Part 2
The boys had arranged for us to attend the Kansas City All British Car
meet,
so we pulled into the host hotel and unloaded the cars. The next day we
witnessed a neat valve cover race and I think we should import this sport to
the Left coast. The winner was a chap from Ft.Worth with a big wheeled Midget
valve cover. This very fine event was made finer when Jack and Bill both got
first places in their classes.
Labor Day morning had us skirting St. Louis and heading for Auburn,
Indiana
site of the annual Kruse auction where some 5,000 cars are auctioned every
year. We could tell we were getting close when nearly every other vehicle
going the opposite direction was a car hauler. This auction is something to
see, sort of like Hershey or Beaulieu. A huge affair with a lots of vendors,
two simultaneous auctions going at once and delectable collectors sitting all
over the lot. As we walked through the gate, three TC's greeted us. I fell
in love with a “Diamond T” pickup! I want one!!
On to Cleveland where just east, Craig Seabrook's Whitworth Shop
stands. We
had a great time visiting with Craig and Fred Kuntz. Now I understand how
Craig sets his priorities! We were amazed at Craig's Coleman lantern
collection and he has started a register for the Gravely tractor too! Craig
had finished my NA dashboard and it looked gorgeous in burled Sequoia, so we
took that away with us. Next morning, my pals dropped me at a Marriot so I
could rent a Hertz car and could pick up my son Andrew at the Cleveland
airport. As we walked into the hotel, there were Bill and Margery Hentzen,
old friends from Wisconsin. Bill’s TB Tickford is out of this world! The
guys proceeded on to the Glen which was now just hours away. Andrew and I
arrived at 1 AM the next morning.
The NEMGTR had booked the entire Best Western in Painted Post, NY about
12
miles south of the Glen. This was to be our headquarters for the next few
days. The distance was just right to provide a warm-up for our T cars as we
dashed up and down the highway for each days Glen events. Thursday was an
unstructured day so we all headed up to run the old 6.2 mile race course and
lunch in the famous Senaca Lodge where the racers used to hang out. Smalleys
garage is still in operation. This is where the cars were tech'ed, this
weekend and in 1948. The town is pretty much the same as it was back in 1948
and has a very nice ambiance. The railroad crossing where the cars became
airborne hasn't been improved either! During our run a train came along, so
we sat and waved at the engineer in the loco. Its a good thing too or we
might have broken some of those 50 year old springs!
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Note, I'll be illustrating this write up with color scans....which will make
one very large file. If anyone would like to have the whole thing, let me
know. Terry
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