will be a better year for the older cars.

Jane
If Bruce's cooking is anything like mine it is probably safer (and tastier) to keep him out of the kitchen as I often end up with a cremation for a meal. The saucepans and kitchen wall are proof.
Tony

The 30 coupe was there and did the complete tour.
Al