New Year’s Eve morning of 2016 found the Drive Home II
caravan on the road at 5:45 a.m. winding its way through northern Virginia
toward a Katie’s Coffee and Cars event in Great Falls. Still dark when we
arrived at 6:15, the parking lot was already filling up with classics, hot rods
and exotics. The folks at Katie’s gave us prime parking spots for the 300G and
Nomad, and Dale unloaded the Crane-Simplex as well. By 7 a.m. some 100 cars had
shown up along with families and enthusiasts, many of whom said they were
following our exploits on social media and the ACM Web site. Katie’s Coffees
and Cars has been a weekly event for the past five years, and in the summer
we’re told it’s not unusual for 400-500 cars to show up.
A few hours and some miles later we connected with a
dozen or so motor aficionados who came out to meet us for lunch at the Prince
Street Café in Lancaster, PA. The cars included a ‘62 Chrysler 300, a ‘60’s Rambler,
and a ‘70’s Z-28; additionally, there was a mid-40s Pontiac gangster-style
coupe with a violin case/fake tommy gun on the back seat and whose driver was
decked out in mafia-wear that included a black overcoat and hat and white
wing-tipped shoes. After a good lunch, the troupe traveled with us for a good
ways toward our next stop in Allentown, PA. Charlie, the driver of the ’62 300
that he lovingly called Marilyn (named after Marilyn Monroe), followed us all
the way to Allentown even though he lived about an hour in the opposition
direction.
New Year’s Eve for our crew was definitely a
once-in-a-lifetime experience as well as a chance to reunite with our beloved Mustang.
Keith Flickinger, owner of Precision Motor Cars, invited us to the 27-acre
property of the NB Center that includes his facility. NB stands for the Nicola
Bulgari of Italian jewelry design fame, and Mr. Bulgari is also a board member
of the LeMay-America’s Car Museum. Besides jewelry, Mr. Bulgari is well-known
for his passion for collecting and preserving classic American cars. He has a
particular affinity for older Buicks and fell in love with them as a 9-year-old
in Rome because Buicks were used for transporting the Pope in the WWII era. The NB Center is really beyond description. Once the home of a drive-in theater, the movie screen was retained and is still operable with a state-of-the-art projector (only two like it in the entire U.S.) and a monstrous sound system so loud that it actually echoed in the Pennsylvania hills around us. In the middle of the property is The Lodge, a large conference center built entirely of repurposed wood and stone from 19th Century barns in the area. Gone are the drive-in speakers and poles for movie viewing; they’ve been replaced by an asphalt track that winds its way around the property in a series of course configurations used to run and race the hundreds of vehicles housed in nearly 10 large buildings. Besides Mr. Bulgari’s vehicles and Precision Motor Cars, the structures also house the Historical Vehicle Association dedicated to documenting and archiving the history of the American automobile.
Nicola Bulgari's favorite Buick -- A 1935 96S Sport Coupe
The view from Mr. Bulgari's apartment at the NB Center
Mr. Bulgari was in Italy, but Keith and Christina
hosted us to a fantastic dinner of lobster, filet mignon and lamb chops
prepared by Mr. Bulgari’s Greek chef. This was followed by a tour of several of
the buildings and a sampling of the gorgeous cars before we celebrated the New
Year with champagne and retired to our hotel about 2 a.m. after a long (!) day
Up and back at Precision Motor Cars by 8:30 a.m. Dale checked
out all the cars to ready us for the trip to Harrisburg, PA. Rolling out of
Allentown, I got my first chance to slide behind the wheel of the 300G and it
was like a driving vacation with power steering and a much quieter ride than
the Nomad. 
My first chance to pilot the Chrysler 300G
But, wait, I digress… because if you’ve been following
our saga you’re probably wondering whatever happened to the Mustang that dumped
every drop of its transmission fluid last week near Times Square in NYC… and
here’s where things get interesting. You may recall we had it towed to Keith’s
shop and after a full inspection and adding 6 quarts of fluid to its parched
transmission, Keith and his team couldn’t find anything amiss with it. The
final diagnosis was that the transmission must have boiled its fluid in the
stop-and-go New York traffic; this compromised the front seal to cause the
spew, but when the car cooled down the seal went back to work.
Now, back to Harrisburg: New Year’s Day morning where we
were greeted by a dozen or so car community friends at an event near a
Starbuck’s. Among the group was Harrisburg State Farm Agent Ed Ross, who helped
give us a warm welcome, and it was great to connect with one of my fellow State
Farm Good Neighbors. Ed shared that he and his son have been longtime car buffs
and help coordinate several major car shows in the area.
State Farm Agent Ed Ross came out to greet the Drive Home II Crew in Harrisburg, PA
Noontime on New Year’s Day found us at the Carlisle,
PA Events Center, an old fairground in the town that is now host to 12
specialty car shows and four auctions each year. Ed, Ken and Mike of Carlisle
Events hosted us to a pizza lunch and a grand tour of the facility, including
the collection of specialty race cars, many of which had truly interesting
provenance.
From the Carlisle Events Center collection: The last car Dale Earnhardt finished a race in before his final race
We then jumped onto the Pennsylvania Turnpike for the four-hour
trip to Pittsburgh and a dinner event. About 20 miles outside the city, Valerie
reported that the Nomad started knocking badly. From her description, Dale
surmised it was likely a loose rocker arm. Dale followed Valerie as she babied
the Nomad into town and the hotel. In the meantime, the rest of us traveled to
the Eleven Restaurant and met up with a couple of “followers” – John Fisher, who
had driven over two hours to connect with us and Kurt Kuntz who lived more
locally. After swapping stories and sharing a well-deserved meal and beer, we
bunked in at the Pittsburgh City Center Marriott.
That was the start and finish of a truly spectacular
New Year’s holiday weekend, meeting new friends and creating awareness for the
mission of America’s Automotive Trust: Celebrating and preserving the heritage
of our great country’s cars. My only
regret was that my wife Alison wasn’t here to share the New Year’s celebration
with me; it’s the first time we’ve been separated on New Year’s in 24 years,
but I did Facetime her when the ball dropped in New York to try to earn some points.
Cheers and Happy New Year from the LeMay-America’s Car
Museum Gang heading west toward Indianapolis!
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