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By: Jane Grove, Helen Turner and Gilbert Fitzhugh
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Over seventy- five horseless carriages went touring
in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Bucks County is located about twenty-five miles
north of Philadelphia in beautiful mid-Atlantic area. This very fun tour and
swap meet was hosted by the Old Tyme Car Club of the Horseless Carriage Club of
America.
Sunday, started with a very successful swap meet at
the Quakertown, Pennsylvania airport. The Quakertown airport is located just off
the Pennsylvania turnpike north of Philadelphia. There were about forty-five
vendors set up on a spacious grassy field selling all types of brass-era
treasurers. A car show was provided for all of the local people and most all of
the seventy-five cars registered for the next day’s tour were on display. This
swap meet was so successful that plans are already in the works for another swap
meet next year.
The Brass in Bucks County Tour officially started
with the Carriages and Creeks Tour on Monday set up by Walt and Jane Grove. It
began with a coffee stop at the Lutheran Home in Topton, where residents enjoyed
looking at the horseless carriages and reminiscing while the tourers enjoyed the
refreshments provided by the Home. From there the cars went over scenic country
roads to the private carriage collection of Joe and Barbara Tetz. After lunch at
a local church, the tour continued through the Trexler/Lehigh County Zoo and
Game Preserve. Driving around a curve at the Game Preserve, the cars came face
to face with a river. All seventy-five cars forded this river! It was a great
sight to see the horseless carriages going through the water just like in the
bygone time that they were from. An ice cream stop at a candy factory completed
the day.
Bells and Arrows was the theme for Tuesday’s tour
hosted by Lee and Helen Turner. This tour had the tourers going in different
directions; it was fun about mid-day to see friends driving toward and passing
each other. Everyone enjoyed several stops. The hand bell factory tour at
Schulmerich Carillon, Sellersville, was very, very interesting; there are many
parts in one hand bell. At the end of the tour, many of the visitors enjoyed “playing”
the hand bells. The visit and lecture at the Lenni-Lenape (aka Delaware) Indian
Culture Museum, Allentown, was informative. Next to the Museum is a fish
hatchery which was an optional stop. Here, the visitors learned about PA game
fishing. Another stop, which was also a coffee stop, was Ragtops Restorations,
Perkasie. Although they were not working on any cars of brass era vintage, it
was quite an interesting tour of their facility, seeing and hearing about the
details of their work. In the evening, there was a very special drive-in movie
theatre for the horseless carriages. The tourers sat in their brass cars in the
parking lot at the hotel and watched slides of vintage cars on a big screen
provided by Ken Stauffer. There was even an old-time popcorn machine providing
popcorn to munch on.
Wednesday’s run, titled “Migrations and Muskets”
hosted by Gil and Jackie Fitzhugh took the tourers to the home of John Audubon,
the famed bird illustrator, and the National Historical Park at Valley Forge,
one of George Washington’s sleeping spots. The docents at the Audubon home had
several raptors on display and gave us an informative tour of the house. The
weather was perfect once again thanks to Jane Grove (The tour committee put Jane
in charge of the weather.] The morning coffee stop was at a fantastic private
estate complete with a restored 1728 farm house and barn. The barn garaged
several fine V8 Fords and the gardens were superb. Mike Jones arranged a fine
lunch for us at the Phoenixville Country Club. At Valley Forge, tourists were
free to explore the Visitor’s Center, the many monuments, and Washington’s
Headquarters. Three covered bridges and lots of beautiful country roads made
this ninety mile run a delight. That evening many of the tourers went to the
local T.G.I. Fridays for dinner and again put on a great car show for all of the
people in the town.
The Strummin’ Along Tour presented by Art Hart and
Rosie Esposito took the tourers to the Hellertown Historical Society Mill in a
suburb of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Here Bob Swaim gave a demonstration from his
collection of very unusual bicycles. The next stop was the Martin Guitar Company
and Museum in Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Here the tourists enjoyed a tour of the
guitar factory and some of them even played a guitar in the Martin Guitar’s
“pickin’-room.” An ice cream stop in the afternoon prepared everyone for
the closing banquet in the evening. The banquet was a fun get-together and even
included a “mock” auction where everything from banners to lost car parts
was auctioned off. Some very lively bidding occurred on a very beautiful lady’s
vintage hat.
Many people participated to make this a very great
tour. A large thank-you goes especially to Clay Green, Pat and Jim Dix, Walt and
Jane Grove, Lee and Helen Turner, Gil and Jackie Fitzhugh, Art Hart and Rosie
Esposito and many others who each gave something to make this a tour to remember
and one to look forward to for the next time
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