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When JV bounced this idea off me months ago I thought it would be OK but I wasn’t really excited about it. JV is a little ‘out there’ since he stopped smoking (what do you expect from a guy that drives a hot rod with no doors) and I had not worked with him in the past so I really didn’t know how this would go. He did the coordinating with his club in Colonial Beach and I just wrote a couple emails! JV, Jim Still and the Colonial Beach Cruisers put the whole deal on and it turned out to be a great day to be at the beach! All we had to do was show up? They provided lunch and a friendly and inclusive atmosphere to enjoy the day. The Colonial Beach Cruisers are the friendliest bunch of car people we have met, except for that girl in the back of John’s ‘57! They always make us feel like we are part of them.. ..maybe it’s just because the Princess whines a lot and it’s easier to be nice to her so she will just smile and be quiet.. ..I didn’t say that! Or maybe it’s just my sensitive and caring personality? Grin The casual life style of the beach helps too; it’s like being on vacation.. ..You just have to watch out for the golf carts, grin! JV reserved the parking area in front of Jim’s museum for the people from Stafford, boy did we feel ‘special’.
Jim opened up his ’54 Ford museum for us as it is normally not open to the public. Think about it, a museum dedicated to the 1954 Ford, the year Ford came out with their first OHV V-8 motor. Oldsmobile and Cadillac started the OHV race in ’49 and Lincoln introduced their first OHV V-8 in ’52 and Ford got into the race in ’54, a year before Chevy! The vehicles ranged from a Vicky to sedan delivery and everything in between. Jim had 13 of his restored cars inside and two others in process. He has way too many waiting outside to be done! He has a yellow ’54 Ford golf cart.. ..with a V-8 in the front! I love the simplicity of the floor pedals.. ..go-stop, kind of like the way I drive the RedRat. hehehe. All the memorabilia is for ’54 Fords too, much of it NOS! Jim built the building to be like a 50’s new car dealership, I think he nailed that too. I wondered around and talked to people while I took pictures, had some lunch and settled down behind the RedRat to enjoy the rest of the day. After seeing me chilling out JV decided to move the activity of the day up.. ..Whoopee! He was orchestrating a blind driving competition.. ..Huh? This I have to see! I posted a video of the deal on U-tube, it was a real hoot. The idea was to start on a line, blindfolded, and drive to the other line and stop before crossing over it. Sounds simple.. ..Yeah right! JV demonstrated how to do it but others were just waiting for someone else to go. JV asked the Princess to compete and she said she would wait.. ..until.. ..JV said there would be trophies for the winner. The Princess got up and in a blur she woke up her coupe and headed for the start line. I hope no one was trampled between her and her coupe.. ..She was on a mission to get a trophy! Her first try ended with her running over a cone! She said the blindfold hurt her head and she thinks someone moved the cone and the crowd was too noisy and it was too hot for her to be comfortable and she couldn’t concentrate and and and.. .. JV or Jim then announced that if you went past the finish line you could try again. But the Princess went out the sideline and she whined that it was unfair and a Princess should have special rules and her track should have been wider and and and. So one of the guys gave in and let her try again. See what I deal with all the time???? On her second try she stayed on the track and stopped before the finish line but she was way long and she didn’t win! She told me to invent one of those blue teeth thingies with a laser rangefinder so she could win next time. She said I had plenty of time on my hands since I polished her trophies last week and don’t have to do that for another week! Are we there yet? Hehehe We stayed a while longer but it was really getting hot so we packed up and ran for home. We had a small group of people (five cars) from Stafford and I’m sorry that those that missed the cruise to Colonial Beach missed something special, maybe next time?
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