THE MAY GARAGE TOUR – 5/18/2002

What a turn out. More than forty people took advantage of a warm and clear afternoon to tour four collections of motor memorabilia. Our initial gathering spot was at Hugh and Sally McNight’s, where, in addition to much appreciated refreshments – prepared by Sally, we were able to see a wonderful collection of Classics – prepared by Hugh. This collection included their: 1932 Auburn, 8, 8-100A, Coupe; 1936 Cord, 8, 810, Westchester Sedan; 1936 Cord, 8, 810, Phaeton; and 1941 Lincoln Continental, 12, Coupe.

Attendees for the events of the day were: Richard and Marsha Clapper; Jay Kolb; Bill Lurvey; Don McCallum; Wilbur Neil; Jack Pecsok; Fred Salmon; Ron Stukey; new members Bill and Gayle Stuebe; Bob Titlow and Helen Vogel, Bob’s sons Dave and Rob; Tim Turner; Dave, Patricia, and Justin Tyminski; Phillip and Sara Vickery; and, finally, Henry and Evelyn Wellman, and their daughter Bernadette (it was her birthday). Remember, nothing expresses your affection more than giving a "classic" gift – we hope your birthday was memorable Bernadette.

Other Classics were brought along for the day’s tour including: 1929 Duesenberg, 8, J-159, Town Car, Barker, driven by Ruth and Walter Dougherty, with Kim and Zachary; 1937 Packard, 12, 1507, Formal Sedan, driven by John Klein; 1940 Cadillac, 8, 60S, Sedan driven by Dan and Yvonne Sheek, and 1933 Packard, 8, 1004, 5-7 Passenger Sedan driven by Dick Storrs, and guests Ed Storrs and Warren Van Waning (Tucson, Az). Jeff Henry’s guests, Bob and Vicki Fulkerson drove their 1975 Bricklin (NC) and Shawn Miller brought his BMW (NC) – sorry I don’t have the specifics here, but it was sporty and fast.

From McNight’s we caravanned to Ropkey’s Military Museum. This is a collection that gives real meaning to term Heavy Metal. Tanks from WWI to present, jeeps, armored personnel carries, and perhaps the last fully authentic Viet Nam era armored river patrol craft, were on display. Other items seen included: an early Star Fire jet plane; a Russian plane; a practice module from the lunar space program (used in ocean drop tests); and a collection of racecars, from midgets to Indy 500. I am sure I missed something in the collection.

Next stop routed us through New Augusta on our way to the 92 vehicle collection of both classic and non-classic cars at Royce Motors, owned by member L. E. Randle. Our tour of the collection was hosted by Russell Ault, museum curator. It is hard to grasp details when you finish viewing 92 collectable cars, so I will not try to do so here. Instead, I list a few of the older classic and non-classics here, to wet the appetites of those who were unable to attend. We saw the following list of cars: 1911 Maxwell; 1912 Detroit Electric; 1912 Ford Model T; 1913 Stanley Steamer; 1923 Willys Knight; 1925 Franklin, 6, 10C, Touring; 1929 Pierce Arrow, 8, 133, D C Phaeton; 1931 Rolls-Royce, 6, PII, Huntington, Brewster; 1936 Chrysler Air Flow; 1939 Graham, Hollywood; 1939 Graham Custom Supercharged Sedan; 1940 LaSalle 4 door Convertible; 1946 Cadillac Sedan; 1948 Lincoln Contental,12,Cabrolet; 1954 Kaiser; and 1958 Packard, Golden Hawk.