gettysburgregion

Fall Tour 2017: September 30th

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Today we’re highlighting the GRAACA’s 2017 Fall Tour which is right around the corner. You can also find this and other events on our Events Calendar. 

We will be driving through the lovely back roads of York and Lancaster counties on our way to the Landis Valley Village and Farm Museum in Lancaster. This site is a living history village dedicated to preserving early Pennsylvania German life — with picturesque historic buildings featuring living history demonstrations of farming and crafts from the 1700’s and 1800’s. 

The tour starts at the Eastern Museum of Motor Racing with coffee and doughnuts beginning at 8:30 a.m. We will depart on the tour at 9:15, taking mostly back roads. Driving time will be about 2 hours.

We will be having boxed lunches in the picnic grove (weather permitting) or in one of the historic buildings if needed. Choose from beef, ham, turkey, tuna salad or chicken salad sandwiches. You also get pickles, olives, celery, and carrot sticks, macaroni salad, a cookie, and soft drinks. 

The cost is $24 per adult (including refreshments, lunch, and admission) or $19 for children aged 3-11 or free (without lunch) for children under age 3. 

Cut-out response sheet is in the July-August issue of The Gas Buggy Gazette. Deadline to register is September 14. Contact Doug Cline (717) 697-6406.

DIRECTIONS to tour’s start (E.M.M.R.): Take Route 15 to cross-road at milepost 25.9 (south of Dillsburg, north of York Springs). Turn east — this is Latimore Valley Road. Go 0.2 mile, turn right onto Old Route 15; go 0.2 mile and turn left onto Baltimore Road. In 0.1 mile, bear right. At top of hill, turn left into E.M.M.R. parking lot. 

Reprinted from The Gas Buggy Gazette and edited for the website. 

Summer Tour 2017

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Saturday, August 26th

A special opportunity. Meet friendly and modest Irenee DuPont Jr., who has owned a 1936 Olds for 81 years and a 1918 Cadillac for 77 years. See his “daily driver” cars, hear his engineering knowledge, drive around his 500-acre estate, walk through his 17 bedroom house, and hear his pipe organ play. This is a special invitation not available to the general public–but bring guests if you wish.

We’ll be starting our tour at The Markets at Shrewsbury. They open at 8 a.m., so get there anytime, see their crafts, gifts, and food vendors, and have breakfast and refreshments on your own there. 

We will leave there promptly at 9:30 a.m. and take small roads and 2-lane highways all the way, stopping mid-way at the Dutch Way restaurant in Gap, Pa. for a delicious buffet lunch. We’ll have a scenic stop along the way, too, so you can stretch your legs. Our destination is the estate “Granogue” near Montchanin, scenic northernmost Delaware, about a 2-hour drive from the starting point.

Send no money: All costs are on your own. We have a special all-inclusive buffet rate of $14.5 person for lunch including meal, dessert, drinks, tax, and tip. Cut-out response sheet is in the May/June issue of The Gas Buggy Gazette. Deadline to sign-up for the tour is August 14.

Directions to tour’s start: The Markets at Shrewsbury are on the Susquehanna Trail north of Shrewsbury, south of Exit 8 of I-83. (GPS address, 12025 Susquehanna Trail South, Glen Rock, Pa. 17327.) We will be parking in front of Penn Dutch Furniture (blue roof).

If traveling from the north or south, I-83 is a main route. Take exit 8; turn onto Rt. 216 West. Go 0.7 miles to stop sign; turn left onto Susquehanna Trail South. Go 1.5 miles and turn left into the Markets.

Contact Jerry Black 717-334-3638 or John Sayler 717-796-1895.

Gas Buggy Gazette Goes Digital

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Well, it’s official!

The Gas Buggy Gazette, the newsletter of the Gettysburg Region, is now being offered electronically. All our members have the option of receiving their copy either through the post or by e-mail.

Going digital has certain perks. For one, you get your newsletter a lot faster, and it can save you some money if you’re already paying for First Class postage. 

If you think you’d like your newsletter e-mailed, please contact Doug Cline dcline@juno.com. 

Dillsburg Farmers Fair

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Thanks to Mike Willis for letting us all know about this awesome upcoming event!

Dillsburg Farmers’ Fair Antique Car Show – October 21, 2017   8am – 2pm

The 102nd Annual Dillsburg Farmers Fair Antique Car show will be held on Saturday, October 21st from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm on South Baltimore Street in Dillsburg.  At approximately 1:30 pm we will have a drawing for door prizes in front of the Ace Hardware Store after which we will parade the cars down Baltimore Street.  Only pre-registered vehicles will be eligible for door prizes.  Please note due to the large number of people and great vehicles coming to the fair, and the limited space available for parking and displaying the cars, the show will be limited to Antique Cars Only (at least 25 years old).  For additional information, please contact Mike Willis (contact info below). 

Mike Willis      60 Rocky Ridge Road     Dillsburg, Pa 17019

Phone: 717-432-3752

Email: mlwillis1955@gmail.com 

AACA Library: New Additions

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If you stop by the AACA Library, you may notice a few changes as you walk through the door. 

Thanks to the generosity of Don and Micky Bohne, the front lobby has become quite full this week. As you can see from the photos, the library now has a beautiful Metz and Brush to grace its collection. They also received a Buick and a Dodge business coupe, but due to lack of space they’ve been sent to storage for the time being.

Drop in and have a look!

Summer Picnic 2017

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Once again we were lucky enough to have beautiful sunny skies and a cool breeze!

On July 9th, the GRAACA held its annual picnic at Codorus State Park. Despite us having rented the luxurious (and air conditioned) Classroom Building, most everyone opted to step outside and enjoy the view and gorgeous weather at some point.

Thanks are due to Bob Shultz and Dan Yost who were in charge of grilling and did an excellent job of getting those burgers and hot dogs onto our plates in a jiffy. Also, thank you to everyone who brought a delicious dish or dessert. There didn’t seem to be many leftovers!

Finally, we are very grateful to our president Ron Green for organizing the event.

Spring Tour 2017

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After having to reschedule due to the lovely wet weather May brought, we lucked out most of the day on Saturday, June 17th.

Karl and Mary Krouch were our tour planners, and they did an excellent job! The morning started around 9 at the Mechanicsburg Memorial Park where we got to enjoy coffee and donuts (still soft and warm) from Duck Donuts.

Soon after receiving our directions, we headed to Godshall Custom Machining. Owned by Wayne Godshall and his family, they specialize in working on steam locomotives. They were gracious enough to split us into groups for a very informative tour of their shop and their current projects.

Once we saw how the model locomotives are built, we took a scenic drive over to Pisgah Central Railroad, a privately owned an operated model railroad, to see the live steam engines in action. Of course, our hosts did one better than just let us watch: we got to ride the engines! We had our choice of 2 engines, and before a few showers broke out, some of the passengers got enjoy about a 20 minute ride and travel over a mile of miniature track.

Luckily the rain hit at lunch time and we all dug into a piping hot lunch of pit barbecued chicken, french fries, baked beans, mac and cheese, and brownies. Clutching our stomachs, some us hopped back on the engines for one last hurrah, and Karl and Mary called the winning numbers for the surprise raffle.

It was a tour well worth the wait!!

 

Founders Tour Day #5 Friday

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From the Webmaster:

Last day of the Founders Tour! And what a great way to end it, too.

Today I hopped in my father’s 1978 Corvette and we headed to the Gettysburg Battlefield Visitor’s Center. We were split into 2 groups to view a short film (produced by the History Channel and narrated by Morgan Freeman so of course, you need to go see it) and then the Cyclorama. Created in 1883 by French artist Paul Philippoteaux, it’s a 337 foot long, circular painting of the (in)famous battle. The Cyclorama underwent an extensive restoration project in 2008, and it’s well worth the ticket. Sorry, no photos allowed.

After that, I spent a a bit of time in the museum, which is deceptively large, so I highly recommend leaving yourself a good 2 hours minimum if you’re  a history buff and want to make an attempt at taking it all in.

Afterwards, most of our group went on a driving tour of the battlefield. My father and I had a personal mission to find a gift for a friend, so we headed to the shops downtown. We plan on going back to the battlefield and purchasing an audio tour.

Lunch was at Gettysburg Fire Company, and then we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the closing banquet.

Special guests for the evening included AACA National President Tom Cox, and Pat Buckley from Headquarters who also put in a lot of hours helping Carol Barlup with registration.

Apart from a delicious dinner, attendees were treated to a slideshow organized by our photographer Ken Myers and Carl Davis our videographer. Winners of the Chinese Auction were announced, and some special awards were handed out including:

Youngest driver: Kailyn Schaedel (20 years old)

Oldest driver: Ernie Screen

Hard Luck Award: Philip and Grace Roitman

Furthest driver: Ruby and Richard Wolens

President’s Choice: Doug and Ronnie Seybold

Also, Annette and Dan Yost were given an award from the AACA National Board of Directors for hosting a national tour.

The banquet and thus the 2018 Founders Tour ended on a high note as Lynn Lech stepped up to the podium and gave a sneak peak at what’s in store for the 2018 Founders Tour.

Well, it was a blast. And now I think we’ll all need a few days to recover, but the GRAACA can’t rest quite yet as we still have our Latimore Valley show tomorrow. Hope to see some of you Founders Tour people there!

Founders Tour Day #4 Thursday

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Note from the Webmaster:

We only had one destination today: Rough & Tumble Engineers.

Located in Kinzers, PA, Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association is a uniquely interactive museum. Located on 33 acres, the exhibit is full of various kinds of historical equipment which isn’t left around to collect dust as all of it still works!

The best time to see R&T is during a show when the members and their equipment are all revved up, so we certainly got a treat on this gorgeous day. I was told that they extended their Friday and Saturday show one day just because they knew we were coming.

Some of the sights we got to enjoy were blacksmith demonstrations at the forge, a 1912 shingle mill in full swing, and even a saw mill. They also had the Little Toot and Shay Railroads fired up. I shamelessly took 2 rides on the Shay around the premise.

I’m not sure what else to say other than, “If you haven’t been, you need to go.” They are having an even bigger event in August and I’ve marked my calendar. R&T’s members are extremely passionate and knowledgeable. And I think some of them were just as excited about our cars as were were about their tractors, engines, machines, mills…

One final thing I almost forgot: I got to ride with my grandfather in his 1966 Plymouth Fury! I haven’t been able to travel with him this week as the convertible has been full of other passengers, but today it felt a lot like old times.

Founders Tour Day #3 Wednesday

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Note from the Webmaster:

Change of pace for the day: I got sit in the driver’s seat! Josef and Nora Puskas, a lovely couple from western Pennsylvania, found themselves without a driver as their son Stephen was feeling a bit under the weather. So, I played chauffeur in a 1970s Toyota Corolla and had a blast.

The weather stayed rather bleak and dreary long into the afternoon despite the forecast, but nobody seemed too deterred by a few raindrops. 

Our first stop for the day was at Tressler’s Garage in New Bloomfield. Built in 1926 and is currently owned by Don and Carol Barlup of our Gettysburg Region. They were kind enough to open it up for us and show off some of their cars and collectibles while we enjoyed a variety of donuts and danishes.

From there, we enjoyed a leisurely driving tour through Perry County to see several covered bridges which have survived since the 1800’s. Most of my pictures were snapped through the windshield of the car, but we finally came across one where I could pull over so Josef and I could step out and get a closer look.

After about 2 hours of winding our way along twisty-turny back roads, we arrived at Blain Fairgrounds for a (very) hot lunch — the chicken corn soup was delicious but I’m pretty sure it was still boiling in my cup when I went to take a bite.

Although the fairgrounds was our last official stop for the day, the route back took us up to the top of the mountain at an elevation of 1,476 feet. I’m sure that the mountain has a breathtaking view of Cumberland Valley below, but we couldn’t see it for the clouds. Oh well.

We’re supposed to have clear skies tomorrow, and I’ve heard that Stephen is feeling a little better, so I’m off to find another ride…