Blue Ridge Parkway Photos - Lots of Car pics!

[Jason in TX]

I figured better late than never. I'll be posting some of our story but because what I did may not be that exciting to you, I also took a lot of car photos during this trip and will post mostly those images. You may see some photos of your car, or if you were not able to attend, this should hopefully provide you with some fun Model A eye candy.

Saturday May 4th...
Trailered the car to Pigeon Forge like a lot of other folks, with a few stops along the way...



Unloaded and set out on 81 North for the 450+ miles to the starting point.



Beautiful country and nice highway that we were able to maintain about 65mph without much trouble



We arrived in Charlottesville Sunday at around noon, and immediately jumped in our friends car and headed over to James Madison's home, Montpelier for a wine festival.







Took a few photos in front of James Madison's home....



Made sure everyone was ok to drive back to the hotel... Um... check.

[Jason in TX]

Monday, May 6th

Opened the curtains to see a wonderful sight! Lots of model As





Headed downstairs with the trusty camera to capture people checking in and getting ready for the tour.

[Jason in TX]

Even had a very nice 1932 V8 join in the tour.

[Jason in TX]

This next one actually hydroplaned off the road along the Natches Trace and had to have a toe truck pull it back up onto the highway... Good driving to keep the shiny side up!





More nice details...

[Jason in TX]

Parking Lot head gasket change before the official start of the tour.















Great to see lots of club participation

[Jason in TX]

Sponsored Links (Register now to hide all advertisements)

[Jason in TX]

I'm a big fan of 31 Deluxe Phaetons and got to meet Tom Mack from Cincinnati, OH. Great guy and beautiful car!





















Did a quick alternator repair and checked the tires and it was time to leave!

[WTSHNN]

Awesome pics!
-Tim

[Jason in TX]

Stopped by Monticello



Beautiful home!



And Thomas Jefferson was quite a funny guy to boot! (I don't think I can repeat the joke he told me here on the internet)

[Jason in TX]

Tuesday May 7th - First Day on the Parkway

Part of the Dallas crew stopping for a photo op -





...and more cars pulling in to do the same!



...and then up into the clouds.



This is what most of the Tuesday and Wednesday looked like...







Stopped at a great waterfall for some pictures and then discovered a blown fuse in one of our group's vehicles. Quick road side seminar and back on the road..



Later in the afternoon, we got a break in the clouds and did a quick stop for photos.





Stopped for lunch in Buena Vista (a local told us that people there pronounce it Biew-nuh Vista. Crazy) Saw a few other A's gassing up.







A member of our convoy had some electrical problems and during the 2 hour time to figure out what it was (bad battery cable) The storm rolled in pretty strong and my wife and I decided to get off the parkway and follow him into the hotel. This is on the highway.

Yes, I have rainex....

[Jason in TX]

Wednesday - May 8, 2013... More rain! Whadda ya know!



Saw some other A'ers at a closed rest stop. Men and women were having to walk off into the woods to do the neccessaries, and that was next to a sign that said "Beware of Bears"



Photo op at the lunch stop, Mabry Mill. Best 2.5 hour lunch in the pouring rain I've had in a while!



After we left here, the blue and gray 4 door above started chugging white smoke and so we got off the parkway again and followed them into town through more rain. He found out he cracked his block. It was a long hard day, but we got a laugh after being "upgraded" to the $49 honeymoon suite at the La Quinta. We did not use the heart shaped tub due to the clump of hair hanging out of one of the jets.... (Sleep with your clothes on!)

[Jason in TX]

Thursday! May 9th. SUN!!!! Put the top down and despite it being a little cold, took advantage of it not raining! Today we decided to book it to the Biltmore so we could enjoy that to it's fullest.



Awesome bridges and tunnels. No lights inside, just reflectors. The ahooga horn sounded great inside!





Innertube sprung a leak about 100 miles outside of Ashville, so quick spare tire swap.



and while I was changing the tires, my wife checked the plugs for any possible fouling and cleaned them and got us back on the road in Nascar record time!



Cars waiting patiently for us Model As



And Finally to the Biltmore! Beautiful warm sunny day!

A shot behind us going in the entry



We stayed on the Biltmore grounds that night to enjoy the estate to the fullest. After they closed, we got a photo op in front of the house!



Sun set on a wonderful day. Time to get some sleep before the last day's big photo and drive into Gatlinburg.

[Jason in TX]

Friday Morning. May 10, 2013.

Lining up for the big photo! I caught a lot of photos of cars again this day because we were all together, minus a few breakdown casualties. I think I roughly counted about 115 that made it for the photo.

[Jason in TX]

[Jason in TX]

[Jason in TX]

And then the big group!

[Franchise_24]

WOW, those were some awesome pictures. Thanks so much for sharing, I enjoyed.

[Jason in TX]

After the photo, we toured the home and then set out for Gatlinburg, the finish line.

On the way, we stopped in Maggie Valley to visit the museum, Wheels Through Time. I highly recommend this museum and the owner Dale Walksler is a top notch guy.



On our last day, we were lacking in power and Dale said, "Pull your car inside and let's fix it!" He didn't have to do that because he was busy shaking hands with museum owners most of the day. He's somewhat famous and actually has his own show starting on the Velocity Channel in June called "What's in the Barn"

Here's Dale taking a look at our compression issue. 3-4 cyls were pretty weak and we both suspect burnt valves, or blown head gasket between the two cylinders.



Back on the road up the 10 minute steep climb hill and down into town just in time for the banquet.

Great music! and good food!


2013 MAFCA President Alex Janke Thanking everyone for being there.





That's my condensed vacation album. We had a great time and put another 1000+ miles on the old Model A to boot! Thanks to Arlen and Trish Evans from the Dallas Model A club for organizing, and for the rest of the bunch on all the work done to make it happen.

It was great meeting all the Model A'ers. Had a bunch of laughs with Tom Mack and the Cincinnati bunch! Had a great talk with John LaVoy from Model A Times talking about the hobby while washing our car in the rain on Tuesday! Had a great time hanging out with our Dallas family of club members and met's lots of other friendly Model A people and this to me is what the old car hobby is about. Sharing our love for the cars, and enjoying the happiness that they can bring!

I did try to talk to a few other people who when I said hello, or good morning, or how's the car running who just grunted at me and blew me off. Maybe it's because I'm almost 40 years young and they didn't know "kids" have Model As or they were waterlogged and having a bad day, but all in all met some great people and had a wonderful trip!

Hope you saw your car in the photo set and enjoyed the photos! See you down the road!

[Richard Wilson]

Thanks Jason. Great job of documenting the tour. Really like your Model A. My favorite picture is of your wife cleaning those sparkplugs! From my many years and miles of driving on the BRP those "cars waiting patiently for our Model A's" weren't. I have attended many car shows at the Biltmore Estate. Everywhere you look on the grounds is a "picture postcard" scene.

[1931 flamingo]

WOW ! ! ! ! Almost as good as being there. Thanks for posting ! ! !

Paul in CT