Blog 10/24/2021

Members

40th Anniversary Party

Well, the 40th Anniversary Party has come and gone. Kuddos to the organizers, who worked hard and long to create this event, especially given the pandemic. It was a redounding success, attended by 100 members and guests. Dave Hogan wrote a great story,

Activities

Blue Ridge Region PCA Events

Date	Name	Venue
Jan 26	BRR-PCA Holiday Party & Annual Meeting	Hunting Hills Country Club	Register

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Swannanoa Tour

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This beautiful late fall tour is heading to Swannanoa, which is an Italian Renaissance Revival villa built in 1912 above Rockfish Gap on the border of northern Nelson County and Augusta County, Virginia and sits high atop the Blue Ridge Mountains at Afton. Upon arrival take in the sites of the building, its gardens and the views. Then be sure to join our group as we tour inside Swannanoa to see its imported stones and get a glimpse into the lifestyle of its day.

The tentative agenda is:

9:00 Meet at the Montvale Library
9:30 Depart on the tour
12:00 Lunch at Edelweiss German Restaurant in Staunton, VA
1:00 Depart for Swannanoa
3:00 Group tour within Swannanoa
5:00 Tour ends

Stories

Silver Ghost Tour

Dan Dehart mentioned that he saw some twenty or more Rolls Royce Silver Ghosts (1909 -1936 models) that are on a two week 1500 mile tour of Virginia. They started their tour and will conclude their tour in Orange, VA. Dan said they had overnight stops in Farmville (Weyanoke), South Boston (Berryhill Plantation), and Hot Springs (Homestead). He saw them at the D-Day Memorial and they were headed to Poplar Forest, the Transportation Museum and O. WInston Link Museum and likely overnight at the Hotel Roanoke.

According to an article in the Farmville Herald written by Alexa Massey, this is part of the “Wholly Ghost Tour”, an annual event sponsored by the Silver Ghost Association (SGA). The SGA is a group of about 400 enthusiasts of the Silver Ghosts. The Ghosts average 100 years of age. One member put 30,000 on his car in one year. Most are convertibles.

The Silver Ghost was made by Rolls Royce from 1907 to 1926. It sold new for about $15,000 in 1926 when a Ford Model T sold for $400.

Caves

Last week, Margee and I traveled to Mammoth Caves down near Bowling Green, KY. These caves lie beneath the sandstone and shale ridges in the area and are formed by the slow dissolution of limestone by groundwater. Eroded limestone landscapes – called karst topography – cover this region. So, why am I telling you all that?

Well, a few miles from here is the location of the Corvette Museum. Some of you have been there, but likely most of you have not. Below the museum is, as the world learned some years ago, a karst region. And one day the floor of the museum collapsed into those caves.

Nine of the prized Corvettes fell into the pit, including the 1 millionth produced Corvette. Some could be restored. Many were just hunks of metal. The museum did a nice job in presenting what happened and how the cars were recovered.

I admit to not being a big Corvette fan. I spent a bit of my youth tearing down the fence around the Corvette Corral at the Glen and Mid Ohio. But they have grown on me a bit. Especially the new Vette’s. They are a machine to love.

As we left the museum, they had an area where Corvette’s were staged for pickup by customers. We did drool over this one.

Hogan’s Corner

July 2013 Blau Rain cover featuring Oak Tree Turn at VIR before the oak tree was blown over during a thunderstorm.

Bring a Trailer

I love to peruse Bring a Trailer and lust over some beautiful cars. This week I saw this beautiful Speedster. It could be yours for a mere $130K and counting.